Letter from Edward Partridge, 13–15 June 1839

Probably George W. Harris. The letter from JS to Partridge is not extant. (See Letter to George W. Harris, 24 May 1839; and Letter from Edward Partridge, 27 May 1839.)  

Probably Jacob Myers Sr., a millwright. In spring 1839, he and his family moved from Caldwell County, Missouri, to Payson, Illinois, approximately fourteen miles southeast of Quincy. (Foote, Autobiography, vol. 2, pp. 114–117.)  

Foote, Warren. Autobiography, not before 1903. Warren Foote, Papers, 1837–1941. CHL. MS 1123, fd. 1.

Possibly Daniel Shearer or his brother Joel Shearer. (Daniel Shearer, Affidavit, Quincy, IL, 7 May 1839, Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845, CHL; Chase, “Events in the Life of Daniel Shearer,” 1–2.)  

Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845. CHL. MS 2703.

Chase, Sherwin. “Events in the Life of Daniel Shearer,” July 1983. Information concerning Daniel Shearer, ca. 1983. CHL. MS 7673.

The Latter-day Saints in Iowa Territory were primarily living around Montrose, across the Mississippi River from Commerce, Illinois. In July they began to establish a new settlement at “Blefens point,” later called Nashville. (Woodruff, Journal, 20 May 1839; 28 June 1839; 2 July 1839; JS, Journal, 2 July 1839.)  

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

Later records indicate that some individuals living in the Commerce area were blind. (See Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 17 Feb. 1842, 60; and Relief Society Minute Book, 2 Sept. 1843.)  

“Lieve” is an alternate spelling of “lief,” which is an adverb meaning “gladly; willingly; freely.” (“Lieve,” and “Lief,” in American Dictionary.)  

An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.

Possibly the wife of Garland Meeks, a seventy from the Kirtland, Ohio, area. Sister Meeks was also discussed on 14 April 1839 in a meeting about moving indigent Saints from Missouri to Illinois. (List of Priesthood Licenses, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1836, 2:383; Woodruff, Journal, 3–4 Apr. 1837; Quorums of the Seventy, “Book of Records,” 6 Feb. 1838, 41; Far West Committee, Minutes, 14 Apr. 1839.)  

Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

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

Record of Seventies / First Council of the Seventy. “Book of Records,” 1837–1843. Bk. A. In First Council of the Seventy, Records, 1837–1885. CHL. CR 3 51, box 1, fd. 1.

Far West Committee. Minutes, Jan.–Apr. 1839. CHL. MS 2564.

Probably Delcena Johnson Sherman, the widow of church leader Lyman Sherman. Her husband died in Far West, Missouri, around February 1839, and she apparently moved to Quincy by March 1839. (Kimball, “History,” 98; Johnson, “A Life Review,” 49–51.)  

Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.

Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.

Partridge may have been weakened by malaria, which was raging in the Quincy area. Or, as Orson F. Whitney related in 1884, Partridge may have been weak or ill because of his imprisonment in Richmond, Missouri, in winter 1838–1839. In a prayer Partridge wrote in January 1839, he described the jail where he and several other Saints were held for several weeks: “The cold northern blast penetrated freely; our fires were small, and our allowance for wood, and for food, scanty; they gave us, not even, a blanket to lie upon; our beds were the cold floor.” (Orson F. Whitney, “The Aaronic Priesthood,” Contributor, Oct. 1884, 9; Edward Partridge, Prayer, Jan. 1839, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL.)  

Contributor. Salt Lake City. 1879–1896.

Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.

A few men with the surname of Moore were members of the church in Nauvoo, Illinois, by 1842: Andrew Moore, Harvey Moore, and William Moore. Of these three, Andrew Moore is the only one known to have lived in Quincy in 1839, but his extant reminiscences do not mention the death of a child in 1839. Alternatively, it is possible Partridge was referring to James Moses, whose son John died in Quincy in 1839. (Nauvoo, IL, Tax List, district 3, 1842, pp. 187, 211, 222, 227, microfilm 7,706, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Moore, Reminiscences, 28–29; Huntington, Cemetery Records, [1].)  

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Moore, Andrew. Reminiscences, 1846. CHL.

Huntington, William D. Cemetery Records, 1839–1845. CHL. MS 22047.

David Pettegrew fled from Far West on 19 January 1839 and eventually settled in Quincy, where his family joined him around 15 April. He recorded in his autobiography that his son Hiram, age eighteen, became sick soon thereafter and died on 10 June 1839. (Pettegrew, “History,” 34; Obituary for Hiram Pettegrew, Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:63.)  

Pettegrew, David. “An History of David Pettegrew,” not after 1858. Pettigrew Collection, 1837–1858, 1881–1892, 1908–1930. CHL.

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

That is, children whose parents were not church members. (See Luke 16:8.)