William Young Empey Papers: Finding Aid
Processed by The Huntington Library staff in March 1988; supplementary encoding and
revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou and Diann Benti.
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Title: William Young Empey Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1847-1890
Bulk dates: 1853-1854
Collection Number: mssHM 52583-52617
Creator:
Empey, William Young,
1808-1890.
Extent:
307 pieces in 2 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection chiefly contains records documenting
the work of William Young Empey (1808-1890) in England and America
as an agent of the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF) of the Mormon Church, chiefly dating from
the early 1850s. There are also letters relating to Empey's service as a missionary in
England and to his personal affairs in later life.
Language: English.
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[Identification of item]. William Young Empey Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Purchased from Ida Terry Empey, 1945.
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
- This collection is related to the Mormon file, approximately 1805-1995.
- The Huntington holds photostatic copy of Empey's diary covering the period of his English mission: William Young Empey diary: photocopy, 1852-1854. (Call number: mssFAC 517).
Biographical Note on William Empey
William Adam Empey (1808-1890) was born July 4, 1808 in modern-day Ontario Province, Canada. He returned to the United States,
the birthplace of his parents and grandparents, sometime
before the year 1844. Although the date and place of his conversion to Mormonism is not
known, he became involved in the Mormon Church before the exodus from Nauvoo and was
"sealed" to Brigham Young as an "adopted son". From this point on, he abandoned his first
middle name and used "Young" quite frequently. In 1847, he participated in Brigham Young's
pioneer expedition to the Great Salt Lake Valley. He never reached the Valley, however, for
Young selected Empey and eight other members of the party to operate the first Mormon ferry
at Upper Crossing on the North Platte River. After arriving in the Valley with a later
emigrant party, he served on the Iron County Mission which settled
Parowan in southern Utah. Then, in 1852, he was called to a mission in England, and
from 1852 through 1854, William Young Empey played an important role in the operations of
the PEF. During his
two-year stint, while still preaching the Church's gospel abroad, he was ordered home to
America and appointed to oversee all preparations of the overland parties in Missouri during
the 1853-54 travel season.
Historical Note on the Perpetual Emigrating Fund
When the Utah territorial legislature incorporated the Perpetual Emigrating Company, more
commonly known as the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF), in 1850, the Mormon "gathering of Zion"
entered a new phase. Although Mormon converts had often been encouraged to migrate from
their present locations to join the main body of believers, little institutional support had
been provided for them. With the establishment of the PEF, however, the Church committed
itself to financing in part or in full the emigration of impoverished Saints converted by
its increasingly successful overseas missions. Drawing in large measure upon the
contributions of the members of the Church already settled in Utah, the PEF assisted nearly
10,000 Saints in emigrating to Zion just between 1852 and 1855. PEF agents, in cooperation
with representatives of the Church's British Mission, organized companies of emigrants early
each year, funneling them through the English port of Liverpool and across the Atlantic on
chartered steamers to New Orleans. From there, river steamers carried the emigrants and
their supplies up the Mississippi to St. Louis and then up the Missouri
to frontier communities such as Westport, the precursor of modern Kansas City, Missouri
which served as the jumping-off points for overland wagon trains destined for the Great Salt
Lake Valley. Other PEF agents in New Orleans, St. Louis and the Missouri frontier towns
received this human cargo, ministered to their needs and forwarded them on to their next
stop. These agents dealt with steamship lines, freighters and merchants throughout the
Mississippi and Missouri river valleys, hiring transportation to carry their charges to the
edge of the settlements and purchasing the enormous quantities of provisions and equipment
necessary to outfit each overland party.
Empey's 1847 diary has been edited by Dale Morgan and published in
Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 21, nos. 2-3 (July-Oct. 1949).
The operation of the P. E. Fund and the process of Mormon emigration is described in
Frederick Piercey,
Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley
(Liverpool and London, 1855), edited by James Linforth.
The bulk of the papers consist of account books, passenger lists, and receipts documenting
William Young Empey's work in England and America as an agent of the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF) of
the Mormon Church. There are also letters relating to Empey's service as a missionary in
England and to his personal affairs in later life.
Among these papers, which concentrate primarily upon the years 1853 and 1854, are lists of
PEF passengers on emigrant vessels from Liverpool, bills of landing and receipts for the
purchase and shipment of many goods to equip the emigrant parties, and receipts and
promissory notes from the emigrants themselves for wagons and teams or supplies purchased
for them by the PEF's agent. These various documents illuminate many phases of the
emigration process and the Church's careful, business-like organization of all the
details.
Some notable items include William Empey's incomplete diary account of the pioneer expedition to the Salt Lake Valley
and the operation of the North Platte ferry (HM 52586), Empey's account book including
accounts kept for the PEF (HM 52587), an 1853 list of Danish Mormons who had provided money
for the purchase of cattle, wagons and other material (HM 52599), lists of P. E. Fund
passengers on board various ships sailing for the United States in 1854 (HM 52603, 52605-07
and 52610-11), and two letters from Samuel W. Richards to Empey discussing Mormon missionary
work in Great Britain and emigration of the Saints to the United States (HM 52593 and
52597).
All items are filed chronologically in two boxes.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company.
Mormon Church -- Colonization -- West (U.S.)
Mormon Church -- Finance.
Mormon Church -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Mormons -- Emigration and immigration.
Mormons -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Mormons -- Missions -- Great Britain.
Ships -- England -- Liverpool -- Passenger lists.
West (U.S.) -- Emigration and immigration -- 19th century -- Sources.
Business records -- Utah -- 19th century.
Financial records -- Utah -- 19th century.
Personal papers -- Utah -- 19th century.
Richards, Samuel W. (Samuel Whitney), 1824-1909.
Box 1
1847-1854 April 13
Box 2
1854 April 24-1890 December 19