Item Detail
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MSS SC 3132
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Henry William Bigler Diary
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Bigler, Henry William
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1846-1899
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Photocopy of a microfilm copy of a handwritten autobiography and diary. Bigler wrote about his early life from 1815 to 1846 when his diary began. He was born in West Virginia, had encounters with Indians in that state, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1837. He moved to Far West, Missouri, in 1838; met Joseph Smith, the first president of the Mormon Church; suffered persecutions in Missouri; moved to Qunicy, Illinois, in 1839; and served on a mission for the Mormon Church in the Eastern States from 1839-1842. He served in the "Mormon Battalion", but there is a gap in the record from 1846 to 1853. Bigler served as a missionary for the Mormon Church in Hawaii from 1853 to 1855. He married Cynthia Jane Whipple in 1855 and lived in Farmington, Utah. He served on another mission to Hawaii in 1857. Bigler lived in St. George, Utah, for a time and worked on the Mormon Temple there.