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Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–A

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Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–A

Source Note

, , , , and , Letter, , Crawford Co., Wisconsin Territory, to JS and the , [, Hancock Co., IL], 15 Feb. 1844; handwriting of Otis Hobart; five pages; JS Collection, CHL.
Two leaves measuring 12⅛ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm) and an additional small slip of paper measuring 3¼ × 7⅝ inches (8 × 19 cm) that was cut from a larger leaf. The paper of the first two leaves is ruled (though the lines are now almost completely faded). The letter was written on both sides of both leaves and on the recto of the smaller slip of paper (with the verso left blank). The first two leaves were folded three times horizontally and twice vertically, and the small slip of paper was folded twice vertically. The document has undergone conservation.
The letter was received by JS in folded together and wrapped with another letter of the same date from and others in . The second letter was docketed (likely serving as a docket for both letters). The letter featured here was docketed by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early provenance and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B.

  2. [2]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

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

  3. [3]

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

Historical Introduction

On 15 February 1844, a committee of members in drafted two letters to inform JS, his counselors in the , and the about the progress of the Latter-day Saints in Wisconsin in obtaining lumber for the in , Illinois, and the as well as their efforts to proselytize among the Chippewa and Menominee nations living in Wisconsin. The letters also shared the committee’s recent conclusion that church leaders should consider sending an expedition to scout the as a place for southern Latter-day Saints and converted Native Americans.
Church members had been logging pine in since 1841 to provide lumber for the construction of the and the . According to the letter, church administrators in Wisconsin Territory had concluded that by July 1844 the logging operation could supply more than enough lumber for both buildings. In addition, a delegation from the Menominee had recently visited the Wisconsin Saints to inform them that they would have to pay federally regulated rates for logging on the above the falls, thereby limiting the profits that the lumber operation could generate for the church. Although this development changed the prospects for using the lumber mills to raise money, the meeting helped solidify relations between the Saints and the Indian nation. Noting the poor prospects for making money in Wisconsin Territory and recent proselytizing success in the southern , the Wisconsin Saints wanted to abandon the lumber venture and establish a new gathering center in . The committee expected they would have more success raising money for the church by converting and gathering slaveholders who could be persuaded to consecrate the profits of enslaved labor to the church.
Church leaders in also believed it was possible to convert large numbers of the Menominee and Chippewa and persuade them to sell their lands and move to . Before the committee wrote this letter, contacted JS in January 1844 and asked for permission to preach to the Menominee and Chippewa because of the interest that Native American leaders had expressed in the church. The committee hoped that relocating to Texas or elsewhere in the West would open the doorway to proselytize among many indigenous groups throughout the Americas.
Church members in appointed this committee—consisting of , , , , and —to communicate their views to church leaders in . The committee assigned Wight and Miller, both of whom were trustees, to each draft a letter to send to Nauvoo. After reviewing the two drafts, the committee resolved to send both letters; the first letter, featured here, was authored by Wight and inscribed by Otis Hobart. The second was created by Miller and also penned by Hobart. Some evidence suggests that Wight’s letter was meant to be read first. His letter reported the decision to send both letters, suggesting that he intended his message to be read as an introduction to both; the folds on the letters indicate that they were folded together with Wight’s letter first and Miller’s second. Each of the letters is dated 15 February 1844 and was signed by the five members of the committee, though the first is addressed to JS and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles while the second is addressed to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.
The committee initially chose to carry the letters to , but it was later decided that would bear them. Miller delivered the letters to JS in Nauvoo on the afternoon of Sunday, 10 March 1844. JS perused the letters, and some discussion ensued. At 4:30 p.m., JS met in the with Miller, available members of the Twelve, and the temple committee to further discuss the letters. This discussion led to the provisional organization that night of what would later become the and the formal organization of the council on 11 March 1844. later copied these letters into the Council of Fifty record. The original sent letter is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Rowley, “Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries,” 119–148; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [4]; and George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2].

    Rowley, Dennis. “The Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries, 1841–1845.” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (1992): 119–148.

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844. In January 1844, Wight and George Miller sent Mitchel Curtis and Stephen Curtis to Nauvoo to inquire if Wight should proselytize among these two tribes. JS told the messengers that Wight should “do what he thinks best. & he shall never be brought into difficulty about it by us.”

  3. [3]

    Wight later published his letter, which matches the letter featured here. (Wight, Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life, 1–3.)

    Wight, Lyman. An Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life from February 1844 up to April 1848, with an Appeal to the Latter Day Saints. [Austin, TX], [ca. 1848].

  4. [4]

    See Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B.

