, Letter, , Suffolk Co., MA, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 22 June 1842; handwriting of ; notations in handwriting of ; three pages; Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL. Includes address, docket, and notations.
Bifolium measuring 10⅝ × 7⅞ inches (27 × 20 cm). A section measuring 7⅞ × 4⅝ inches (20 × 12 cm) was removed from the lower section of the second leaf prior to inscription. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. There is separation along the folds. Slight discoloration of the paper has occurred on the address block on the verso of the second page. The document has undergone conservation.
, who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, docketed the document. It was likely filed in JS’s office. The letter came into the possession of , the daughter of and ; Whitney retained this letter and other papers. The letter was passed down in Whitney’s family and came into the possession of her granddaughter Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming. The letter and other papers were passed down to Fleming’s daughter Helen Marian Fleming Petersen. Shortly after Petersen’s death in February 1988, one of her children found this letter and other items in a box in her home. By December 1988, the materials had been donated to the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
See the full bibliographic entry for Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, 1836–1963, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 22 June 1842, wrote a letter from to JS in , Illinois, describing the situation of the and its members in eastern . With the letter, Snow forwarded donations for the construction of the Nauvoo . By the time he wrote this letter, Snow had served several missions for the church in the eastern . In July 1841, while he was proselytizing in , the directed him to move to , Massachusetts, and focus his missionary efforts there. Snow moved to Salem by September 1841, after which he divided his time between Salem and other Massachusetts cities, including Boston, Lynn, and , with occasional trips to and New Hampshire.
In his 22 June 1842 letter, referred to a previous letter he had sent to JS in April, which contained the minutes of a held in . While preaching in the New England area, Snow had collected funds for the , which he then forwarded to Nauvoo. With his 22 June 1842 letter, he sent thirty-eight dollars and six silver spoons donated by the Salem Latter-day Saints. He further asked that JS or acknowledge these donations in the church newspaper, the Times and Seasons, so that church members who had donated would see that he had sent the money and that it had been received by the church in Nauvoo. Snow continued his letter by seeking JS’s advice about Salem Saints who were preparing to migrate to Nauvoo. Snow also described the proselytizing efforts that he, , and were undertaking, as well as a recent series of religious debates between Adams and Dr. George Montgomery West held in . Snow concluded by expressing his concerns regarding ’s preaching and the negative reactions it was receiving in Boston. Maginn had raised similar concerns a month earlier in a letter to JS, and both men looked to JS to correct Nickerson.
Because ’s letter contains no postal markings and was forwarded with donations, it was likely hand carried to . The letter’s courier is unknown, but it may have been the Mr. Alley mentioned in the letter. The letter was received by JS’s Nauvoo office by 11 July 1842, when the donations were recorded in the Book of the Law of the Lord. Despite Snow’s request, neither the April nor June donations were mentioned in the Times and Seasons.
Snow’s April 1842 letter was referenced in the 2 May 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, but it was not reprinted. If Snow sent another letter after his April 1842 letter, JS apparently never received it. (Notice, Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842, 3:778.)
There is a tremenduous excitement here in at present is engaged with in a dissccussion with the great Dr [George Montgomery] West, D,D. foremerly of the Methodist and late of the Episcopalian order and I hardly know what he is now but he has been spreading himself in the chapels and in the papers here of late most dreadfully but he is now brought up all on four against a stump The discussion has been held two evenings as I expect will continue 4 or 5 more unless West backs out it is held in the most popular part of the in Marlboro Chapel Washington St. which will hold near 2,000 3,000 people and the way they turn out and the papers teem with accounts of the debate is a caution to yankee sinners— The saints have hired Boylston Hall for regular preaching it holds near 1,000. though a good hearted old man is nevertheless enthusiasting and childish and unwise and is not the man that ought to be placed in . though by no meanes should he be rob[b]ed of the honor due for what he has done here. Though much more would have been done by a wise elder. He shuts up a great many doors and ears in consequences of a lack of wisdom. He talks to opposers and sectarians of all the mistyries of the Kingdom and thousand wild notions of his own but he is humble yet he dont seem to learn wisdom.
