David Lester McBride's Mission

I've spent a few of my lunch breaks at the Church History Library trying to flesh out the story of David Lester's mission in 1908. Here is what I have found so far:

Sometime in September 1907, 25-year-old David Lester McBride (from what I can surmise from the documents, he preferred to go simply by "Lester") received a letter from the office of President Joseph F. Smith. The letter, no longer extant, encouraged Lester to enroll in a missionary training course. His September 17 reply, received two days later in Salt Lake City, read:

Dear Brother, 

I received your letter asking me to take a Missionary Course. I will be glad to report to the college on the first [of] the year & take up my studies. 

Your Brother,
Lester McBride1

Mission calls and letters were usually sent at the recommendation of an individual's bishop, and it was expected that the candidate would send an acceptance letter such as the one above. My assumption is that the course at "the college" was one offered at the Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) in nearby Logan.

After completing the course, Lester was again recommended for missionary service, and on June 20, the President's Office again sent him a letter, this one consisting of a call to serve in the Eastern States Mission. He replied as follows:

Jos. F. Smith 

Dear Brother,

I received your letter dated June 20 & was pleased to receive the call. I am willing to go at [the] time set. A month later would be better for me, but I will go when ever you say. 

Your Brother,
Lester McBride2

The letter, dated June 23, was endorsed by Hyrum 3rd Ward Bishop James J. Facer and was received two days later. It is difficult to say whether David Lester reported on the date the call suggested or waited a month because, again, the mission call itself is not extant (as far as I know). The Hyrum 3rd Ward Manuscript History, however, dates his departure from the ward to October 18, 1908. It is possible he waited a few weeks to help with the harvest.3

Twenty-seven was not an unusually high age for a missionary at that time, though it was a few years older than the average. My small sampling of missionary ages from 1907 to 1911 suggests that the typical age was between 23 and 25.

David Lester arrived at the mission headquarters in Brooklyn, New York on October 27 and was immediately assigned to the Brooklyn Conference (a unit comparable to a modern LDS district).4 There he remained for at least the first thirteen months of his mission. During that time, his name appeared occasionally in the Liahona Elders' Journal, an official Church periodical that covered missionary work around the world.

On May 30, 1909, he attended a conference meeting at which B. H. Roberts (one of the Presidents of the Seventy) and Eastern States Mission President Ben E. Rich spoke to the missionaries in the area. During the afternoon meeting, the mission leadership discussed plans with the Elders for their work during the summer months. They decided "that all the elders, with the exception of three or four who will remain in the cities to look after the members, should go in the country for the summer." The Liahona continues:

Accordingly, on the 1st of June, six pairs of elders started for the country, without purse or scrip. After being out about two weeks they now report that never in their missionary experience have they enjoyed their work as they have done since traveling without purse or scrip, relying on the Lord to raise up friends to minister to their needs.... The Mayor of Hawley [Pennsylvania], upon learning who Elders David L. McBride and Clarence Burgess were, and what their mission was, gave them a hearty welcome to the city, and took them to the hotel, where he introduced them to the proprietor and told him to take care of them at his expense.5

According to a Deseret News correspondent in New York, the elders would canvas five counties (Sussex, Sullivan, Warren, Monroe and Pike) spanning three states (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey). These counties had been selected because they had "been hurriedly traveled over for several summers and give promise of a good work among the people. The country at this time of year is delightful and the people generally most hospitable. The sections selected are farming districts with villages scattered within easy distances."6

Near the conclusion of the warm season, David Lester and companion were mentioned again in the Liahona's Eastern States Mission report, this time in another town somewhere in the country surrounding New York:

Elders David L. McBride and Wm. O. Clark called upon a Catholic priest, and were received very kindly; and excellent supper was prepared for them, after which a pleasant evening was spent in conversation upon religious subjects. Not having room to entertain the elders over night, the priest gave them money to procure a room at the hotel. The next morning, upon learning who the elders were, the hotel proprietor would not accept pay from them although he knew they had been given money to pay their way.7

David and companion returned to the city on October 16. "Elders McBride and Taylor, who have been traveling in the country on a preaching tour, arrived in the city Saturday evening looking hale and hearty, with a decided country-brown tinge, and reporting an excellent time while away."8

These brief anecdotes are merely a few of the dozens of reported success stories in the Liahona about missionaries laboring without purse or script. I have a hard time reconciling the reports with what we know about the general perception of Mormons in 1908, just a few years after the national uproar around the seating of Reed Smoot.

Mission leaders were clearly intent on advocating this approach and undoubtedly chose to cast the experience in a positive light, squelching reports of missionaries being rejected or denied assistance. The whole experience must have been at once exhiliarating and frustrating.

While David Lester McBride was in Brooklyn, he lived at 287 Bainbridge Street. You can read my earlier post about that location here. We also know that, at some point, he had his picture taken at Battery Park in Manhattan with another of his fellow missionaries, an Elder Wallace. I have yet to find any information about the second half of his mission. David Lester departed for home early in August 1910. He traveled with Elder Sessions and Elder Hackett and a Utah businessman named Salsberg.9 Ward records show that he arrived home on or about August 13, 1910, having served 22 months.10

At his funeral, one of his companions, Karl Woods, noted of David Lester's missionary efforts, "He made an excellent missionary and... accomplished more than most men who fill a mission."11 It would be nice to learn more about his experiences. Did he baptize? Did he use his reputed musical talents in his proselytizing? A statistical report for 1909 sheds some light on the accomplishments of the approximately 16 missionaries (8 companionships) comprising the force in the Brooklyn Conference:

    Hours tracting: 8,335 [86 hours per companionship, per month]
    Families visited in tracting: 34,488 [359]
    Families revisited--not Saints: 2,815 [29]
    Hours gospel conversations: 1,765 [18]
    No. gospel conversations: 17,192 [179]
    Number tracts distributed: 62,580 [652]
    Standard church works distributed: 652 [7]
    Other books distributed: 6,064 [63]
    Hall meeting: 231 [2]
    Cottage meetings: 72 [less than 1]
    Open air meetings: 274 [3]
    Baptisms: 17 [less than 1]
    Children blessed: 3 [less than 1]
    Hours spent in study: 7,996 [83]
    Hours spent with members: 1,423 [15]
    B. of M. Lectures: 792 [8]12

Source Notes

1. David Lester McBride, Letter, September 17, 1907, Missionary Acceptances, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
2. David Lester McBride, Letter, June 23, 1908, Missionary Correspondence, Church History Library.
3. "List of Missionaries, Hyrum 3rd Ward," Hyrum Ward Manuscript History, Church History Library. Compiled at the request of Andrew Jenson in 1916, the list contains departure and return dates.
4. Eastern States Mission, Manuscript History, October 28, 1909, Church HIstory Library.
5. "The Missions, Eastern States," Liahona Elders' Journal 7 (June 26, 1909), .
6. Janetta Young Easton, "Salt Lakers in Gotham," Deseret News, June 12, 1909.
7. "The Missions, Eastern States," Liahona Elders' Journal 7 (November 13, 1909), .
8. Janetta Young Easton, "Salt Lakers in Gotham," Deseret News, October 23, 1909.
9. Janetta Young Easton, "Salt Lakers in Gotham," Deseret News, August 20, 1910.
10. "List of Missionaries, Hyrum 3rd Ward," Hyrum Ward Manuscript History.
11. "Lester McBride Funeral Service," clipping from unknown paper in possession of author. I need to do some digging to find out which paper this was published in. It was clearly a Cache Valley paper.
12. "The Missions, Eastern States," Liahona Elders' Journal 8 (January 8, 1909), 501.