Charles Wesley Wandell Preaches the Gospel — Jane Manning's Conversion

Charles Wesley Wandell (1819–1875) was an LDS missionary who in the fall of 1842 was preaching in Wilton, Connecticut, along with a companion. Among those who heard his preaching was Jane Elizabeth Manning, a free Black woman who had been a devout Presbyterian.

Jane later described her conversion: 'Being fully convinced that it was the true gospel, I was baptized.' When she heard Wandell preach, she recognized something she had been missing in her former church—the gifts of the Spirit, the authority of the priesthood, and the fullness of the gospel. She and several members of her family were baptized.

Wandell also served as branch president of the Connecticut branch and helped organize the group of Saints that would travel to Nauvoo. Tragically, when Jane and her family were refused passage on the canal boat in Buffalo due to their race, Wandell—their branch president—refused to intervene or pay on their behalf, which forced Jane to lead her family on the famous 800-mile walk.

Despite this painful treatment by Wandell, Jane's faith in the gospel remained unshaken. She never blamed the restored Church for the failures of its members. Her conversion stands as one of the most extraordinary accounts of spiritual discernment in early Church history—the Spirit bore witness to her so powerfully that she walked 800 miles barefoot to join the Saints.

Jane said: 'My faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is as strong today, nay, it is if possible stronger than it was the day I was first baptized.'

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

When about fourteen years old, I joined the Presbyterian Church. Yet I did not feel satisfied; it seemed to me there was something more that I was looking for. I had belonged to the Church about eighteen months when an elder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was traveling through our country [and] preached there. The pastor of the Presbyterian Church forbid me going to hear them—as he had heard I had expressed a desire to hear them—but nevertheless, I went on a Sunday and was fully convinced that it was the true gospel he presented and I must embrace it. The following Sunday I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. About three weeks after, while kneeling at prayer, the gift of tongues came upon me and frightened the whole family who were in the next room. One year after I was baptized I started for Nauvoo with my mother, Eliza Manning; my brothers, Isaac, Lewis, and Peter; my sisters Sarah Stebbings, and Angeline Manning; my brother-in-law Anthony Stebbings; Lucinda Manning, a sister-in-law and myself. We started from Wilton, Connecticut, and traveled by canal to Buffalo, New York. We were to go to Columbus, Ohio, before our fares were to be collected, but they insisted on having the money at Buffalo and would not take us farther. So we left the boat and started on foot to travel a distance of over eight hundred miles. We walked until our shoes were worn out, and our feet became sore and cracked open and bled until you could see the whole print of our feet with blood on the ground. We stopped and united in prayer to the Lord; we asked God the Eternal Father to heal our feet and our prayers were answered and our feet were healed forthwith.