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Letter from William Clayton, 26 June 1844

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Letter from William Clayton, 26 June 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 26 June 1844; handwriting and signature of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, endorsement, docket, and notation.
Single leaf measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). Both sides of the leaf are ruled with twenty-seven printed horizontal lines (now faded). The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, remnants of which are on both sides of the leaf. The document was later refolded for filing.
The letter was endorsed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844. It was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The letter was copied into volume F-1 of JS’s history by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department), in 1856. It was included in the Journal History of the Church by or under the direction of Andrew Jenson, who served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941 and who noted in the Journal History entry that a manuscript copy of the letter was “on file.” 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, its inclusion in JS’s history and the Journal History, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842.

  2. Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  3. JS History, vol. F-1, 171–172; Source Note for and Historical Introduction to History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1; see also “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.

  4. Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 26 June 1844; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 48–52, 55.

    Historical Department. Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL. CR 100 137.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

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

Historical Introduction

On 26 June 1844, JS’s private clerk, , wrote a letter from , Illinois, to JS at the jail, in , Illinois, to explain recent developments in Nauvoo and to inform JS of a man willing to put up bail for him. Rumors of impending attacks on Nauvoo were circulating at this time. wrote to her husband, , on 24 June that “betwene three and four thousand brethren” had been “under arms” in Nauvoo for a week, expecting incursions from mobs at any moment. According to Clayton, discovered a note on 25 June stating that a group of seventy men in intended to attack Nauvoo that night, leading city leaders to place “a strong guard . . . outside the City.”
To protect ’s residents in his absence, JS had requested that governor “send some of his malitias to Nauvoo.” Ford agreed and “despatched Captain [James] Singleton with his company from Brown county to Nauvoo, to guard the town.” After arriving in Nauvoo early in the morning of 26 June, Singleton assembled the Nauvoo city police, “read the Govrs orders to him to come to Nauvoo & preserve the peace,” and asked if they would work with him to comply with the order. The police unanimously pledged that they would.
In addition to a possible attack, citizens were facing a shortage of grain and other necessities. According to , one of JS’s critics, Nauvoo had “no means to live” and many of Nauvoo’s citizens were “destitute,” with some “suffer[ing] with hunger.” Compounding this general food shortage were efforts by opponents to obtain their own supply of grain and cut off the Saints’ access to food. This situation led JS to counsel two church members living in Doyle’s Mills, Illinois, to send “any amount of wheat or provisions” to Nauvoo “as it will be better for you to bring it here and have your pay, than to leave it for the mob to consume, & destroy.”
In the 26 June letter featured here, notified JS about the arrival of the militia and comments that Singleton subsequently made. He also informed JS that a “Mr Marsh” was available to post bail for him if necessary and that Marsh could also supply corn to residents. In addition, Clayton reported on a shipment of flour that had reached Nauvoo and told JS that even with the threat of attacks, Nauvoo citizens were unafraid.
After wrote the letter, carried it to JS in . According to an endorsement on the letter by , JS received it that evening at 6:15. There is no extant response from JS, who was killed the next day.

Footnotes

  1. Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, Baltimore, MD, 9, 11, and 24 June 1844, [3], Kimball Family Correspondence, CHL.

    Kimball Family Correspondence, 1838–1871. CHL. MS 6241.

  2. Clayton, Journal, 25 June 1844.

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

  3. Letter to Emma Smith, 25 June 1844; Ford, History of Illinois, 337; see also Thomas Ford, “To the People of the State of Illinois,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:564–565. Although Ford stated that Singleton and his company were from Brown County, James W. Woods, one of JS’s attorneys, claimed the men were from McDonough County. Singleton, however, was from Brown County. (James W. Woods, Statement, Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 30 June 1844, [1]; James W. Woods, Statement, Times and Seasons, 1 July 1844, 5:563; 1850 U.S. Census, Brown Co., IL, 172[A].)

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

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

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

  4. Clayton, Journal, 26 June 1844. According to Hosea Stout, this was a temporary police force, because the “regular police” were “mostly officers in the [Nauvoo] Legion” who “were in actual service” at the time. (Thomas Bullock, Record of Events, 26 June 1844, [1], Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

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

  5. Robert D. Foster, Carthage, IL, to John Proctor Sr., Nauvoo, IL, 20 June 1844, [2], JS Office Papers, CHL; “Notice. Doings of the City Council. Special Session,” 2 July 1844, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL. The grain shortage, caused by excessive flooding, apparently affected the whole region. (Ford, History of Illinois, 334–335.)

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

    Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.

  6. Letter to Richard Ballantyne and Peter Slater, 20 June 1844.

  7. Clayton, Journal, 26 June 1844.

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

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from William Clayton, 26 June 1844 History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
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Joseph Smith Esqr.
<June 26— 1844
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Recd 6¼ P. M. at > [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from William Clayton, 26 June 1844
ID #
1452
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. Endorsement in the handwriting of Willard Richards.

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