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Cover
Custom art
Title + dedication
Sheet 1
Story spreads
16
The real story
17 quotes · 3 photos
Back cover
Blurb + brand
The Day the Gospel Came
The Day the Gospel Came
A Rowley Family Story
This story belongs to
— — — — — — — —
The Day the Gospel Came
KindredPages
Dedication
For Tammy Merrell, A decendant of Ann Jewell and her son Samuel Rowley. Hero's to us all.
 
Spread 1
On a green hill in England stood a farm called Mars Hill - hop vines on their poles, fruit trees leaning over the lane, and Ann Jewell Rowley, who knew every sound her old door made.
1
In the evenings, when the work was done, Ann would sit very still and feel a question she didn't have words for. William felt it too. There must be more. There must be more.
2
Spread 2
Spread 3
Far away - across an ocean, across the hills - a young man named Wilford Woodruff was walking toward them. He didn't know their names yet. He only knew that God had said: Go south. They are waiting.
3
Then one evening, when the light was low - knock, knock, knock. The first knock.
4
Spread 4
Spread 5
There stood a stranger, dusty to his knees, with a little journal in his coat. "I've come a very long way," he said, "to tell you something wonderful." And William and Ann opened the door wide.
5
So Wilford told them, by the fire, while the shadows grew long - and the question Ann had carried for so many years began, at last, to feel like an answer.
6
Spread 6
Spread 7
"Stay with us," the family said, "and preach to all our neighbors." So Wilford stayed. Evening after evening, neighbors came to listen - some curious, some quiet, all leaning a little closer.
7
But not everyone was glad. Some men grumbled. Some men whispered in doorways. And then, in the dark, a mob of men came - hands balled into fists, faces hard as stone. They were coming down the lane.
8
Spread 8
Spread 9
Then one night - BANG. BANG. BANG. A different kind of knock. Angry men crowded the dark lane, and their shout came right through the door: "We want Woodruff - and we are going to get him!"
9
William stood in the doorway in his nightshirt - not very tall, not very fierce - and did not move. "If you get him," said William, "it will be over my dead body."
10
Spread 10
Spread 11
The men were rough with William before they melted away into the dark. But they did not get past him. Upstairs their guest slept safe - and in the morning, as Ann bound up his bruises, she thought her quiet husband was the bravest man in all of England.
11
That spring was the driest anyone could remember - and still every fruit tree stood white and sweet with blossom. Ann stepped outside and breathed it all in - the blossoms, the quiet, the feeling that she had found, at last, the thing she had been looking for so long. She belonged now, all the way through, and her heart was full.
12
Spread 12
Spread 13
On a bright May morning she walked to a quiet pool called Nightingale Bower, where the water held the sky. There was a baby coming that summer - her first - and when Wilford brought her up out of the water, he smiled. "Today I have baptized two," he said. "A mother - and her little one."
13
Later that spring, William waded into the water too. Ann watched from the bank, blossoms at her back, and the question they had carried together became an answer for good.
14
Spread 14
Spread 15
The baby came in July, and they named him John. And one day - knock, knock, knock - there stood their old friend Wilford, back from his long roads. He looked at little John a good while, and then he laughed. "Ah," he said. "You and I have met before."
15
Mars Hill looked just the same - the hops on their poles, the same old door facing the lane. But some knocks bring strangers, and some bring trouble, and some bring back a friend. At Mars Hill, they always opened the door.
16
Spread 16
Behind the story
The real words behind it
This story really happened. William and Ann Rowley were living at Mars Hill in England when a knock came at their door - a preacher named Wilford Woodruff, directed south by what he believed was an answer to prayer. The Rowleys took him in and heard his message gladly. One night a mob came demanding him, and William stood in that doorway and held his ground. Ann was baptized while she was seven months pregnant with her first son, John, who would be born that July. Wilford Woodruff came back to visit - and met the little fellow himself. Turn the page to see the real faces, and the words written down by the people who were there.
The real story · photographs
Ann Jewell Rowley
Ann Jewell Rowley
William Rowley
William Rowley
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Behind the story · 1 of 3
Page 2
Page 2
"the 600 members of the United Brethren, including William and Ann Jewell Rowley"
Page 3
Page 3
"The answer I received was that I should go to the south; for the Lord had a great work for me to perform there, as many souls were waiting for His word."
Page 5
Page 5
"They received him and his message gladly, inviting him to make his home with them while he preached in the neighborhood."
Page 6
Page 6
"Wilford Woodruff visited the Rowley home at Mars Hill and preached the gospel to the family."
