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Letter from Amos Ladd, 15 June 1844

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Letter from Amos Ladd, 15 June 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 15 June 1844; handwriting and signature presumably of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes use mark.
Single leaf measuring 12⅛ × 7⅞–8 inches (31 × 20 cm). Both pages are ruled with thirty-five printed horizontal lines. It was later folded, probably for transmission or filing.
Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1856, copied the letter into JS’s history sometime in 1856. By 1973 this letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early inclusion in JS’s history and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. JS History, vol. F-1, 101; Source Note for and Historical Introduction to History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1; see also Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; and Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.

  2. See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 15 June 1844, , the captain of the steam ferry New Purchase, wrote a letter from , Iowa Territory, to JS at , Illinois, requesting information about wharf fees in Nauvoo and denying a rumor that his boat was involved in hostilities against the city. Ladd apparently failed to pay the required wharfage of one dollar during a visit to Nauvoo, and on 11 June the New Purchase reportedly had a writ issued against it. The following day, the New Purchase traveled back to Nauvoo from Fort Madison to transport some of the owners of the Nauvoo Expositor away from Nauvoo. After a posse acting on JS’s order as mayor of Nauvoo destroyed the newspaper’s press on 10 June, some of the Expositor’s proprietors feared that their lives were in danger and sought to leave the city. One of them, , apparently sent a messenger to Fort Madison to secure transportation, and in response to this request, the New Purchase returned to Nauvoo on 12 June with about fifty men from Fort Madison on board to help evacuate JS’s opponents from the city. According to the Lee County Democrat, the steamboat retrieved “a large number of the dissenters with their families and goods” and transported them to , Iowa Territory. reported that this group included him, his wife, , and their three children; his brother Wilson Law; and Sarah Phinney Foster and their child; and two other families, who were unnamed.
In his 15 June letter, featured here, inquired whether a writ had been issued against his ferry for not paying a landing fee in . Ladd also asked JS to apprise him of Nauvoo’s ordinances “regulating wharfage,” as his boat intended to visit the city frequently. After addressing these issues, Ladd denied a rumor that the New Purchase had brought armed men to attack Nauvoo and assured JS that his boat would not participate in any illegal activities.
Although the letter featured here is signed only “A Ladd,” other sources confirm that an lived in , Iowa Territory, and captained a steamboat. In particular, an obituary notes that Ladd “took an excursion on his boat to see the mormon riots and witnessed the shooting of and Joe Smith,” all of which indicates that he is the letter’s author. There are no postal stamps or notations on the letter, which suggests that it was sent to JS by courier. The letter was presumably received in , although there is no known response.

Footnotes

  1. See Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 16 Dec. 1843, 196–197. It is unclear when the New Purchase visited Nauvoo. JS’s journal noted that a ferry from Burlington, Iowa Territory, arrived at the Nauvoo House Landing on 8 June carrying “a pleasure party.” This may refer to the New Purchase. It is also possible that the boat visited Nauvoo on 11 June, the day the writ was reportedly issued. (JS, Journal, 8 June 1844.)

  2. Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 161–162; JS, Journal, 10 June 1844; Law, Diary, 10–12 June 1844, in Cook, William Law, 56; Barnett, “Wilson Law: A Sidelight on the Expositor Incident,” 245; “Outrage at Nauvoo,” Lee County Democrat (Fort Madison, Iowa Territory), 15 June 1844, [2].

    Hallwas, John E., and Roger D. Launius. Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 1995.

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

    Barnett, Steven G. “Wilson Law: A Sidelight on the Expositor Incident.” BYU Studies 19, no. 2 (Winter 1979): 244–246.

    Lee County Democrat. Fort Madison, Iowa Territory. 1841–1847.

  3. “Suicide. Death of Ex-Mayor Ladd,” Mexico (MO) Weekly Ledger, 13 Sept. 1877, [3]; Amos Ladd to M. B. Cox & Co., Promissory Note, 14 Jan. 1842, in Plea of Assumpsit, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, ca. 7 Apr. 1842, M. B. Cox & Co. v. Ladd (1st D. Iowa Terr., Lee Co. 1842), Lee Co., IA, Probate Records, 1838–1950, Probate Packets [North, Ft. Madison], 1837–1850, box C4, case no. 35, microfilm 1,928,358, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; 1840 U.S. Census, Fort Madison, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, 190.

    Mexico Weekly Ledger. Mexico, MO. 1855–1956.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Amos Ladd, 15 June 1844 History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
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Editorial Title
Letter from Amos Ladd, 15 June 1844
ID #
1397
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
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