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  2. Introduction to Documents, Volume 10: May–August 1842

Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842

The period from May through August 1842 was one of significant change and increasing tension for Joseph Smith. In May, he introduced new religious rituals, directed missionary work, and struggled to organize resources to provide for the hundreds of converts from the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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and
England

Island nation consisting of southern portion of Great Britain and surrounding smaller islands. Bounded on north by Scotland and on west by Wales. Became province of Roman Empire, first century. Ruled by Romans, through 447. Ruled by Picts, Scots, and Saxons...

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who continued to
gather

As directed by early revelations, church members “gathered” in communities. A revelation dated September 1830, for instance, instructed elders “to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect” who would “be gathered in unto one place, upon the face of this land...

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to
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. While he was engaged in these and other endeavors, two events occurred that dramatically affected his life and those of his followers over the next four months. The first was the excommunication of
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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, due to sexual misconduct, and Bennett’s departure from Nauvoo. Bennett shifted from being Smith’s supporter and ally to his vehement opponent, undertaking a campaign of slander and libel against Smith in print and in public lectures. The second defining event of these months, also occurring in May, was an assassination attempt on former
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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governor
Lilburn W. Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

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by an unknown assailant. Rumors began to circulate that the assassin had been sent by Joseph Smith, which prompted another attempt to have him extradited to Missouri for prosecution.
1

An earlier attempt by Missouri officials to extradite Smith to Missouri came in September 1840 and was revived in June 1841. (See Editorial, Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:169–170; and “The Late Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:447–449; see also Historical Introduction to Statement of Expenses to Thomas King, 30 Sept. 1841.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

Amid these larger concerns, Smith shouldered a staggering workload of civic and ecclesiastical responsibilities.
Wilford Woodruff

1 Mar. 1807–2 Sept. 1898. Farmer, miller. Born at Farmington, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of Aphek Woodruff and Beulah Thompson. Moved to Richland, Oswego Co., New York, 1832. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Zera Pulsipher,...

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wrote in a letter to fellow
apostle

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

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Parley P. Pratt

12 Apr. 1807–13 May 1857. Farmer, editor, publisher, teacher, school administrator, legislator, explorer, author. Born at Burlington, Otsego Co., New York. Son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickinson. Traveled west with brother William to acquire land, 1823....

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that he had “never seen Joseph as full of business as of late,” noting that “he hardly gets time to sign his name.”
2

Wilford Woodruff, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, 18 June 1842, Parley P. Pratt, Correspondence, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Pratt, Parley P. Correspondence, 1842–1855. CHL. MS 897.

As a result of Smith’s many responsibilities, the summer of 1842 was a period of intense document production for him. Joseph Smith’s documentary record from May through August 1842 includes nearly 400 documents, not including the sometimes multiple copies of correspondence and civic records. This volume of The Joseph Smith Papers features 105 documents focusing on the core of Joseph Smith’s documentary output—correspondence, discourses, and revelations—and is selective, rather than comprehensive, with other genres of records.
3

This is particularly the case with featured financial and civic documents, such as deeds, promissory notes, and city ordinances, which are representative of dozens of similar documents found among Smith’s papers. All of these records are available on this website.


More unusual documents featured in the volume include
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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-issued currency, called Nauvoo city scrip; reflections and blessings dictated by Smith in August 1842 while in hiding to avoid arrest and extradition to
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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; a poem written by
Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

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, addressed to Smith; and an authorization granting Latter-day Saint Thomas R. King access to the baptismal font of the Nauvoo
temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

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.
4

See Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842; Reflections and Blessings, 16 and 23 Aug. 1842; Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842; and Authorization for Thomas R. King, 27 Aug. 1842.


The increase in document production in the summer of 1842 and the preservation of these records resulted in part from the increased stability and professionalization of Smith's office and staff beginning in 1841. As his various responsibilities expanded, he employed several clerks and scribes, some with professional training. He had previously relied on individual scribes with little or no training to maintain his journal, correspondence, and church records. Over the years, he had lost several scribes to illness, death, or disaffection, leading at times to the loss of the records they had kept. 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....

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, by contrast, Smith’s office expanded beyond a single individual, and by summer 1842 scribes
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

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and
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

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were both working to create a professional and organized
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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for Smith’s correspondence and other records. Additionally, Clayton served as clerk and recorder to assist Smith in his role as the Nauvoo registrar. Smith also worked closely with
James Sloan

28 Oct. 1792–24 Oct. 1886. City recorder, notary public, attorney, judge, farmer. Born in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, Ireland. Son of Alexander Sloan and Anne. Married Mary Magill. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ordained an elder, ...

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, the Nauvoo city recorder and clerk for the Nauvoo Municipal Court, who also inscribed the docket book for the Nauvoo mayor’s court on Smith’s behalf.
Joseph Smith’s increased document production was also a product of his myriad administrative duties. He continued to lead 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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and direct missionary work as prophet and church president, while at the same time overseeing financial matters for the church as trustee-in-trust. These roles generated substantial correspondence, as well as ecclesiastical, administrative, and financial documents.
5

The largest number of records created during these four months are ecclesiastical licenses provided to proselytizing elders, the majority of which are no longer extant. (See, for example, License for James Flanigan, 14 May 1842, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL.)


As prophet and church president, Smith led meetings and spoke often 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....

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. In March 1842, he drew on an initiative by the women of the church to organize a charitable society and established the
Female Relief Society of Nauvoo

A church organization for women; created in Nauvoo, Illinois, under JS’s direction on 17 March 1842. At the same meeting, Emma Smith was elected president, and she selected two counselors; a secretary and a treasurer were also chosen. The minutes of the society...

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, an organization for Latter-day Saint women intended to promote charitable actions, encourage moral reform, and strengthen female spirituality.
6

See Minutes and Discourses, 17 Mar. 1842; and Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 3–16.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

Smith saw the establishment of the Relief Society as a central element in completing the organization of the church and a precursor for including women in temple rituals. During the summer of 1842, he met several times with the Relief Society, providing instruction and seeking their support, particularly in his ongoing conflict with
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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.
Smith was also involved in civic responsibilities in 1842. These duties included acting as lieutenant general of the
Nauvoo Legion

A contingent of the Illinois state militia provided for in the Nauvoo city charter. The Nauvoo Legion was organized into two cohorts: one infantry and one cavalry. Each cohort could potentially comprise several thousand men and was overseen by a brigadier...

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, a local unit of the
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
state militia, and serving as registrar of
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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, making him responsible for recording and certifying local land transactions. In addition to these responsibilities, Smith took on a new role on 19 May, when the city council elected him mayor to replace
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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, who had resigned two days earlier.
7

See Minutes, 19 May 1842.


This established Smith as both the religious and civic leader of the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo. In his new mayoral role, Smith generated a wide variety of records as he assumed the associated administrative, financial, and legal responsibilities. He directed the city council, heard residents’ petitions, and authorized ordinances enacted by the council; oversaw the city treasury and directed payment for municipal expenditures; and directed other organizations, such as the city watch. As part of Smith’s mayoral responsibilities, he was commissioned as a justice of the peace, and he presided over both the mayor’s court and municipal court in Nauvoo.
8

See Oath, 21 June 1842; see also Docket Entry, Nauvoo Mayor’s Court, ca. 5 July 1842. While the mayor’s court functioned as both a justice of the peace court and a local court for the mayor to try alleged breaches of city ordinances, the municipal court was primarily an appellate court for violations of city ordinances. Appeals on decisions made by the justice of the peace were sent to the Hancock County Circuit Court.


