Skip to main content

Letter from Lyman Wight and Heber C. Kimball, 19, 21, and 24 June 1844

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter from Lyman Wight and Heber C. Kimball, 19, 21, and 24 June 1844

Source Note

and , Letter, , Philadelphia Co., PA, to JS, Harriet Benton Wight and Wight children, and , Wisconsin Territory, Saints, [, Hancock Co., IL], 19, 21, and 24 June 1844; handwriting of ; signatures of and in the handwriting of ; sixteen pages; JS Collection, CHL. Included enclosure (not extant); includes dockets, redactions, use marks, and notations.
Five bifolia, each measuring 10 × 7⅝ inches (25 × 19 cm). The letter was written on sixteen of the twenty pages. The bifolia were filled out one at a time rather than stacked when open to make a single gathering. The letter was written on the first three pages only of each bifolium except the last, which contains writing on all four pages. All of the pages with inscription are paginated except the final page. The letter was trifolded and presumably placed in a wrapper or envelope for delivery. The letter included an enclosure of funds, which were presumably used for the purposes stated in the letter. An unidentified individual later added a notation. The letter was later folded along the original creases for filing. There are holes from staples in the upper left corners of each of the bifolia; these staples were later removed.
This document was docketed twice by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. There are graphite editorial marks, cancellations, insertions, and notations throughout the letter, presumably made while it was prepared for inclusion in JS’s history. It 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 redactions and notations, its listing in the circa 1904 inventory, 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. The draft notes for JS’s history indicate that the letter was “to be revised” for inclusion in the history. An abridged version was included in the history. (Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 2 July 1844, 6; JS History, vol. F-1, 232–234.)

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

Historical Introduction

From 19 to 24 June 1844, and wrote a letter from to JS in , Illinois, to inform him about the progress of their mission to the eastern and about support from various quarters in his presidential bid. Like most of the rest of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Wight and Kimball were barnstorming for JS’s presidential campaign. After Wight returned to Nauvoo from overseeing the ’s logging and milling operations in the on 1 May 1844, JS inducted him as a member of the and stated that he “wanted Wight and every other man who could leave, to go into all the States and preach and electioneer for him to be president.” In response to JS’s request, formally moved during a 6 May meeting of the Council of Fifty that Wight “go through the United States electioneering for the Presidency.” Wight then made plans to travel with Heber C. Kimball to to deliver instructions from the Council of Fifty to and , who were there on assignment from the council. On 20 May the Saints held a public meeting in Nauvoo “to obtain means” to support Wight on his mission with Kimball.
The following day, and left for via by steamboat with and approximately one hundred elders called to preach and to canvass the eastern states for JS’s election. The group held several political meetings with Latter-day Saints during its journey from Nauvoo to Pittsburgh. These meetings reportedly resulted in at least a few positive interactions and garnered a modicum of political support for JS among those outside the church.
After arriving in , and left in the city and traveled with apostle toward . Wight and Kimball arrived in the city on 2 June, where they spent several days meeting with political leaders and a few local church members. Smith evidently left for sometime before Wight and Kimball did. On 7 June they submitted a memorial to Congress that they had written detailing the Saints’ persecutions of 1838–1839 and petitioning for redress. Evidently having come to terms with the unlikelihood of members of the church receiving any financial redress, Wight and Kimball petitioned for “a liberal grant of lands in one of the Territories of the , to be located in such manner as not to deprive any previous actual settler of any just right or claim.” Suspecting Congress might not grant even that petition, they requested that alternatively the Saints be granted preemption rights (first right of purchase) to unspecified western lands, on which the Saints would eventually settle, provided they could make payments “at periods of ten, fifteen and twenty years.” The following day, Wight and Kimball met with and delivered a 13 May 1844 letter from the . They then left and spent several days in Philadelphia and nearby Wilmington, Delaware.
On 19 June, in , they began the featured letter to JS, with dictating on their behalf to church member , who served as the scribe. The letter was produced serially, with portions of it dictated on 19, 21, and 24 June. On 20 June, Wight and met with the Philadelphia of the church, and on 21 June, Wight and Kimball traveled to Wilmington, where they held a on 22 and 23 June. On 24 June the two returned to Philadelphia, where Wight finished dictating their letter to JS and added a short note to his wife, Harriet Benton Wight, and their children, as well as to the Latter-day Saints in with whom he had lived while in .
After completing the letter, and sent it and $1,300 in donations they had presumably collected along the way to JS by way of and a Brother Price. Forgeus and Price arrived in on 12 July, two weeks after JS was assassinated. Upon his arrival, Forgeus explained that he had orders not to give the funds to anyone but JS. However, given that JS was dead, he agreed to deliver the funds and letter to , formerly JS’s private clerk. He delivered “$300 from L Wight & $1000. from bro. Kimball” to Clayton the following day.

