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Letter from John Laws, 18 October 1841

Source Note

John Laws, Letter, , Philadelphia Co., PA, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 18 Oct. 1841; handwriting of John Laws; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notation, postal stamps, notation, endorsement, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 10 × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was trifolded twice in letter style and then sealed with a red adhesive wafer, addressed, stamped with postmarks, and inscribed with postage. The middle of the second leaf was torn likely when the letter was opened. Residue from the adhesive wafer remains on the verso of the second leaf.
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 letter is listed along with 1842 letters in a Church Historian’s Office inventory from circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The docket, inventory, and inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody of the letter since its receipt.

Footnotes

  1. [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. [2]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, 1, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL. This item was mistakenly listed in the 1842 letters on the inventory, probably based on an incorrect notation from Bullock.

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

  3. [3]

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

Historical Introduction

John Laws, a local politician and resident of , wrote a letter of inquiry to JS in , Illinois, on 18 October 1841. During the previous two months, Laws, who was not a , had written at least three lengthy letters to city newspapers defending the church from attacks that had appeared in Philadelphia’s Daily Chronicle, Saturday Courier, and Public Ledger. In connection with this effort, Laws wrote to JS seeking additional information about a claim made in the Saturday Courier that the Saints had defrauded a Philadelphia church member out of his property earlier in 1841.
In the late 1830s and early 1840s, Latter-day Saint missionaries experienced tremendous success in the Delaware River valley between and . Out of this success, several church were established in the region, including a large branch in in December 1839. As the Latter-day Saint presence expanded in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, some Philadelphia newspapers began publishing unfavorable articles and letters to dissuade local residents from joining the church. Among the most damaging accusations printed in the Philadelphia papers were complaints that the church had been dishonest in its financial dealings in , Ohio, and that it continued to defraud members in eastern Pennsylvania. For example, the Saturday Courier published accusations that Latter-day Saint missionaries “scoured the branches in the east for money” and implied that the missionaries had “resorted to the most culpable and criminal means to obtain it.” The Daily Chronicle warned that the Saints were persuading new church members to “convert their property into cash to be placed in a common fund.” In the eyes of these critics, the chief purpose of the church was “to get possession of other people’s property.”
These rumors likely emanated from the church’s recent efforts to obtain lands in the East, the frequency with which early missionaries solicited financial assistance from the region’s converts, and perhaps a misunderstanding of the law of . Branches in the eastern contained some of the most financially successful members of the early church, and those members were sometimes asked by church leaders to provide assistance. For instance, , , and had solicited the help of eastern church members to pay the church’s debts to for land purchases in —the three men hoped to obtain lands from these Saints in exchange for commensurate properties in and . Hyrum Smith and Galland then intended to use the newly acquired properties to pay for the Hotchkiss lands. In August a Daily Chronicle correspondent, writing under a pseudonym, referenced Galland’s mission, calling him a land speculator and suggesting that his purpose was to “shuffle his western lands off” to unsuspecting converts.
Responding to these criticisms, Laws wrote letters to both the Public Ledger and the Daily Chronicle defending the Latter-day Saints. Although Laws had no intention of joining the church, he evidently had family members and friends who had converted. Although he hoped these individuals would one day “renounce the doctrine and cleave to that of their fathers,” Laws took exception to “the curses and anathemas” heaped upon the church in the newspapers and endeavored to correct the errors. Specifically, Laws addressed allegations that the Saints had not paid for Kirtland Bank note plates, stating that he was aware of evidence of payment. Laws further advocated for the religious rights of the Saints, pointing out that the laws of both the and the guaranteed freedoms to all faiths, including the Latter-day Saints. He decried the suggestion in the Saturday Courier that the Saints had “no doubt well deserved the punishment meted out to them” in .
Having previously defended the Saints in the press, Laws wrote the following letter to JS to obtain information regarding various claims about and Hannah Peirce’s April 1841 transfer of lands to . Seeking clarification on the matter, Laws requested that JS send him an affidavit and additional information that could prove the legitimacy of the land transaction.
The letter from Laws was mailed in on 22 October 1841 and likely arrived in in early November. Upon its receipt, wrote on the letter’s third page a notation containing the financial details of the land sale. The notation indicates that JS either responded to or intended to respond to Laws’s letter. Extant information, however, reveals no further communications regarding the matter. Furthermore, Laws does not appear to have published additional letters in the Philadelphia newspapers regarding the Latter-day Saints or Peirce’s land.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Laws was a resident of the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia as early as 1830. He served in city government offices as early as 1831. (1830 U.S. Census, Northern Liberties Ward 4, Philadelphia Co., PA, 84; “Cause of the Poles,” Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia], 24 Sept. 1831, 200; see also Martin, Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia, 93; and “John Laws, Alderman,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], 19 Feb. 1841, [1].)

