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Letter from David S. Hollister, 8 January 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Orleans Parish, LA, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 8 Jan. 1843 [1844]; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, dockets, redactions, and notation.
Bifolium measuring 10 × 7⅞ inches (25 × 20 cm). The recto of the first leaf is ruled with twenty-seven horizontal lines printed in blue ink, now faded, and the verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf are ruled with twenty-nine horizontal lines. An embossed logo for the paper mill “Southworth Co.” appears in the top left corner of the recto of the first leaf. The letter was inscribed in blue ink, trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, the remnants of which are present on the recto of the second leaf. This leaf has a hole near the centerfold of the bifolium, likely created when the letter was opened, and there is also a tear at the bottom of the leaf. The document was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, and by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. A notation was added by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The letter was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 this letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and notation, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

  2. [2]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [3]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. [4]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  5. [5]

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

Historical Introduction

On 8 January 1844, wrote a letter from to JS in , Illinois, explaining recent difficulties with regarding the steamboat Maid of Iowa. JS and Jones, who was the boat’s captain, became co-owners of the vessel in June 1843. The following month, JS deeded his share of the boat to his wife . The Maid of Iowa operated on the in September and October 1843, but the river’s rising water level, which allowed larger vessels to travel the river, and the prejudice the Maid of Iowa faced because of its affiliation with the led Jones to consider running the boat in Louisiana instead. There he would supposedly face little competition. By the time he arrived, however, others had already “secured the winter trade.” Frustrated in his design, Jones instead “took a load of Indian traffic” up the and “a load of cotton down to New Orleans.” This trip, which took place sometime between October and December 1843, proved disastrous, as the Maid of Iowa was badly damaged. Meanwhile, in December 1843, JS and Emma Smith leased Emma’s interest in the ship to Hollister for one year in return for $600. Soon after, Hollister set out to examine his new investment. Once he found the Maid of Iowa, he and Jones quarreled over the steamboat’s management, which apparently prompted both Jones and Hollister to write separate letters to JS on 8 January 1844.
’s letter to JS recounted his efforts to find the steamboat, which he finally did in . He noted the ship’s damaged condition and described the debt and legal entanglements that threatened the boat with insolvency. In addition, Hollister complained about the lack of cooperation from and his wife, , and explained the arrangements that he had made to try to save the boat from its mounting debts. Hollister closed his letter expressing his anxiousness to receive JS’s response.
The letter was postmarked from on 11 January. A docket on the letter by , JS’s private clerk, indicates that the letter was received in JS’s . There is no known response from JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See JS, Journal, 12 May and 2 June 1843; and Clayton, Journal, 10 May and 2–3 June 1843. Apparently, JS and Jones made their agreement in May 1843 and finalized it the next month. Within weeks of the agreement between JS and Jones and before it was finalized, James Adams deeded land to JS in exchange for half of JS’s half interest in the boat. (See Historical Introduction to Letter and Pay Order to Lucian Adams, 2 Oct. 1843.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Clayton, Journal, 15 July 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  3. [3]

    Clayton, Journal, 28 Sept.–5 Oct. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Jones, “Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” [22]; Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843. The Red River originates in New Mexico and northern Texas and runs through northern Louisiana. Historically, it flowed into the Mississippi River. (See Lloyd, Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, 163.)

    Dennis, Ronald D. “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum.” BYU Studies 24 (Winter 1984): 78–109.

    Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters, Containing the History of the First Application of Steam, as a Motive Power. . . . Cincinnati: James T. Lloyd, 1856.

  5. [5]

    When Erastus Derby wrote JS on 9 October 1843, the Maid of Iowa was still on the Illinois River. By 25 December 1843, the boat had arrived in New Orleans. (Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843; “Marine News,” Daily Picayune [New Orleans], 26 Dec. 1843, [3].)

    Daily Picayune. New Orleans, LA. 1837–1914.

  6. [6]

    Lease to David S. Hollister, 2 Dec. 1843; see also Clayton, Journal, 2–3 Dec. 1843. JS may have decided to lease the boat to Hollister in response to a 9 October 1843 letter from Erastus Derby, in which Derby concluded that “thare are more debts against her than She can pay this fall, with the best of management that Brother Clayton knows some thing about.” Derby advised JS that “if you want to get your money out of this boat you must get it in different hands.” (Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  7. [7]

    Letter from Dan Jones, 8 Jan. 1844.

