Letter from Moses Martin, 7 November 1841
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Source Note
, Letter, La Porte, LaPorte Co., IN, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 7 Nov. 1841; handwriting of ; three pages; BYU. Includes addressing and docket.Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7½ inches (32 × 19 cm). The pages are ruled with thirty-five horizontal blue lines. The letter was written on the first three pages and then addressed and trifolded twice in letter style. A red adhesive wafer is still adhered to the first page, and the last page was torn, likely when the letter was opened. The bottom three inches of the second leaf are missing, having been torn along the fold.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. The Church Historical Department received a photocopy of this document in 1982 from a private collector. The original is currently housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, which has no available provenance information for this item.
Footnotes
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JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News, 16 Mar. 1854, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
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Historical Introduction
On 7 November 1841, wrote a letter to JS from La Porte, Indiana, reporting on his mission to the eastern . Likely at the August 1841 of the , Martin had been appointed to serve a mission to the eastern states. Within days of receiving this assignment, Martin left his home in , Iowa Territory, traveling northeast through and then through northern , where he stopped to write this letter.As he traveled, visited the thriving of the in Knox and Stark counties in , where he experienced some proselytizing success. Prior to Martin’s preaching, local Congregationalist minister Samuel G. Wright had urged “some man competent to manage public discussions” to combat the growing influence of Latter-day Saints in the region. As the letter featured here indicates, Martin encountered challenges to his missionary efforts in the regions around , where local ministers and newspapers vocally opposed Latter-day Saint efforts.While preaching in Will County, Illinois, learned that a week after his departure, the had published an epistle instructing all missionaries then “in the vineyard” to immediately write to the Twelve, detailing “their situations, designs, and all things relating to their ministry.” The epistle directed all missionaries to return quickly to , Illinois, where the would give them further instructions regarding their proselytizing duties. Sometime around 25 September, Martin wrote to , the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, for further instructions regarding the mission that he, Martin, had only recently undertaken. With Young’s approval, Martin continued his journey east.While ’s letters to solicited direction regarding his mission, his letter to JS offered a report of his mission thus far. The contents of the letter also suggest that Martin may have been concerned about his family’s health in . At the time of his departure, sickness had been rampant throughout the settlement. Martin presumably sent the letter to from La Porte, Indiana. The lack of postal markings on the envelope suggests that Martin may have sent the letter via an unnamed courier. Extant records do not indicate any reply from JS.
Footnotes
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1
The minutes of the conference do not mention Martin’s mission assignment, though the timing of the assignment suggests it was issued at the conference. (Iowa Stake, Record, 7–9 Aug. 1841, 101–104; Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 25 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)
Iowa Stake, Record. / Iowa Stake. “Church Record,” 1840–1841. CHL. LR 7817 21.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
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2
Samuel G. Wright, Henderson, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 16 Mar. 1841; Samuel G. Wright, Henderson, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 18 June 1841, American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, reel 18, CHL.
American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, 1816–1898. Microfilm. CHL.
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3
Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve, to the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:520.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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4
Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 25 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; see also Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 29 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
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5
See Clayton, Diary, 1 July 1841; 8 and 17 Aug. 1841; 11 Sept. 1841.
Clayton, William. Diary, Vol. 1, 1840–1842. BYU.
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