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Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 August 1841

Source Note

JS, Letter,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, to
Horace Hotchkiss

15 Apr. 1799–21 Apr. 1849. Merchant, land speculator. Born in East Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Heman Hotchkiss and Elizabeth Rowe. Moved to New Haven, New Haven Co., by 1815. Married Charlotte Austin Street, 22 Feb. 1824, in East Haven. Purchased...

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,
New Haven

Significant port city in Connecticut, four miles from Long Island Sound. Settled by company from London, 1638. United with Connecticut Colony, 1662. Population in 1830 about 10,000. Population in 1840 about 13,000. JS corresponded with Horace Hotchkiss and...

More Info
, New Haven Co., CT, 25 Aug. 1841; handwriting of
George Miller

25 Nov. 1794–after July 1856. Carpenter, mill operator, lumber dealer, steamboat owner. Born near Stanardsville, Orange Co., Virginia. Son of John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer. Moved to Augusta Co., Virginia, 1798; to Madison Co., Kentucky, 1806; to Boone...

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; address in handwriting of
John S. Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

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; four pages; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Springfield, IL. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, and docket.
Two leaves (at one time a bifolium but now separated), each measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was written on all four pages. It was then addressed, trifolded twice in letter style, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and stamped at the Nauvoo post office. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The custodial history of the letter is unknown before it came into the possession of the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop in Chicago, Illinois, which sold it in 1972 to the Illinois State Historical Library (now the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum).

Historical Introduction

On 25 August 1841, JS wrote a letter in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois, to his creditor
Horace Hotchkiss

15 Apr. 1799–21 Apr. 1849. Merchant, land speculator. Born in East Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Heman Hotchkiss and Elizabeth Rowe. Moved to New Haven, New Haven Co., by 1815. Married Charlotte Austin Street, 22 Feb. 1824, in East Haven. Purchased...

View Full Bio
in
Fair Haven

Village in south-central Connecticut, located on Quinnipiac River. Population in 1853 about 3,000.

More Info
, Connecticut, discussing JS’s debts. JS’s letter was a response to a communication a month earlier, wherein Hotchkiss expressed his confusion and dissatisfaction that JS had not paid his debts through his
agent

A specific church office and, more generally, someone “entrusted with the business of another.” Agents in the church assisted other ecclesiastical officers, especially the bishop in his oversight of the church’s temporal affairs. A May 1831 revelation instructed...

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Isaac Galland

15 May 1791–27 Sept. 1858. Merchant, postmaster, land speculator, doctor. Born at Somerset Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Matthew Galland and Hannah Fenno. Married first Nancy Harris, 22 Mar. 1811, in Madison Co., Ohio. Married second Margaret Knight, by 1816....

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, as had been arranged.
1

Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841.


Although JS commissioned Galland to obtain deeds to land in the eastern
United States

15 May 1791–27 Sept. 1858. Merchant, postmaster, land speculator, doctor. Born at Somerset Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Matthew Galland and Hannah Fenno. Married first Nancy Harris, 22 Mar. 1811, in Madison Co., Ohio. Married second Margaret Knight, by 1816....

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and transfer them to Hotchkiss as payment for the debts, Galland never accomplished the task. By July, Galland informed Hotchkiss that he was returning to Nauvoo.
2

Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841.


Meanwhile, JS had not been informed that Galland, upon whom JS and the
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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were relying, had apparently abandoned his assignment. JS had even begun to place increased trust in Galland—in a May 1841 letter, he asked his primary agent,
Oliver Granger

7 Feb. 1794–23/25 Aug. 1841. Sheriff, church agent. Born at Phelps, Ontario Co., New York. Son of Pierce Granger and Clarissa Trumble. Married Lydia Dibble, 8 Sept. 1813, at Phelps. Member of Methodist church and licensed exhorter. Sheriff of Ontario Co. ...

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, to turn his responsibilities over to Galland.
3

Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.


The lack of payment particularly displeased
Hotchkiss

15 Apr. 1799–21 Apr. 1849. Merchant, land speculator. Born in East Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Heman Hotchkiss and Elizabeth Rowe. Moved to New Haven, New Haven Co., by 1815. Married Charlotte Austin Street, 22 Feb. 1824, in East Haven. Purchased...

View Full Bio
because he had deferred the first interest payment on the debt for two years. According to the bond and promissory notes from the initial purchase in 1839, JS was to pay an annual interest of $3,000 for twenty years, after which the principal would be due.
4

Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.


However, according to the letter featured here, JS believed that Hotchkiss had agreed to defer the first five interest payments and accept lands as payment for both the principal and the interest. Hotchkiss’s September response reveals that he remembered agreeing to accept land payments for the interest only.
5

Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 13 Sept. 1841.


The miscommunication was frustrating for both parties, but in the ensuing correspondence, JS and Hotchkiss renegotiated the agreement to pay the debt with the eastern lands.
George Miller

25 Nov. 1794–after July 1856. Carpenter, mill operator, lumber dealer, steamboat owner. Born near Stanardsville, Orange Co., Virginia. Son of John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer. Moved to Augusta Co., Virginia, 1798; to Madison Co., Kentucky, 1806; to Boone...

View Full Bio
made a copy of the 25 August letter before it was sent. That copy was retained in JS’s
office

Term usually applied to JS’s private office, which was located at various places during JS’s lifetime, including his home. From fall 1840 until completion of JS’s brick store, office was located on second floor of a new building, possibly on Water Street ...

