Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 30 June 1842
-
Source Note
JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, New Haven Co., CT], 30 June 1842. Featured version copied [ca. 30 June 1842] in JS Letterbook 2, p. 237; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
-
Historical Introduction
On 30 June 1842 in , Illinois, inscribed a letter on behalf of JS to in . The letter was written in response to a 27 May 1842 letter from Hotchkiss, one of JS’s largest creditors, in which he expressed concern about JS’s decision to petition for bankruptcy. In that letter, Hotchkiss worried that this action would “have a most disastrous influence upon your society both commercially and religiously.” In JS’s response, he reiterated the argument he had made in a 13 May 1842 letter to Hotchkiss—that he had no other options and no other means of meeting his debts.In his 27 May letter, asked JS to clarify how he had represented, in his bankruptcy application, the land and promissory notes that were part of his 1839 agreement with Hotchkiss and his partners. In the letter featured here, JS noted that they had been included in his bankruptcy schedules, but he did not provide Hotchkiss with any additional details. JS had included the land in question among his assets, which Hotchkiss had warned him not to do, since JS had not finished paying for the land and therefore Hotchkiss and his partners still held title to it. Hotchkiss had also asked JS to explain how he intended to repay his creditors, but JS only reiterated that all his creditors would “fare alike.” JS did not respond to Hotchkiss’s offer for a new arrangement to repay the 1839 bond. Desperate for news after hearing nothing more from JS, Hotchkiss wrote to in November 1842 making further inquiries about payment and JS’s bankruptcy proceedings.The letter JS sent to is apparently not extant, but a copy was made by in JS Letterbook 2. Clayton presumably made the copy about 30 June 1842, the date the original letter was written.
Footnotes
- 1
- 2
-
3
In August 1839, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith purchased land from Hotchkiss and his partners in land speculating, John Gillet and Smith Tuttle. (See Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.)
- 4
-
5
See Horace Hotchkiss, Fair Haven, CT, to Sidney Rigdon, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Nov. 1842, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.
Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.
Page 237
June 30th. 1842
Esqr.
Dr Sir— Yours of the 27th. May, has been received which I shall now briefly answer.
In regard to my application for the benefit of the Bankrupt act, there was no other course for me to pursue than the one I have already taken and as I have said before all my creditors will have to fare alike Your papers are inventory’d along with all the other property.
The influence this step may have upon our society either commercially or religiously is a matter we cannot stop to consult, as we had no alternative left. We have been compelled to pursue this course on account of the extreme pressure of the times, which continued to bear harder upon us untill we took the step we have.
A great pressure of buisness prevents my writing more at the present, your therefore excuse a short communication
I remain Yours respectfully
Joseph Smith
by Clerk [p. 237]
View entire transcript |
Cite this page
Cite this page
Page 237
