Preston on the 4th

We spent the 4th of July in Preston and the weekend in Liverpool. Preston being an ancestral site for Alex's family and Liverpool being the home of the Beetles (although we did absolutely nothing involving them). In Preston, Alex spent a few hours at the City Center scouring family files and I took the kids and checked out Miller and Avenham Parks and Fishergate Avenue. Just inside the park was a small area devoted to a Japanese garden (or "rock garden" which I understand was added in the 1930s) and just inside the garden was a headstone of church history.

First Latter-day Saints in Great Britain

Near this spot on 30 July 1837, the first British converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were baptized by immersion in the River Ribble. Elder Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, baptized six men and three women. George D. Watt, first, and then Charles Miller, Thomas Walmesley, Ann Elizabeth Walmesley, Miles Hodgson, Henry Billsbury, Mary Ann Brown, Ann Dawson, and George Wate.

The Prophet Joseph Smith had sent Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, with Williard Richards, Joseph Fielding, John Goodson, Isaac Russell, and John Snider from America to the British Isles. They arrived in Liverpool on 19 July 1837. They traveled first to Preston where the Rev. James Fielding, Elder Fielding’s brother, permitted them to preach in the Independent chapel on Vauxhall Road. The first converts came from his congregation. Further use of the chapel being denied, they preached in the Market Square near the Obelisk, then met for nearly three years in the “Cockpit” or Temperance Hall near Stoneygate. The Preston branch of the Church was established with 28 members on 6 August 1837 at the home of Ann Dawson at 21 Pole Street. Regularly-scheduled meetings are still held in Preston, the oldest continuous Latter-day Saint congregation in the world. In the following two decades, more than 75,000 people joined the Church in Britain. Many of them emigrated to the United States to join the main body of the Church in Illinois and later, in Utah. Those who stayed constituted the nucleus of the Church as it expanded throughout the British Isles.

British 150th Anniversary Committee

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint

1987

A smaller stone nearby read:

THE MISSIONARY OAK

BETWEEN 1837 AND 1987 OVER 20,000 "MORMON" MISSIONARIES LABOURED IN THE BRITISH ISLES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR FELLOW BEINGS. THIS OAK TREE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY THE YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN OF THE LEEDS STAKE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS TO HONOR THE FAITHFUL LATTER-DAY SAINT MISSIONARIES - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

After the kids waited patiently for me to copy the text, we set off to explore the rest of the park. We discovered a statue of Edward Smith-Stanely, 14th Earl of Derby, whom I don't know much about other than he was a politician and former British Prime Minister (and his dad was Frederick Authur Stanley, who is most famous for presenting the Stanley Cup). Near the Earl was something that really caught Justin's attention: a giant spider and his web lying on the lawn! (They were actually made of shrubs but were still a little scary and very cool!)

Next we walked along the River Ribble and onto Tram Road Bridge, where we saw a heard of geese. Justin reminded me (from previous experience) that ducks are nice and geese are mean - it's a good thing they were on the other side of the river. We hiked back up to the main path and heard music to our ears - literally - an ice cream truck! So we ran out of the park and purchased a few Fabs (half popsicle, half ice cream dipped in chocolate and covered with sprinkles, all on a stick) and sat and enjoyed the sun.

We spent the next hour wandering through the shops on Fishergate Avenue and found an awesome toy shop that we played in until McKenzie announced that she "had to go really bad!" So we ran (again) back to the mall, took care of business, and waited to meet Alex.