By Spencer W. McBride
In February 1840, Joseph Smith was in Washington DC petitioning the federal government. He and the church were hoping to be granted redress for the property that the Latter-day Saints had lost as a result of the persecution they experienced in Missouri during the 1830s. While waiting for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on the matter, Joseph spent some of his time preaching to the public. In many ways, this preaching was more about generating positive public relations between the church and the general public than it was about converting people to the church. One such discourse was captured by a well-known journalist, Matthew Livingston Davis, who not only recorded Joseph’s sermon but also described Joseph’s personality and appearance.
Perhaps best known as a biographer of Aaron Burr and a former member of the United States Congress, Davis was working at the time as a correspondent for the London Times and the New York Enquirer. Yet, instead of writing an article about Joseph for one of those papers, Davis penned his description of the Mormon prophet for his wife, Mary, who had apparently expressed curiosity about Joseph and the religious movement he led.
In his letter home, Davis incorrectly estimated that Joseph was between forty and forty-five years old (he was actually only thirty-four) and described him as “rather above the middle stature, and what you ladies would call a good looking man.” Although he was aware of the controversy that often surrounded Joseph, Davis witnessed no pretension in him. “He is not an educated Man: but he is a plain, sensible, strong minded man,” Davis explained. He added, “There is no levity—no fanaticism—no want of dignity in his deportment.” According to Davis, Joseph’s sensibleness also showed in his attire: “In his garb there are no peculiarities, his dress being that of a plain, unpretending Citizen.”
Davis went on to summarize the main points of Joseph’s lengthy discourse, which included the relationship of the Book of Mormon to the Bible, the problems with the Christian concept of original sin, and the eternal nature and divine attributes of God. Davis acknowledged that Joseph’s sermon had not changed his opinion in matters of faith but that it had changed his opinion of the Mormons. “They are an injured and much abused people,” Davis concluded. If Davis had still been in Congress, he might have been able to influence the government’s response to the church’s petitioning efforts (Congress ultimately decided not to act in the Saints’ behalf). But as a private citizen, he could influence what members of his family thought of the Saints’ situation.
Davis died in 1850. Sometime shortly thereafter, ownership of the letter transferred from Mary Davis in New York City to the Church Historian’s Office in Salt Lake City, and a transcript of the letter was included in the Manuscript History of the Church. An annotated transcript of Davis’s account of Joseph’s discourse will be featured in Documents, Volume 7 when it is published in spring 2018.