He also signed hundreds of one-dollar notes of a local currency, called Nauvoo city scrip, in a continued effort to aid the desperately cash-poor Nauvoo economy.
9

See Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842. The scrip was intended only for local use and was provided by the mayor or city council to municipal staff or others working on behalf of the city. The scrip could be used to pay city taxes or could be redeemed for specie from the city treasurer.


Beyond these diverse duties, Joseph Smith continued as editor of the church’s semimonthly newspaper, the Times and Seasons. He had purchased the
printing office

Located at four different sites from 1839–1846: cellar of warehouse on bank of Mississippi River, June–Aug. 1839; frame building on northeast corner of Water and Bain streets, Nov. 1839–Nov. 1841; newly built printing establishment on northwest corner of ...

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and newspaper from
Ebenezer Robinson

25 May 1816–11 Mar. 1891. Printer, editor, publisher. Born at Floyd (near Rome), Oneida Co., New York. Son of Nathan Robinson and Mary Brown. Moved to Utica, Oneida Co., ca. 1831, and learned printing trade at Utica Observer. Moved to Ravenna, Portage Co....

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in February 1842.
10

See Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 Feb. 1842.


Although he was identified as editor in the 15 February 1842 issue of the paper, Smith’s editorial oversight began the following month, starting with the 1 March issue.
11

See Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842.


His involvement as editor fluctuated over the next eight months; some issues of the newspaper included editorials he likely wrote, while others were produced when he was absent 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....

More Info
. Apostles
John Taylor

1 Nov. 1808–25 July 1887. Preacher, editor, publisher, politician. Born at Milnthorpe, Westmoreland, England. Son of James Taylor and Agnes Taylor, members of Church of England. Around age sixteen, joined Methodist church and was local preacher. Migrated ...

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and
Wilford Woodruff

1 Mar. 1807–2 Sept. 1898. Farmer, miller. Born at Farmington, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of Aphek Woodruff and Beulah Thompson. Moved to Richland, Oswego Co., New York, 1832. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Zera Pulsipher,...

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oversaw the daily operations of the office, but until October 1842 the newspaper bore Smith’s name, which implied that he took editorial responsibility and thus endorsed all published content.
12

See JS, Lease, Nauvoo, IL, to John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, Nauvoo, IL, [between 8 and 10] Dec. 1842, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.


This volume of The Joseph Smith Papers features selections of editorial content from the eight issues produced from May through August 1842.
Even when he was not focused on ecclesiastical, civic, or editorial matters, Smith had significant demands on his time. He devoted time to his personal obligations as a husband and father. He directed various financial endeavors, including a
mercantile store

Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. Completed 1841. Opened for business, 5 Jan. 1842. Owned by JS, but managed mostly by others, after 1842. First floor housed JS’s general store and counting room, where tithing...

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he had opened in early 1842. And during this period he also had some involvement with Freemasonry, having joined the Masons in March 1842.
Joseph Smith’s leadership 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
came at a time of continuing financial difficulty. The financial panics of 1837 and 1839 had significantly weakened the economy of the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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, leading to a devastating recession that lasted into the 1840s. As a result of economic instability and mounting debts, in April 1841 the U.S. Congress, led by members of the Whig Party, introduced new legislation that allowed individual debtors to apply for voluntary bankruptcy. This was a dramatic departure from earlier legislation, in which bankruptcy was involuntary and creditors were required to take the debtor to court. The new bankruptcy act of 1841 took effect in February 1842, only to be repealed by Congress in March 1843.
13

See An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy [19 Aug. 1841], Public Statutes at Large, 27th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 9, pp. 440–449; see also Balleisen, Navigating Failure, 1–8.


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

Balleisen, Edward J. Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

The act caused chaos in the judicial system as justices, struggling to interpret the legislation, provided inconsistent rulings. Yet it also gained widespread popularity, as tens of thousands of debtors across the nation applied to have their debts forgiven.
14

“In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts,” 259–269.


Comprehensive Works Cited

“In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts” / “Circuit Court of the United States, Massachusetts, September 7, 1842, at Boston. In Bankruptcy. In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts.” Law Reporter 5 (Oct. 1842): 259–269.

In
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

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, more than fifteen hundred applications were filed in the one-year time frame.
15

Over 41,000 individuals in the United States filed petitions under the act; 1,592 petitions were filed in Illinois from February 1842 to March 1843, when the act was repealed. (Balleisen, Navigating Failure, 124, 172.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Balleisen, Edward J. Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

The new act required that an individual’s intention to apply for bankruptcy be printed as a public notice in local newspapers. Due to the high volume of notices, the Sangamo Journal, a
Springfield

Settled by 1819. Incorporated as town, 1832. Became capital of Illinois, 1837. Incorporated as city, 1840. Sangamon Co. seat. Population in 1840 about 2,600. Stake of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized in Springfield, Nov. 1840; discontinued...

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, Illinois, newspaper, was forced to print extra editions for several of its summer issues, featuring hundreds of bankruptcy applications.
16

See Bankruptcy Notice for JS, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 6 May 1842, [3]; and Notice, 28 Apr. 1842.


Although it is unclear when Joseph Smith first learned about the new act, he began the process of applying for bankruptcy in April 1842 with the help of
Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

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, Illinois, attorney
Calvin A. Warren

3 June 1807–22 Feb. 1881. Lawyer. Born in Elizabethtown, Essex Co., New York. Lived at Hamilton Co., Ohio, 1832. Moved to Batavia, Clermont Co., Ohio, by 1835. Married first Viola A. Morris, 25 May 1835, at Batavia. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, 1836...

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of the law firm Ralston, Warren & Wheat.
17

See JS, Journal, 14–16 Apr. 1842; and Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.


On 18 April, Smith filed his application in
Carthage

Located eighteen miles southeast of Nauvoo. Settled 1831. Designated Hancock Co. seat, Mar. 1833. Incorporated as town, 27 Feb. 1837. Population in 1839 about 300. Population in 1844 about 400. Site of acute opposition to Latter-day Saints, early 1840s. Site...

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, Illinois, the seat of
Hancock County

Formed from Pike Co., 1825. Described in 1837 as predominantly prairie and “deficient in timber.” Early settlers came mainly from mid-Atlantic and southern states. Population in 1835 about 3,200; in 1840 about 9,900; and in 1844 at least 15,000. Carthage ...

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; shortly thereafter, notice of his bankruptcy application circulated in local newspapers.
18

See JS, Journal, 18 Apr. 1842; and Notice, 28 Apr. 1842.


His initial hearing in June appears to have met with no complications, and by mid-June another notice appeared in local newspapers, announcing that his final hearing was set for 1 October 1842.
19

See Notice to Creditors and Others, 17 June 1842.


Several weeks after filing his bankruptcy application, Smith wrote to his largest 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...

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, explaining his decision. In August 1839, Smith had partnered with his brother
Hyrum Smith

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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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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, both members of the church’s
First Presidency

The highest presiding body of the church. An 11 November 1831 revelation stated that the president of the high priesthood was to preside over the church. JS was ordained as president of the high priesthood on 25 January 1832. In March 1832, JS appointed two...

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, to purchase several hundred acres of land in
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

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from Hotchkiss and his partners,
John Gillet

2 Aug. 1796–17 July 1848. Likely born in Connecticut. Son of Benoni Gillett and Phoebe Dean. Moved to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Hancock Co., Illinois, by May 1837. In Aug. 1839, with land-speculating partners Horace Hotchkiss and Smith Tuttle, sold land in...