West was from England. He claimed to be an evangelical minister from Ireland, although some in Boston suspected that claim to be spurious. Initially affiliated with the Methodist sect, he joined the American Episcopal church before becoming embroiled in controversy with some of its leaders. In 1834, he joined the Presbyterian church and served as a minister in New York and later Philadelphia. He published a pamphlet titled Analysis of the Rev. Dr. West’s Lectures and Arguments against Infidelity and Other False Theories in March 1842, which disparaged JS and the Latter-day Saints. The initials “D,D.” after West’s name may be an abbreviation for “Doctor of Divinity.” (Chase, Defence of Kenyon College, 5–10; “George Montgomery West,” Episcopal Recorder, 15 Oct. 1836, 114; Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Proceedings and Papers, 170–177; Tyler Parsons, Boston, MA, 14 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Boston Investigator, 15 June 1842, [3]; “Great Discussion on Mormonism,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:863.)
Chase, Philander. Defence of Kenyon College. Columbus, OH: Olmsted and Bailhache, 1831.
Episcopal Recorder. Philadelphia. 1831–1919.
Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. Proceedings and Papers; Session IV. 1851–52. Liverpool: By the author, 1852.
This was an informal idiom, similar to “up a stump,” which signified a difficult situation or a perplexed individual. (“Stump,” in Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, 4:591.)
A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972–1986.
The debate between Adams and West drew significant public attention. It lasted five evenings from Monday, 20 June 1842, through Friday, 24 June 1842. Articles in the Boston newspapers that described the debate agreed that there was a large audience and that Adams was the superior debater who had “the whole Bible at his tongue’s end.” Two such articles from the Bostonian were reprinted in the August issues of the Times and Seasons, and the editorial staff of the Times and Seasons similarly concluded that the debate “resulted in the complete triumph of truth over error and darkness.” (“Dr. West and the Mormons,” Boston Investigator, 22 June 1842, [3]; “The Mormon Discussion,” Boston Investigator, 29 June 1842, [3]; “Great Discussion on Mormonism,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:863–865; “Great Discussion on Mormonism,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1842, 3:886; see also “The Mormons in Salem,” Salem [MA] Register, 2 June 1842, [2]; “Latter Day Saints, or Mormons,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1842, 3:835–836; and “From our Boston Correspondent,” Norfolk Democrat [Dedham, MA], 17 June 1842, [2].)
The First Free Congregational Church in Boston built the Marlboro’ Chapel on Washington Street behind the Marlboro Hotel in 1837. The chapel was the location of several famous lectures, including one by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in July 1838. In describing the chapel, Abel Bowen wrote: “The building is 100 feet long and 72 feet wide, with a cellar under the whole. The basement contains a large vestry and two other rooms, capable of holding about eight hundred persons. The church will seat eighteen hundred persons, and may be considered a very desirable lecture room.” (Garrison, Address Delivered in Marlboro’ Chapel, title page; Bowen, Bowen’s Picture of Boston, 167–168.)
Garrison, William Lloyd. An Address Delivered in Marlboro’ Chapel, Boston, July 4, 1838. Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838.
Bowen, Abel. Bowen’s Picture of Boston, or the Citizen’s and Stranger’s Guide to the Metropolis of Massachusetts and Its Environs. To Which Is Affixed the Annals of Boston. 3rd ed. Boston: Otis, Broaders, 1838.
Boylston Hall was located on the third floor of Boylston Market, at the corner of Boylston and Washington streets in Boston. Constructed in 1810, the hall was used by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston as well as for lectures, concerts, and religious meetings. Bowen described Boylston Hall as “a noble apartment, 100 feet long by 48 feet in breadth, with an arched ceiling 24 feet high,” and estimated that it could seat eight hundred, not including the seating for the orchestra. (Bowen, Bowen’s Picture of Boston, 70–71.)
Bowen, Abel. Bowen’s Picture of Boston, or the Citizen’s and Stranger’s Guide to the Metropolis of Massachusetts and Its Environs. To Which Is Affixed the Annals of Boston. 3rd ed. Boston: Otis, Broaders, 1838.