In his letter to Wilkinson, Israel claimed to have received with his invitation a photocopy of the October 21, 1865 issue of the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star (a different copy is depicted above). The issue begins with an apostolic call to turn in any copies of Lucy’s history for destruction—precisely the difficult past Israel ruffled Wilkinson about. Israel’s claim is difficult to assess. On the one hand, outright lying seems unlike Israel; he sincerely believed he was right about Church history and Smith family history. Then again, why would Wilkinson’s secretary have included a copy of this issue in an invitation? It would have been meaningless to many potential recipients if included in every invitation, and the only reason to send it to Israel would seem to be to antagonize him. Perhaps this will remain one of the historical record’s mysteries. | Source: Brigham Young, et al., “Hearken, O Ye Latter-day Saints, and All Ye Inhabitants of the Earth Who Wish to Be Saints, to Whom this Writing Shall Come,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, October 21, 1865, 662–663. Courtesy of L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Via Digital Collections, BYU Library. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/8487.Download Original File
Source
Brigham Young, et al., “Hearken, O Ye Latter-day Saints, and All Ye Inhabitants of the Earth Who Wish to Be Saints, to Whom this Writing Shall Come,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, October 21, 1865, 662–663. Courtesy of L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Via Digital Collections, BYU Library. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/8487.