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and
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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, for $110,000.
20

The principal payment for the land was $50,000. As part of this agreement, the purchasers also promised annual interest payments of $3,000 for twenty years, making a total obligation to Hotchkiss, Gillet, and Tuttle of $110,000. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.)


In his May 1842 letter, Smith informed Hotchkiss that applying for bankruptcy was a last resort, clarifying that he and other church leaders had been compelled to petition for bankruptcy because of the pressure of unpaid debts from their time in
Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...

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, Ohio; the economic losses that accompanied being driven from
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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; and the “disadvantagious circumstances” of purchasing land on credit in Illinois and
Iowa Territory

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803. First permanent white settlements established, ca. 1833. Organized as territory, 1838, containing all of present-day Iowa, much of present-day Minnesota, and parts of North and South Dakota. Population in...

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for the refugee Saints in 1839.
21

Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 13 May 1842.


Hotchkiss was dismayed when he learned of Joseph Smith’s bankruptcy application. Although the church leaders still owed him a significant debt and had been unable to make several payments, Hotchkiss urged Smith not to abandon their original contract. In his letters, Hotchkiss further warned Smith against including the land the church president had arranged to purchase from him, which Smith did not yet own, among his assets when petitioning for bankruptcy.
22

See Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 May 1842.


Hotchkiss’s caution came too late, however, as Smith or his lawyer had already itemized the land in question as part of Smith’s assets.
23

See Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.


This was not the only misstep in Smith’s bankruptcy application. In creating the schedules enumerating his assets and debts, Smith or his attorney conflated his personal debts with those he had assumed on behalf of the church as trustee-in-trust. While the 1841 bankruptcy act allowed for the resolution of personal debts, it did not address fiduciary debts, or those connected with trustees.
24

See Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 30 June 1842; and Historical Introduction to Deed to Emma Smith, 13 June 1842.


Smith’s conflation of his debts, accusations of fraud by disaffected church members, and a significant debt he owed to the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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government for the purchase of a steamboat in September 1840 stalled Smith’s bankruptcy proceedings in the winter of 1842, and a decision was not rendered on his petition for bankruptcy before his death.
25

See Deed to Emma Smith, 13 June 1842; and Oaks and Bentley, “Joseph Smith and Legal Process,” 735–782.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Oaks, Dallin H., and Joseph I. Bentley. “Joseph Smith and Legal Process: In the Wake of the Steamboat Nauvoo.” Brigham Young University Law Review, no. 3 (1976): 735–782.

Joseph Smith faced additional uncertainty in itemizing his debts because of the management of his business affairs by
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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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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. While Smith had authorized several individuals to act as his agents over the years, Granger’s role as Smith’s agent in
Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...

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, Ohio, was more prominent than most and entailed repaying outstanding debts in northeastern
Ohio

French explored and claimed area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Northeastern portion maintained as part of Connecticut, 1786, and called Connecticut...

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as well as
New York

Located in northeast region of U.S. Area settled by Dutch traders, 1620s; later governed by Britain, 1664–1776. Admitted to U.S. as state, 1788. Population in 1810 about 1,000,000; in 1820 about 1,400,000; in 1830 about 1,900,000; and in 1840 about 2,400,...

More Info
.
26

See Power of Attorney to Oliver Granger, 27 Sept. 1837; Authorization for Oliver Granger, 13 May 1839; Agreement with Mead & Betts, 2 Aug. 1839; and Agreement with Oliver Granger, 29 Apr. 1840.


Granger’s untimely death in August 1841 caused Smith much consternation and financial unease, since it left him unaware of many of the payments and other arrangements Granger had made on his behalf.
27

See Account with Estate of Oliver Granger, between ca. 3 Feb. and ca. 2 Mar. 1842; and Obituary for Oliver Granger, Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:550.


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

Smith also confronted the financial consequences experienced by Latter-day Saints who had aided Granger as a church agent. In the summer of 1842, Smith helped resolve lingering questions of repayment and property ownership for
Alonzo LeBaron

18 Nov. 1818–31 Jan. 1891. Stonemason, writer. Born in Leroy, Genesee Co., New York. Son of David LeBaron and Lydia Batchelder. Moved to Pennsylvania, ca. 1835. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jan. 1836, in Pennsylvania. Moved to...

View Full Bio
and Jonathan Harrington, who had provided Granger with needed resources.
28

See Letter from Alonzo LeBaron, ca. 29 June 1842; and Receipt, 8 July 1842.


During that same summer, 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....

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population continued to increase rapidly, with converts arriving from the eastern
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

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and
England

Island nation consisting of southern portion of Great Britain and surrounding smaller islands. Bounded on north by Scotland and on west by Wales. Became province of Roman Empire, first century. Ruled by Romans, through 447. Ruled by Picts, Scots, and Saxons...

More Info
.
29

See Times and Seasons, 16 May 1842. A census of church members in Nauvoo in 1842 included approximately four thousand Latter-day Saints. The census did not account for those who were not members of the church or living outside of the city limits. By November 1843, the Nauvoo Neighbor estimated that the population of Nauvoo and the surrounding area was between eight thousand and twelve thousand. (Nauvoo Stake, Ward Census, 1842, CHL; News Item, Nauvoo Neighbor, 15 Nov. 1843, [2].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo Stake. Ward Census, 1842. CHL.

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

The nation’s unsettled financial condition, coupled with the economic condition of those migrating to Nauvoo, meant that the city’s burgeoning population far exceeded its economic growth. While some areas of the United States were beginning to revive after the financial panics of the late 1830s,
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

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and other western states were not. With the continuing recession, closure of banks, and depreciation of banknotes, the community of Nauvoo had little currency available and relied primarily on promissory notes and bartering.
30

See Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842; Letter to Edward Hunter, 9 and 11 Mar. 1842; and Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 10 Mar. 1842. The use of promissory notes often significantly delayed payment. An inventory of Nauvoo resident John M. Burk’s assets in late June 1842 recorded that in addition to tools, livestock, and household goods, he held several uncollected promissory notes in amounts varying from $2 to $27, with unsettled accounts from Missouri worth a combined $300. (See Inventory of John M. Burk Property, 30 June 1842, Jameson Family Collection, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Jameson Family Collection, 1825–1938. CHL. MS 14052.

This situation was particularly difficult for the hundreds of converts coming from England who had expended their resources to immigrate and were often reliant on the church to provide housing, food, and work.
Bishop

An ecclesiastical and priesthood office. JS appointed Edward Partridge as the first bishop in February 1831. Following this appointment, Partridge functioned as the local leader of the church in Missouri. Later revelations described a bishop’s duties as receiving...

View Glossary
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
later described the challenging circumstances, noting how the immigrating poor “had to be cared for, and labor created.”
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
also complained that some wealthy church members feigned poverty, unwilling to provide aid to the poor or donate to the church’s construction efforts.
31

George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander (St. James, MI), 16 Aug. 1855, [3]–[4].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

In an effort to combat such reluctance, Smith and his clerks placed notices in the local newspaper, the Wasp, in June and July 1842 urging the Saints to remember their promised
tithing

A free-will offering of one-tenth of a person’s annual interest or income, given to the church for its use. The Book of Mormon and JS’s revision of the Bible explained that “even our father Abraham paid tithes of one tenth part of all he possessed.” Additionally...

View Glossary
and donations for the construction of 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....

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temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

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and
Nauvoo House

Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. JS revelation, dated 19 Jan. 1841, instructed Saints to build boardinghouse for travelers and immigrants. Construction of planned three-story building to be funded by fifty-dollar...