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

    Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. 1828–1835.

    Martin, John Hill. Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia, Together with other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Rees Welsh, 1883.

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

  2. [2]

    “The Mormons,” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 14 Aug. 1841, [2]; “A Mormon Champion,” Saturday Courier, 4 Sept. 1841, [2].

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

  3. [3]

    Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 23 Dec. 1839.

    Philadelphia Branch, Record Book, 1840–1854. CCLA.

  4. [4]

    See, for example, “Communication,” Daily Chronicle (Philadelphia), 11 Sept. 1841, [1]; and “The Mormons,” Daily Chronicle, 25 Sept. 1841, [1]; see also “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 28 Aug. 1841, [2].

    Daily Chronicle. Philadelphia. 1828–1834.

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

  5. [5]

    “A Mormon Disturbance,” Daily Chronicle (Philadelphia), 19 Feb. 1841, [2]; “Communication,” Daily Chronicle, 11 Sept. 1841, [1].

    Daily Chronicle. Philadelphia. 1828–1834.

  6. [6]

    “Extraordinary Impositions of the ‘Latter Day Saints,’” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 10 July 1841, [2]; “To Readers and Correspondents,” Saturday Courier, 7 Aug. 1841, [2]; “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 28 Aug. 1841, [2].

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

  7. [7]

    “A Mormon Disturbance,” Daily Chronicle (Philadelphia), 19 Feb. 1841, [2]; “A Mormon Champion,” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 4 Sept. 1841, [2].

    Daily Chronicle. Philadelphia. 1828–1834.

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

  8. [8]

    See Letter from Benjamin Winchester, 18 Sept. 1841; and Letter from John E. Page, 1 Sept. 1841. For an explanation of the law of consecration, see Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:1–72].

  9. [9]

    See Fleming and Grua, “Impact of Edward Hunter’s Conversion,” 135.

    Fleming, Stephen J., and David W. Grua, eds. “The Impact of Edward Hunter’s Conversion to Mormonism in Chester County, Pennsylvania: Henry M. Vallette’s 1869 Letter.” Mormon Historical Studies 6, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 133–138.

  10. [10]

    Horace Hotchkiss, Fair Haven, CT, to Hyrum Smith, Nauvoo, IL, 13 May 1841, JS Office Papers, CHL; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841; Letter from William Smith, 5 Aug. 1841.

  11. [11]

    “Communication,” Daily Chronicle (Philadelphia), 11 Sept. 1841, [1]. The accusation was evidently a response to a July 1841 article that Galland had published in the Public Ledger, criticizing those who made charges against the church. (“Mormonism, Mormonism,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], 21 July 1841, [2].)

    Daily Chronicle. Philadelphia. 1828–1834.

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

  12. [12]

    “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 28 Aug. 1841, [2]; “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger, 11 Sept. 1841, [3]; John Laws, Northern Liberties, PA, 15 Sept. 1841, Letter to the Editor, Daily Chronicle (Philadelphia), 18 Sept. 1841, [2].

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

    Daily Chronicle. Philadelphia. 1828–1834.

  13. [13]

    Though it is uncertain exactly which early members of the Philadelphia branch were friends or family members of Laws, the Philadelphia Branch Record Book includes the names of Peter F. and Mary Ann Laws. (“Names of the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Philadelphia,” in Philadelphia Branch Record Book.)

    Philadelphia Branch, Record Book, 1840–1854. CCLA.

  14. [14]

    “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 28 Aug. 1841, [2]; see also “Extraordinary Impositions of the ‘Latter Day Saints,’” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 10 July 1841, [2]; “The Mormons,” Saturday Courier, 14 Aug. 1841, [2]; “A Mormon Champion,” Saturday Courier, 4 Sept. 1841, [2]; “Communication,” Daily Chronicle (Philadelphia), 11 Sept. 1841, [1]; and “The Mormons,” Daily Chronicle, 25 Sept. 1841, [1].

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

    Daily Chronicle. Philadelphia. 1828–1834.