Behind the story · 2 of 3
Page 7
Page 7
"inviting him to make his home with them while he preached in the neighborhood"
Page 8
Page 8
"a mob of men came to their door"
Page 9
Page 9
"We want Woodruff, and we are going to get him. ... One night while Elder Woodruff was staying at their home, a mob of men came to their door and Grandpa opened the door and asked them what they wanted."
Page 10
Page 10
"If you get him it will be over my dead body."
Behind the story · 3 of 3
Page 11
Page 11
"took hold of Grandfather and dragged him out into the yard"
Page 13
Page 13
"he was baptizing two members into the Kingdom of God, mother and child ... Ann Jewell was seven months pregnant with her Àrst son, John, when she was baptized."
Page 14
Page 14
"The morning light of truth that broke forth across the rolling hills of England fell gently upon the uplifted eyes of these two noble spirits and dispelled forever the darkness of ignorance and error."
Page 15
Page 15
"when he later saw the little fellow on a return visit to the Rowley home ... John would be born two months later on July 14"
ABOUT THIS RECORD
This book was drawn from the journals, kept 1712-2004.
KindredPages
Made with care · 2026
The apple trees are just coming into blossom at Mars Hill when a stranger knocks at the farmhouse door. Ann Rowley doesn't know it yet, but tonight her world will change forever!
Created with KindredPages
kindredpages.studio
 
Cover
direct Verbatim from the journal paraphrase Same meaning, child-friendly wording bridge Connective tissue we wrote
Page 1
Page 1
On a green hill in England stood a farm called Mars Hill - hop vines on their poles, fruit trees leaning over the lane, and Ann Jewell Rowley, who knew every sound her old door made.bridge
Page 2
Page 2
In the evenings, when the work was done, Ann would sit very still and feel a question she didn't have words for. William felt it too. There must be more. There must be more.paraphrase
Page 3
Page 3
Far away - across an ocean, across the hills - a young man named Wilford Woodruff was walking toward them. He didn't know their names yet. He only knew that God had said: Go south. They are waiting.paraphrase
Page 4
Page 4
Then one evening, when the light was low - knock, knock, knock. The first knock.bridge
Page 5
Page 5
There stood a stranger, dusty to his knees, with a little journal in his coat. "I've come a very long way," he said, "to tell you something wonderful." And William and Ann opened the door wide.paraphrase
Page 6
Page 6
So Wilford told them, by the fire, while the shadows grew long - and the question Ann had carried for so many years began, at last, to feel like an answer.paraphrase
Page 7
Page 7
"Stay with us," the family said, "and preach to all our neighbors."paraphrase So Wilford stayed.paraphrase Evening after evening, neighbors came to listen - some curious, some quiet, all leaning a little closer.paraphrase
Page 8
Page 8
But not everyone was glad.bridge Some men grumbled. Some men whispered in doorways. And then, in the dark, a mob of men came - hands balled into fists, faces hard as stone.paraphrase They were coming down the lane.bridge
Page 9
Page 9
Then one night - BANG. BANG. BANG. A different kind of knock. Angry men crowded the dark lane, and their shout came right through the door: "We want Woodruff - and we are going to get him!"direct paraphrase
Page 10
Page 10
William stood in the doorway in his nightshirt - not very tall, not very fierce - and did not move. "If you get him," said William, "it will be over my dead body."direct
Page 11
Page 11
The men were rough with William before they melted away into the dark. But they did not get past him. Upstairs their guest slept safe - and in the morning, as Ann bound up his bruises, she thought her quiet husband was the bravest man in all of England.paraphrase
Page 12
Page 12
That spring was the driest anyone could remember - and still every fruit tree stood white and sweet with blossom.bridge Ann stepped outside and breathed it all in - the blossoms, the quiet, the feeling that she had found, at last, the thing she had been looking for so long.bridge She belonged now, all the way through, and her heart was full.bridge
Page 13
Page 13
On a bright May morning she walked to a quiet pool called Nightingale Bower, where the water held the sky. There was a baby coming that summer - her first - and when Wilford brought her up out of the water, he smiled. "Today I have baptized two," he said. "A mother - and her little one."paraphrase paraphrase
Page 14
Page 14
Later that spring, William waded into the water too. Ann watched from the bank, blossoms at her back, and the question they had carried together became an answer for good.paraphrase
Page 15
Page 15
The baby came in July, and they named him John. And one day - knock, knock, knock - there stood their old friend Wilford, back from his long roads. He looked at little John a good while, and then he laughed. "Ah," he said. "You and I have met before."paraphrase paraphrase
Page 16
Page 16
Mars Hill looked just the same - the hops on their poles, the same old door facing the lane. But some knocks bring strangers, and some bring trouble, and some bring back a friend. At Mars Hill, they always opened the door.bridge
Trim
8.5″ × 8.5″
Pages
42
Spine
0.278"
Format
Print-ready
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