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 1 May 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 3 May 1844.

  2. Council of Fifty, “Record,” 6 May 1844.

  3. JS, Journal, 13 May 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 13 May 1844; Richards, Journal, 14 May 1844.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  4. JS, Journal, 20 May 1844. It is unclear why Wight received financial support for his mission while Kimball and others did not.

  5. JS, Journal, 21 May 1844.

  6. Kimball, Journal, 2–8 June 1844. It is unclear whether William Smith went to Washington DC along with Wight and Kimball. Neither Wight nor Kimball mentioned Smith’s participation in any of their efforts in Washington DC, and Hyde referred to meeting with only “Elders Kimball and Wight” on 8 June, which suggests that if Smith did travel to Washington, he was no longer in the city by that date. (Letter from Orson Hyde, 9 June 1844.)

    Kimball, Heber C. Journal, June 1837–Feb. 1838; Feb.–Mar. 1840; May 1846–Feb. 1847. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 3, fd. 2.

  7. Lyman Wight and Heber C. Kimball, Petition to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 June 1844, [2], Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC. The day before he and Wight submitted the petition, Kimball recorded that he had received a divine communication “that Congress would not do anny thing fore us.” Reconciling himself to this impression, Kimball wrote, “I do not care wheather they do or not. it is none of thares to give. my Father in heaven owns it all and he will give it to [us] so let them go to thare own place.” The following day, when Wight and Kimball met with Orson Hyde, they informed him that the sentiments of the Council of Fifty were that “it was not expected that Congress would do any thing for us” and that the memorials would serve “only to tease them.” (Kimball, Journal, 6 June 1844; Letter from Orson Hyde, 9 June 1844.)

    Wight, Lyman, and Heber C. Kimball. Petition to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 1844. Petitions, Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to the Committee on Public Lands during the 28th Congress. Petitions and Memorials, 1816–1948. Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, 1789–2015. National Archives, Washington DC.

    Kimball, Heber C. Journal, June 1837–Feb. 1838; Feb.–Mar. 1840; May 1846–Feb. 1847. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 3, fd. 2.

  8. Lyman Wight and Heber C. Kimball, Petition to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 June 1844, [2], Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives, Washington DC.

    Wight, Lyman, and Heber C. Kimball. Petition to U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 1844. Petitions, Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to the Committee on Public Lands during the 28th Congress. Petitions and Memorials, 1816–1948. Record Group 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, 1789–2015. National Archives, Washington DC.

  9. Letter from Orson Hyde, 9 June 1844; Letter to Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt, 13 May 1844. JS and the council wrote to Hyde and Pratt, rebuking Hyde for some changes he made to a memorial asking Congress to make JS a member of the United States Army.

  10. Kimball, Journal, 20–23 June 1844.

    Kimball, Heber C. Journal, June 1837–Feb. 1838; Feb.–Mar. 1840; May 1846–Feb. 1847. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 3, fd. 2.

  11. A notation written in pencil, possibly by clerk Robert L. Campbell, on the final page of this letter records that it was “received 2d July.” Accordingly, extracts from this letter were later placed in JS’s history under the date 2 July. William Clayton’s diary, however, makes clear that the letter did not arrive in Nauvoo until 12 July. (Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 2 July 1844, 6; JS History, vol. F-1, 247; Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1844.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  12. Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 31.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  13. Clayton, Journal, 12–13 July 1844. It is possible that Kimball delivered some of this money to Emma Smith on 8 August 1844. (Kimball, Journal, 8 Aug. 1844.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Kimball, Heber C. Journal, June 1837–Feb. 1838; Feb.–Mar. 1840; May 1846–Feb. 1847. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 3, fd. 2.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter from Lyman Wight and Heber C. Kimball, 19, 21, and 24 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 1

Go to next page 2
Pa
June 19. 1844
To my well beloved Brother and Fellow Prisoner Joseph Smith of the ,
Greeting:
I <​We​> take this opportunity of giving you an abridged history of my transactions together with Bro my fellow traveller. We left the 21st. day of May amidst the acclamation of three Cheers from the shore Joseph Smith the next president of the , we passed smothly down the there being 165 Passengers on board the Boat, “Osprey.” I was called upon to deliver a political address, and to show what right he had to the presidential Chair, which I did to the [illegible] entire satisfaction of nearly all the Passenge[r]s on board, not forgetting at the same time to show that the other Candidates had disqualified themselves to all the right and title by acts of pure meaness: whilst Speaking of their acts of meaness I was frequently interupted with loud laughing and clapping of hands, by way of approbation. A vote a being taken on the presidential questions and Joseph Smith received a large mgority [majority] over all the other Candidates. We reached on the 22nd. in the morni[n]g at 10 Oclock. [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 Lyman Wight and Heber C. Kimball, 19, 21, and 24 June 1844
ID #
1423
Total Pages
20
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • John A. Forgeus

Footnotes

  1. During winter 1838–1839, Lyman Wight was imprisoned with JS at Richmond and Liberty, Missouri. (Letter to Emma Smith, 12 Nov. 1838; Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 Mar. 1839.)

