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Letter from Unidentified Author, 6 May 1844

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Letter from Unidentified Author, 6 May 1844

Source Note

Unidentified author, Letter, , Lee Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 6 May 1844; unidentified handwriting; one page; photocopy in Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes address, docket, and archival marking. Transcription from photocopy.
Single leaf, or possibly a bifolium, with unknown measurements. The paper is ruled with horizontal printed lines and a vertical line forming the left margin. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with an adhesive wafer, the remnants of which are visible on the verso of the letter. There is marked water damage at the bottom edge of the leaf, and a portion of the document is missing; consequently, the letter bears no signature, if it had one. The resulting leaf has twenty-four horizontal lines. Significant wear is present along the folds. The original document apparently had undergone conservation.
There is a partially legible docket on the verso in the handwriting of , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. In late 1844, following JS’s death, became one of the interim church trustees and was appointed “first bishop” among other bishops. It was presumably during this time that many of the church’s financial and other administrative records passed into his possession. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Whitney kept, was inherited by Newel K. and ’s daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who was married to Isaac Groo. The documents were passed down within the Groo family. Between 1969 and 1974, the Groo family donated its collection of Newel K. Whitney’s papers to the J. Reuben Clark Library (renamed Harold B. Lee Library in 1973) at Brigham Young University. The original of this letter presumably remains in family possession.

Footnotes

  1. [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. [2]

    Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24; Wilkinson et al., Brigham Young University, 4:255.

    Andrus, Hyrum L., and Chris Fuller, comp. Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers. Provo, UT: Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1978.

    Wilkinson, Ernest L., Leonard J. Arrington, and Bruce C. Hafen, eds. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. Vol. 4. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Historical Introduction

On 6 May 1844, an unidentified author wrote a letter from , Illinois, to JS in , Illinois, regarding a missing horse and other matters. The bottom portion of this letter, where the author presumably signed his name, is missing. JS became acquainted with several of Dixon’s residents in June 1843 when officials were making their third attempt to extradite him to that state, and one of these acquaintances may have been his correspondent. The author requested that JS inform him if a horse—which he claimed to have recently bought from JS—returned to Nauvoo. Besides making this request, the author indicated that he had shared General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States with a Mr. Dixon and mentioned the status of the case JS v. Reynolds and Wilson.
A docket added by , one of JS’s scribes, indicates that the letter was received in . The lack of postal markings suggests that it was delivered by courier. At the time the letter was written, a group of was visiting Dixon to attend the aforementioned trial. The members of this group would have been the most likely candidates for carrying the letter back to Nauvoo, where they returned on 13 May. There is no known response from JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See “Part 4: June–July 1843.” The use of “Sir” as a salutation and “Genl Joseph Smith” in the address suggest that the author was not a church member or a member of JS’s extended family in Lee County (where Dixon is located). Shepherd Patrick, one of the attorneys who defended JS in Dixon, was in Nauvoo on 29 April 1844 and shortly after that returned to the Dixon area to represent JS in his suit against Harmon T. Wilson and Joseph H. Reynolds. His handwriting, however, does not match the author’s, and neither does the handwriting of Edward Southwick, another lawyer who represented JS in Dixon. Other people who may have authored the letter include Lucien Sanger, who owned a stagecoach, and James Campbell, the sheriff of Lee County, Illinois. Given his occupation, Sanger may have been interested in buying a horse from JS. Another potential author is an “Esqr Noble,” who was in Nauvoo assisting the city’s attorney on 29 April 1844. This was probably Silas Noble from Lee County. When or if he returned to Lee County is unclear. (See Clayton, Journal, 21, 23, and 30 June 1843; JS, Journal, 30 June 1843 and 29 Apr. 1844; “Missouri vs Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1843, 4:242; Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County, 57; JS to James Campbell, Bond, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843; and Replication, Lee Co., IL, 8 May 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)

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

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County. Dixon, IL: Inez A. Kennedy, 1893.

  2. [2]

    See Clayton, Journal, 5–10 and 13 May 1844.

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

Page [1]

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May 6th 1844
Dr Sir
The gray mare I bought of you strayd from me the night after I got home— I have heard from her on her way back— I suppose she has taken her course down the river & you will probably see her back to your before the reception of this letter if she is not taken up on the road— I wish should she return you will would have the goodness to inform me as soon as convenient—
I got home safe & found my family & friends well— I gave your views of Government to Mr Dixon he says he is well pleased with the doctrine therein contained & much obliged to you for the pamphlet
your boat is 1◊ miles below here but your men are loading a Keel boat here with corn— Our court is now in session your cause has not yet come on— your witnesses are here—
Please make my co[m]pliments to [&] say [to] her that Mrs [2 words illegible] [her happy?] [illegible] [page torn] [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Unidentified Author, 6 May 1844
ID #
1350
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Unidentified

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Dixon, Illinois, is on the Rock River, which feeds into the Mississippi River about 125 miles upstream from Nauvoo. (See Merrick, Old Times on the Upper Mississippi, 296.)

    Merrick, George Byron. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: The Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1909.

  2. [2]

    Probably John Dixon, who founded Dixon, Illinois. He defended JS’s right to legal counsel when JS was arrested in June 1843 while visiting family near Dixon. General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States outlined JS’s ideas on political and social issues as part of his presidential campaign. (Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County, 101–102; see also Discourse, 30 June 1843; William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, 16 May 1844, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, 5:554; Letter from Edward Southwick, 29 July 1843; and General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, ca. 26 Jan.–7 Feb. 1844.)

    Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County. Dixon, IL: Inez A. Kennedy, 1893.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    TEXT: There appears to be some separation along the fold, which has made the second character illegible.

  4. [4]

    The Maid of Iowa had traveled up the Rock River to obtain grain, probably to be used to pay those working on the temple. William Clayton stated that the steamboat stopped “at the foot of the Rapids 12 miles below Dixon” to avoid getting stuck. (JS, Journal, 2 May 1844; Clayton, Journal, 2–6 May 1844.)

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

  5. [5]

    The case in question, JS v. Reynolds and Wilson, was not argued until 9 May 1844. It stemmed from the third attempt to extradite JS to Missouri, in June 1843. JS had filed a lawsuit against Joseph H. Reynolds and Harmon T. Wilson, his captors, “for false imprisonment and using unnecessary force and violence in arresting the plaintiff.” Stephen Markham and William Clayton traveled from Nauvoo to Dixon in May 1844 to act as witnesses in this suit. Markham was present when JS was arrested near Dixon in June 1843, and both he and Clayton were instrumental in obtaining legal services for JS. There were also several witnesses from Lee County, Illinois, who testified, including Lucien Sanger, John Nash, Benjamin Wasson, Harmon Wasson, and John Dixon. (William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, 16 May 1844, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, 5:554–555; see also Clayton, Journal, 18 and 23 June 1843; 6 and 9 May 1844; JS, Journal, 2 May 1844; and the affidavits of Lucien Sanger, John Nash, Benjamin Wasson, John Dixon, Harmon Wasson, William Clayton, and Stephen Markham, Lee Co., IL, 10 May 1844, Lee County Circuit Court Case Records, 1840–1940, Illinois Regional Archives Depository, Regional History Center, Founders Memorial Library, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

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

  6. [6]

    TEXT: Page torn.

  7. [7]

    TEXT: Page torn.

  8. [8]

    TEXT: The bottom of the page is torn off, probably including a signature line.

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