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Letter from Samuel McClanathan, likely between 20 June 1842 and 20 June 1844

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Letter from Samuel McClanathan, likely between 20 June 1842 and 20 June 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Jo Daviess Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, likely between 20 June 1842 and 20 June 1844; handwriting and signature presumably of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes map, address, postal stamp, postal notation, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7⅝ inches (32 × 19 cm). The upper left corner of the recto of the first leaf contains a rectangular embossment. The letter was inscribed in blue ink, while the map was drawn on both interior pages in graphite and blue ink. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, the remnants of which are on the verso of the first leaf and the recto and verso of the second leaf, and postmarked. Both leaves were torn near the wafer when the letter was opened.
The letter was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. By 1973 this document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

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

Historical Introduction

Between 20 June 1842 and 20 June 1844, member wrote a letter from , Jo Daviess County, Illinois, to JS in , Hancock County, Illinois, to bring to his attention a potential site for a settlement. McClanathan had been an in 1840 and was a resident of . In his letter, McClanathan explained that he had found a promising location for a settlement of Latter-day Saints while visiting his sister in Jo Daviess County. McClanathan suggested that the lead mining in the area might appeal to immigrants from the British Isles who had experience in that line of work. He also raised the possibility of building factories at the proposed site to manufacture red and white lead. Most of McClanathan’s letter was used to tout the site’s advantages, from its natural beauty to its practical benefits. He even included a detailed map to convey the location’s appealing features. McClanathan stated that he was writing to JS “By request”—possibly at the invitation of a pair of major landowners in the area who were contemplating westward emigration and were interested in selling.
While the letter bears the date 20 June, it does not indicate the year in which it was written. Given the inclusion of a docket by on the letter, it was likely written in or after June 1842, when Clayton became a scribe to JS, and no later than 20 June 1844, since JS died later that month. The letter is arranged in the JS Collection among letters written in 1844. The letter may have been filed with documents produced at the end of JS’s life because of its uncertain year.
’s letter was postmarked on 27 June, a week after it was written, at . If the letter was written in 1844, JS never received it, although the letter apparently did arrive in and was preserved among his papers.
The following transcript presents the text of the letter followed by the hand-drawn map. The transcript divides the map into five rectangular sections, with the transcript of the text found on each section. These five sections were not numbered originally but are numbered here for the reader’s convenience. Any text that was written upside down or at an angle is transcribed right side up.

Footnotes

  1. This was not the first time JS received an invitation to begin a new settlement. For instance, in February 1843 John Cowan proposed that the Saints settle at Shokokon in Henderson County, Illinois, which, like Jo Daviess County, was north of Hancock County along the Mississippi River. (JS, Journal, 10 and 14–17 Feb. 1843; Minutes, 10 Feb. 1843; Historical Introduction to Deed from Robert and Mary Crane McQueen, 20 Feb. 1843; Historical Introduction to Power of Attorney to Amasa Lyman, 28 Feb. 1843.)

  2. General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 40; Nauvoo First Ward Census, [10], Nauvoo Stake, Ward Census, CHL.

    Nauvoo First Ward Census. Nauvoo City Census, 1842. CHL.

  3. See Correspondence, 1829–1844, Letters Received, June 1844, in JS Collection, 1827–1844, CHL.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

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20 June inst
Sir
I am not out on the buisness of hunting city plots &c But hapend to come to Mr Frentress to see a natural sister of mine Mr Frentress wants to sell and Mr Mattor also one is going into the other into or calculate to if they should sell I think this place would be a pleasant pac [place?] and conv[en]ient to the mines not behind for convenience of any of the mining towns. I did not know but what you mite think it weell to make a settle<​ment​> here all guess work yankees you know are full of their projects. If you come up to take a look you will be kindly treated call on Mr Frentress 3½ miles from Dubuque land at Dubuque above I did not know but many of the English brethren and Irish would like to work at mining being use to that buisness in the old country I also thought that factories for manufactoring red and white lead for painti[n]g might be established here perhaps or somewhere else this is the only place in the region of the mining country on the river and if the saints want such a place the prophet will doubtless know if he is a yankee
Your <​x​> is some little aquainted with me I received under his hands my P. Bleig [patriarchal blessing] not long ago
<​x​>
This is generaly considerd as a pleasant place for a town I should say a 2nd to
By request I [illegible] <​write​> this line thinking if you thoght <​shoul[d] think​> it best to establish a town here it would be a pleasant place convenient to the mines
NB If you conclude to come send word when you think you can come and Mr Frentress will be her[e] to give you further information
<​write to Jo Davi[es]s Co &c​>
<NB. Land at Dubuque if you come up
3½ from Frentress
see road> [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Samuel McClanathan, likely between 20 June 1842 and 20 June 1844
ID #
1426
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Samuel McClanathan

Footnotes

  1. Probably Eleazer Frentress, who was among the first settlers in Menominee (later Dunleith) Township of Jo Daviess County, Illinois. (History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, 542–544.)

    The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County—Its Cities, Towns, etc. . . . Chicago: H. F. Kett and Co., 1878.

  2. Samuel McClanathan probably meant Mattox. The Mattox family had “settled about half a mile east of the Frentress family” in Menominee (later Dunleith) Township. (History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, 544.)

