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Letter from Halsey Cook, 20 March 1843

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Letter from Halsey Cook, 20 March 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Dutchess Co., NY, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 20 Mar. 1843; handwriting and signature presumably of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notation, postal stamp, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 10 × 8 inches (25 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with twenty-seven horizontal blue lines. The letter was written in blue ink on the first leaf and addressed on the verso of the second leaf. The recto of the second leaf is blank. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the second leaf; some of the torn paper, including text, remains affixed to the wafer.
, who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854, docketed the letter. , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865, inscribed another docket. The document was 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 document’s early dockets, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    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.

  3. [3]

    “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.

  4. [4]

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

Historical Introduction

On 20 March 1843, wrote a letter from , New York, to JS in , Illinois, inquiring about the and the city of Nauvoo and requesting “a printed copy of your Revelation.” Cook was likely Jeremiah Halsey Cooke, who was born in Red Hook, New York, in 1824; little else is known about him. He apparently read about JS in newspapers, but he may have also encountered missionaries or other members of the church, since he was familiar with the church periodical Times and Seasons. Cook’s inquiries about Nauvoo were not unique; at least two other letters inquiring about the city and the church were written to JS in March 1843.
mailed the letter to JS from on 21 March. There is no known response from JS, but he apparently received the letter—probably sometime in early to mid-April—since his secretary docketed it.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from John McKee, 7 Mar. 1843; Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Mail generally traveled between New York and Nauvoo in two or three weeks. (See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841; and Historical Introduction to Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 1 Sept. 1842.)

and unchristian spirit, to the end that all may Know and Know rightly
Should the Revelation be to[o] volumineous for the mail you will please inform me if it may be had in this and whare You would gratify me much, by sending me occasionly a number of the Times and seasons
Adress me , Duthes [Dutchess]— Co. N, Y,
Very respectfully
You obt sevrnt
To the Rev. Joseph Smith [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Halsey Cook, 20 March 1843
ID #
1017
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:81–83
Handwriting on This Page
  • Halsey Cook

Footnotes

  1. [4]

    Since 1840, missionaries had requested new printings of the Doctrine and Covenants and other church publications so that they would be more widely available. Although work was done on stereotyping a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, a new edition was not published until 1844. (See Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 1 May 1840; Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840; Woodruff, Journal, 1–4 Feb. 1843; and Historical Introduction to Doctrine and Covenants, 1844.)

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

  2. [5]

    The Times and Seasons was the church’s newspaper, published twice a month in Nauvoo. (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:91–96.)

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

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