35. William Appleby, 1811-1870

Handwritten letter signed by William Appleby and addressed to Thomas L. Kane. Dated 9 October 1848.

William Appleby, born in New Egypt, New Jersey, heard Elder Orson Pratt preach the gospel and joined the Church on September 21, 1840. In 1841 he was ordained an Elder and sent to labor in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Appleby continued in his missionary work and found much success. He assisted with the preparations for the departure of Samuel Brannan and company on the ship Brooklyn in 1846. He assisted Jesse C. Little in presiding over the Church in the Eastern States and assumed the Presidency in 1847 with Little's departure.

Appleby departed with his wife and children to join the Saints at Council Bluffs, arriving on December 2, 1847. Subsequently, Brigham Young asked him to return to the Eastern States and aid the Church there. He finally made his way to Utah in 1849.

The letter displayed here is another contemporary account of the seagull-cricket episode. Here Appleby quotes from a letter sent to him by Joseph Young, Brigham Young's older brother. While presiding over the Church in Philadelphia, Appleby no doubt knew Thomas L. Kane very well. Kane used the information concerning the seagull-cricket episode in his 1850 discourse on the Mormons.