James Godson Bleak Records the Vision of the Founding Fathers in the St. George Temple (August 1877)

James Godson Bleak, born in London in 1829, was a devoted English convert who gathered to Utah in 1856 as part of the handcart migration and later became the first recorder of the St. George Utah Temple. One of the most remarkable events he witnessed occurred in August 1877.

Wilford Woodruff, then serving as president of the St. George Temple, recounted that the spirits of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence, together with other eminent historical figures, appeared to him in the temple for two consecutive nights. These spirits inquired why their temple ordinances had not yet been performed, declaring that the United States had been established under divine direction to prepare the way for the restoration of the gospel.

Acting on this visionary mandate, Wilford Woodruff enlisted James G. Bleak. On August 21, 1877, Bleak served as the official witness and recorder while Woodruff was baptized by proxy for one hundred eminent men, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus. Bleak himself was baptized for several other prominent figures. His meticulous temple ledgers, personal journals, and the Annals of the Southern Utah Mission document the event.

For Bleak, participating in and officially recording the ordinance work resulting from an apostolic vision was a crowning spiritual privilege, confirming his testimony that the veil between the living and the dead is thin and that temple work is directed by heavenly manifestations.

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

The spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, 'You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to our God.' These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular, that notwithstanding so much work had been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The thought of it made me feel like I was in a dream. I went to the baptismal font and called upon Brother John D. T. McAllister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, and others.