Letter from Samuel Bent and George W. Harris, 23 September 1840
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Source Note
and , Letter, , Hamilton Co., OH, to First Presidency (including JS) and Nauvoo high council, [, Hancock Co., IL], 23 Sept. 1840. Featured version copied [ca. Oct. 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 179–180; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
and wrote to the and the on 23 September 1840 regarding the progress of their fund-raising mission. Both members of the high council, Bent and Harris were appointed by the council on 17 July 1840 to procure funds for printing a new edition of the Book of Mormon, a new hymnal, and JS’s revision of the Bible. In this letter, they gave an account of their journey to , where printer was already securing contracts to have the Book of Mormon stereotyped and printed. Bent and Harris reported to church leaders in Nauvoo, Illinois, that although members of the church in and were enthusiastic about the publication efforts, they were generally poor and unable to contribute significantly to the project. Despite the Saints’ poverty, Bent and Harris were able to raise some money. They also agreed to make a future payment to the stereotyper and printer. These efforts, together with the advance subscriptions Robinson sold, were evidently enough to print the Book of Mormon. By October, Robinson had two thousand printed copies of the Book of Mormon, all paid for by the contracted deadlines.The original letter is not extant but was likely carried to by , who apparently also delivered a 23 September letter that wrote to the First Presidency from and that contained content similar to and ’s letter. The two letters were read by clerk at the general in Nauvoo on 3 October. copied the letter from Bent and Harris into JS Letterbook 2, probably shortly after the conference.
Footnotes
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1
Minutes, 17 July 1840; “Books!!!,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:140.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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2
Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 260–262; see also Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:129–132.
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
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1
Sept. 23d. 1840
To The
& of the
We gladly embrace this opportunity of conveying a few lines to you by who, I expect will leave this place for in a few days. Brother and have visited the several of the Church in , Pike Co, & .
On our way we stoped at and Pleasant Garden, Indiana; we found the bretheren generally willing and anxious to do all in their power to assist the church in the great and glorious cause that we have engaged in respecting the printing of the several Books in contemplation; but, I am sorry to say, I found them destitute of the means to relieve our present necessity. However we have succeeded in obtaining several notes of hand from different bretheren in the state of to the amount of about Eighty three dollars which will come due on the first day of Oct next and we have handed them over to to be delivered to Joseph Smith Jr. for collection.
We expect will arrive with them at the time they become due. We have obtained some money which we have paid over to Br. we have also given our obligations as for the church to Mr. Shepherd [Edwin Shepard] & George Stearns to the amount of three hundred dollars, two hundred of which becomes due on the 26th. day of Nov. next and the other one hundred on the 26th day of December next being the amount due Shepherd and Stearns for the Stereotype Plates. We have taken up the bond that bro. Brown gave for the waggon or carraige which he let Joseph Smith Jr. have, and we have succeeded in procuring a horse and harness to put along side of the other horse to make it easier for him. We got said horse and harness by contribution from the bretheren at & West Milton Ohio— Bro. (we think) has been very economical, diligent [p. 179]
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