Was Wilford Luce (Sr.) born in Vinalhaven? It seems like a trick question, doesn’t it? But I think it’s fair to ask.
His 1906 obituary says Wilford Luce was born on November 8, 1838 in Vinalhaven, meaning on North Fox Island, where his parents Stephen Luce and Mary Ann (Wheeler) Luce lived before their 1838 conversion to Mormonism.
Some years ago there was a debate about this among some of us researchers. Isn’t it more likely Wilford Luce was born in or near Westfield, Ohio? That’s where the Luces were when Wilford’s cousin Clara Newel Thomas died on November 5.
But it’s not that easy.
To find the answer we need to go directly to Wilford Woodruff’s journal. He converted the Luces to Mormonism. In 1838 he led a company of 53 new converts in 10 wagons from the Maine coast Maine to Nauvoo. The company originally intended to travel to Missouri but anti-Mormon violence there diverted them. Instead they traveled to Nauvoo, arriving in the spring of 1839. If there’s an answer, it will be this in this journal.
The first problem is the Wilford Woodruff company was at Westfield, New York on November 5, 1838, not Westfield, Ohio. Some of us already knew that, but it had to be proven. The misunderstanding is easy to understand. The company was travelling from Maine to Far West, Missouri. They stopped for the winter at Rochester, on December 13, then traveled to Nauvoo in the Spring of 1839. Rochester is 165 miles from Nauvoo.
The second problem is that Woodruff named the members of his company. Stephen’s brother Ephraim Luce and his sister Susannah (Luce) Thomas were part of Woodruff company, but not Stephen and Mary (W. Woodruff, Oct. 3, 1839, 2).
We find the actual dates from a letter written by Phebe Woodruff to her husband Wilford. The letter is dated 9 May 1840, at Montrose, Iowa: “Brother Stephen Luce left the Island the 8th of last Oct. and arrived in Rochester [Illinois] 15th Jan. and [his sister] Sarah Luce with him she is married to a man out of the church [Napoleon Perry]—Brother [Albert] Smith, [Isaac] Outerkerk, and the two brother Luce’s [Malatiah and Stephen] are in Commerce and Montrose” (W. Woodruff, 2.)
Now we know Stephen and Mary stayed behind in 1838 when their other friends and relatives left. Mary Ann was pregnant with baby Wilford, who was born in November. They went to Nauvoo the following year, leaving Vinalhaven on October 8, 1839 and arriving in Nauvoo on January 15, 1840. We pick them up soon after on the 1840 Census and in other local records.
A Poem
A poem written between 1838 and 1841 records the 1838 departure of the Mormons from Fox Island:
good bye to Mr. Hale, Good by to Mr. Ball,
good bye to Mr. Woodruff, the greatest one of all.
good bye to all the Deacons good bye to all their Church
they Can not get their money, they’ve left them in the lurch
good bye their Book of mormon, good bye their Revelation,
good [bye] to all their fools, and all their Botheration
good bye to Elder Luce, good bye to Deacon Thomas,
Look not to right or left, till you see the land of promise
good bye to all the Ladies that like this thievish Band
goe taste their milk and honey in the promise land
weil Eat our fish and taters, and tell the same old story
While you travel on, to the great Missouria
Remember old lots wife, was turned into Salt
for looking found Behind her, Commanded not to halt
To now you are pondering right between two Schools
good Bye to all your nonsense, for listening unto fools
Iv’e Bid you all good Bye, for forming Such a lie
the time is soon a Coming we surely all must Die
suppose I should die here and you die in Missouria
which do you Suppose, would be the nearest [to] Glory
References
- Woodruff, Phebe Whittmore. Letter from Phebe Whittmore Carter Woodruff to Wilford Woodruff. May 9, 1840.
- Woodruff, Wilford. Day Book (3 October 1838 – 4 March 1839).