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Letter from Sybella McMinn Armstrong, 1 May 1843

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Letter from Sybella McMinn Armstrong, 1 May 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Philadelphia Co., PA, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 1 May 1843; handwriting and signature of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notation, postal stamps, endorsement, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 10 × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with twenty-seven horizontal blue lines that are now faded. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked. A hole was torn in the second leaf when the letter was opened. A remnant of the adhesive wafer remains on the second leaf. The document was refolded for filing. Some separation is evident on the second leaf along fold lines.
, 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, endorsed and docketed the document. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early endorsement and docket and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

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

Historical Introduction

On 1 May 1843, wrote a letter from to JS in , Illinois, to complain about slandering her and disparaging her character. Winchester, who was appointed the of the ’s Philadelphia in April 1841, had been experiencing longstanding difficulties with different members of the branch and with church officials who traveled to Philadelphia. Due to these difficulties, Winchester was removed as presiding elder and replaced by in September 1842. Nevertheless, Winchester’s divisive influence persisted in the branch. Hess wrote JS and in February 1843 asking that they remove Winchester from the branch entirely and explaining that they would receive more information in letters from Armstrong and others. On 21 and 22 April, a council of the Philadelphia branch’s officers investigated an accusation that Winchester had defamed the character of , another member of the Philadelphia branch. During the same council meeting, Armstrong claimed that Winchester had spoken against her, a charge corroborated by , a missionary who had been proselytizing in the area. On 23 April 1843, Nicholson wrote a letter to JS and the Nauvoo stating that Winchester had slandered her character and that he was “under the influense of the evil one.”
One week later, on 1 May 1843, wrote a similar letter, featured here. Addressing JS as church president, she outlined the grievances she had with . Among other things, Winchester accused her of drunkenness, immorality, and keeping company with an “atrocois villain.” Armstrong asked JS to present her charges against Winchester to the for action.
The letter was mailed from on 2 May and reached , Illinois, by 15 May. It then traveled from Monmouth to , a distance of approximately fifty miles. JS received the letter on 22 May, and it was read at a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on 23 May. On 27 May, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, JS, , and other church leaders considered the letter and its contents during a meeting specifically called for that purpose.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 6 Apr. 1841, 17; Historical Introduction to Letter from Eliza Lowry Nicholson, 23 Apr. 1843.

    Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 1840–1854. Microfilm. CHL. Original at CCLA.

  2. [2]

    Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 14 Sept. and 15 Oct. 1842, 31, 32.

    Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 1840–1854. Microfilm. CHL. Original at CCLA.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Peter Hess, 16 Feb. 1843.

  4. [4]

    Philadelphia, PA, Council Minutes, 21–22 Apr. 1843, General Ecclesiastical Court Trials, CHL; Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 1 May 1843, 42.

    General Ecclesiastical Court Trials 1832–1963. CHL.

    Philadelphia Branch Record Book, 1840–1854. Microfilm. CHL. Original at CCLA.

  5. [5]

    Letter from Eliza Lowry Nicholson, 23 Apr. 1843.

  6. [6]

    Minutes and Discourse, 27 May 1843.

  7. [7]

    Clayton, Journal, 22 May 1843; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 23 May 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

  8. [8]

    Minutes and Discourse, 27 May 1843; Woodruff, Journal, 27 May 1843.

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

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May 1ts 1843
Joseph Smith, Dear Borether
It is with feelings of no ordinry nature that I adress the following lines to you— but a strong sense of duty to my-self and the causse of Christ alone prompts me, I appeal to you because you— your-self have felt the sting of Slander, and know how sha[r]per then a Serpents tooth it is— I appeal to you Sir because I know and believe you to be a Man endowed with a Strong sense of Justice! and that you have a disposition to administer the same to the wronged and oppressed! You may think strange that woman as I am I should appeal to You in this matter, I seek redress at the hands of the first because tis my dhutry [duty] so to do— others Counsel when direct[ed] it by the Chu[r]chs— When I uniteted myself with the Chu[r]ch of latter day Sa[in]ts God kn[o]ws so far as the world was concernd I parted with my Charctar— I was willing to have my name cast out as evil— and endure all manner of reproaches for the sake and cause of my Master— [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Sybella McMinn Armstrong, 1 May 1843
ID #
1057
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:269–273
Handwriting on This Page
  • Sybella McMinn Armstrong

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The phrase how sharper than a serpent’s tooth derives from Shakespeare’s King Lear. Armstrong may have been referring to the efforts of John C. Bennett, a former member of and leader in the church and the Nauvoo community, who published letters and a book highly critical of JS in 1842. Bennett had also presented several lectures in the eastern United States ridiculing JS. (Shakespeare, King Lear, act 1, sc. 4, l. 288, in Wadsworth Shakespeare, 1312; John C. Bennett, The History of the Saints; or, An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism [Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842]; “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842.”)

    The Wadsworth Shakespeare, Formerly “The Riverside Shakespeare”: The Complete Works. Edited by G. Blakemore Evans, J. J. M. Tobin, Herschel Baker, Anne Barton, Frank Kermode, Harry Levin, Hallett Smith, and Marie Edel. 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 1997.

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

  2. [2]

    According to an 1831 revelation, a church member who had been offended by another church member who was unrepentant was to seek redress at the hands of a council of church elders “in a meeting and that not before the world.” (Revelation, 23 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:89].)

  3. [3]

    See Luke 6:22.

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