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Letter from William Cadett, September 1842

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Letter from William Cadett, September 1842

Source Note

, Letter, , Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to [JS, , Hancock Co., IL], Sept. 1842; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket.
Bifolium measuring 6⅝ × 3½ inches (17 × 9 cm) when folded. When unfolded, the left and top sides of the recto have the square cut of manufactured paper, whereas the right and bottom sides are unevenly cut. The document was trifolded for transmission.
The document was docketed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. It was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket and its inclusion in the circa 1904 inventory and in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

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

  2. [2]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  3. [3]

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

Historical Introduction

Sometime in September 1842, wrote a letter from , Scotland, to JS in , Illinois, in which he accused JS of deluding people into believing that he was a prophet, called the Book of Mormon a pretended work, and demanded that JS make a public confession to these effects. Cadett was apparently a member of the Church of Scotland. It is unknown when and how Cadett became aware of JS, the , and the Book of Mormon. It is also unclear why, as a member of the Church of Scotland, Cadett alluded to a prophecy in the Koran in describing himself. The letter’s wrapper, which would have included the address and any postal markings, is apparently missing. It is therefore unknown how Cadett sent this letter to JS in Nauvoo. It may have been mailed or carried to Nauvoo by a private party, possibly a missionary returning to Nauvoo from Great Britain. It is unclear if and when JS received the letter, although the church’s archival possession of it by the 1850s indicates he likely did.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Very little is known about Cadett. He was the son of James Cadett and was married to Sarah Boydone in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1838. In 1892 Cadett bequeathed a portion of his estate to support two parishes in the Church of Scotland. (“Parish Trusts [Scotland] No. II,” 88; Church of Scotland, Parish Church of St. Mungo, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, Parish Registers, 1700–1854, Marriages, 1820–1854, p. 8, 21 May 1838, microfilm 1,067,970, British Isles Record Collection, FHL.)

    “Parish Trusts (Scotland) No. II.” In House of Commons, Sessional Papers, Account and Papers, Vol. 68, Local Taxation and Local Government: Local Taxation (Scotland). Session 14 February 1905–11 Aug. 1905. [London]: House of Commons, 1905.

    British Isles Record Collection. FHL.

  2. [2]

    Church missionaries in Great Britain traveled throughout Scotland in the early 1840s, distributing tracts and copies of the Book of Mormon and of the church’s British newspaper, Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. In 1842 there was no branch of the church in Annan, but the town was likely part of the Brampton Conference, which consisted of 171 members in four branches. (“General Conference,” Millennial Star, June 1842, 3:29; Aspinwall, “Fertile Field,” 104–117.)

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

    Aspinwall, Bernard. “A Fertile Field: Scotland in the Days of the Early Missions.” In Mormons in Early Victorian Britain, edited by Richard L. Jensen and Malcolm R. Thorp, 104–117. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989.

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, Scotland
Septr 1842—
All Glory)
to God)
Sir,
It Having come to my knowledge that you are disgracing the Christian Religion, likewise treating your indulgent Maker with contempt by publishing a pretended work entitled the book of Mormon; now I as the Shepherd (who was in truth foretold to come by the prophet Mahomet [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from William Cadett, September 1842
ID #
920
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:113–115
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Cadett

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Cadett may have come in contact with the edition of the Book of Mormon published in Liverpool in 1841.

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