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.
32

See Notice, 8 July 1842; and Notice, 9 July 1842.


These notices, as well as a letter from the
Twelve Apostles

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

View Glossary
appealing to Saints throughout the nation to donate all that they could,
33

Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842, 3:767–769.


suggest that the funds the church leaders were desperately relying on to finance their construction projects were in short supply.
Despite these financial concerns, Joseph Smith urged the Saints to consider the lasting significance of 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
temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

More Info
and the blessings that would be gained therein. In an early May discourse, he promised the elders that when the temple was completed he would reveal certain
keys

Authority or knowledge of God given to humankind. In the earliest records, the term keys primarily referred to JS’s authority to unlock the “mysteries of the kingdom.” Early revelations declared that both JS and Oliver Cowdery held the keys to bring forth...

View Glossary
that would allow them to detect false spirits and to be
endowed

Bestowal of spiritual blessings, power, or knowledge. Beginning in 1831, multiple revelations promised an endowment of “power from on high” in association with the command to gather. Some believed this promise was fulfilled when individuals were first ordained...

View Glossary
with power.
34

See Discourse, 1 May 1842.


A few days later, on 4 May, in the upper room of his Nauvoo
store

Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. Completed 1841. Opened for business, 5 Jan. 1842. Owned by JS, but managed mostly by others, after 1842. First floor housed JS’s general store and counting room, where tithing...

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, Smith provided instructions on the
priesthood

Power or authority of God. The priesthood was conferred through the laying on of hands upon adult male members of the church in good standing; no specialized training was required. Priesthood officers held responsibility for administering the sacrament of...

View Glossary
and introduced a small group of trusted men to new ceremonies that became known as the endowment and that were eventually performed in the Nauvoo temple.
35

JS, Journal, 4 May 1842. The group consisted of Willard Richards, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Newel K. Whitney, George Miller, James Adams, William Law, and William Marks. (See Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 May 1842. For more on the concept of endowment, see Discourse, 1 May 1842.)


Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

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, Smith’s scribe, was present and noted that the church president offered instructions “in the principles and order of the priesthood, attending to
washings & anointings

A ritual ablution of bodies symbolizing a purification from sin. As early as 1830, the Book of Mormon and JS revelations characterized baptism by immersion as a washing away of sins. On 23 January 1833, JS led the members of the School of the Prophets in ...

View Glossary
, endowments, and the communications of keys.” Richards further recorded that within this group Smith had “institutd the Ancient order of things for the first time in these last days.” Richards concluded that the same ritual given to that small group of men would be extended to all Saints “so soon as they are prepared to receive, and a proper place is prepared to communicate them, even to the weakest of the saints; therefore let the saints be diligent in building the Temple and all houses which they have been or shall hereafter be commanded of God to build.”
36

Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 May 1842; see also JS, Journal, 4 May 1842.


A May 1842 editorial, likely written by Smith, encouraged the Saints to reflect on the eternal rewards associated with completing the temple. The editorial lauded the Saints for their sacrifices, declaring in revelatory language that the blessings of the temple and the Zion the Saints created as a result of their faith and unity would help usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ and millennial prosperity.
37

See “The Temple,” Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842.


During these months, Joseph Smith also expanded his involvement in the practice of plural marriage. Latter-day Saints referred to these unions as “
sealings

To confirm or solemnize. In the early 1830s, revelations often adopted biblical usage of the term seal; for example, “sealed up the testimony” referred to proselytizing and testifying of the gospel as a warning of the approaching end time. JS explained in...

View Glossary
,” indicating their belief that marriages solemnized by the proper authority would be recognized and efficacious in heaven.
38

See Clayton, Journal, 16 May and 16 July 1843; and Parley P. Pratt, “This Number Closes the First Volume of the ‘Prophet,’” Prophet, 24 May 1845, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

The Prophet. New York City, NY. May 1844–Dec. 1845.

Smith and his coreligionists understood plural marriage as part of a broader restoration of such Old Testament ideas as temple worship and orders of the priesthood—all of which tied into the belief that they were living in the last dispensation of the earth’s history.
39

See Ephesians 1:10; Acts 3:20–21; and Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 125 [Jacob 2:27–30].


Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

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, who was sealed to Smith in June 1842, later wrote, “When I reflected that I was living in the Dispensation of the fulness of times, embracing all other Dispensations, surely Plural Marriage must necessarily be included.”
40

Snow, “Sketch of My Life,” 16.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Snow, Eliza R. “Sketch of My Life,” n.d. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

In a February 1842 letter to his wife,
Jennetta Richards

21 Aug. 1817–9 July 1845. Born in Walker Fold, Lancashire, England. Daughter of John Richards and Ellin Charnock. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber C. Kimball, 4 Aug. 1837, in River Ribble, Lancashire. Married Willard Richards...

View Full Bio
,
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

View Full Bio
alluded to the connection of plural marriage with biblical practices, writing, “There are many things recorded of the old patriarchs and prophets which have seemed bad to us, which if we knew the reasons thereof and the order of God would appear right.”
41

Willard Richards, [Nauvoo, IL], to Jennetta Richards Richards, [Richmond, MA], 26 Feb. 1842, Jennetta Richards Richards, Collection, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Richards, Willard. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Jennetta Richards, Richmond, MA, 26 Feb. 1842. Jennetta Richards Collection, 1842–1845. CHL. MS 23042.

The extant sources concerning plural marriage preclude a thorough understanding of the practice during this period, making it difficult to unravel its complexities, its prevalence, and the experiences of the women and men involved in these relationships.
42

For additional resources on Joseph Smith’s practice of plural marriage and the experiences of the women who married him as plural wives, see Compton, In Sacred Loneliness; and Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.

Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

The small group of men and women introduced to plural marriage 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....

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pledged to keep their involvement confidential.
43

Secrecy about the practice meant that these plural marriage relationships usually involved infrequent and clandestine interactions; however, some evidence suggests affection and even deeper emotional attachments developed between at least a few couples. Eliza R. Snow wrote two poems to Smith in August 1842 that convey her concern about his welfare and her attachment to him. (See Historical Introduction to Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842.)


The few contemporary documents that describe Smith’s plural marriage sealings only specify a doctrine that marital relationships, performed by priesthood authority, could endure beyond death and through eternity. Reminiscent accounts suggest that Smith’s plural marriage sealings can be placed in three categories: sealings for the couple’s mortal lifetime, sealings for eternity, or sealings for both this lifetime and eternity.
44

Mercy Fielding Thompson, who was a widow, recorded that she was sealed to Hyrum Smith, her brother-in-law, as a plural wife for time only and was married eternally to her deceased husband, Robert B. Thompson. The widows who married Smith as plural wives may have been in a similar situation—possibly including widows Martha McBride Knight and Delcena Johnson Sherman, to whom Smith was sealed in summer 1842. (See Mercy Fielding Thompson, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], to Joseph Smith III, Lamoni, IA, 5 Sept. 1883, copy, Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL; Martha McBride Kimball, Affidavit, Millard Co., Utah Territory, 8 July 1869, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; and Benjamin F. Johnson, [Mesa, Arizona Territory], to George F. Gibbs, Salt Lake City, UT, ca. Apr.–ca. Oct. 1903, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.

Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289, box 2, fd. 1.

