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Letter to Joel Hamilton Walker, 1 June 1844

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Letter to Joel Hamilton Walker, 1 June 1844

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Suffolk Co., MA, 1 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 1 June 1844]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes use marks, notation, and archival marking.
Single leaf measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). The verso is ruled with an uncertain number of horizontal lines (now faded). The recto may have been similarly ruled. The top, right, and bottom edges of the recto have the square cut of manufactured paper, whereas the left edge is uneven, which suggests it was torn or hand cut from a book or larger sheet. The leaf was trifolded for filing and was later refolded. It has undergone conservation.
By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).

Footnotes

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

Historical Introduction

On 1 June 1844, JS wrote a letter from , Illinois, to in that responded to Walker’s offer of assistance with JS’s military and civic projects. Not long before, JS had petitioned the Congress and the to make him a member of the army and authorize him to raise one hundred thousand volunteers to protect American citizens emigrating to and . Upon learning about JS’s plans, Walker, who was not a member of the , introduced himself in a 9 May 1844 letter. He proposed to assist JS “either in Military or Civil duty” and described his qualifications, claiming to have business experience and over a decade of military service.
In his 1 June 1844 letter of reply, JS explained that he did not know whether Congress would approve his memorial. He wrote that he was unsure how specifically could contribute to ’s development, but he expressed confidence that Walker would thrive in Nauvoo, because the city was prospering.
If this letter was mailed to , it presumably arrived in sometime in the latter half of June at the earliest. A sent copy, however, has not been located. The featured document, inscribed by , is a retained copy. No further correspondence from Walker has been located.

Footnotes

  1. Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 24–26 Mar. 1844; JS, Memorial to the President of the United States of America, 30 Mar. 1844, draft, JS Collection, CHL.

  2. Letter from Joel Hamilton Walker, 9 May 1844. It is unknown how Walker came to learn about the details of JS’s memorial.

  3. Correspondence mailed between Nauvoo and Boston generally took about three or four weeks to arrive. Willard Richards’s letter to the Boston Daily Bee was mailed no earlier than 27 April 1843 and was published on 22 May 1843. Walker’s letter to JS was postmarked in Boston around 9 May 1844 and arrived in Nauvoo by 1 June 1844. (Historical Introduction to Letter to Editor, 22–ca. 27 Apr. 1843; Letter from Joel Hamilton Walker, 9 May 1844.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to Joel Hamilton Walker, 1 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

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, Ill. June 1, 1844.
Sir:— yours of May 9 is before <​me​> and according to my custom, I answer off hand. I have not yet ascertained whether Congress will, by special act, authorize me to protect our beloved ; if it should I have not a doubt but your services could be agreeably used.
As to what you could do in , I am unable to say. Gentlemen with a small capital, or a large one, can easily employ it to good advantage. Our is so rapidly improving.
Truth, virtue and honor combined with energy and industry, pave the way to exaltation, glory and bliss.
Respectfully I have the honor to be your Ob Sevt
Joseph Smith
)
)
Mass) [6 lines blank] [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Joel Hamilton Walker, 1 June 1844
ID #
1376
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. Orson Hyde carried copies of the petition for both houses of Congress and the United States president from Nauvoo to Washington DC in April 1844. Illinois senator James Semple and Illinois representative John Wentworth submitted a copy of the memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives on 6 and 25 May, respectively. Hyde reported to JS in a 9 June letter that Congress had rejected the memorial, and he reported in an 11 June letter that the United States president had also rejected the memorial. (JS, Journal, 31 Mar. and 4 Apr. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 21 Mar. 1844; Letter from Orson Hyde, 25 Apr. 1844; Congressional Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 575 [1844]; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 127; Letter from John Wentworth, 25 May 1844; Letter from Orson Hyde, 9 June 1844; Letter from Orson Hyde, 11 June 1844; see also Letter from Orson Hyde, 26 Apr. 1844; and Letter from Orson Hyde, 30 Apr. 1844.)

    The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. Vol. 8. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1840.

    Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989: The Continental Congress September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States from the First through the One Hundredth Congresses March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1989, Inclusive. Edited by Kathryn Allamong Jacob and Bruce A. Ragsdale. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.

  2. An article in the 15 March 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons celebrated the prosperity and industry of Nauvoo, highlighting the work of stonemasons, carpenters, teamsters, and farmers. The article also encouraged Latter-day Saints to donate money or property for the ongoing construction of the church’s temple. (“Our City, and the Present Aspect of Affairs,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1844, 5:471–472.)

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

  3. TEXT: Possibly “Sert”.

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