Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841
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Source Note
JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Lake Co., OH, 4 May 1841; handwriting of ; three pages; Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Springfield, IL. Includes address, postal notations, and docket.Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7½ inches (31 × 19 cm). The letter was written on the first three pages and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with an adhesive wafer. The document was later folded for filing.The Illinois State Historical Library (now the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum) purchased the letter from Morris H. Briggs in 1946.
Footnotes
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1
Monaghan, “New Mormon Letter,” 85–86.
Monaghan, Jay. “A New Mormon Letter.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 40, no. 1 (Mar. 1947): 85–86.
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Historical Introduction
JS dictated this letter to his scribe on 4 May 1841 in , Illinois. The letter, addressed to , pertains to the ’s debts, which Granger was working to eliminate. In May 1839 the of the church entrusted “vast business concerns” to Granger and sent him to the eastern to resolve outstanding debts, primarily in , Ohio, and . By 1841, Granger was so immersed in the financial affairs of the church that his role as had become indispensable, but his health was waning. JS thus determined to send additional agents—including and —to the eastern states “on business for the church.”In this 4 May 1841 letter, JS urged to meet with to give him information about his contacts, prior transactions, and efforts to resolve the church’s debts. However, no evidence exists that Granger ever met with Galland. Galland abandoned his assignment by July 1841, and Granger passed away in August 1841.
Footnotes
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1
Authorization for Oliver Granger, 13 May 1839; see also Agreement with Oliver Granger, 29 Apr. 1840.
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2
By July, Don Carlos Smith wrote Granger and mentioned he had heard Granger’s health was finally improving, but Granger died the next month. (Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 11 July 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL; Obituary for Oliver Granger, Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:550.)
Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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3
Letter to Oliver Granger, 26 Jan. 1841; see also Authorization for Hyrum Smith and Isaac Galland, 15 Feb. 1841.
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4
In July 1841, Horace Hotchkiss, a major creditor to the First Presidency for land purchased in Illinois, informed JS that Galland had never arrived in Connecticut to settle debts with Hotchkiss and his partners and that Galland had already left for the western United States. (Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841.)
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Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
Hyrum Smith returned prematurely from his trip to the eastern United States due to illness, but while there, Smith and Galland had reportedly succeeded in obtaining “nearly enough” land to pay the church’s debts. (Report, Times and Seasons, 1 May 1841, 2:403; Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 Aug. 1841; Letter from Smith Tuttle, ca. 15 Sept. 1841; JS et al., Bond, Nauvoo, IL, to Henry Kern, Bart Township, PA, 6 Apr. 1841, JS Collection, CHL; Isaac Galland, Philadelphia, to Edward Hunter, [West Nantmeal Township, PA], 27 July 1841, Edward Hunter, Collection, CHL; Robert Peirce, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1842, in Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:715.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Hunter, Edward. Collection, ca. 1798–1965. Photocopy and typescript. CHL.
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2
JS had recently been served a pay order for one of the debts Granger was assigned to settle. (Letter to Amos Keeler, 16 Mar. 1841.)
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3
Existing records do not reveal the circumstances or details of this judgment. Church leaders mortgaged the House of the Lord in Kirtland in July 1837 to Mead, Stafford & Co. Although the deed transferred ownership of the building to that firm, the church maintained use of the facility. Granger had apparently satisfied the mortgage debt by January 1841, since in a January 1841 letter JS said he was pleased that Granger had secured “the keys of the Lords House.” (Historical Introduction to Deed to William Marks, 10 Apr. 1837; Mortgage to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837; Letter to Oliver Granger, 26 Jan. 1841.)
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4
Agnes Coolbrith Smith was the wife of JS’s younger brother Don Carlos Smith. After learning that Granger had regained possession of Don Carlos’s property in Kirtland, Ohio, Don Carlos wrote a letter to Granger in February 1841 imploring him to arrange for the transfer of the house and lot back to himself. (Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 14 Feb. 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL.)
Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.
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5
The recent influx of British immigrants resulted from the apostles’ decision to help converts from Great Britain emigrate to the United States. (Fielding, Journal, 1840–1841, 10; Joseph Fielding, Liverpool, England, to Willard Richards, Preston, England, 25 Mar. 1840, Willard Richards, Papers, CHL; see also Letter from Brigham Young and Willard Richards, 5 Sept. 1840; Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; and Report of the First Presidency to the Church, ca. 7 Apr. 1841.)
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During their efforts to found a banking venture known as the Kirtland Safety Society, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery commissioned banknote plates to be produced by the New York engraving firm Underwood, Bald, Spencer & Hufty in late 1836. By June 1837 the founders of the Kirtland Safety Society had defaulted on their debt, and the engraving firm took legal action to obtain payment. (See Kirtland Safety Society Notes, 4 Jan.–9 Mar. 1837; and Transcript of Proceedings, 16 Apr. 1839, Underwood et al. v. Rigdon et al. [Geauga Co. C.P. 1839], Final Record Book X, pp. 34–36, Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, OH.)
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Postage in unidentified handwriting.
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Postal place and date in unidentified handwriting.
