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Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 July 1841

Source Note

Orson Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
, Letter, Ratisbon (Regensburg), Bavaria, to JS,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, 17 July 1841. Featured version published in “Letter from Elder Hyde,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, vol. 2, no. 24, 570–573. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

On 17 July 1841,
Orson Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
wrote a letter from Regensburg, Bavaria (now in Germany), to JS in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois, to share information regarding his mission abroad. This was Hyde’s third letter to JS since arriving in Europe.
1

See Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 Apr. 1841; and Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.


After leaving
London

City in southeast England; located on River Thames about sixty miles west of North Sea. Capital city of England. Population in 1841 about 2,000,000. London conference of British mission organized, 1841.

More Info
on 20 June 1841,
Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
arrived in
Rotterdam

Port city in Netherlands, about thirty miles southwest of Amsterdam. Population in 1840 about 78,000. Population in 1850 about 89,000. Orson Hyde reported traveling to Rotterdam from London during his missionary travels, July 1841.

More Info
, the Netherlands, where he met with the area’s chief rabbi to discuss the restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land. Hyde traveled through the Netherlands, unsuccessfully seeking audiences with local Jewish leaders before continuing on to
Germany

Inhabited anciently by Teutonic peoples. Included in Holy Roman Empire. Became confederation of states, 1815. Between 1843 and 1856, population estimates range from about 30,000,000 to about 51,000,000. Orson Hyde traveled through Germany during his missionary...

More Info
. After traveling through Mainz and Frankfurt, Hyde stopped in Regensburg, where he boarded with a hospitable German family for nearly two months. The family reportedly taught him German in exchange for English lessons and offered him the use of their carriage during his stay.
2

Hyde, “Orson Hyde’s Life,” 23.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Hyde, Joseph S. “Orson Hyde’s Life,” no date. Weston Nephi Nordgren, Orson Hyde Research Files, ca. 1945–1979. CHL.

Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
planned to travel to
Austria

Central European nation. Became Austrian Empire, 1806, following dissolution of Holy Roman Empire. Population in 1832 about 1,800,000. Population in 1845 about 2,300,000. Orson Hyde tried to visit en route to Jerusalem, 1841, but could not because he had ...

More Info
, but because he had failed to send his passport to the Austrian consulate upon his arrival in Frankfurt, he was required to forward the passport to Munich and await approval before he could legally enter Austria.
3

An 1837 travel handbook warned travelers that “without the signature of an Austrian ambassador or minister on his passport, no traveller is allowed to enter the Austrian dominions.” If a signature was not procured before reaching the border, travelers would be “turned back to seek the signature . . . of an Austrian minister, in the nearest capital.” (Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany, 107, italics in original.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany; Being a Guide to Bavaria, Austria, Tyrol, Salzburg, Styria, &c., the Austrian and Bavarian Alps . . . . London: John Murray and Son, 1837.

While he waited, Hyde concentrated on learning German and writing. This letter to JS was one among many of his resulting works.
4

See Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.


Combining a mission report and travelogue with sentimental expression, the letter outlines Hyde’s efforts to fulfill his charge to “be [an] agent and representative in foreign lands . . . and converse with the priests, rulers and Elders of the Jews.”
5

Recommendation for Orson Hyde, 6 Apr. 1840.


JS likely received this letter in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
in September 1841.
6

Postal transmission times were irregular. Letters from England to Nauvoo generally took between thirty and ninety days to arrive. Hyde’s letter was written on 17 July and received before 2 October in Nauvoo, when JS read it aloud at a church conference, suggesting JS received it sometime in September. (JS History, vol. C-1, 1228.)


The original letter is apparently not extant, but it was published in the 15 October issue of the Times and Seasons; that is the version featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 Apr. 1841; and Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.

  2. [2]

    Hyde, “Orson Hyde’s Life,” 23.

    Hyde, Joseph S. “Orson Hyde’s Life,” no date. Weston Nephi Nordgren, Orson Hyde Research Files, ca. 1945–1979. CHL.

  3. [3]

    An 1837 travel handbook warned travelers that “without the signature of an Austrian ambassador or minister on his passport, no traveller is allowed to enter the Austrian dominions.” If a signature was not procured before reaching the border, travelers would be “turned back to seek the signature . . . of an Austrian minister, in the nearest capital.” (Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany, 107, italics in original.)

    Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany; Being a Guide to Bavaria, Austria, Tyrol, Salzburg, Styria, &c., the Austrian and Bavarian Alps . . . . London: John Murray and Son, 1837.

  4. [4]

    See Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.

  5. [5]

    Recommendation for Orson Hyde, 6 Apr. 1840.

  6. [6]

    Postal transmission times were irregular. Letters from England to Nauvoo generally took between thirty and ninety days to arrive. Hyde’s letter was written on 17 July and received before 2 October in Nauvoo, when JS read it aloud at a church conference, suggesting JS received it sometime in September. (JS History, vol. C-1, 1228.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 July 1841 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 571

continued he, “almost continually.”
8

Between 1800 and 1850, the approximate number of Jews in Palestine rose from ten thousand to twelve thousand. (Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World, 531.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Mendes-Flohr, Paul R., and Jehuda Reinharz. The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

I told him that I had written an address to the Hebrews, and was about procuring its publication in his own language; (dutch) and when completed, I would leave him a copy. He thanked me for this token of respect, and I bade him adieu. I soon obtained the publication of five hundred copies of the address,
9

Although no copies have been located, this pamphlet was the church’s first known publication in a foreign language. It may have been similar to the church tract Hyde published in German the following year from a draft he wrote while in England. (Hyde, Ein Ruf aus der Wüste, i; Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.)


and left one at the house of the Rabbi—he being absent from home, I did not see him.
After remaining here about one week, I took the coach for
Amsterdam

Significant maritime and commercial city on western coast of Netherlands. Located at confluence of Amstel and Wye rivers. Small fishing village in twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Population in 1830 about 200,000. Population in 1843 about 210,000. JS appointed...

More Info
, distance 7 hours, or about 30 English miles.
10

The old English mile was likely an outgrowth of the Belgic-German mile, which is equal to 6,610 feet. Although it historically has varied in length, it was generally longer than the American mile by approximately a third. By the nineteenth century, however, the English mile was sometimes synonymous with the American mile of 5,280 feet. Based on Hyde’s estimation of thirty miles between Rotterdam and Amsterdam, his reference to the English mile likely coincides with the longer old English mile. (Klein, Science of Measurement, 69–70; Landmann, Universal Gazetteer [1840], iii.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Klein, Herbert Arthur. The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey. New York: Dover, 1988.

Landmann, George. A Universal Gazetteer; or, Geographical Dictionary. London: Longman, Orme, and Co., 1840.

Rotterdam

Port city in Netherlands, about thirty miles southwest of Amsterdam. Population in 1840 about 78,000. Population in 1850 about 89,000. Orson Hyde reported traveling to Rotterdam from London during his missionary travels, July 1841.

More Info
is a fine town of about 80 thousand inhabitants. The cleanliness of its streets, the antique order of its architecture, the extreme height of its buildings, the numerous shade trees with which it is beautified, and the great number of canals through almost every part of the town filled with ships of various sizes from different parts of the world; all these, with many other things not mentioned contributed to give this place a peculiararity resembled no where else in the course of my travels, except in
Amsterdam

Significant maritime and commercial city on western coast of Netherlands. Located at confluence of Amstel and Wye rivers. Small fishing village in twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Population in 1830 about 200,000. Population in 1843 about 210,000. JS appointed...

More Info
. Most of the business men here speak a little English—some speak it very well. In ascending the waters of the Rhine from the sea to
Rotterdam

Port city in Netherlands, about thirty miles southwest of Amsterdam. Population in 1840 about 78,000. Population in 1850 about 89,000. Orson Hyde reported traveling to Rotterdam from London during his missionary travels, July 1841.

More Info
, the numerous Wind-mills which I beheld in constant operation, led me to think, almost, that all Europe came here for their grinding. But I ascertained that they were grinding for distilleries, where the floods of gin are made, which, not only. deluge our beloved country with fatal consequences, but many others. Gin is one of the principal articles of exportation from this
country

Significant maritime and commercial city on western coast of Netherlands. Located at confluence of Amstel and Wye rivers. Small fishing village in twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Population in 1830 about 200,000. Population in 1843 about 210,000. JS appointed...

More Info
.
11

Although quantities temporarily decreased between 1800 and 1850, records indicate that Holland was the primary supplier of gin to the United States from 1750 to 1916. (Solmonson, Gin, 87–88.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Solmonson, Lesley Jacobs. Gin: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books, 2012.

