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In 1974 Mrs. Edna Beard Taylor donated Bullock blessings, certificates, an Eliza R. Snow poem, a Robert L. Campbell letter, and a Moses C. Taylor appointment certificate and a scrapbook for the Thomas Bullock Collection. Then in 1988, Wayne Bullock donated 2 boxes of Thomas Bullock papers (1845-1852) to the collection.
This collection is open to the public.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Thomas Bullock Collection must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Thomas Bullock was born in Leek, Staffordshire, England on December 23, 1816. At age thirteen he began clerking in the law office of John Cruso and then, at twenty-one, he began working as an excise officer, inspecting and rating taxable items. In 1838 he married Henrietta Rushton, also from Leek. One year later he received a promotion and moved to Ireland.
In November 1841, while visiting his family in Leek, he heard Mormon missionaries preach and soon after joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One year after his conversion, he was called to serve a mission in England and there organized a branch in his native Staffordshire.
In March of 1843, Thomas, Henrietta, their three children, a
mother-in-law, two brothersin- law and their families set sail for America
aboard the
Because of his writing skills, Bullock was employed as scribe for the Prophet Joseph Smith in October 1843. At this time he worked along side of Joseph Smith's other scribes Willard Richards and William Clayton. As a clerk, Bullock copied several letters, served as secretary of the Nauvoo municipal council and court, clerked at the April 6, 1844 General Conference and served as scribe for numerous discourses of Joseph Smith, the most famous being the King Follett Discourse. On June 23, 1844, Bullock became the clerk for the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge and he also served as clerk aboard the Church-owned steamboat Maid of Iowa. After Joseph Smith's martyrdom in 1844, Bullock continued work as clerk and scribe for Church leaders.
On December 8, 1844, Church Historian Willard Richards appointed
Bullock Nauvoo City Recorder. Richards would become Bullock's mentor and role
model. Bullock and Richards, along with several other clerks, completed almost
700 pages of the official Church History. This work dominated Bullock's life
from 1845-46. It was later published in the first
While at the Historian's Office, Bullock completed other projects as well. These projects included copying various documents such as records on baptisms for the dead, affidavits of Saints whose property had been destroyed by mobs, letters of Church leaders, patriarchal blessings, membership records and hymns. He would also frequently write journal entries for Church leaders and members. During the last months of Mormonism in Nauvoo, Church leaders called many important meetings to discuss immigration west, mob actions, the completion of the temple, and other pressing issues. In many cases, Bullock's comprehensive minutes are the only remaining record of these important events. He would also serve as clerk to the Council of the Fifty.
On January 26, 1846, Bullock married his second wife and two weeks later most of the Mormons evacuated Nauvoo. However, Bullock was forced to stay behind due to lack of supplies and sickness in his family. Finally when the angry Illinois vigilantes threatened the remaining Saints with extermination, Bullock was forced to take his bed-ridden family into the Iowa wilderness. Yet his record of the demise of Mormon Nauvoo is unparalleled.
From April 1847 until their arrival in the Salt lake Valley, Bullock
served as clerk for the First Pioneer Company under Brigham Young, and then
again for a second company in 1848. After his second arrival into the Salt Lake
Valley on September 22, 1848, Bullock began serving as Brigham Young's personal
clerk. There, he was involved in plotting and distributing land to the Saints,
proofreading the first copies of the
In 1852, Bullock married his third wife, Betsy Prudence Howard. Then in August 1856 he received a mission call to return to England. He returned from his mission in 1858 and in September 1859 was again employed by the Church Historian's Office.
In 1862, Bullock moved his family to Summit County where he continued clerking for the House of Representatives, Probate Court, County Court of Summit County and for the Summit Stake of the Church. He died in Summit County on February 10, 1885 at the age of sixty-eight.
The Thomas Bullock Collection is arranged chronologically according to family finances, journals, blessings, genealogical information, Eliza R. Snow poetry and miscellaneous items. Photocopies accompany each item.
The first part of the collection contains numerous promissory notes and receipts of Francis Bullock, Thomas' father. It also includes an account from the estate of the late Francis Bullock.
Next, the collection contains Thomas Bullock's journals, beginning with his original Nauvoo Journal of August 31, 1845 to July 5, 1846. Also enclosed are: "Surely It Has Fallen: The Thomas Bullock Nauvoo Journal, 1845-46," the 1991 honors thesis by Greg R. knight, a typescript of the 1845-46 journal, Thomas Bullock's original journal of May-June 1858, and two typescripts of that journal.
Next in the collection are various blessings given to members of the Bullock family, including: four patriarchal blessings and one blessing setting Thomas Bullock apart as a missionary, two patriarchal blessings of Betsy Howard Bullock and one patriarchal blessing of Arthur Kimball Bullock.
Next is genealogical information: a list of Howard family genealogy and three lists of Bullock family genealogy (two of which are torn.)
Then follow two original poems by Eliza R. Snow entitled "To Elder Bullock on his departure for Europe" and "A Song of Praise and Thanksgiving, for the Anniversary celebration of the Pioneer's first entrance in the valley." Finally, the collection contains the following miscellaneous items: a letter to "Dear friend maggy (sic)" from Betsy H. Bullock; and Elder's certificate of Thomas Bullock for his mission to England, signed by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Jedediah M. Grant; a poem: "God Save Our Governor;" song: "Camp of Israel;" and a photocopy of a letter to Bro. Thomas from Leo Hawkins and Robert L. Campbell, Historians Office.
The 1845-46 Bullock Journal has been published in a scholarly edition:
Gregory R. Knight, ed,
C. Ward Despain, "Thomas Bullock: Early Mormon Pioneer" (Masters Thesis, BYU, 1956)
Kate B. Carter, ed, "Thomas Bullock--Pioneer,"
Jerald F. Simon, "Thomas Bullock as an Early Mormon
Historian,"