Plural marriages intended for time and eternity likely included the possibility of conjugal relations and hope for posterity, but such relations were not part of eternity-only plural marriages.
45

Revelation, 27 July 1842. In some of his plural marriages, Smith may have followed the biblical pattern of levirate marriage, in which a man married his deceased brother’s wife in order to father children on the brother’s behalf. This may have been Smith’s intention in marrying Agnes Coolbrith Smith, the widow of his brother Don Carlos Smith. Similarly, Smith’s close friendships and sense of brotherhood with men like Vinson Knight may have influenced his decision to be sealed to their widows as his plural wives. (See Deuteronomy 25:5–6; and Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 1:258–262, 497–498.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

While some of the women who were sealed to Smith later identified the intended duration of their sealing, limited contemporary and reminiscent documents from Smith and his plural wives make it difficult to determine which of these sealings was for the couple’s lifetime and eternity, their lifetime only, or eternity only.
As the 1843 revelation on plural marriage makes evident, Smith’s understanding of this practice was irrevocably intertwined with doctrines of eternal salvation and exaltation, and in their reminiscent accounts, Smith’s plural wives emphasized their spiritual motivations for entering into plural marriages. In Latter-day Saint theology, a sealing to a righteous, believing spouse was considered a prerequisite for exaltation. Thus, Smith may have been sealed to a single woman or a woman whose husband was not a Latter-day Saint in order to help her obtain exaltation.
46

See Revelation, 12 July 1843, Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 132:4–7, 15–19, 26–27]. Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married. Neither these women nor Smith explained much about these sealings, though sources suggest that some of these marriages were for eternity alone. These sealings may have been an early version of linking one family to another. In Nauvoo, most if not all of the first husbands seem to have continued to live in the same household with their wives during Smith’s lifetime, and complaints from either the women or their first husband about these sealings to Joseph Smith are virtually absent from the documentary record. (See, for example, Presendia Huntington Kimball, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:7; Presendia Huntington Kimball, Reminiscences, 1881, CHL; Patty Bartlett Sessions to Brigham Young, June 1867, Ecclesiastical Files, Files relating to Marriage and Other Ordinances, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Affidavit, 23 Mar. 1877, Collected Material concerning JS and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

Kimball, Presendia Lathrop Huntington. Reminiscences, 1881. CHL. MS 742.

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Collected Material concerning Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912. CHL.

In addition, blessings for plural marriage sealings may have reached beyond the couple to the woman’s extended family, including them in the promise of salvation.
47

See Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842; and Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiographical Sketch, 30 Mar. 1881, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Papers, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball. Papers, 1881–1882. CHL.

A further benefit for the extended family was the formation of kinship ties with Smith, connecting the two families in the eternities. The desire to be eternally connected to those dear to him was apparently not unique to Smith but shared by many of his close friends.
48

Apostles Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball both wrote letters conveying their desire for eternal connections. (See Willard Richards, [Nauvoo, IL], to Jennetta Richards Richards, [Richmond, MA], 26 Feb. 1842, Jennetta Richards Richards, Collection, CHL; and Heber C. Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, 9 May 1845, Heber C. Kimball, Letters to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Richards, Willard. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Jennetta Richards, Richmond, MA, 26 Feb. 1842. Jennetta Richards Collection, 1842–1845. CHL. MS 23042.

Kimball, Heber C. Letters to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, 1845–1856. CHL.

The sisters and daughters of several apostles and other church leaders agreed to plural marriages with Smith, thereby creating the desired eternal connection.
49

At least six women who were likely sealed to Joseph Smith from 1841 to 1844 were related to prominent church leaders who were close friends of Smith: Sarah Ann Whitney, Emily Partridge, Eliza Partridge, Helen Mar Kimball, Rhoda Richards, and Fanny Young Murray. (Revelation, 27 July 1842; Emily Dow Partridge Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Rhoda Richards, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Augusta Adams Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 12 July 1869; Eliza Maria Partridge Lyman, Affidavit, Millard Co., Utah Territory, 1 July 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:11, 17, 52, 2:32; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiographical Sketch, 30 Mar. 1881, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Papers, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball. Papers, 1881–1882. CHL.

Although most sources related to plural marriage are reminiscent, two documents featured in this volume provide a rare contemporary glimpse into plural marriage as practiced by Joseph Smith. On 27 July 1842, Smith dictated a revelation that provided Bishop
Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

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the language he should use in sealing his seventeen-year-old daughter,
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
, to Smith as a plural wife.
Elizabeth Ann Whitney

26 Dec. 1800–15 Feb. 1882. Born at Derby, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Daughter of Gibson Smith and Polly Bradley. Moved to Ohio, 1819. Married Newel K. Whitney, 20 Oct. 1822, at Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Shortly after, joined reformed Baptist (later Disciples...

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, Newel’s wife, was also named in the revelation and participated in the sealing as a witness. The instructions in this revelation are unique, being the only known instance of an extant document dictated by Joseph Smith giving directions for plural marriage sealings. The revelation emphasizes that the sealing offered eternal salvation—not just to Sarah Ann but to her whole family—and created eternal ties with Smith.
50

See Revelation, 27 July 1842.


The second document is a letter Smith wrote to the Whitneys in mid-August 1842, shortly after the sealing took place. In this letter, he asked
Sarah Ann

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
and her parents to meet him while he was in hiding to avoid extradition to
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 ...

More Info
so he could visit with them and provide them with previously promised blessings.
51

See Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842.


No extant documentation captures Sarah Ann Whitney’s thoughts about her marriage to Smith, which was arranged through her parents. A later account written by her friend and sister-in-law,
Helen Mar Kimball

22 Aug. 1828–15 Nov. 1896. Born in Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Daughter of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Murray. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, fall 1833. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Brigham Young, 1836, in the Chagrin...

View Full Bio
, noted that although Sarah Ann consented to the union, it created social distance for the popular Sarah Ann, isolating her from friends, possible suitors, and siblings who were unaware of the practice of plural marriage.
52

Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, “Scenes in Nauvoo after the Martyrdom,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Mar. 1883, 11:146.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

Joseph Smith’s sealing to
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
was part of a more concerted effort on his part to practice plural marriage in the early 1840s. He appears to have been sealed to his first plural wife in the mid-1830s, but he did not resume the practice until April 1841, when he was sealed to
Louisa Beman

7 Feb. 1815–16 May 1850. Born in Livonia, Ontario Co., New York. Daughter of Alvah Beman and Sarah Burtts. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, after Oct. 1835. Left Kirtland for Far West, Caldwell Co., Missouri, after Apr. 1838. Moved to Nauvoo, Hancock ...

View Full Bio
. According to evidence from Smith’s plural wives or their families, between 1841 and spring 1842 Smith was sealed to approximately six women and began to teach the practice to a small group of trusted associates.
53

The six are Louisa Beman, Zina Huntington Jacobs, Presendia Huntington Buell, Agnes Coolbrith Smith, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, and Patty Bartlett Sessions, listed in chronological order of their sealings. This number does not include the plural marriages of Sylvia Sessions Lyon and Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde—whose sealings may have taken place in either 1842 or 1843—or other women who may have married Joseph Smith during this period but for whom less reliable sources exist. (Joseph Bates Noble, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 26 June 1869; Zina Diantha Huntington Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Presendia Huntington Kimball, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:3, 5, 7; Mary Ann West, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, ca. 22 Mar. 1892, pp. 499–500, questions 141–144, pp. 521–522, questions 676–687, 696–699, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri et al. [C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894], typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Affidavit, 23 Mar. 1877, Collected Material concerning JS and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912, CHL; Patty Bartlett Sessions to Brigham Young, June 1867, Ecclesiastical Files, Files relating to Marriage and Other Ordinances, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; see also Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:15, 3:62.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

Collected Material concerning Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912. CHL.

