The Flask of Whiskey

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Why did Henry W. Miller carry a flask of whiskey in his back pocket, a six shooter on one hip and a bowie knife on the other while residing in Kanesville in 1849?

a.                  To scare off anyone that wanted to rob him

b.                  He wasn’t a member, but living with the Saints

c.                   He was an Indian fighter

d.                  It was a disguise he needed to perform his calling

Yesterday’s answer:

C   See Joseph Smith

From the life of Edwin Dilworth Woolley Sr.:   That same year, George A. Smith and Lorenzo D. Barnes, two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in eastern Ohio. Edwin’s wife, Mary Wickersham Woolley, was baptized November 26, 1837, but Edwin was yet undecided. He did, however, have a burning desire to see the man Joseph Smith but the distance from Rochester to Kirtland where the Prophet was living was between 80 to 90 miles. Edwin and Mary soon made the journey, however, and they did it on horseback between sunrise and sunset, a notable accomplishment duly recorded in the files of the county as “Ed Woolley’s wild ride to see the Prophet Joseph Smith.”

When Edwin and Mary made that jaunt to Kirtland, it was during a period of severe persecution of the Mormons, so much so that Joseph Smith had been forced to leave that part of the country for a season. Therefore, the Woolleys were not able to meet him at that time. They did, however, find “Father Smith,” who was in hiding in Portage, Ohio. Edwin invited him to go home with them, which he did, spending the winter months in Columbiana County.

It was during his sojourn in the Woolley home that Edwin was baptized on December 24, 1837; and then, the following Sunday, he was ordained a high priest and set apart to preside over the branch of the Church in East Rochester.

International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Museum Memories, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Talon Printing, 2011), 3: 310.