Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841
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Source Note
, Letter, , New York Co., NY, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 12 July 1841; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamps, postal notation, endorsement, and dockets.Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7⅝ inches (25 × 19 cm). The leaves are ruled with thirty horizontal blue lines (now faded). An embossed logo from the paper mill “Southworth Co., Springfield” is visible in the top left corner of the first page. The letter was written on the recto and verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf, trifolded twice in letter style, and addressed., who served in a clerical capacity for JS from 1841 to 1842, added a docket on the verso of the second leaf, noting the receipt of “$. 4.25,00”. A second docket was later added on the same leaf in the hand of , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859. The document was folded for filing. The early dockets suggest that the letter has remained in institutional custody since its receipt in 1841.
Footnotes
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1
“Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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Historical Introduction
On 12 July 1841, wrote a letter from to JS in , Illinois, requesting that JS purchase land for him. In March of that year, Bernhisel had asked JS for help securing property in Nauvoo. JS replied in April that he would “endeavour to obtain a suitable place” for Bernhisel and invited him to send an unspecified amount of money with an of the . This 12 July letter authorized JS to act on Bernhisel’s behalf in purchasing land. Bernhisel, a member of the church who had never met JS, also enclosed a certificate of deposit for $425.In his March letter, apparently expressed the desire to obtain a very large parcel of land close to the center of , perhaps near the construction site of the . In his response in April, JS informed Bernhisel of the rapidly rising real estate prices in the city and suggested Bernhisel widen his search if he wanted to secure a large tract of land with the amount of money he wanted to spend. JS, who managed the sales of Nauvoo land, had overseen numerous property transactions from 1839 to 1841.After penning the letter, sent it by mail from . JS received the letter approximately three weeks later, accepted Bernhisel’s money and request, and sent a reply to Bernhisel in the first week of August.
Footnotes
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This letter is not extant but is mentioned in JS’s first letter to Bernhisel. (Letter to John M. Bernhisel, 13 Apr. 1841.)
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Report of Committee, 5 Feb. 1841; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 21 Oct. 1839; see also Deed to Joseph Wilder, 2 Apr. 1841; Deed to Samuel H. B. Smith, 19 Apr. 1841; and Deed from Daniel H. and Eliza Robinson Wells, 5 May 1841.
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to the authorities of the and desires that you would inform his family that he is in the enjoyment of good health. He gives exceedingly flattering accounts of the progress of the work where he labored during the past winter & Spring and this summer.
[p. [3]]
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