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Sources indicate that from June to August 1842, he was sealed to an additional four women:
Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

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, Sarah Ann Whitney,
Delcena Johnson Sherman

19 Nov. 1806–21 Oct. 1854. Born in Westford, Chittenden Co., Vermont. Daughter of Ezekiel Johnson and Julia Hills. Moved to Canadaway (later Fredonia), Chautauque Co., New York, 1813. Married first Lyman R. Sherman, 16 Jan. 1829, in Pomfret, Chautauque Co...

View Full Bio
, and
Martha McBride Knight

17 Mar. 1805–20 Nov. 1901. Seamstress. Born in Chester, Washington Co., New York. Daughter of Daniel McBride and Abigail Mead. Resided in Thurman, Washington Co., 1810. Family moved to Riga, Genesee Co., New York, by 1820. Married first Vinson Knight, July...

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. There are few details about Smith’s sealings to Knight and Sherman, both of whom were apparently widows when sealed to Smith. Sherman’s brother
Benjamin F. Johnson

28 July 1818–18 Nov. 1905. Brickmaker, merchant, tavern keeper, leatherworker, farmer, nurseryman, beekeeper. Born at Pomfret, Chautauque Co., New York. Son of Ezekiel Johnson and Julia Hills. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, 1833. Baptized into Church...

View Full Bio
later wrote that her sealing occurred before Johnson’s return to
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
from a mission in early July 1842.
54

Johnson, “A Life Review,” 86–93; Benjamin F. Johnson, [Mesa, Arizona Territory], to George F. Gibbs, Salt Lake City, UT, ca. Apr.–ca. Oct. 1903, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, CHL. Delcena Sherman was later sealed to her deceased husband, Lyman Sherman, for eternity in the Nauvoo temple, making unclear the intended duration of her sealing to Smith. (See Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 36–37, entry no. 79.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.

Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289, box 2, fd. 1.

Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 1846. CHL.

According to her obituary, Knight was sealed to Joseph Smith in August 1842, shortly after the death of her husband,
Vinson Knight

14 Mar. 1804–31 July 1842. Farmer, druggist, school warden. Born at Norwich, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Rudolphus Knight and Rispah (Rizpah) Lee. Married Martha McBride, July 1826. Moved to Perrysburg, Cattaraugus Co., New York, by 1830. Owned farm...

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, Smith’s close friend and a bishop in Nauvoo.
55

“Death of Pioneer Woman,” Standard (Ogden, UT), 21 Nov. 1901, 5. Martha McBride Knight apparently chose to be sealed to Smith for eternity in the Nauvoo temple, rather than be sealed by proxy to her deceased husband, Vinson Knight. (See Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 42–43, entry no. 92.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Standard. Ogden, UT. 1888–1902.

Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 1846. CHL.

More information exists about
Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

View Full Bio
’s marriage to Joseph Smith on 29 June 1842.
56

Eliza Roxcy Snow Smith, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 7 June 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:25.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

As an accomplished poet and independent woman in her late thirties, Snow’s marriage to Smith probably differed markedly from that of
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
’s. Unlike Whitney, whose sealing was arranged and who continued to live with her parents after the sealing, Snow married Smith without her family’s knowledge or approval. Snow’s journal and contemporary poems suggest that she greatly admired Smith and was deeply concerned for his welfare.
57

See Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842.


Years later, she related that when she was introduced to the practice of plural marriage, she found the idea repugnant, but with time she accepted and revered it: “As I increased in knowledge concerning the principle and design of Plural Marriage, I grew in love with it, and today esteem it a precious, sacred principle.” Snow further noted that her marriage to Joseph Smith was “one of the most important circumstances of my life, I never have had cause to regret.”
58

Snow, “Sketch of My Life,” 17.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Snow, Eliza R. “Sketch of My Life,” n.d. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

By summer 1842, Joseph Smith had shared the practice of plural marriage with only a few trusted friends and associates, a group that apparently did not include his brother
Hyrum Smith

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...

View Full Bio
or his wife
Emma Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
. Although it is unclear what Emma knew or suspected about plural marriage in 1842, documents in this volume suggest that she was unaware of at least some of her husband’s sealings. Smith’s sealing to
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
, for example, occurred when Emma was absent 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....

More Info
. In his August letter to the Whitneys, Smith asked that they avoid visiting him in exile if Emma was present, a request likely meant to ensure that she remained unaware of the marriage.
59

See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 27 July 1842; and Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842.


Despite the secrecy with which Joseph Smith approached plural marriage, some knowledge of the practice appears to have circulated as rumor 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
.
60

For example, see Oliver Olney’s discussion of rumors of immorality in his 1842 notebooks and other personal writings. (Oliver Olney, Papers, microfilm, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Olney, Oliver H. Papers, 1842–1844. Microfilm. CHL.

In March 1842, Clarissa Marvel was disciplined by the
Female Relief Society of Nauvoo

A church organization for women; created in Nauvoo, Illinois, under JS’s direction on 17 March 1842. At the same meeting, Emma Smith was elected president, and she selected two counselors; a secretary and a treasurer were also chosen. The minutes of the society...

View Glossary
for spreading rumors about Smith having a relationship with his widowed sister-in-law,
Agnes Coolbrith Smith

11 July 1811–26 Dec. 1876. Born at Scarborough, Cumberland Co., Maine. Daughter of Joseph Coolbrith and Mary Hasty Foss. Moved to Boston, by 1832. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1832, at Boston. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio...

View Full Bio
, to whom he had likely been sealed in January 1842.
61

See Relief Society Minute Book, 24 Mar. 1842, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 38–39; Young, Journal, 1837–1845, 6 Jan. 1842; and List of Women, in Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Manuscript Fragment, [ca. 1843], Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

Young, Brigham. Journals, 1832–1877. Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1, boxes 71–73.

Western Americana Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

The most invested and aggressive critic, however, was
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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, who may have had some knowledge of plural marriage or used circulating rumors for his own ends.
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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had been a rising star in both the church and
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
since his move to the city in September 1840 and his subsequent
baptism

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

View Glossary
.
62

Bennett, History of the Saints, 18; Notice, Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1840, 2:234.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

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

He was instrumental in ushering the act incorporating the city of Nauvoo through the
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
legislature, and he became the mayor of Nauvoo once that act was signed into law. Upon the creation of the
Nauvoo Legion

A contingent of the Illinois state militia provided for in the Nauvoo city charter. The Nauvoo Legion was organized into two cohorts: one infantry and one cavalry. Each cohort could potentially comprise several thousand men and was overseen by a brigadier...

View Glossary
, Bennett was elected major general and inspector general, second in command only to Joseph Smith.
63

See Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841; and Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.


Bennett actively participated in the church’s
general conferences

A meeting where ecclesiastical officers and other church members could conduct church business. The “Articles and Covenants” of the church directed the elders to hold conferences to perform “Church business.” The first of these conferences was held on 9 June...

View Glossary
, and in April 1841 he was “presented with the
First Presidency

The highest presiding body of the church. An 11 November 1831 revelation stated that the president of the high priesthood was to preside over the church. JS was ordained as president of the high priesthood on 25 January 1832. In March 1832, JS appointed two...

View Glossary
as assistant president” because
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...

View Full Bio
was suffering at the time from ill health.
64

Minutes, 7–11 Apr. 1841.


An 1841 revelation declared that God would “crown” Bennett “with blessings and great glory” if he listened to counsel and remained faithful.
65

Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:16–17].


Even as
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 ...