In going to
Amsterdam

Significant maritime and commercial city on western coast of Netherlands. Located at confluence of Amstel and Wye rivers. Small fishing village in twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Population in 1830 about 200,000. Population in 1843 about 210,000. JS appointed...

More Info
, I passed through a very beautiful town called “
the Hague

City in western Netherlands thirty miles southwest of Amsterdam. Originated as hunting spot for counts of Holland, 1250. Became principal seat of central government in sixteenth century. Population in 1840 about 61,000. Population in 1850 about 72,000. Orson...

More Info
,” the residence of the King of Holland. I saw his palace which was guarded by soldiers, both horse and foot. For grandeur it bore but a faint resemblance to Buckingham Palace in
London

City in southeast England; located on River Thames about sixty miles west of North Sea. Capital city of England. Population in 1841 about 2,000,000. London conference of British mission organized, 1841.

More Info
:
12

William II assumed the Dutch throne in 1840. The monarchy had two palaces in The Hague: Noordeinde and Huis ten Bosch. Based on Hyde’s comparison of the building to Buckingham Palace, he was likely referring to Noordeinde Palace. (Koopmans, Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands, 34, 245.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Koopmans, Joop W. Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016.

But the beautiful parks and picturesque scenery in and about
the Hague

City in western Netherlands thirty miles southwest of Amsterdam. Originated as hunting spot for counts of Holland, 1250. Became principal seat of central government in sixteenth century. Population in 1840 about 61,000. Population in 1850 about 72,000. Orson...

More Info
, I have never seen equaled in any country. I remained in
Amsterdam

Significant maritime and commercial city on western coast of Netherlands. Located at confluence of Amstel and Wye rivers. Small fishing village in twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Population in 1830 about 200,000. Population in 1843 about 210,000. JS appointed...

More Info
only one night, and a part of two days—I called on the President Rabbi here, but he was gone from home.
13

The chief rabbi of Amsterdam died in December 1838. Rather than appoint a new chief rabbi, the Jewish congregation appointed a rabbinical court, or bet din, to lead and make decisions for them. The court consisted of A. J. Susan, J. M. Content, B. S. Berenstein, J. S. Hirsch, and J. D. Wynkoop. Hyde’s unsuccessful efforts to gain an audience with the “President Rabbi” might have been directed to any of these individuals who served in the court. (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1:542; see also Het Amsterdamsche Opper-Rabbinaat, 1–16.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Edited by Isidore Singer. 12 vols. New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906.

Het Amsterdamsche Opper-Rabbinaat. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: no publisher, 1839.

I left at his house a large number of the addresses for himself and his peolpe, and took coach for
Arnheim

Located thirty miles east of Utrecht, Netherlands, on bank of Rhine River. Population between 1843 and 1856 about 15,000. Functioned as trade hub between Amsterdam and Germany. Orson Hyde arrived in Arnhem by coach from Amsterdam and departed by boat traveling...

More Info
on the Rhine. Took boat the same evening for Mazenty.
14

Mainz, a city in the German Confederation, located on the Rhine. In nineteenth-century English, Mainz was traditionally spelled “Mayence.” It is likely that Hyde or the typesetter at the printing press, instead of spelling the city name as “Mayentz,” switched the letters “z” and “y” each time the name was written.


Travelling by coach and steam is rather cheaper in this country than in the
U[nited] States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
. We were three days in going up the Rhine to Mazenty. Holland and the lower part of Prus[s]ia are very low flat countries. The French and German language are spoken all along the Rhine; but little or no English. The Rhine is about like the Ohio for size, near its mouth where it empties into the
Mississippi

Principal U.S. river running southward from Itasca Lake, Minnesota, to Gulf of Mexico. Covered 3,160-mile course, 1839 (now about 2,350 miles). Drains about 1,100,000 square miles. Steamboat travel on Mississippi very important in 1830s and 1840s for shipping...

More Info
. Its waters resemble the
Missouri

One of longest rivers in North America, in excess of 3,000 miles. From headwaters in Montana to confluence with Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri River drains 580,000 square miles (about one-sixth of continental U.S.). Explored by Lewis and Clark...

