Church and Family History in England

On July 19, 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Joseph Fielding and four other companions arrived at the docks in Liverpool. This was the first group of missionaries to a foreign country in this dispensation. They arrived with great anticipation and felt the Spirit of God rest upon them.

Today the docks are quiet, with little evidence of the hustle and bustle the missionaries encountered.

After three days they took a coach to nearby Preston to meet with the Reverend James Fielding, Joseph Fielding's brother. They found lodging on this corner of Fox and St. Wilfrid Street.

The missionaries immediately began to teach the gospel to those who were interested and they found many who were receptive to the message. The first baptisms were held on July 30 in the River Ribble which flows through Preston. The first person to be baptized was George D. Watt, who was so eager to be baptized that he outran another convert and beat him to the river for the privilege.

It is likely this same George D. Watt that confirmed Mark Earnshaw in Clitheroe ten years later.

Preston became the headquarters of the British mission and the center of strength from which the work proceeded. That strength continues today with the Preston Temple (dedicated in 1998) and the British MTC both located just outside the city.



After the Church was well established in Preston, the missionaries took the work up the River Ribble valley. In the area near Pendle Hill they found eager recipients of the gospel in the little villages of Chatburn, Downham, Clitheroe and Waddington.

Downham has been preserved and looks much as it did 150 years ago.

Clitheroe is a busy town still dominated on one side by the Norman castle that was built in 1186...

...and St. Mary's Church on the other. Lowergate is on the right of this picture.

Descending into town you are struck by the unique architecture of the Public Library.



Continue on to the corner, turn right one block and you come to Lowergate, the area where the Earnshaws lived.

Lowergate is a narrow street with residences, businesses and churches all intermixed. Though there were several churches nearby, the Earnshaws walked two miles to the Anglican Church in Waddington.



The tower of St. Helen's Parish Church in Waddington dates from the 1500's.



The graveyard has been used for centuries, though there were no Earnshaws to be found.



We contacted the current church warden, Hilda Tomlinson, and she was good enough to meet us at 10am the next morning and let us look at the parish registers.



We found records for Mark, son of Thomas (a weaver) and Alice Earnshaw, christened on Feb 20, 1832 and...



John, son of Thomas Earnshaw, christened September 24, 1738.

They were likely christened in his font which dates from the 1300's.

After baptizing the Earnshaws and many others, the first group of missionaries returned home in April, 1838. In January, 1840, the second group of missionaries arrived in Liverpool. Wilford Woodruff was assigned to go to south to the Potteries. During his labor there he met members of the Benbow family and went to meet their brother on his farm in Herefordshire. There Wilford found a group of over 600 people who had broken away from the Methodists. They called themselves the "United Brethren" and were seeking the truth.

They were very receptive to the Gospel message and eventually all but one of the group was baptized, many of them in Benbow's pond on the farm.

They had their own chapel at Gadfield Elm which they turned over to Wilford for his meetings. The little chapel held about 100 and was often filled to overflowing.

Today the chapel has been restored and is staffed part-time by local members. If they are not there, you can still gain access to the chapel if you paid attention in Primary.