JS, Letter, near Warrington Township, Bucks Co., PA, to , [], 30 Dec. 1839. Featured version published in “Interesting Relic,” Salt Lake Daily Herald, 16 Nov. 1883, [4]–[5]; CHL.
The 16 November 1883 issue of the Salt Lake Daily Herald consists of eight leaves measuring 20½ × 13¾ inches (52 × 35 cm). Each page contains six columns. The copy used for transcription is part of a larger bound volume comprising the issues for July through December 1883.
Edward L. Sloan and William C. Dunbar began publishing the Salt Lake Herald in June 1870, with John T. Caine joining the staff in September of that year. The paper was published daily from 13 August 1870 until 2 March 1889.
University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, “About the Salt Lake Herald.”
University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library. “About the Salt Lake Herald.” Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. Accessed 15 May 2017. http://www. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058130/.
Historical Introduction
JS wrote a letter from near to on 30 December 1839 in response to one Foster had written six days earlier. JS, who had been with Foster in , had arrived in Philadelphia on 21 December to visit in that city and the surrounding areas. Although and followed JS to Philadelphia two days later, Foster remained in the capital, where he preached and continued to provide medical care for . In his letter, Foster had reported on his recent missionary efforts, including an encounter with an argumentative Methodist clergyman, and had briefly reported on Rigdon’s health. In this reply, JS encouraged Foster in his missionary work and updated Foster on the church’s status in Philadelphia and the Delaware River Valley. JS also reported on the efforts of several apostles and other prominent church leaders who were then preaching in that area prior to departing for to serve a mission.
JS’s original letter is apparently not extant, and it is unknown how JS transmitted it to . No response to the letter has been located. Foster apparently retained possession of this letter until his death in 1878. It was published in the Seattle Daily Chronicle in 1883, prefaced with a statement indicating that an unnamed executor of Foster’s estate lent the letter to a man named John R. Kinnear, who allowed a Daily Chronicle reporter to copy and publish its content. No surviving copies of the issue of the Daily Chronicle that printed the letter have been located. The version featured here is one that the Salt Lake Daily Herald reprinted on 16 November 1883 under the title “Interesting Relic.”
Kinnear moved to Seattle from Illinois in 1883 and almost immediately became a prominent figure in local politics. (Bagley, History of Seattle, 2:804–805.)
Bagley, Clarence B. History of Seattle: From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. 2 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1916.
Page [5]
thinks he will get the Universalist church, a large building, for me to preach in. Be assured of our love to yourself and , as ever.—Seattle (W. T.) Chronicle. [p. [5]]
In 1839 there were several Universalist groups in Philadelphia meeting in different buildings. It is unknown to which Universalist church building JS was referring, but it may have been the Universalist church on Fourth and Lombard streets, which opened in the 1790s with a policy that the building would be open to the use of any Christian sect three days per week. (Eddy, Universalism in America, 400–401, 439.)
Eddy, Richard. Universalism in America: A History. Vol. 1, 1636–1800. Boston: Universalist Publishing House, 1884.