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Letter from Daniel Shearer, 5 June 1844

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Letter from Daniel Shearer, 5 June 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Greene Co., IN, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 5 June 1844; handwriting and signatures presumably of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, docket, and notations.
One leaf measuring 12⅜ × 7½ inches (31 × 19 cm). The leaf is ruled with thirty-seven horizontal lines printed in blue ink (now mostly faded). The top, left, and bottom edges of the recto have the square cut of manufactured paper; the right edge is uneven, which suggests the leaf was hand cut or torn from a book or larger sheet. The letter was written on both sides of the leaf in blue ink, trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, remnants of which appear on both sides of the leaf. Someone—likely —then made a notation in graphite on the address panel. At some point, an unidentified individual added numerals in graphite on the verso of the letter. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The document was apparently listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The letter’s early docket, its apparent listing in the circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [4], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL. The inventory lists a document from 1844 identified as “Letter to Daniel 〈Shearer〉 to,” which is likely this letter.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

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

Historical Introduction

On 5 June 1844, member wrote a letter from , Indiana, to JS in , Illinois, describing what he believed to be an injustice that occurred at a hearing in in 1838. Following conflicts in fall 1838 between Latter-day Saints in Missouri and Missourians antagonistic toward the church, JS and numerous other Saints, including Shearer, had been arrested on charges of treason, murder, arson, and burglary, among others. From 12 to 29 November 1838, Judge of the fifth judicial circuit in Missouri held a court of inquiry, or a preliminary hearing, for these men to determine whether the state possessed sufficient evidence to hold a full trial. Shearer explained in this letter to JS that during the hearing, church member testified that told him to leave his home by the next morning. Asa Cook then testified that Bogart, a captain in the Missouri state militia, had not ordered Parsons off his land. When the clerk taking Cook’s testimony read his testimony back to him, Cook asked that his comment about Bogart and Parsons be struck from the record. Judge King, however, persuaded Cook to sign the testimony without correction, which Shearer characterized as persuading him “to Swear to a lie.”
may have written his statement because of ongoing efforts in the church to document and publish accounts of the persecution church members experienced in during the 1830s and their expulsion from the state in 1838–1839. Between late 1843 and early 1844, the Saints appealed to the citizens of several different states—including , , , , and Tennessee—to help church members gain redress from Missouri. Several of these communications recounted in detail church members’ experiences in Missouri. , who was not a Latter-day Saint, also petitioned Congress for redress on the Saints’ behalf, outlining the persecutions they had suffered. This petition was submitted to Congress in April 1844. Shearer may have believed it important to note another example of Missouri’s injustice to the Saints.
stated in this 5 June 1844 letter that he was describing the event from 1838 because he did not believe ’s action was public knowledge. He also stated that he sent this information to JS so he could include it in the church’s history, if he felt so inclined, and suggested publishing it in “yor paper,” which could have referred to the church’s newspaper Times and Seasons or the local paper, Nauvoo Neighbor.
was evidently on his way to to fulfill an assignment to preach and electioneer for JS when he stopped in and wrote the letter. A graphite notation on the letter—likely by Shearer—suggests that it was sent to JS via , who was the postmaster in , Illinois. The letter probably arrived in by late June. It is unclear whether JS saw this letter before his death on 27 June, but in the mid-1850s, Shearer provided a similar statement to those working on JS’s history in Utah Territory, asserting that the information about the hearing still had “never been made public.”

Footnotes

  1. “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839.”

  2. Madsen, “Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry,” 94, 96–97. Shearer was discharged at the end of the court of inquiry.

    Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry: Austin A. King’s Quest for Hostages.” BYU Studies 43, no. 4 (2004): 93–136.

  3. Thorit Parsons, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), pp. [119]–[120]; Asa Cook, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), pp. [122]–[123], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”

  4. General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, 21 Nov.–ca. 3 Dec. 1843; Benjamin Andrews, “An Appeal to the People of the State of Maine,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Jan. 1844, [1]; Sidney Rigdon, “To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, in Legislative Capacity Assembled,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 31 Jan. 1844, [1]; Joseph Young and Phineas Richards, “An Appeal, to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 7 Feb. 1844, [2]; [Alphonso] Young, “An Appeal to the State of Tennessee, by A. Young,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 28 Feb. 1844, [1]; Noah Packard, Memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, 5 Mar. 1844, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 24 Apr. 1844, [2].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  5. JS et al., Memorial to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 28 Nov. 1843, Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC.

  6. Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 6–9 Apr. 1844, 36–37. Shearer attended conferences of Latter-day Saints as he traveled to New York. In June 1844 he attended a conference in Pleasant Garden, Indiana, about fifty miles north of Fairplay. (“Minutes of a Conference Held in Pleasant Garden, Putman County, IA. [IN], June 1844,” Times and Seasons, 15 July 1844, 5:582.)

    Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  7. Register of All Officers and Agents, 261 (second numbering). This notation contains Chaffin’s name and mentions La Harpe. Additionally, two sets of numerals were added to the document in graphite by an unidentified individual. Those numerals could possibly be calculations of postage. Shearer may have sent the letter through Chaffin because postmasters could send and receive mail free of postage. (An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], Public Statutes at Large, 18th Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 64, p. 110, sec. 27.)

    Register of All Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1833; with the Names, Force, and Condition of All Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. . . . Washington DC: William A. Weaver, 1833.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

  8. Daniel Shearer, Statement, ca. 1854–1856, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

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Green Co Ind. june th[e] 5th 1844
To
To joseph Smith of the — There is one thing that took place in the State of that I have never heard any thing Said about that I think the publick are entitled to as follows v’z, Circuit judge of the 5th judicial Circuit while <​he​> sat as presiding judge at the Court of investigation when the Mormon prisioners were under examination he () did persuade a man to Swere to a lie— the Circumstances were as follows— A man by the name his given name I do not Recollect testafied that came to his house with twenty men or Rising & Commanded him to leave his premices by the mext [next] morning Eight O’ C, or he would meet with troubel &c he the Said Stated that a man by the name Acy or Ahas (& I dont Recollect which) [Asa] Cook was in the company; Then the Said Cook was Called up to tell what he knew on the Subject he agreed with in all things only he Said he did not hear any body order off; after he got through the Clerk I have forgot his name he had one Side of nose bit off either by man[,] cancer or some other way (he the Clerk) read over the testamony to Cook as he had taken it down & when he came to those words I did not hear any body order him off Cook requested to have that Scratched out Remarked I understood you so Cook acknowledged that he did Say So but requested the Second time to have those words eraced before he would Sign his name to it then Spoke to him in a low tone of voice & said let it Stand would not allow the man to correct his own <​testamony​> Story thereby persuading the man to Swear to a lie— I have w[r]itten the above to you that if you Shall think it worth putting to the history of the Church you are [at?] liberty to use it as Such
With the highest esteem I Remain your friend forever
N,B, the above may want the grammattical Errors corrected But as for the story as the Lord livith it is true
[p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Daniel Shearer, 5 June 1844
ID #
1380
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Daniel Shearer

Footnotes

  1. According to Parsons, this incident occurred on 24 October 1838 in Caldwell County, Missouri. As tensions mounted between the Latter-day Saints concentrated in Caldwell County and Missourians in neighboring counties, residents of Ray County feared that church members from Caldwell County would invade their county. A company of the Ray County regiment of the state militia, under the command of Captain Bogart, requested and received orders from a local magistrate to range the borderline between the two counties. Bogart and his company of thirty-five men began harassing Saints living along the border of the two counties, including in the small settlements just within Caldwell County. They took three church members captive, precipitating a rescue attempt. In the resulting skirmish between church members and Bogart’s company, on 25 October, three church members and one Ray County resident were killed. (Thorit Parsons, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], p. [119], in State of Missouri, “Evidence”; “Part 3: 4 November 1838–16 April 1839.”)

  2. Parsons testified that he thought “Lieut Cook was also of the company, and was ordered by the Capt to go in and look for guns.” (Thorit Parsons, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], p. [120], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

  3. Cook stated, “On the day before the battle with Bogart, I was in the edge of Cal[d]well, but heard no man, nor did I myself, order Thorit Parsons or any other man, away from his home.” He continued, “I never heard Capt Bogart say any thing to this man like ordering him off.” (Asa Cook, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], p. [122], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

  4. This clerk may have been Orville H. Searcy, a schoolteacher in Ray County who helped write the testimonies of the witnesses. (Historical Introduction to State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason.)

  5. In Missouri, prosecution witnesses were required to be examined under oath by the judge. The judge or a designated clerk was required to record the witness’s testimony, following which the witness reviewed the written testimony and, if it was accurate, either signed it or marked it with an X, thereby swearing to its truthfulness. (Historical Introduction to State of Missouri v. Gates et al. for Treason.)

  6. In several issues of the Nauvoo Neighbor in 1843, a call was made for those “having in possession, any documents, facts, incidents, or other matter, in any way connected with the history of said church” to “hand the same in, at President Joseph Smith’s office, 2d story of the brick store; or forward (post paid) by mail.” (See, for example, “Church History,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 24 May 1843, [3]; “Church History,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 31 May 1843, [4]; and “Church History,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 14 June 1843, [4].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

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