  15. [15]

    “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 11 Sept. 1841, [3]; see also “The Mormons,” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 14 Aug. 1841, [2]. Following their departure from Kirtland in 1838, JS and other church members owed a debt of approximately $2,000 to Thomas Underwood, Robert Bald, Asa Spencer, and Samuel Hufty for services rendered as engravers for the Kirtland Safety Society bank note plates. Almon Babbitt paid off the debt on 2 April 1841. Likely learning of the payment upon Hyrum Smith’s return from the East in late April, JS wrote to Oliver Granger that “the house and store encumbered by the debts for the ‘Plates’ are now at liberty.” (Transcript of Proceedings, 16 Apr. 1839, Underwood et al. v. Rigdon, JS, et al., [Geauga Co. C.P. 1839], Final Record Book X, 35; Case Costs, 16 Apr. 1839, Underwood et al. v. Rigdon, JS, et al. [Geauga Co. C.P. 1839], Execution Docket G, 676, Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, OH; Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.)

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

  16. [16]

    “Anti-Mormon Slanders Refuted,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia), 28 Aug. 1841, [2]; “Extraordinary Impositions of the ‘Latter Day Saints,’” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 10 July 1841, [2].

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

  17. [17]

    Chester Co., PA, Deeds, 1688–1903, vol. U-4, pp. 82–83, 187–188, microfilm 557,205, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Page [2]

his late farm was worth and the very next week afterwards they sold the same farm which they had pretended to purchase at $6000 to a grocer in for the sum of $3000 just one half, the poor duped farmer has a wife and Children and their little homestead has now been forever lost to them by the swindlings of these pretended latter day Saints, are there no thunders in Heaven”
Now although I firmly believe that the whole of the above Charge (as regards its criminality) is utterly destitute of truth like the “cruel Murder of ” I think it proper to be prepared in case of another attack by the Press and to enable me to be so if resides in (as informs me he does) I wish to obtain his deposition touching the facts of the Case.
The following form I suggest for the benefit of the functionary who may be employed.
) ss
County of [blank])
Be it Known that on the [blank] day of [blank] AD 1841 Before me A B [blank] a Justice of the Peace (or Judge of the Court of &c as the case may be) in and for the said County personally appeard [blank] of the City of in the county and state aforesaid Farmer late of in the state of Pennsylvania who being duly sworn according to law doth depose and say that (state the facts touching the sale and all the materials points concerning it) and such other matters as may be deemed by you important and comporting with the truth) and further deponent saith not.
Sworn to and subscribed the Day and year first above written, Before me
A B
Justice of the Peace or Judge of &c (as the case may be) [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John Laws, 18 October 1841
ID #
699
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:311–317
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Laws

Footnotes

  1. [9]

    Chester Co., PA, Deeds, 1688–1903, vol. U-4, pp. 82–83, microfilm 557,205, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  2. [10]

    Isaac Galland sold the property to John McClure on 25 June 1841 for $3,800. (Chester Co., PA, Deeds, 1688–1903, vol. U-4, pp. 187–188, microfilm 557,205, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  3. [11]

    “The Mormons,” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 14 Aug. 1841, [2]; see also “A Mormon Champion,” Saturday Courier, 4 Sept. 1841, [2].

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

  4. [12]

    In late June 1841 several national newspapers, including Philadelphia’s Public Ledger, accused the Latter-day Saints of murdering Martin Harris, a witness of the Book of Mormon who had been excommunicated from the church nearly four years earlier. By 7 July 1841 it was apparent that the reports of Harris’s murder were mistaken, with papers sarcastically noting that although Harris had been “so recently murdered,” he was still “alive and well at his home in Kirtland.” (“The Mormons,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], 21 June 1841, [4]; “Not Dead,” New-York Tribune, 7 July 1841, [2]; “Quite Probable,” Public Ledger, 10 July 1841, [2].)

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

    New-York Tribune. New York City. 1841–1842.

  5. [13]

    As of 20 August 1841, Peirce was still a resident of Chester County, Pennsylvania, although he had a right to property in Nauvoo at the time. (Letter from Robert Peirce, 20 Aug. 1841.)

  6. [14]

    Page, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was in Philadelphia between August and December 1841. (“Mormon Preaching,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], 5 Aug. 1841, [2]; “Mormon Preaching,” Public Ledger, 4 Sept. 1841, [2]; “Mormon Preaching,” Public Ledger, 4 Dec. 1841, [2]; George W. Gee, Pittsburgh, PA, to Sidney Rigdon, Nauvoo, IL, 30 Dec. 1841, Sidney Rigdon, Collection, CHL.)

    Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.

    Rigdon, Sidney. Collection, 1831–1858. CHL. MS 713.

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