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.
6

JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Horace Hotchkiss, New Haven, CT, 25 Aug. 1841, copy, JS Collection, CHL.


The original was mailed on 28 August through the
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
post office and is the version featured here.
Hotchkiss

15 Apr. 1799–21 Apr. 1849. Merchant, land speculator. Born in East Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Heman Hotchkiss and Elizabeth Rowe. Moved to New Haven, New Haven Co., by 1815. Married Charlotte Austin Street, 22 Feb. 1824, in East Haven. Purchased...

View Full Bio
received the letter and responded three weeks later with a letter recounting his various attempts to accommodate JS’s repayment efforts—efforts that had been unsuccessful thus far.
7

Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 13 Sept. 1841.


Hotchkiss presumably showed the letter featured here to his business partner,
Smith Tuttle

12 Mar. 1795–7 Mar. 1865. Shipping merchant, land speculator. Born in East Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Christopher Tuttle and Abigail Luddington. Moved to Wallingford, New Haven Co., by 1810. Married first Rachel Gillett. Married second Amarilla...

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, who then also wrote a letter to JS.
8

Letter from Smith Tuttle, ca. 15 Sept. 1841. A filing docket added to the letter indicates that Hotchkiss received it.


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841.

  3. [3]

    Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.

  4. [4]

    Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.

  5. [5]

    Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 13 Sept. 1841.

  6. [6]

    JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Horace Hotchkiss, New Haven, CT, 25 Aug. 1841, copy, JS Collection, CHL.

  7. [7]

    Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 13 Sept. 1841.

  8. [8]

    Letter from Smith Tuttle, ca. 15 Sept. 1841. A filing docket added to the letter indicates that Hotchkiss received it.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 August 1841 Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 August 1841, Copy History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [3]

property than we are doing it. for your interest? If so, to the alternative; I therefore propose in order to avoid the perplexity and annoyance that has hitherto attended the transaction, that you come and take the premises and make the best you can of it. Or stand off and give us an oppertunity, that we may manage the concern, and enable ourselves by the management thereof to meet our engagement as was originally contemplated. We have taken a city plat at
Warsaw

Located at foot of Des Moines rapids of Mississippi River at site of three military forts: Fort Johnson (1814), Cantonment Davis (1815–1818), and Fort Edwards (1816–1824). First settlers participated in fur trade. Important trade and shipping center. Post...

More Info
at the head of navigation for vessels of heavy towage on the most advantagious terms, The proprietors waiting on us for the payment of the plat until we can reallize the money from the Sales, leaving to ourselves, a large and liberal net proffit.
9

On the south side of Warsaw, Illinois, the city of Warren had recently been platted by the church and was intended to house the influx of Latter-day Saint immigrants coming to Illinois and Iowa Territory. On 26 August 1841 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote a letter inviting immigrants to settle in Warren. (Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:520–521; JS History, vol. C-1, 1222; Letter from Calvin A. Warren, 31 Aug. 1841.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

We have been making every exertion and used all the means at our command [to lay]
10

TEXT: Hole in page; text supplied from retained copy of the letter in JS Collection, CHL.


a foundation that will now begin to enable us to meet our pecuniary engagements, and no doubt in our minds, to the entire satisfaction of all those concerned, if they will but exercise a small degree of patience, and stay a resort to Coersive Measures, which would kill us in the germ, even before we can (by reason of the season) begin to bud and blossom, in order to bring forth a plentiful yield of fruit.
I am with considerations of high respect your Obt. Servt.
Joseph Smith
P.S. Since writing the above, I have had a conference with my Bro.
Hyrum

9 Feb. 1800–27 June 1844. Farmer, cooper. Born at Tunbridge, Orange Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Randolph, Orange Co., 1802; back to Tunbridge, before May 1803; to Royalton, Windsor Co., Vermont, 1804; to Sharon, Windsor Co...

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,
11

Hyrum Smith returned to Nauvoo in early August. (JS History, vol. C-1 Addenda Book, 10–11.)


who informs me that when he left
Pennsylvania

Area first settled by Swedish immigrants, 1628. William Penn received grant for territory from King Charles II, 1681, and established British settlement, 1682. Philadelphia was center of government for original thirteen U.S. colonies from time of Revolutionary...

More Info
that he left with
Doc. Galland

15 May 1791–27 Sept. 1858. Merchant, postmaster, land speculator, doctor. Born at Somerset Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Matthew Galland and Hannah Fenno. Married first Nancy Harris, 22 Mar. 1811, in Madison Co., Ohio. Married second Margaret Knight, by 1816....

View Full Bio
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 August 1841
ID #
676
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:236–240
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [9]

      On the south side of Warsaw, Illinois, the city of Warren had recently been platted by the church and was intended to house the influx of Latter-day Saint immigrants coming to Illinois and Iowa Territory. On 26 August 1841 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote a letter inviting immigrants to settle in Warren. (Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:520–521; JS History, vol. C-1, 1222; Letter from Calvin A. Warren, 31 Aug. 1841.)

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

    2. [10]

      TEXT: Hole in page; text supplied from retained copy of the letter in JS Collection, CHL.

    3. [11]

      Hyrum Smith returned to Nauvoo in early August. (JS History, vol. C-1 Addenda Book, 10–11.)

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