Note: We have volume 2 of Ezra T.’s mission journal (1857), but not the first. However, the missing journal apparently formed the basis for several letters to Brigham Young and to the Millennial Star, so reading those gives a good sense of what we’re missing. Transcripts forthcoming.

Letters and Journals

• Orson Pratt, “Appointments,” Millennial Star, 16 Aug. 1856, 18:33:520; announcement of Ezra T. appointment as “the First Counsellor to the President of [the] Church, in Great Britain and adjacent Countries.”

• Orson Pratt, Ezra T. Benson, and James A. Little to Brigham Young, Liverpool, 26 Jul. 1856, CR 1234 1, Reel 54 bx 41 fd 3
• Orson Pratt, Excerpts of Four Letters related to Ezra T. Benson and their 1856–57 British Mission. Includes:
  • “An Epistle of Orson Pratt, to the Saints throughout Great Britain, Ireland, and All European Countries,” Millennial Star, 23 Aug. 1856, 18:34:529–32. Gives details of their call, refers to Ezra as a “son of thunder.”
  • Orson Pratt, Ezra T. Benson, and James A. Little to Brigham Young, Liverpool, 31 Jul 1856, CR 1234 1, Reel 54 bx 41 fd 3; also a second letter written about 16 Aug. 1856, giving details of the British mission and mentioning Ezra. Historical Department Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, CR 1234/1, box 41, folder 3, reel 54
  • Orson Pratt to Brigham Young, 1 May 1857; Church Archives, CR 1234/1, box 41, folder 4, reel 54; refers to Ezra T.’s health.
• Ezra T. Benson and James A. Little to Brigham Young, Liverpool, 29 Aug. 1856, CR 1234 1, Reel 54 bx 41 fd 3

• Ezra T. Benson to Elizabeth Gollaher Benson, St. Louis, 15 Jun. 1856; from photocopy of original from Hunter Cannon. Click here for PDF version., 415K, courtesy of S. Hunter Cannon. (Screen resolution PDF by Ben Parkinson—write in if you need this in higher resolution.) Note on the word “tigeous”—the 1857 journal includes a similar spelling.

• Ezra T. Benson, Account of a visit to New England (while waiting for the ship to leave for England), in “Mission to England—Reminiscences, etc., discourse delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, January 24, 1858,” in Journal of Discourses, 6:177–84.

• E. T. Benson to Brigham Young, Liverpool, 21 Nov. 1856, 12 pages, CR 1234 1, Reel 51 bx 38 fd 2. A report on Ezra T.’s visit to Scandanavia, including daily entries from 7 Sep.–14 Oct. 1856, with references to subsequent travel in England and Wales.

• Ezra T. Benson and John Kay to Orson Pratt, Liverpool, 22 Oct. 1856; in Millennial Star, 15 Nov. 1856, 18:46:731–32. A report of Ezra T.’s mission tour in Scandinavia, including daily entries from 14 Sep.–21 Oct. 1856. An abridged version appears in Andrew Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission [Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News Press, 1927], 115–17.

• Brigham Young to Orson Pratt (and Ezra T. Benson), 30 Oct. 1856, BY letterbooks, LDSCA CR 1234 1 box 3 vol. 3 pp.139–48; transcribed mostly from typescript in MS 2736 Box 3 folder 5 letterbook vol. 3]

• E. T. Benson to Orson Pratt, Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland, 16 Dec. 1856; in Millennial Star, 10 Jan. 1857, 19:2:26–27. Tours of Ireland and Scotland, daily entries for 27 Nov.–15 Dec. 1856. 

• Ezra T. Benson to O. Pratt, 7 Jan. 1857; in Millennial Star, 31 Jan. 1857, 19:5:75–77. Leeds, Bradford, Cheltenham, etc. Daily entries from 17 Dec. 1856–7 Jan. 1857.

• Brigham Young to E. T. Benson, G. S. Lake City, 26 Jan. 1857; LDSCA CR 1234 1 reel 4 p. 317.

• Ezra T. Benson to John Taylor, London, England, 29 Jan. 1857; in The Mormon, New York, vol. 3 no. 1 (21 Feb. 1857), p. 2; includes a description of a party of the Saints, with banners and toasts. The reference to “Mormon Thunder” is almost certainly to Ezra.

• Ezra T. Benson to B. Young, Liverpool, 28 Mar. 1857; LDSCA CR 1234 1 Reel 51 box 38 fd 2

• E. T. Benson, Journal of Ezra T. Benson, 1857, in Historical Department Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, MS 1531. Daily entries from 7 Apr.–2 Nov. 1857, the end of his mission.

