Letter from Thomas Burdick, 28 August 1840
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Source Note
, Letter, , Lake Co., OH, to [?], intended for JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 28 Aug. 1840. Featured version copied [probably ca. late Aug. 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 174–176; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 28 August 1840, , a member of the in , Ohio, addressed a letter to an unidentified individual and asked the recipient to share the letter with JS. Burdick was likely writing to , a member of the church’s . Smith, with whom Burdick had recently corresponded, had served as the point of contact for the church in , Illinois, in late 1839 and early 1840 when JS was in . Burdick requested that this 28 August letter be shown to JS so that it could be answered according to the Lord’s “mind and will.”expressed concern about the actions of , a church member who had passed through and had taught in public and in private what Burdick considered strange doctrine. In 1837 Dunham received a blessing that he was “to do a great work a mongst the ” and that he would “preach to the Lamonites, to the Indians.” After proselytizing in in late 1839 and early 1840, Dunham traveled to . He stayed there for just a few days and then set out for Indian Territory west of , spending several days there in May and June 1840 before traveling to the eastern , where he hoped to proselytize among Native Americans in . Although there is no record of Dunham receiving a specific assignment to preach to American Indian groups, JS may have authorized him to undertake this mission as part of a larger effort to proselytize among Native Americans. In May 1840, Phebe Carter Woodruff wrote her husband, , that “an Indian and his wife and daughter”—likely and Mary Dana and their daughter—had been in . The man had declared that he was an interpreter for six tribes, all of which “will receive the work.” She added that and had “gone out among the Indians on a mission,” which considered to be “the first commencement of the work among the Lamanites.” Dunham apparently left Nauvoo for Indian Territory with Dana just a few days after Phebe Woodruff wrote her letter.When —who referred to himself as a “Lamanite”—reached , he worked to recruit missionaries to accompany him to . Although other religious groups in the also tried to convert Indians to Christianity through preaching, some of what Latter-day Saints believed about Indians troubled non-Mormons and raised concerns about church members’ contact with Native Americans. According to passages in the Book of Mormon, Lamanites—believed by the Saints to be the ancestors of Native Americans—would join with European-American converts to build the , or city of , on the American continent. Church members also interpreted passages in the Book of Mormon to mean that Indian groups would wreak vengeance on the inhabitants of the United States if they rejected the Book of Mormon. Accordingly, allegations that the Saints were conspiring with Indians to attack non-Mormons dogged the church. JS and other church leaders issued a statement in 1838 declaring that they had not “had any communication with the Indians on any subject,” but fears of a Mormon-Indian alliance persisted and were apparently troubling to individuals who heard about Dunham’s plans to preach to Indian groups.While in , also preached on topics that JS had expounded upon in but that had apparently not yet been discussed in Kirtland. requested in his letter more information from church leaders about who Dunham was and whether he was authorized to speak publicly about the teachings in question. No response from JS or other church leaders has been located, but JS evidently received the letter, the original of which is not extant, because , one of JS’s clerks, copied it into JS Letterbook 2.
Footnotes
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1
A letter from Parley P. Pratt to JS, for example, was answered by Hyrum Smith, who then informed JS of the letter’s contents. (Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 Nov. 1839; Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840; Letter to Oliver Granger, between ca. 22 and ca. 28 July 1840.)
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2
“A Prophecey upon the Head of Jonathan Dunham,” 15 July 1837, Jonathan Dunham, Papers, CHL.
Dunham, Jonathan. Papers, 1825–1846. CHL.
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3
Jonathan Dunham, Cotton, IN, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Aug. 1840, 1:154; Dunham, Journal, 10 Dec. 1839–10 June 1840.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Dunham, Jonathan. Journals, 1837–1846. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387, fds. 1–4.
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4
Phebe Carter Woodruff, Montrose, Iowa Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, Burslem, England, 9 May 1840, digital scan, Wilford Woodruff, Collection, CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 13 July 1840; see also Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 98–99.
Woodruff, Wilford. Collection, 1831–1905. CHL. MS 19509.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Hartley, William G. My Best for the Kingdom: History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman. Salt Lake City: Aspen Books, 1993.
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5
Dunham, Journal, 13 and 19 May 1840.
Dunham, Jonathan. Journals, 1837–1846. Jonathan Dunham, Papers, 1825–1846. CHL. MS 1387, fds. 1–4.
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6
See Prucha, Great Father, 52–53.
Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. 2 vols. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
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7
See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., 528 [3 Nephi 21:23]; see also Historical Introduction to Affidavit, 8 Sept. 1838.
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8
Book of Mormon, 1837 ed., 527 [3 Nephi 21:12]; Pratt, Mormonism Unveiled, 15; Pratt, Voice of Warning, 185–192.
Pratt, Parley P. Mormonism Unveiled: Zion’s Watchman Unmasked, and its Editor, Mr. L. R. Sunderland, Exposed: Truth Vindicated: The Devil Mad, and Priestcraft in Danger! New York: O. Pratt & E. Fordham, 1838.
Pratt, Parley P. A Voice of Warning and Instruction to All People, Containing a Declaration of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Commonly Called Mormons. New York: W. Sanford, 1837.
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9
See Historical Introduction to Affidavit, 8 Sept. 1838; and Walker, “Seeking the ‘Remnant,’” 13–20.
Walker, Ronald W. “Seeking the ‘Remnant’: The Native American during the Joseph Smith Period.” Journal of Mormon History 19 (Spring 1993): 1–33.
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11
Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19.
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.
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