Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840
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Source Note
, Letter, , Herefordshire, England, to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 7 May 1840. Featured version copied [between ca. June 1840 and 27 Aug. 1841] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 151–153; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 7 May 1840, wrote a letter from , England, to JS in , Illinois. Young had arrived in a month earlier, in company with fellow , , , and . Young wrote to the from the nearby town of only eight days before he composed this letter, reporting on a 15 April general of the held in , England. As in his previous letter, Young in this 7 May letter requested direction on the management of church affairs in England, specifically asking about publishing the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. He also inquired about the leadership role of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and asked where immigrating Saints were to settle in the Nauvoo area.The original letter has not been located. copied the letter into JS Letterbook 2 sometime before his death in August 1841, and possibly in June or July 1840. At the end of the letter, Thompson included a note, probably inscribed at the same time he copied the letter: “The Answer was sent by which gave them permission to publish the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and covenants and Hymn Book, but not to any into the of the , and likewise some general instructions. the letter was sent on the 19th day of July 1840—.” The response Thompson summarized was not copied into JS’s letterbooks, and no other version has been located.
Footnotes
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1
These apostles arrived in Liverpool on 6 April 1840 along with Reuben Hedlock, a member of the Seventy. (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 9 Mar. and 6 Apr. 1840, 92.)
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
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3
“Death of Col. Robert B. Thompson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:519–520. The letter is followed by items dated June and July 1840. (See Minutes, 2 July 1840, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 154; and Letter from William W. Phelps, with Appended Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 29 June 1840.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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4
Note, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 153. Snow arrived in England, carrying JS’s letter, on either 21 or 22 October 1840. (JS History, vol. C-1, 1119; Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to “E. McConougley,” [1841], in Snow, Letterbook, [15].)
Snow, Lorenzo. Letterbook, ca. 1839–1846. CHL.
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