  2. Kimball noted that others, including his wife Vilate Murray Kimball and their two children, joined JS at the landing to see the group off on its mission. (Kimball, Journal, 21 May 1844.)

    Kimball, Heber C. Journal, June 1837–Feb. 1838; Feb.–Mar. 1840; May 1846–Feb. 1847. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 3, fd. 2.

  3. The Osprey made weekly trips on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Bloomington, Iowa Territory, during 1844. (“Regular Weekly Iowa Packet to Bloomington,” Hawk-Eye [Burlington, Iowa Territory], 7 Mar. 1844, [3].)

    Burlington Hawk-Eye. Burlington, IA. 1845–1851?.

  4. Lyman Wight perhaps here referenced the unwillingness of some candidates to assist the Latter-day Saints in obtaining redress. In response to an 1839 petition for redress, former president and 1844 presidential candidate Martin Van Buren told JS that he could do nothing for the Saints because any effort in their behalf would cause him to “come in contact with the whole State of Missouri.” In November 1843 JS wrote to five presidential candidates, asking how they would help the Saints if they were elected president. Henry Clay responded that while he had “viewed, with a lively interest, the progress of the Latter day Saints” and “sympathised in their sufferings under injustice,” he was unwilling to make any guarantees. Candidates John C. Calhoun and Lewis Cass responded similarly, as did the then United States president, and 1844 presidential candidate, John Tyler, who expressed regret for the troubles the Saints had experienced in Missouri but made no promises of redress, explaining that he could not “interfere with the laws and regulations of the States.” Tyler instead urged the Saints to “get beyond the States into the United States territories,” where they would “come under the immediate protection of the general government.” (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Historical Introduction to Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843; Letter from Henry Clay, 15 Nov. 1843; Letter from John C. Calhoun, 2 Dec. 1843; Letter from Lewis Cass, 9 Dec. 1843; Letter from Orson Hyde, 26 Apr. 1844; Letter from Orson Hyde, 11 June 1844.)

  5. Straw polls of presidential candidates like this one were a common part of steamboat travel during the 1844 presidential race. According to Brigham Young, who was aboard the same ship, there was “a graedele [great deal] of talk on the Boat,” including “some preaching [and] som politicks,” before the vote was taken. In a letter to Vilate Murray Kimball, his wife, Heber C. Kimball detailed the results of this steamboat straw poll: JS received sixty-three votes from men and four from women. Clay received twenty-seven votes from men and six from women. Van Buren received thirteen votes from men and two from women. Lewis Cass and James G. Birney received a combined three votes, while Richard Mentor Johnson and John C. Calhoun received none. (Brigham Young, Pittsburgh, PA, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Nauvoo, IL, 31 May–1 June 1844, [1], CHL; Heber C. Kimball, [La Grange, MO], to Vilate Murray Kimball, [Nauvoo, IL], 21–23 May 1844, [2], Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL; see also, for example, Straw Poll Notice, Hawk-Eye [Burlington, Iowa Territory], 28 Mar. 1844, [3]; “Steam Boat Election,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 22 May 1844, [2]; and “The Tables Turned,” Perry County Democrat [Bloomfield, PA], 15 Aug. 1844, [3].)

    Young, Brigham. Letter, Pittsburgh, PA, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Nauvoo, IL, 31 May–1 June 1844. CHL.

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

    Burlington Hawk-Eye. Burlington, IA. 1845–1851?.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Perry County Democrat. Bloomfield, PA. 1836–1945.

  6. Brigham Young stated that the boat arrived in St. Louis “a bout 2 P.M.” The trip from Nauvoo to St. Louis cost approximately $2.50 per passenger. (Brigham Young, Pittsburgh, PA, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Nauvoo, IL, 31 May–1 June 1844, [1], CHL.)

    Young, Brigham. Letter, Pittsburgh, PA, to Mary Ann Angell Young, Nauvoo, IL, 31 May–1 June 1844. CHL.

Go to page