• E. T. Benson to O. Pratt, 19 Mar. 1857; in Millennial Star, 11 Apr. 1857, 19:15:236. A report from Wales
• Orson Pratt to Brigham Young, Liverpool, 1 May 1857, CR 1234 1, Reel 54 bx 41 fd 4

• E.T. Benson to Brigham Young, Bradford, 23 May 1857, 6 pages, LDSCA CR 1234 1, Reel 51 bx 38 fd 2

• Brigham Young to Ezra T. Benson, G.S.L. City, 30 May 1857, LDSCA CR 1234 1, Reel 4, p. 588

• E.T. Benson to Brigham Young, London, 23–24 June 1857, 6 pages, LDSCA CR 1234 1, Reel 51 bx 38 fd 2

• Orson Pratt, Ezra T. Benson, and J. A. Kay to Brigham Young, Liverpool 27 Aug. 1857, 10 pages, CR 1234 1 reel 54 bx 41 fd 4

• Orson Pratt, “A Visit to the Isle of Man,” Millennial Star, (19 Sep. 1857, 19:38:600–605. Gives Orson Pratt’s speech during his and Ezra T.’s tour of the Isle of Man, and relates their encounter with a mob (pp. 604–5). This incident is also described in Ezra T.’s 1857 journal (see above).

• Ezra T. Benson, “Valedictory of Ezra T. Benson,” Journal of Ezra T. Benson, 1857, Historical Department Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, MS 1531, pp. 116–23; see also Millennial Star, 7 Nov. 1857, 19:45:714–15. (This was apparently delivered in writing only.) Transcript by Ben Parkinson.

• E. T. Benson to Brigham Young, San Pedro, California, 5 Dec 1857, 3 pages, LDSCA CR 1234 1, Reel 51, bx 38 fd 2; relates Elder Benson’s trip home from England. They traveled from New York to Panama incognito on a boat filled with soldiers heading for Utah

• E T Benson to Amassa Lyman, Great Salt Lake City, 17 Mar 1858, LDSCA MS 829, b 4 fd 2 (on Selected Collections DVD) 
• “Mission to England—Reminiscences, etc., discourse delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, January 24, 1858,” in Journal of Discourses, 6:177–84.

• “A Discourse, by President E. T. Benson. Delivered in Thorp Street Chapel, Birmingham, October 28, 1856; in Millennial Star, 7 Mar. 1857, 19:10:145–50. Transcript by Ann Potter.
• “A Discourse, by President E. T. Benson, delivered at the Saints’ Hall, Orange Street, Swansea, Wales, November 11, 1856; in Millennial Star, 31 Jan. 1857, 19:5:65–70. Transcript by Ann Potter.
• “Synopsis of a Discourse, delivered by President E. T. Benson, in the Latter-day Saints’ Hall, Belfast, December 4th, 1856; in Millennial Star, 3 Jan. 1857, 19:1:1–4. (Despite the title, this is a transcript, in first person.) Transcript by Ann Potter.
• “A Discourse, Delivered by President Ezra T. Benson, in the Saints’ Meeting Room, Whitechapel, London, Monday, February 2, 1857; in Millennial Star, 25 Apr. 1857, 19:17:265–71. Transcript by Ann Potter.

• “Reformation: Minutes of Meetings Held at 42, Islington, Liverpool, on Wednesday and Thursday Nights, 4th and 5th February, for the Purpose of Commencing the Work of Reformation in the Church in These Lands,” including speeches by Elder Benson; The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 19 No. 9 (28 Feb. 1857), pp.128–33. Transcript by Ben Parkinson.

• “Report of a Conference of the Presiding Elders of the Welsh Conference, Assembled at ‘Udgorn Seion’ Office, Swansea, on Thursday and Friday, the 12th and 13th of March, 1857,” including speeches by Elder Benson; Millennial Star, Vol. 19 No. 19 (9 May 1857), pp. 289–96. Transcript by Ben Parkinson.

• “A Discourse, Delivered by President Ezra T. Benson, at a priesthood meeting, held in the Whitechapel Hall, London, on Monday evening, April 6th, 1857; in Millennial Star, 6 Jun. 1857, 19:23:353–57. Transcript by Ann Potter.
• “Valedictory of Ezra T. Benson,” Journal of Ezra T. Benson, 1857, Historical Department Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, MS 1531, pp. 116–23; see also Millennial Star, 7 Nov. 1857, 19:45:714–15. (This was apparently delivered in writing only.) Transcript by Ben Parkinson.
• “Mission to England—Reminiscences, etc., discourse delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Sunday Morning, January 24, 1858,” in Journal of Discourses, 6:177–84.

References by Others

• Excerpt from the Diary of  Evan Samuel Morgan, reference to prophetic promise made by Ezra.
• Caroline Hobbs Watterson, Short History of William and Ann Owen Hobbs (offsite), including a reference to another promise by Ezra; see also this related account in “The Family of William Hobbs (1808–1846) and Ann Owen Hobbs (1809–1894),” by Benson Parkinson, this site’s webmaster (also available in PDF format).