More Info
waters, dark and muddy. The scenery and landscapes along this river have been endowed with art and nature’s choicest gifts. I have been made acquainted with Europe, in
America

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
, by books, to a certain extent; yet now my eyes behold!! It is impossible for a written description of a stranger’s beauty, to leave the same impression upon the mind, as is made by an ocular view of the lovely object. This is the difference between reading of and seeing the countries of Europe.
From Mazenty I came to Frankfort on the Main, by railroad—distance 7 hours. From Frankfort, I came to this place—distance about 30 hours, where Napoleon gained a celebrated victory over the Prusians and Austrians. The very ground on which I now write this letter, was covered by about 60 thousand slain in that battle. It is called the battle of Ackynaeal.
15

As Hyde notes, Regensburg was the stage for Napoleon’s battle with the Austrian Empire on 19–23 April 1809. Hyde likely conflated several closely related battles into one larger event. Fought within days and miles of each other, the battles of Abensberg, Ratisbon, Landshut, and Eckmühl all seem to merge in Hyde’s account into the Battle of Eckmühl (or Eggmühl), which he calls “Ackynaeal.” The Battle of Eckmühl was fought on 21–22 April 1809 in Eckmühl, Bavaria, fifteen miles outside of Regensburg. Conflating the battles would also result in a death toll closer to Hyde’s estimation of “about 60 thousand slain.” (Zabecki et al., Germany at War, 1:390.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Zabecki, David T., Willam H. Van Husen, Carl O. Schuster, and Marcus O. Jones, eds. Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. 4 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC- CLIO, 2014.

It was my intention to have gone directly down the
Danube

One of largest rivers in Europe. Known anciently as the Ister. Originates from confluence of two small rivers in Black Forest of southwest Germany, elevation about 2,900 feet, and terminates in Romania and Ukraine in Black Sea by four different outlets. About...

More Info
to Constantinople; but having neglected to get my passport vezayed by the Austrian Embassador at Frankfort, I had to forward it to the Austrain Embassador at Munich
16

Franz de Paula von Colloredo-Waldsee served as Austrian ambassador in Munich from 1837 to 1843. (Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 4:415.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. 56 vols. Leipzig, Germany: Duncker and Humblot, 1875–1912.

and procure his permission, signature, and seal, before I could enter the Austrian dominions. This detained me five days, during which time I conceived the idea of sitting down and learning the German language scientifically. I became acquainted with a lady here who speaks French and German to admiration, and she was very anxious to speak the English—she proposed giving me instruction in the German if I would instruct her in English.
17

Hyde had some teaching experience. Zebedee Coltrin later recalled JS appointing Hyde as the instructor in the School of the Prophets, an organization for learning “revelations and doctrine, but also for learning English grammar.” (School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, 11 Oct. 1883.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, Apr.–Dec. 1883. CHL.

I accepted her proposal.
18

Orson Hyde’s son Joseph later recollected his father’s description of the agreement with this German woman and her family. According to Joseph Hyde, his father was to receive room and board, along with use of the house servants and horse-drawn carriage. In exchange, Hyde would teach the mother and her two daughters English. He was also permitted to take the daughters on any outings if all conversations outside the home were in English. (Hyde, “Orson Hyde’s Life,” 23.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Hyde, Joseph S. “Orson Hyde’s Life,” no date. Weston Nephi Nordgren, Orson Hyde Research Files, ca. 1945–1979. CHL.

I have been engaged eight days in this task. I have read one book through and part of another, and translated and written con[s]iderable. I can speak and write the German considerable already, and the lady tells me that I make astonishing progress. From the past experience, I know that the keen edge of any work translated by a stranger in whose heart the spir [p. 571]
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Editorial Title
Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 July 1841
ID #
665
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:199–209
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Footnotes

  1. [8]

    Between 1800 and 1850, the approximate number of Jews in Palestine rose from ten thousand to twelve thousand. (Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World, 531.)

    Mendes-Flohr, Paul R., and Jehuda Reinharz. The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

  2. [9]

    Although no copies have been located, this pamphlet was the church’s first known publication in a foreign language. It may have been similar to the church tract Hyde published in German the following year from a draft he wrote while in England. (Hyde, Ein Ruf aus der Wüste, i; Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.)