Page [2]

was fully determined not to give up the command, she came out on the hurrycane deck where and I were talking and declared that it was just what she had expected a plan of Joseph to cheat them out of evry cent of their hard earned money. I soon saw that all efforts were futile and the Boat must be sold and all claims against <​her​> would by the statutes of this <​state​> have the preference to yours, for two reasons first you are a partner and secondly no claims of over sixty days standing against a Boat can come in for their proratio untill after the new accts are settled besides the amounts of new claims costs of suits Lawyrs fees etc would swallow up the little Boat bones and all the claims against her as follows—
Mc Callisters Bill. & cost— about $160.
Foundery Bill in $179. Butchers d[itt]o $70. 249
Due to hands on Bord $190 store Bill here $55 245
Due to Hubbard on a foolish charter giv[e]n him of 1/3 in 55 50
Sundry other Bill the exact amt of which I know not supposed 40
$7.44
with these debts sadled upon <​her​> her credit gone entirely and so badly damaged that before she could do business at least four hundred dollars must be expended in repairs— two families and a gang of hands on bord eating her up and but the small sum of sixty four dollars on ha[n]d. I thought best to call on for the $64 remove the deposits made an arangement for the payme[n]t of Mc Callisters Bill for which she was sued and commenced a suit against for a settlement and attach the Boat the only way the thing can be done according to the statutes of this state I accordingly set the Lawyers at work but while I was looking up surities which was necessary to give sold one half of the Boat to capt O F Miller who formerly run the <​S. B. [steamboat]​> Desmoin [Demoine] now owner of the S. B. Elizabeth with this new feature I thought best to compromise the matter try to raise means to do one half of the repairs and get her out of debt and delay littigation untill I could hear from you [p. [2]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from David S. Hollister, 8 January 1844
ID #
966
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
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  • David S. Hollister

Footnotes

  1. [8]

    On steamboats, the hurricane deck was the uppermost deck. An 8 March 1844 ship enrollment stated that the Maid of Iowa had one deck, with a cabin above. The hurricane deck would have been the roof of this upper cabin. (Hunter, Steamboats on the Western Rivers, 90−91; Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana, 4:173.)

    Hunter, Louis C. Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949.

    Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana. 6 vols. University, LA: Louisiana State University, 1941.

  2. [9]

    An 1845 St. Louis directory indicated that McAllister & Co. was owned by R. C. McAllister and classified as “wh. grocers and com. merchants.” A 12 May 1843 list of liabilities for the Maid of Iowa contains an entry for a forty-five-dollar debt to McAllister & Co. for “Stores &c.” Apparently, this bill grew over the ensuing months. (Green’s Saint Louis Directory, 113; “Liabilities of the S. B. ‘Maid of Iowa,’” 12 May 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.)

    Green, James. Green’s Saint Louis Directory (No. 1) for 1845: Containing the Names of the Inhabitants, Their Occupations, Places of Business, and Dwelling Houses; Also, a List of Streets and Avenues; Together With Other Useful Information, and an Advertisement Directory. Saint Louis: By the author, 1844.

  3. [10]

    There were several foundries in St. Louis at the time. A 12 May 1843 list of liabilities for the Maid of Iowa contains two entries for the Gaty, M’Cune & Glasby foundry and engine shop, which suggests that this was the foundry to which the Maid of Iowa was indebted. (“Liabilities of the S. B. ‘Maid of Iowa,’” 12 May 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; see also Green’s Saint Louis Directory, 30, 54, 67–68, 98, 211.)

    Green, James. Green’s Saint Louis Directory (No. 1) for 1845: Containing the Names of the Inhabitants, Their Occupations, Places of Business, and Dwelling Houses; Also, a List of Streets and Avenues; Together With Other Useful Information, and an Advertisement Directory. Saint Louis: By the author, 1844.

  4. [11]

    This may refer to E. H. Hubbard, whom Jones identified as a “gentleman at St Louis.” (Letter from Dan Jones, 8 Jan. 1844.)

  5. [12]

    Derby was the vessel’s clerk and handled the funds on board. Jones accused him of mismanaging the boat’s finances. (See Jones, “Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” [22]; Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843; and Letter from Dan Jones, 8 Jan. 1844.)

    Dennis, Ronald D. “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum.” BYU Studies 24 (Winter 1984): 78–109.

  6. [13]

    See “For St. Louis and Illinois River,” Daily Picayune (New Orleans), 5 Mar. 1841, [3]; Notice, St. Landry (LA) Whig, 28 Nov. 1844, [2]; and “Terrible Accident,” and “Further Particulars,” St. Landry Whig, 10 Apr. 1845, [2]. Hollister mistakenly referred to O. A. Miller as O. F. Miller. A 3 January 1844 ship enrollment for the Maid of Iowa shows O. A. Miller and Emma Smith as the owners of the boat with Miller listed as its master. In his 8 January letter to JS, Jones described Miller as “a monied man, a good Boatman who will doubtless make money with her [the Maid of Iowa].” Apparently, Miller had had designs on the Maid of Iowa for some time. In an October 1843 letter to JS, Derby mentioned a man—probably Miller—who “has come with us to See what She [the Maid of Iowa] can do that wants to charter the half of her if he can to run in the Azoo River in the State of Louiseannah and is very anxicous to get hold of her.” (Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana, 4:173; Letter from Dan Jones, 8 Jan. 1844; Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843.)

    Daily Picayune. New Orleans, LA. 1837–1914.

    St. Landry Whig. St. Landry, LA. 1844–1855.

    Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana. 6 vols. University, LA: Louisiana State University, 1941.

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