The information presented on  this page, including  the copy of the letter written in 1848 by William Ivers Appleby, 

was taken from the website of the State of Utah at:  lib.byu.edu/~imaging/intro/liutt/35watifs.htm.   It would have

been easier to link to the Utah page, but the link did not always work.  Also, sometimes, pages are removed or 

edited from the website and the information is lost entirely.  Appleby Heritage gives full credit to the Utah web 

site  for this information and  this note of appreciation for it's use.   

35. William Appleby, 1811-1870

Handwritten letter signed by William Appleby and addressed to Thomas L. Kane. Dated 9 October 1848.

William Appleby, born in New Egypt, New Jersey, heard Elder Orson Pratt preach the gospel and joined the 

Church on September 21, 1840. In 1841 he was ordained an Elder and sent to labor in New Jersey, Delaware 

and Pennsylvania. Appleby continued in his missionary work and found much success. He assisted with the 

preparations for the departure of Samuel Brannan and company on the ship Brooklyn in 1846. He assisted 

Jesse C. Little in presiding over the Church in the Eastern States and assumed the Presidency in 1847 with 

Little's departure.

Appleby departed with his wife and children to join the Saints at Council Bluffs, arriving on December 2, 1847. 

Subsequently, Brigham Young asked him to return to the Eastern States and aid the Church there. He finally 

made his way to Utah in 1849.

The letter displayed here is another contemporary account of the seagull-cricket episode. Here Appleby quotes 

from a letter sent to him by Joseph Young, Brigham Young's older brother. While presiding over the Church in 

Philadelphia, Appleby no doubt knew Thomas L. Kane very well. Kane used the information concerning the 

seagull-cricket episode in his 1850 discourse on the Mormons.