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Letter from Lewis Zeigler, 25 May 1844

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Letter from Lewis Zeigler, 25 May 1844

Source Note

, Letter, Leitersburg, Washington Co., MD, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 25 May 1844; handwriting and signature presumably of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Included enclosure (not extant); includes address, postal stamps, postal notations, docket, and notations.
One leaf measuring 12¼ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The leaf is ruled on both sides with thirty-four printed blue lines. The letter was written in blue ink, folded once horizontally and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, the remnant of which is on the verso, and postmarked. The letter apparently included a five-dollar note, which was presumably used for the purposes mentioned in the letter. When the letter was opened, a hole was torn in the bottom of the leaf, removing some text. The letter was later refolded for filing.
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 was copied into the Journal History of the Church, presumably by or under the direction of Andrew Jenson, who served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. A graphite notation that reads “Copied” was apparently added by a clerk or secretary for Jenson. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket, its inclusion in the Journal History, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  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. Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 25 May 1844; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 48–52, 55.

    Historical Department. Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL. CR 100 137.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

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

Historical Introduction

On 25 May 1844, member wrote a letter from Leitersburg, Maryland, to JS in , Illinois, reporting on Zeigler’s missionary labors in and Maryland. Zeigler was apparently a native of Leitersburg who had moved to Nauvoo sometime around 1841. At an April 1843 in Nauvoo, Zeigler was appointed to preach in Maryland.
According to his letter to JS, featured here, departed in fall 1843 and preached in both and Maryland with little success. However, he expressed his determination to keep trying to convert people to the church. Along with his letter, Zeigler included five dollars for the construction of the Nauvoo .
sent the letter from Hagerstown, Maryland, the seat of Washington County (where Leitersburg was situated) as well as the location of the county’s post office. Mail from this vicinity took around three weeks to reach . It is unclear whether JS read the letter before his death on 27 June 1844. There is no known response.

Footnotes

  1. The 1860 census lists a Lewis A. Zeigler, age forty-three, living in Boonsboro District, Washington County, Maryland. Another record lists a Lewis Ziegler born in 1817 and buried in Leitersburg, who appears to be the same person. In the letter featured here, Zeigler referred to the area where he was preaching as his “native spot.” Contents of a letter Zeigler wrote from Nauvoo to Frederick Byers on 31 December 1841 suggest that Zeigler left Washington County not long before writing it. (1860 U.S. Census, Boonsboro District, Washington Co., MD, 689; “Lewis Ziegler,” Ziegler Family Cemetery, Leitersburg, Washington Co., MD, U.S. Find a Grave Index; Lewis Zeigler, Nauvoo, IL, to Frederick Byers, Leitersburg, MD, 31 Dec. 1841, CHL.)

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

    Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com.

    Zeigler, Lewis. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Frederick Byers, Leitersburg, MD, 31 Dec. 1841. CHL. MS 4859.

  2. “Notes on Maryland Conference and Baltimore Branch History,” 1.

    “Notes on Maryland Conference and Baltimore Branch History.” Maryland Conference Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1838–1921. Typescript. CHL.

  3. Scharf, History of Western Maryland, 2:973, 1004. Hagerstown was about eight miles away from Leitersburg.

    Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Western Maryland: Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Including Biographical Sketches of Their Representative Men. Baltimore: Regional Publishing Co., 1968.

  4. For example, JS received letters Orson Hyde wrote in Washington DC on 25 and 26 April 1844 by 13 May. (Letter to Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt, 13 May 1844.)

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I shall yet endeaver to keep the vine a growing that I dreamed you & myself was standing at and trying to make it grow although it should take much labour. pray that my friends may receive the gospel—
The five dollar note inclosed is sent for the building of the — and if double postage should be demanded take it out of the note. I send it thus to go in safety—
<​PAID​> <25
Due 25
50>
<​[HA]GERSTOWN MAY 26​>
To
Mr Joseph Smith Sen
Hancock
County Ill [p. [2]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Lewis Zeigler, 25 May 1844
ID #
1369
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Lewis Zeigler
  • Printed text
  • Unidentified

Footnotes

  1. A January 1841 revelation instructed the Saints to participate in the construction of the Nauvoo temple, and church leaders solicited donations from church members thereafter. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:31]; Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1842, 3:737; see also “Tithing Day Book B,” 10–171, Trustee-in-Trust, Tithing Daybooks, CHL.)

  2. The postage rate for letters traveling more than four hundred miles was twenty-five cents. If the letter was two pages, the postage was doubled. Since the surviving letter was just one leaf, Zeigler may have included the five-dollar note with another sheet of paper—perhaps enclosing it in the paper for “safety”—thereby incurring a double postage charge. (Force, National Calendar, 8:227; An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], Public Statutes at Large, 18th Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 64, p. 105, sec. 13; John, Spreading the News, 159.)

    Force, Peter. The National Calendar for MDCCCXXIX. Vol. VII. Washington DC: By the author, 1829.Force, Peter. The National Calendar for MDCCCXXX. Vol. VIII. Washington DC: By the author, 1830.

    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.

    John, Richard R. Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.

  3. Stamped in black ink.

  4. Postage written in black ink in unidentified handwriting.

  5. Circular postmark stamped in black ink. The ink at the bottom of the stamp did not transfer, resulting in missing characters.

  6. Following the 1840 death of JS’s father, Joseph Smith Sr., JS was sometimes referred to as Joseph Smith Sr., although he appears to have gone primarily by Joseph Smith. JS’s eldest surviving son, named Joseph Smith III at birth, was referred to in legal documents as Joseph Smith Jr., implying that JS was Joseph Smith Sr. (Asael Smith Family Bible, 12; JS Family Bible; Eliza R. Snow, “Elegy,” Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 1:190–191; Deed to Julia M. Smith and Others, 17 Mar. 1842; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 78–79.)

    Asael Smith Family Bible, 1795–1950. Private possession. Copy of genealogical information at CHL. MS 19012.

    JS Family Bible / Joseph Smith Family Bible, ca. 1831–1866. Private possession. Copy of genealogical information in Joseph Smith Sr. Family Reunions Files, 1972–2003. CHL.

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

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