Skip to main content

Letter from John E. Page, 2 May 1843

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter from John E. Page, 2 May 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Allegheny Co., PA, to the (including JS) and , , Hancock Co., IL, 2 May 1843; handwriting and signature of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, notation, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 12 × 7½ inches (30 × 19 cm). Both leaves are ruled with thirty-nine horizontal gray lines. wrote the letter in blue ink, except for some corrections, some additions, the valediction, and his signature, which are in black ink. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the second leaf, resulting in the loss of text.
, who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in 1844 and as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854, docketed the letter and made a notation. The letter was also 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 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, [3], 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 the morning of 2 May 1843, wrote a letter from to the of the and to his fellow apostles in , Illinois, requesting permission to secure a printing press and begin publishing a newspaper in Pittsburgh. After months of silence, this was Page’s second letter to church leaders in eight days. Apparently in part because of the earlier lack of communication, JS declared at an April 1843 meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that Page needed to be recalled from Pittsburgh and replaced by “a good .” Page had apparently not received the information regarding JS’s decision before writing this letter, nor had he been informed that a special church in April had assigned the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to raise funds for the construction of the .
evidently contemplated the establishment of a press in for some time. In summer 1842, he wrote a series of articles that were published in the Pittsburgh newspaper Morning Chronicle to refute criticism from La Roy Sunderland, the author of Mormonism Exposed. Page also informed JS in August 1842 that he was writing for a Methodist newspaper published in Pittsburgh. An article in the 22 March 1843 issue of the Daily Morning Post in Pittsburgh commented on reports that the Latter-day Saints had “started a paper in this city.” Although church members had discussed the prospect, the article explained, they had not yet commenced printing.
The lack of postage on the letter indicates that sent it to the First Presidency and the apostles by courier. It is unclear when the letter reached , but it may have been prior to a 16 May 1843 meeting of the apostles, in which they “voted that John E Page be req[u]ested to repair immediately to to prea[c]h till they arrivd.” , clerk to both JS and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, noted on the letter that, according to , JS instructed the Twelve to send Page to Liberia because “he must be Sent off Somewher to Save Lives.” It is not clear when JS made that statement nor when Richards actually recorded it. Page did go to Cincinnati in June and then returned with apostles and to , where he intermittently published a newspaper called the Gospel Light.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes, 19 Apr. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843; Revised Minutes and Discourses, 23 Apr.–ca. 8 May 1843.

  3. [3]

    Page’s first article counterattacking Sunderland was published in the 13 June 1842 issue of the Morning Chronicle. Other installments were published throughout June and July, ending with the 20 July 1842 issue. (“Mormonism Alias, Truth,” Morning Chronicle [Pittsburgh], 13 June 1842, [2]; “Mormonism—Concluded,” Morning Chronicle, 20 July 1842, [2].)

    Morning Chronicle. Pittsburgh. 1841–1844.

  4. [4]

    Letter from John E. Page, 15 Aug. 1842.

  5. [5]

    “A Mormon Paper,” Daily Morning Post (Pittsburgh), 22 Mar. 1843, [3].

    Daily Morning Post. Pittsburgh. 1846–1855.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 16 May 1843.

  7. [7]

    John E. Page, Pittsburgh, PA, to “the First Presidency and the Twelve,” Nauvoo, IL, 2 May 1843, JS Collection, CHL. A version of this statement, which JS may have meant to be tongue in cheek, was later included in a JS history under the date of 2 May 1843: “John E. Page wrote me a letter, wanting to dispose of Church Property, and establish a Printing Press in Pitts burgh, on which I directed the Twelve to send him to Liberia, or some other place in order to save him.” Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society in the 1820s with the goal of sending African Americans, many of whom were formerly enslaved, back to the African continent. By 1843, over four thousand African Americans had migrated there. Fugitive slaves in the United States had also established a small town called Liberia in northwestern Pennsylvania, and it is possible JS was referring to this community. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1544; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 262; Konhaus, “Freedom Road,” 40–45.)

    Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

    Konhaus, Timothy P. “Freedom Road: Black Refugee Settlements in Northwestern Pennsylvania, 1820–1870.” PhD diss., West Virginia University, Morgantown, 2010.

  8. [8]

    Woodruff, Journal, 19 June and 28 July 1843; Kimball, Journal, 23 and 29 June 1843; Masthead, Gospel Light, June 1843, 1:1.

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

    Kimball, Heber C. Journals, 1837–1848. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL.

    Gospel Light. Pittsburgh. 1843–1844.

Page [1]

Go to next page 2
May 2d /43
To the and the of the
Dear and Beloved Bretheren in the Lord— I have not yet heard from the last Special except a sketch in the Wasp of April the 12— I know not how you have disposed of me whether you allow me to continue in this or not
However I understand by report by some going Eastward that you allow me to continue here yet for a while If so I am willing to do so— If I am other wise disposed of my whole soul says follow the head anyhow— I God I know that God and his Church Authorities will do right and require nothing unreasonable or not right— and in all cases are compitent to give reightous Council in all matters that concern the the temporal and spiritual intrest of the kingdom of God—
Therefore I wish to suggest to your consideration the Ide[a] of the propriety of establishing a printing press <​in this ​> to issue a Small Pen[n]y sheet or other wise as we are able; treating on on the subject of our religion and the temporal intrest of the Church— I am fully Satisfyed that if you in your superior wisdom should see fit proper to favour us with your assent and faith and confidence to enter into such a measure, that there is tallent enough in the church in this to render the Press respectfull—
There is many individuals that would give their suport to a Paper here that will not [p. [1]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [1]

Go to next page 2

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John E. Page, 2 May 1843
ID #
1058
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:273–278
Handwriting on This Page
  • John E. Page

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This issue of the Wasp contained a brief summary of the special conference. “The particulars,” it explained, would be given in the Times and Seasons, which published the 6 April conference minutes in the 1 May 1843 issue. (Editorial, Wasp, 12 Apr. 1843, [2]; Revised Minutes and Discourses, 23 Apr.–ca. 8 May 1843.)

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  2. [2]

    At an elders’ conference held in Nauvoo after the special conference, numerous individuals were appointed to travel to the eastern United States and “build up churches” there. These are likely the elders Page was referring to. (“Elder’s Conference,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1843, 4:157.)

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

  3. [3]

    Penny papers first appeared in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and other large eastern cities in the 1830s and targeted working- and middle-class audiences. These newspapers were printed on sheets as small as 8½ × 11 inches and sold for one or two cents. They generally covered local interest stories rather than events outside the areas in which they were published. Some of these newspapers, such as the New York Herald and the Sun, achieved great popularity by the 1840s. (Gross, “Extensive Republic,” 38–40.)

    Gross, Robert A. “Introduction: An Extensive Republic.” In A History of the Book in America, vol. 2, An Extensive Republic: Print, Culture, and Society in the New Nation, 1790–1840, edited by Robert A. Gross and Mary Kelley, 1–52. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

Go to page