View Full Bio
received these positions and accolades, however, Joseph Smith began to hear troubling reports about him. When Bennett arrived 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
he had presented himself as a single man, but Smith received information indicating he was married to
Mary Barker Bennett

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of
Ohio

French explored and claimed area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Northeastern portion maintained as part of Connecticut, 1786, and called Connecticut...

More Info
and was the father of two children. Smith became more disturbed when Bennett began courting a woman in Nauvoo and talked to her about marriage. According to Smith, he confronted Bennett about his behavior, and Bennett promised to end the relationship. However, Smith later stated, Bennett then began telling women in Nauvoo “that promiscous intercourse between the sexes, was a doctrine believed in by the Latter-Day Saints, and that there was no harm in it.” Smith further claimed that Bennett had even told some of the women that Smith himself “not only sanctioned, but practiced the same wicked acts,” thereby enabling Bennett to seduce other women in Nauvoo.
66

Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; see also Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 5–6. Bennett may have been referring to plural marriage in his accusations against Smith.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

Joseph Smith again confronted
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 ...

View Full Bio
, who again promised to reform. Perhaps doubting his sincerity, Smith commenced an investigation, which included sending
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
to
Ohio

French explored and claimed area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Northeastern portion maintained as part of Connecticut, 1786, and called Connecticut...

More Info
to inquire into the rumors about Bennett’s past. Miller and others confirmed that Bennett had a wife and children there and that he had reportedly committed adultery in the past. When Bennett persisted in the same adulterous conduct 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
, Smith’s patience wore thin and he warned Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo about such behavior.
67

Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; Times and Seasons, 1 July 1842.


Although not mentioning Bennett by name, Smith wrote a letter in March 1842 to his wife
Emma

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
, in her role as president of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, warning the women about unprincipled men who claimed authority from Smith and the First Presidency and who “with a lie in their mouth deceive & debauch the innocent under the assumption that they are authorized from these sources!”
68

See Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842.


Smith also preached against adultery at a 10 April 1842 church meeting. On 11 May, he and other leaders of the church prepared a notice stating that they were withdrawing fellowship from Bennett.
69

JS, Journal, 10 Apr. 1842; Notice, 11 May 1842.


In late May, 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
high council

A governing body of twelve high priests. The first high council was organized in Kirtland, Ohio, on 17 February 1834 “for the purpose of settling important difficulties which might arise in the church, which could not be settled by the church, or the bishop...

View Glossary
began investigating sexual misconduct by several men who had apparently followed
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 ...

View Full Bio
’s lead in seducing women in Nauvoo on the premise that church leaders, including Smith, sanctioned such illicit behavior. Several women provided affidavits detailing their encounters and identifying the men involved. Those accused before the Nauvoo high council included
Chauncey Higbee

7 Sept. 1821–7 Dec. 1884. Lawyer, banker, politician, judge. Born in Tate Township, Clermont Co., Ohio. Son of Elias Higbee and Sarah Elizabeth Ward. Lived in Fulton, Hamilton Co., Ohio, 1830. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1832...

View Full Bio
, George Thatcher,
Lyman Littlefield

21 Nov. 1819–1 Sept. 1893. Printer, compositor, newspaper editor, painter. Born in Verona, Oneida Co., New York. Son of Waldo Littlefield and Mercy Higgins. Moved to Pontiac, Oakland Co., Michigan, between 1830 and 1834. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ...

View Full Bio
,
Darwin Chase

25 Feb. 1816–4 Feb. 1863. Miner, town officer, military officer. Born in Ellisburg, Jefferson Co., New York. Son of Stephen Chase and Orryanna Rowe. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1831. Moved to Jackson Co., Missouri. Moved to ...

View Full Bio
, and
Joel S. Miles

25 Oct. 1816–in/after 1862. Constable, carpenter, justice of the peace. Born in Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Miles and Sarah Simonds. Moved to Freedom, Cattaraugus Co., New York, ca. 1830. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by...

View Full Bio
.
70

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 20, 27, and 28 May 1842; Margaret Nyman, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 21 May 1842; Matilda Nyman, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 21 May 1842; Sarah Miller, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 24 May 1842; Catherine Fuller Warren, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 25 May 1842, Testimonies in Nauvoo High Council Cases, CHL; Mary Clift, Testimony, Hancock Co., IL, 4 Sept. 1842, Nauvoo High Council Papers, CHL. These affidavits noted that in addition to justifying their actions as sanctioned by church leaders, some of the men also coerced the women through promises of marriage or of supplying provisions, like food. Although two affidavits claimed that William Smith, a younger brother of Joseph Smith, affirmed that Joseph had approved of the men’s actions, William was not charged or tried by the high council. (Catherine Fuller Warren, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 25 May 1842; Sarah Miller, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 24 May 1842, Testimonies in Nauvoo High Council Cases, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

Testimonies in Nauvoo High Council Cases, May 1842. CHL.

Nauvoo High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.

The high council’s investigation of charges of unvirtuous conduct included several of these men as well as Catherine Fuller Warren, one of the women they had seduced.
71

The women who testified before the high council included Catherine Fuller Warren, Margaret Nyman, Matilda Nyman, and Sarah Miller.


Ultimately, only three of the men were disfellowshipped.
72

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 24, 25, 27, and 28 May 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

These investigations fostered a heightened concern about morality among church leaders in Nauvoo as well as concern over individuals with ties to Bennett.
After his excommunication,
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 ...

View Full Bio
’s influence in both the church and the city unraveled. He resigned as mayor of
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
on 17 May, Joseph Smith publicly preached against him on 18 June, the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge held hearings in June about Bennett’s conduct, and, probably sometime toward the end of June, Bennett was cashiered from the
Nauvoo Legion

A contingent of the Illinois state militia provided for in the Nauvoo city charter. The Nauvoo Legion was organized into two cohorts: one infantry and one cavalry. Each cohort could potentially comprise several thousand men and was overseen by a brigadier...

View Glossary
.
73

“New Election of Mayor, and Vice Mayor, of the City of Nauvoo,” Wasp, 21 May 1842, [3]; Letters from John C. Bennett and James Sloan, 17 May 1842; Woodruff, Journal, 18 June 1842; JS, Journal, 16 and 30 June 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

Disgraced, he left Nauvoo on 21 June, threatening to write a book exposing Joseph Smith as a fraud and impostor.
74

[Nauvoo Masonic Lodge], Nauvoo, IL, to Abraham Jonas, [Columbus, IL], 21 June 1842, Letters pertaining to Freemasonry in Nauvoo, CHL; “Trouble among the Mormons,” Hawkeye and Iowa Patriot [Burlington], 23 June 1842, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Letters pertaining to Freemasonry in Nauvoo, 1842. CHL.

Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot. Burlington, IA. 1839–1851.

Perhaps to forestall any accusations Bennett might make, on 23 June Smith composed a letter to church members “and to all the honorable part of community” outlining Bennett’s actions while in Nauvoo and the steps Smith had taken to get him to reform.
75

Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842.


Smith wrote a similar letter the following day to
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
governor
Thomas Carlin

18 July 1789–14 Feb. 1852. Ferry owner, farmer, sheriff, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of Thomas Carlin and Elizabeth Evans. Baptist. Moved to what became Missouri, by 1803. Moved to Illinois Territory, by 1812. Served in War of 1812. Married...

View Full Bio
. Further, Smith sent
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

View Full Bio
to meet with
James Arlington Bennet

21 Dec. 1788–25 Dec. 1863. Attorney, newspaper publisher, educator, author. Born in New York. Married first Sophia Smith, 8 May 1811. Served as third and later second lieutenant in First U.S. Artillery, 1 Aug. 1813–14 Oct. 1814. Published American System ...

