Title: The Life and Adventures of Eli Wiggill: South African 1820 Settler, Wesleyan Missionary, and Latter-Day Saint
Author: Fred E. Woods, Jay H. Buckley, and Hunter T. Hallows
Publisher: Greg Kofford Books
Genre: Religious Non-Fiction
Year Published: 2024
Number of Pages: 279
Binding: Paperback, eBook
ISBN-13: Paperback: 978-1-58958-804-2
Price: $31.95 (paperback) /$20.99 (ebook)
Reviewed by Richard Ji for the Association for Mormon Letters
The Life and Adventures of Eli Wiggill: South African 1820 Settler, Wesleyan Missionary, and Latter-Day Saint, edited by Fred E. Woods, Jay H. Buckley, and Hunter T. Hallows, publishes and annotates the autobiography of the life of Eli Wiggill. Eli Wiggill was born in England, migrated to South Africa, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and moved to Salt Lake City during the mid-nineteenth century.
The book begins with a Preface and Acknowledgements. It ends with a Bibliography of sources used for the annotations, which provide context and clarity to the manuscript. It also has an Index. Wiggill’s handwritten, four-volume original manuscript is housed at the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University Provo. A couple of typescript versions of Wiggill’s autobiography were produced by descendants over the years, which made some editorial changes and additions. This Kofford edition seeks to create a typescript that exactly matches the original manuscript and heavily annotates it to “assist and inform the reader regarding flora, fauna, geographical locations, bibliographical information, historical background, etc.” (p. xii). The book retains as much as possible the precise grammar and original spelling of the manuscript. So, Eli Wiggill’s voice is heard as he recorded it.
It is probably safe to say that Eli Wiggill is not a man most Latter-Day Saints have heard of. His story may not be one of extraordinary features that might distinguish him from many of his time. However, his life’s journey, which spans across three continents and includes conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints while serving as a Wesleyan missionary, is noteworthy. Because we are hearing Wiggill’s voice directly, readers get a sense of the mindsets, terminology, and culture of people in the 19th century. This voice, as recorded from his time in South Africa, is particularly fascinating as his journeys intersect broader contours of South African history quite well. Matters such as wars with indigenous peoples, issues with the local Dutch settlers, and the discovery of diamonds and gold are a few examples. Readers who may be descendants of Wiggill or have a particular interest in South African history might find The Life and Adventures of Eli Wiggill interesting. For general readership, this book provides a time machine back to a day when most normative mindsets and speech then would be controversial when looking at it from a modern social justice lens. Beyond that, much of the content is pedestrian, which one might expect from an autobiography.
Editors Fred E. Woods, Jay H. Buckley, and Hunter T. Hallows should be commended for their thorough and diligent contribution to the scholarly canon of Latter-Day Saint history. Clearly, a tremendous amount of effort went into this. So much has been documented regarding early church members from North America and Western Europe. By comparison, the experiences of early members around the world are comparatively lacking. The Life and Adventures of Eli Wiggill can be appreciated for helping to provide more readily accessible source material for future studies of early members from lesser-known areas of the world. Published in paperback form, this book comes in at a pricey $31.95. So, it may not be a volume for mass readership but a valuable contribution, nonetheless.
The Life and Adventures of Eli Wiggill: South African 1820 Settler, Wesleyan Missionary, and Latter-Day Saint, edited by Fred E. Woods, Jay H. Buckley, and Hunter T. Hallows, is a fascinating look into the “early history of the church and the global gathering of its members” (rear cover) from the lens of Eli Wiggill. Thank you to Greg Kofford Books for their willingness to publish this important contribution to the scholarly record.