    The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County—Its Cities, Towns, etc. . . . Chicago: H. F. Kett and Co., 1878.

  3. Northwestern Illinois, where Jo Daviess County was located, along with southwestern Wisconsin, was known for its lead mines. The most common type of lead in Jo Daviess County was galena, or lead sulfide. Sometimes this metal, which the miners referred to simply as “mineral,” was near the surface, but usually it was necessary to dig a mining shaft to extract it. The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois noted that “from 1827 the mines rapidly grew in importance and multiplied in numbers.” During the 1840s “the greatest degree of prosperity was reached in the mines,” while the middle of this decade was “the very acme.” Although there were multiple towns in the mining district, Galena “was the centre of commerce and trade for the whole country.” (History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, 828, 835.)

    The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County—Its Cities, Towns, etc. . . . Chicago: H. F. Kett and Co., 1878.

  4. Regional stereotypes were common in the antebellum United States. “Yankees” in this case probably referred to New Englanders rather than northerners in general. One aspect of the Yankee stereotype emphasized enterprise, industriousness, and inventiveness. A newspaper conveyed this stereotype with a humorous anecdote: “It is said that a Yankee baby will crawl out of his cradle, take a survey of it, invent an improvement, and apply for a patent before he is six months old.” (Gray, Yankee West, 4; “News Summary,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 10 May 1856, [2].)

    Gray, Susan E. The Yankee West: Community Life on the Michigan Frontier. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

    Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago. 1872–1963.

  5. Dubuque, Iowa Territory.

  6. It is estimated that over 4,600 converts from Britain immigrated to Nauvoo and its environs in the early and mid-1840s, and it was necessary to find employment for them. In an 1840 letter to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, JS noted that many of these British converts were “extremely poor and not accustomed to the farming business.” He therefore suggested that men with means and experience with machinery come and establish “Cotton Factories, Founderies, Potteries &c” to provide employment. As one historian has noted, however, “the effort to establish factories was stymied by a shortage of experience and capital,” and “many workers found little need for their specialized skills.” (Jensen, “Impact of British Latter-day Saint Immigration upon Nauvoo,” 77, 79; Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.)

    Jensen, Richard L. “Transplanted to Zion: The Impact of British Latter-day Saint Immigration upon Nauvoo.” BYU Studies 31 (Winter 1991): 77–88.

  7. In April 1844 there were three branches of the church in Ireland—at Hillsborough, Crawfordsburn, and Melusk—which together had fifty-two members. That same month, a company of converts from the British Isles arrived in Nauvoo, and of over two hundred passengers, only fifteen were from Ireland. Given the small number of both members in Ireland and immigrants leaving Ireland for Nauvoo, it is possible that McClanathan could be referring to Irish immigrants in the United States in general. (“General Conference,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1844, 4:195; JS, Journal, 13 Apr. 1844; Adams, Autobiography, 6.)

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

    Adams, William. Autobiography, Jan. 1894. CHL.

  8. Lead mining took place in various parts of Britain, such as Derbyshire, Cumberland, Durham, Northumberland, Cornwall, Devon, and southeastern Wales. There were also other types of mining operations in Britain. Wilford Woodruff and Heber C. Kimball, for instance, saw coal and iron mines during their missions in England. Some British miners apparently immigrated to the United States and continued their trade in their new home. Cyrus Woodman, a resident of Wisconsin’s lead mining region, noted that “most of the foreign population” there was “from Cornwall in England—Cornish miners, who are principally engaged in mining.” (Schafer, Wisconsin Lead Region, 2; Woodruff, Journal, 26 June 1840; Letter from Heber C. Kimball, 9 July 1840; Gara, “Glimpse of the Galena Lead Region in 1846,” 87.)

    Schafer, Joseph. The Wisconsin Lead Region. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1932.

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

    Gara, Larry. “A Glimpse of the Galena Lead Region in 1846.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 50, no. 1 (Spring 1957): 85–89.

  9. Red lead is a type of lead oxide, and white lead is a lead carbonate mixture. Both were commonly used as pigments. (See “Lead,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 6:138.)

    Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

  10. Galena was located about six miles upstream on the Fever River (now Galena River), a tributary of the Mississippi River. Cyrus Woodman, a resident of Wisconsin’s lead mining region, observed that Galena was “the nearest point” to where he lived “to which steamboats come.” (History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, 448, 828; Gara, “Glimpse of the Galena Lead Region in 1846,” 87.)

    The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County—Its Cities, Towns, etc. . . . Chicago: H. F. Kett and Co., 1878.

    Gara, Larry. “A Glimpse of the Galena Lead Region in 1846.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 50, no. 1 (Spring 1957): 85–89.

  11. TEXT: Inserted “x” corresponds to a notation below identifying “brother” as Hyrum Smith.

  12. JS’s brother Hyrum Smith was appointed the church patriarch in 1840. A blessing from Hyrum Smith to McClanathan has not been located. McClanathan also received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith Sr. in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1837. (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Patriarchal Blessings, 2:194–195.)

    Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.

  13. TEXT: Inserted “x” corresponds to a notation above.

  14. TEXT: Possibly “with”.

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