, Letter, , New York Co., NY, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 7 Jan. 1842; handwriting presumably of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamps, postal notations, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 10 × 8¼ inches (25 × 21 cm). The letter was inscribed on the recto and verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked. A remnant of the wafer obscures one word on the recto of the second leaf.
The document was docketed by , 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. Another docket was inscribed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office 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 as well as its inclusion in the circa 1904 inventory and in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 7 January 1842 member wrote a letter to JS concerning a trip Latson had recently taken to to purchase goods—presumably for JS’s mercantile in , Illinois. Latson joined the sometime before spring 1841 and was reportedly a “preacher” at the church’s branch then meeting in Lower Manhattan. In May 1841 members of the attended a wedding and preached at least one sermon in Latson’s Manhattan home. Latson was an established merchant and had been partial owner and master of a steamboat, which may explain why he was involved in acquiring goods for JS during this period.
In his letter to JS, reported that he was unable to obtain goods in and had returned to but that he would procure goods there and return to by late February or early March 1842. He also described a chance encounter he had with Supreme Court justice John Catron on his journey home, informing JS that Catron was interested in nominating Latson to lead a government mission to “civilize” the Osage Indians, most of whom lived west of . The letter was mailed from New York City on 12 January 1842. Latson requested that JS write back with further direction.
As correspondence mailed from to took approximately three weeks for delivery, ’s letter probably arrived in Nauvoo in early February. A docket in the handwriting of indicates that JS received it in Nauvoo. No reply is known to exist.
The branch met at 245 Spring Street. (“Arrest for Violating a Statute,” New-York Tribune [New York City], 16 Apr. 1841, [2]; Foster, History of the New York City Branch, [2].)
New-York Tribune. New York City. 1841–1842.
Foster, Lucian R. History of the New York City Branch, 1837–1840. High Priests Quorum Record, 1841–1845. CHL.
1840 U.S. Census, New York 13th Ward, New York City, NY, 267; Longworth’s American Almanac [1841], 424; Longworth’s American Almanac [1842], 369; The Fanny, 8 Federal Cases 992 (S.D.N.Y. 1841) (case no. 4,637); “Arrest for Violating a Statute,” New-York Tribune (New York City), 16 Apr. 1841, [2]. Edward Hunter, a church member from Pennsylvania, was also involved in purchasing goods for JS’s store around this same period. (Letter to Edward Hunter, 5 Jan. 1842.)
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Sixty-Sixth Year of American Independence. . . . New York: Thomas Longworth, 1841.
Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Sixty-Seventh Year of American Independence. . . . New York: T. Longworth and Son, 1842.
The Federal Cases Comprising Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Federal Reporter. Arranged Alphabetically by the Titles of the Cases, and Numbered Consecutively. Vol. 8. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1895.
I hope you will not think hard of me for coming home, I remained in , untill the next Sunday after Br miller left, on board the Steamer I fell in with Judge Craton [John Catron] of the Supream Court of the , who was on his way to to hold the Supream court their he is the judge of the <U. St> curcuit cou[r]t of , Congress has approp[r]iated 10,000 $ to for a mission and to civilized th[e] Osage Indians of which he has the charge and offerd it to me with the protiction of the U. S. Court. Genl. Mc. Neal was allso one of the party who strongly urdge me to accept it if I went to the west to Live I parcily agreed to take charge of the mision if the Indian ageneces was added
to this propsistion the Judge & Genl bouth pledge themselves to use their influance with the President and had no dout of my Obtaining it, and Strongly urdge me to go on to with them to get the appointment
this I declined aleding [alleging] ill health as the reason, for I did not want to do anything in the primises untill I knew your mind on the subject, which you will pleas commu[n]icate and I will act accordingly they did not know of my being a member of the [p. [2]]
Catron was nominated as an associate justice of the Supreme Court by President Andrew Jackson and confirmed by the Senate in 1837. (Cushman, Supreme Court Justices, 112; Urofsky, Biographical Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court, 119.)
The 1789 Judiciary Act established the United States Supreme Court and created thirteen federal district courts grouped into three judicial circuits. In addition to hearing cases brought before the Supreme Court, justices of the Supreme Court were expected to “ride the circuit” to hear appeals in the lower federal courts assigned to them. The number of circuits expanded to nine in 1837. Catron’s eighth circuit jurisdiction included the state of Missouri. (An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States [24 Sept. 1789], Public Statutes at Large, 1st Cong., 1st Sess., vol. 1, chap. 20, pp. 73–75, secs. 1–2, 4; Wheeler and Harrison, Creating the Federal Judicial System, 1–17; Gray, “United States Courts,” 2350–2351; Cushman, Supreme Court Justices, 113.)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Wheeler, Russell R., and Cynthia Harrison. Creating the Federal Judicial System. 3rd ed. Washington DC: Federal Judicial Center, 2005.
Gray, Melvin L. “United States Courts.” In Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis, A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference, vol. 4, edited by William Hyde and Howard L. Conard, 2345–2357. New York: Southern History Company, 1899.
Beginning in 1819 Congress appropriated $10,000 annually to employ individuals to teach Native American tribes the “habits and arts of civilization.” The United States government used Indian agents, or sometimes relied on religious societies, to carry out programs of cultural assimilation, which included, among other things, encouraging tribal members to abandon nomadic subsistence practices, particularly in favor of fixed agriculture; Americanizing indigenous children through education, especially English instruction; and encouraging Native Americans to cease practicing folk traditions, mainly by converting to Christianity. By late 1841 the Osage were primarily living in three bands—the Great Osage, the Little Osage, and the Arkansas band—along the Neosho and Verdigris rivers in the present-day eastern portion of Kansas and Arkansas. (An Act Making Provision for the Civilization of the Indian Tribes Adjoining the Frontier Settlements [3 Mar. 1819], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 3, chap. 85, pp. 516–517; Reyhner and Eder, American Indian Education, 43–47; Rollings, Unaffected by the Gospel, 6–7, 86.)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Reyhner, John, and Jeanne Eder. American Indian Education: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
Rollings, Willard Hughes. Unaffected by the Gospel: Osage Resistance to the Christian Invasion, 1673–1906: A Cultural Victory. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004.