  3. [10]

    The old English mile was likely an outgrowth of the Belgic-German mile, which is equal to 6,610 feet. Although it historically has varied in length, it was generally longer than the American mile by approximately a third. By the nineteenth century, however, the English mile was sometimes synonymous with the American mile of 5,280 feet. Based on Hyde’s estimation of thirty miles between Rotterdam and Amsterdam, his reference to the English mile likely coincides with the longer old English mile. (Klein, Science of Measurement, 69–70; Landmann, Universal Gazetteer [1840], iii.)

    Klein, Herbert Arthur. The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey. New York: Dover, 1988.

    Landmann, George. A Universal Gazetteer; or, Geographical Dictionary. London: Longman, Orme, and Co., 1840.

  4. [11]

    Although quantities temporarily decreased between 1800 and 1850, records indicate that Holland was the primary supplier of gin to the United States from 1750 to 1916. (Solmonson, Gin, 87–88.)

    Solmonson, Lesley Jacobs. Gin: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books, 2012.

  5. [12]

    William II assumed the Dutch throne in 1840. The monarchy had two palaces in The Hague: Noordeinde and Huis ten Bosch. Based on Hyde’s comparison of the building to Buckingham Palace, he was likely referring to Noordeinde Palace. (Koopmans, Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands, 34, 245.)

    Koopmans, Joop W. Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016.

  6. [13]

    The chief rabbi of Amsterdam died in December 1838. Rather than appoint a new chief rabbi, the Jewish congregation appointed a rabbinical court, or bet din, to lead and make decisions for them. The court consisted of A. J. Susan, J. M. Content, B. S. Berenstein, J. S. Hirsch, and J. D. Wynkoop. Hyde’s unsuccessful efforts to gain an audience with the “President Rabbi” might have been directed to any of these individuals who served in the court. (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1:542; see also Het Amsterdamsche Opper-Rabbinaat, 1–16.)

    The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Edited by Isidore Singer. 12 vols. New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906.

    Het Amsterdamsche Opper-Rabbinaat. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: no publisher, 1839.

  7. [14]

    Mainz, a city in the German Confederation, located on the Rhine. In nineteenth-century English, Mainz was traditionally spelled “Mayence.” It is likely that Hyde or the typesetter at the printing press, instead of spelling the city name as “Mayentz,” switched the letters “z” and “y” each time the name was written.

  8. [15]

    As Hyde notes, Regensburg was the stage for Napoleon’s battle with the Austrian Empire on 19–23 April 1809. Hyde likely conflated several closely related battles into one larger event. Fought within days and miles of each other, the battles of Abensberg, Ratisbon, Landshut, and Eckmühl all seem to merge in Hyde’s account into the Battle of Eckmühl (or Eggmühl), which he calls “Ackynaeal.” The Battle of Eckmühl was fought on 21–22 April 1809 in Eckmühl, Bavaria, fifteen miles outside of Regensburg. Conflating the battles would also result in a death toll closer to Hyde’s estimation of “about 60 thousand slain.” (Zabecki et al., Germany at War, 1:390.)

    Zabecki, David T., Willam H. Van Husen, Carl O. Schuster, and Marcus O. Jones, eds. Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. 4 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC- CLIO, 2014.

  9. [16]

    Franz de Paula von Colloredo-Waldsee served as Austrian ambassador in Munich from 1837 to 1843. (Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 4:415.)

    Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. 56 vols. Leipzig, Germany: Duncker and Humblot, 1875–1912.

  10. [17]

    Hyde had some teaching experience. Zebedee Coltrin later recalled JS appointing Hyde as the instructor in the School of the Prophets, an organization for learning “revelations and doctrine, but also for learning English grammar.” (School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, 11 Oct. 1883.)

    School of the Prophets Salt Lake City Minutes, Apr.–Dec. 1883. CHL.

  11. [18]

    Orson Hyde’s son Joseph later recollected his father’s description of the agreement with this German woman and her family. According to Joseph Hyde, his father was to receive room and board, along with use of the house servants and horse-drawn carriage. In exchange, Hyde would teach the mother and her two daughters English. He was also permitted to take the daughters on any outings if all conversations outside the home were in English. (Hyde, “Orson Hyde’s Life,” 23.)

    Hyde, Joseph S. “Orson Hyde’s Life,” no date. Weston Nephi Nordgren, Orson Hyde Research Files, ca. 1945–1979. CHL.

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