11. New York Messenger Extra

Saturday, Dec. 13, 1845

The New York Messenger was a newspaper published in New York City by Samuel Brannan. It was a continuation of Brannan's earlier newspaper The Prophet. The Messenger was issued each Saturday in an eight page triple column format between July 5 and November 15, 1845. Editor, Parley P. Pratt, and later Brannan regularly printed conference minutes, letters from missionaries, and excerpts from the Nauvoo periodicals Times and Seasons and Nauvoo Neighbor as well as reprinting articles from the British periodical Millennial Star. The Messenger also printed a lengthy extract in nine parts from The Emigrants' guide to Oregon and California by Lansford W. Hastings that was of particular relevance to the Mormons who would soon be emigrants themselves.

This "Extra,"dated just two days before the last number of the Messenger was issued, specifies "To Emigrants" that there were "about three hundred saints who wish to go by water..." but only "about sixty of that number will have the means sufficient to carry them through," referring to the company of Saints that sailed on the Brooklyn around the Horn to San Francisco in February 1846. The article also makes a plea for funding to help those who are not able to come up with the necessary cash to make the trip.

Of special interest is the Bill of Particulars printed at the bottom of column two "For the emigrants leaving the government next spring." In September 1845 a committee was charged with calculating the "requirements of each family of five for the journey across the plains." (Because this bill deals with the requirements for the overland journey and not with those going by water, it is unrelated to the instructions given in column one.) The report of the committee gives a detailed list of equipment and supplies necessary to successfully make the overland trek. "Each family consisting of five persons, to be provided with 1 good strong wagon, well covered with a light box; 2 or 3 good yoke of oxen between the age of 4 and 10 years; 2 or more milch cows; 1 or more good beeves..." In addition to food stuffs, wagon and livestock requirements, the list also includes clothing and bedding, cooking utensils, farming and mechanical tools, and even fishing tackle.