Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 August 1840

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....
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, Hancock Co., IL, to
John C. Bennett
3 Aug. 1804–5 Aug. 1867. Physician, minister, poultry breeder. Born at Fairhaven, Bristol Co., Massachusetts. Son of John Bennett and Abigail Cook. Moved to Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio, 1808; to Massachusetts, 1812; and back to Marietta, 1822. Married ...
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, [
Fairfield
Town in southern Illinois, approximately 150 miles southeast of Springfield. County seat. Laid out, 1819. John C. Bennett lived in town when he began corresponding with JS, July 1840.
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, Wayne Co., IL], 8 Aug. 1840. Featured version copied [probably ca. 8 Aug. 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 176–178; handwriting of
Howard Coray
6 May 1817–16 Jan. 1908. Bookkeeper, clerk, teacher, farmer. Born in Dansville, Steuben Co., New York. Son of Silas Coray and Mary Stephens. Moved to Providence, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania, ca. 1827; to Williams, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, by 1830; and...
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; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
Historical Introduction
On 8 August 1840, JS wrote from
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....
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, Illinois, to
John C. Bennett
3 Aug. 1804–5 Aug. 1867. Physician, minister, poultry breeder. Born at Fairhaven, Bristol Co., Massachusetts. Son of John Bennett and Abigail Cook. Moved to Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio, 1808; to Massachusetts, 1812; and back to Marietta, 1822. Married ...
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in
Fairfield
Town in southern Illinois, approximately 150 miles southeast of Springfield. County seat. Laid out, 1819. John C. Bennett lived in town when he began corresponding with JS, July 1840.
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, Illinois. JS was responding to three letters Bennett had sent reminding JS and
Sidney Rigdon
19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
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that he had offered to assist the
Latter-day Saints
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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during their
Missouri
Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...
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difficulties and declaring that he intended to join with them in Nauvoo. This 8 August letter states it was in response to a 25 July 1840 letter from Bennett, but JS’s lengthy paragraph on the environment, location, and population of Nauvoo as well as the postscript indicate that JS was also responding to Bennett’s letters of 27 and 30 July.
1
Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840.
Bennett did not receive this response from JS before writing another letter on 15 August.
2
Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 Aug. 1840.

The original letter is apparently not extant.
Howard Coray
6 May 1817–16 Jan. 1908. Bookkeeper, clerk, teacher, farmer. Born in Dansville, Steuben Co., New York. Son of Silas Coray and Mary Stephens. Moved to Providence, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania, ca. 1827; to Williams, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, by 1830; and...
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copied it into JS Letterbook 2, probably around the time the letter was written.
3
Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 2, 4–5, 17, 19. The letter immediately preceding this one in JS Letterbook 2 is dated 28 August 1840. (Letter from Thomas Burdick, 28 Aug. 1840.)
Comprehensive Works Cited
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.

Footnotes
1. 1
  Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840.
2. 2
  Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 Aug. 1840.
3. 3
  Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 2, 4–5, 17, 19. The letter immediately preceding this one in JS Letterbook 2 is dated 28 August 1840. (Letter from Thomas Burdick, 28 Aug. 1840.)
  
  Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.

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Hancock Co Ill

Aug 8th. 1840

Dear Sir

Yours of the 25th. Ultimo addressed to & myself is received for which you have our thanks and to which I shall feel great pleasure in replying. Although I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance,

yet from the kindness manifested towards our people when in bondage and oppression, and from the the frank and noble mindedness br[e]athed in your letter, I am brot, to the conclusion that you are a friend to suffering humanity & Truth.

To those who have suffered so much abuse and borne the cruelties and insults of wicked men so long on account of those principles which we have been instructed to teach to the world a feeling of sympathy and kindness is something like the refreshing breese and cooling stream at the present season of the year and are I assure you duly appreciated by us

It would afford me much pleasure to see you at this time place, and from the desire you express in your letter to move to this place I hope I shall soon have that satisfaction.

I have no doubt but you would be of great service to this community in practicing your profession as well as those other abilities of which you are in possession. Since to devote your time and abilities in the cause of truth and a suffering people may not be the means of exalting you in the eyes [p. 176]

Hancock Co Ill

Aug 8th. 1840

Dear Sir

Yours of the 25th. Ultimo addressed to & myself is received for which you have our thanks and to which I shall feel great pleasure in replying. Although I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance,

yet from the kindness manifested towards our people when in bondage and oppression, and from the frank and noble mindedness breathed in your letter, I am brot, to the conclusion that you are a friend to suffering humanity & Truth.

It would afford me much pleasure to see you at this place, and from the desire you express in your letter to move to this place I hope I shall soon have that satisfaction.

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Document Information
Editorial Title
Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 August 1840
ID #
563
Total Pages
3
Handwriting on This Page
- Howard Coray
Footnotes
1. 1
  JS may have forgotten that he had apparently met Bennett eight years earlier. William E. McLellin noted in his journal that he spent 11 January 1832 “talking with a Mr Bennett a Campbellite Priest. I took him on my slay and Thursday and Friday I brought him to Hiram [Ohio] to see Jos & Sidney, Friday eve he talked considerable with Br Joseph.” (McLellin, Journal, 11–13 Jan. 1832, 13; see also Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 56.)
  
  McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
  Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
2. 2
  In all three of Bennett’s July 1840 letters to JS and Rigdon, Bennett referred to having written JS during the “Mormon War” in Missouri—probably during early 1839. No correspondence from Bennett to JS prior to his 25 July 1840 letter has been located. (Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840; Bennett, History of the Saints, 14; Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841.)
  
  Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
3. 3
  A lengthy memorial that church leaders submitted to the United States Congress in January 1840 requested redress for losses incurred in Missouri and declared that the hostility toward the Saints was based on their religious beliefs. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.)
4. 4
  Bennett expressed his enthusiastic desire to move to Nauvoo in all three of the letters he wrote to JS and Rigdon during the last week of July. (Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840.)
5. 5
  In spite of Bennett’s repeated expressions of interest in continuing to practice medicine after moving to Nauvoo, little evidence suggests he was an actively practicing physician during his years there. (Letters from John C. Bennett, 25 and 27 July 1840; Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 65.)
  
  Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 August 1840

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