  5. [5]

    JS’s journal entry for 10 March suggests that the letter written by Miller may have been read first. The journal reports that “a Letter was read from Lyman Wight & others Dated Feb 15. 1844. to B. Youg W. Richads &c . . . also a letter to Joseph Smith. &c— from Lyman Wight and others a committee of the branch at th[e] pinery Black River. Falls.— Feb 15. 1844.” Both letters close by listing JS, Brigham Young, and Willard Richards as the addressees. However, the greeting in the letter written by Miller was to the “first Presidency” and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, whereas the greeting in the letter written by Wight was to “Joseph Smith” and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Since the journal entry has the letter “to Joseph Smith. &c” being read second, these greetings suggest that the men read the letter from Miller first and the letter from Wight second—the same order in which William Clayton transcribed the letters into the Council of Fifty record. (JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2].)

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  6. [6]

    Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B.

  7. [7]

    Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2].

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  8. [8]

    JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10–11 Mar. 1844.

  9. [9]

    See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–A Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 1, 10 March 1844–1 March 1845 History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
chose the following committee (namely) and to correspond with your Revr. council, giving you our views concerning matters and things and requesting your council on the same— This committee views it inexpedient to purchase standing timber on so rapid and unnavigable a stream for the purpose of making lumber to gain wealth— The Lamanites owning this land, notwithstanding their great anxiety to receive the Gospel and the book of Mormon have a strong desire if counciled by us so to do, to go south West where game is more plenty as their only resource here for a living is the pittiful annuities and proceeds from their pine timber, which timber is is the only inducement to the Government to purchase their lands— This committee is therefore led to take a brief view of the south and Western part of North America togeather with the Floridas, , West India Islands and the adjacent Islands to the Gulf of Mexico, togeather with the Lamanites bordering on the United Territoriees from Green Bay to the Mexican Gulf; all crying with One voice through the medium of their chiefs. Give us an understanding of your doctrine and principles for we perceive that your ways are equal and your rightiousness far exceeds the righteousness of all the Missionaries, that we have yet become acquainted with, that your conduct with One another is like that of ours and that all your feasts and attendant ceremonies are precisely like ours.
Your servants the committee have viewed the with all its beautiful hills and vallies and fertile soil with deep regret when viewing the countless thousands of inhabitants on either side thereof, without the knowledge of God or the doctrine of the , and say in their hearts, would it be expedients to form a Mission of those true and full blooded Ep[h]raimites who from principle and love [p. [2]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 February 1844–A
ID #
1272
Total Pages
6
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Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [13]

      In the treaty with the United States ratified in 1837, the Menominee were promised an annual cash and goods annuity from the federal government for twenty years. They were to annually receive $20,000 in cash, $3,000 worth of provisions, thirty barrels of salt, $500 worth of husbandry equipment or farming utensils, and two thousand pounds of tobacco. By 1843 this annuity payment amounted to only about $10.35 per tribal member. In addition, the payments were often weeks late and the goods were of substandard quality. (Articles of Agreement [3 Sept. 1836], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, pp. 507, 509, art. 2; Beck, Siege and Survival, 147–155.)

      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.

      Beck, David R. M. Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634–1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

    2. [14]

      Following Andrew Jackson’s invasion and occupation of the Spanish province of West Florida in 1818, Spain agreed to cede the two provinces of East and West Florida to the United States, which soon consolidated the provinces into a single territorial government. (Coker and Parker, “Second Spanish Period in the Two Floridas,” 156–157, 164; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 97–111, 516–517.)

      Coker, William, and Susan R. Parker. “The Second Spanish Period in the Two Floridas.” In The New History of Florida, edited by Michael Gannon, 150–166. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996.

      Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

    3. [15]

      That is, the territories belonging to the United States: Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, unorganized territory, and Indian Territory. (See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 26 Mar. 1844.)

    4. [16]

      George Miller later recounted that when Oshkosh, chief of the Menominee, visited the Latter-day Saint lumber operation, he “said he believed we were right, for many things we had told him were backed up by Indian tradition; but for him, the principal chief, to act on his belief would avail nothing; that at some future period it would be best to call a council of all his chiefs, (he could not then as they were on their winter’s hunt,) and deliberately consider the whole matter, and act upon it in national council, and in that case their change of religion would be national and permanent, and that he had no doubt in bringing it about.” Wight and Miller sent Mitchel Curtis and Stephen Curtis to Nauvoo to inquire whether Wight “should preach to the Indians,” which the Menominee and the Chippewa had requested. JS told them on 20 February 1844, “I have no council to give him. he is there on his own ground. and he must act on his own responsibility. & do what he thinks best. & he shall never be brought into difficulty about it by us.” Wilford Woodruff clarified that on the subject of preaching to the Indians, “Joseph thought it wisdom not to do it He said if Lyman did any thing about it he must do it on his own responsibility but finally decided not to send any Council to him but let him act with the best wisdom he had in all things.” (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2]; JS, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844; Woodruff, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844.)

      Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

      Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    5. [17]

      Ephraim was one of the two sons of Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob (Israel). By 1831 descent from Ephraim had become associated with the membership of the church. (Genesis chap. 48; Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:36]; Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133:30–34]; see also Letter to Stephen Post, 17 Sept. 1838.)

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