View Full Bio
, a member of the
New York City

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

More Info
elite upon whom John C. Bennett had bestowed several Nauvoo honors.
76

Letter to Thomas Carlin, 24 June 1842; Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842.


In late June, a few days after Joseph Smith wrote his letters of warning,
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 ...

View Full Bio
released a series of his own letters, which were published in summer 1842 in the Sangamo Journal and reprinted in several other newspapers. These letters painted a lurid picture of Smith, depicting him as an adulterer who had proposed marriage to several women 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
, including
Nancy Rigdon

8 Dec. 1822–1 Nov. 1887. Born in Pittsburgh. Daughter of Sidney Rigdon and Phebe Brooks. Moved to Bainbridge, Geauga Co., Ohio, 1826. Moved to Mentor, Geauga Co., 1827. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, likely ca. Nov. 1830, in Ohio...

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, the daughter of First Presidency counselor
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...

View Full Bio
, and
Sarah Pratt

5 Feb. 1817–25 Dec. 1888. Seamstress. Born in Henderson, Jefferson Co., New York. Daughter of Cyrus Bates and Lydia Harrington. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Orson Pratt, 18 June 1835, near Sackets Harbor, Jefferson Co. Married...

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, the wife of apostle
Orson Pratt

19 Sept. 1811–3 Oct. 1881. Farmer, writer, teacher, merchant, surveyor, editor, publisher. Born at Hartford, Washington Co., New York. Son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickinson. Moved to New Lebanon, Columbia Co., New York, 1814; to Canaan, Columbia Co., fall...

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. Bennett also claimed that Joseph Smith had a band of “
Danites

The common name for the “Daughter of Zion,” an oath-bound military society organized among the Latter-day Saints in Missouri in summer 1838 to defend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from internal and external opposition. The official name ...

View Glossary
”—similar to those who had sworn to defend the church in
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 ...

More Info
in 1838—who would kill anyone who opposed his measures.
77

For more information on Danites in Missouri, see Introduction to Part 2: 8 July–29 Oct. 1838.


Bennett often claimed that his own life was in danger. Other allegations in the letters included that Smith was involved in fraudulent land dealings and that he had ordered the assassination of
Lilburn W. Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

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, former governor of Missouri and a primary antagonist of Smith and the Saints.
78

See John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; and John C. Bennett, St. Louis, MO, 15 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 22 July 1842, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

These allegations—which
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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said could be corroborated by several people, including
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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, Rigdon’s son-in-law
George W. Robinson

14 May 1814–10 Feb. 1878. Clerk, postmaster, merchant, clothier, banker. Born at Pawlet, Rutland Co., Vermont. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, by 1836. Clerk and recorder for Kirtland high...

View Full Bio
,
Francis Higbee

1820–after 1850. Attorney, merchant. Born in Tate, Clermont Co., Ohio. Son of Elias Higbee and Sarah Elizabeth Ward. Moved to Fulton, Hamilton Co., Ohio, by 1830. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1832. Moved to Jackson Co., Missouri...

View Full Bio
, and
Orson Pratt

19 Sept. 1811–3 Oct. 1881. Farmer, writer, teacher, merchant, surveyor, editor, publisher. Born at Hartford, Washington Co., New York. Son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickinson. Moved to New Lebanon, Columbia Co., New York, 1814; to Canaan, Columbia Co., fall...

View Full Bio
79

John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; “Bennett’s Second and Third Letters,” Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

—quickly spread through the eastern
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
, causing a firestorm of controversy and negative opinion. Apostle
John E. Page

25 Feb. 1799–14 Oct. 1867. Born at Trenton, Oneida Co., New York. Son of Ebenezer Page and Rachel Hill. Married first Betsey Thompson, 1831, in Huron Co., Ohio. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Emer Harris, 18 Aug. 1833, at Brownhelm...

View Full Bio
, who was preaching in
Pittsburgh

Also spelled Pittsbourg, Pittsbourgh, and Pittsburg. Major industrial port city in southwestern Pennsylvania. Near location where Monongahela and Allegheny rivers converge to form Ohio River. French established Fort Du Quesne, 1754. British captured fort,...

More Info
, pleaded with Joseph Smith in August “to put down the slanders of Bennett” and the others because the accusations had “done much to injure the cause of the kingdom.”
80

Letter from John E. Page, 8 Aug. 1842.


At the end of August, Smith met with the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

View Glossary
and made plans to send missionaries throughout the United States to combat Bennett’s allegations “with a flood of truth.”
81

JS, Journal, 26 Aug. 1842.


Amid the difficulties caused by
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 ...

View Full Bio
, Smith and his followers also faced political opposition in the August 1842 state election. Fearing mob attacks and Smith’s possible extradition to
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 ...

More Info
, church members 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
hoped to elect sympathetic candidates in the coming election. Since the Saints’ arrival in
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
, both the Democrats and Whigs had attempted to win their votes.
82

See Historical Introduction to Minutes, 26 May 1842.


In December 1841, Smith denied partisanship but publicly supported
Adam Snyder

6 Oct. 1799–14 May 1842. Lawyer, politician. Born in Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Adam Snyder and Margaret Hartzel Schaeffer. Moved to Knox Co., Ohio, ca. 1816. Moved to Cahokia, St. Clair Co., Illinois, June 1817, where he helped build...

View Full Bio
, the Democratic candidate for governor, fueling fears of religious bloc voting.
83

Letter to Friends in Illinois, 20 Dec. 1841; see also Flanders, “Kingdom of God in Illinois,” 153.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Flanders, Robert Bruce. “The Kingdom of God in Illinois: Politics in Utopia.” In Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History, edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas, 147–159. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.

Even after Snyder’s sudden death in mid-May, Smith continued to voice political neutrality.
84

“Death of Col. Snyder,” Wasp, 28 May 1842, [3].


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

He announced in a 26 May meeting in Nauvoo that he would not support either party.
85

Minutes, 26 May 1842.


Nauvoo citizens proceeded to nominate a separate ticket of candidates for county and state offices, including some candidates who were not Latter-day Saints. In response, the Anti-Mormon Party, established in 1841 to counter Latter-day Saint political influence in the county, held a convention in
Carthage

Located eighteen miles southeast of Nauvoo. Settled 1831. Designated Hancock Co. seat, Mar. 1833. Incorporated as town, 27 Feb. 1837. Population in 1839 about 300. Population in 1844 about 400. Site of acute opposition to Latter-day Saints, early 1840s. Site...

More Info
on 29 May. In early July, Smith published a letter calling for independent candidates who, if they met certain qualifications, would receive the Saints’ political support.
86

Letter to the Citizens of Hancock County, ca. 2 July 1842.


During the next few weeks, Smith received several letters about the election; some were lobbying for candidates, while others were from Saints seeking guidance on voting.
87

See Letter from John Harper, 13 July 1842; Letter from John Harper, 14 July 1842; Letter from William S. Wright, 24 July 1842; Letter from Aldrich & Chittenden, 28 July 1842; and Letter from Isaac Morley, 24 July 1842.


In the August election, the Saints overwhelmingly voted for Democrats, who won the election.
88

“Election Returns,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 6 Aug. 1842, [2]; Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 283, 449; Pease, Illinois Election Returns, 126–131, 351, 363.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

Pease, Theodore Calvin, ed. Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923.

Thomas C. Sharp

25 Sept. 1818–9 Apr. 1894. Teacher, lawyer, newspaper editor and publisher. Born in Mount Holly, Burlington Co., New Jersey. Son of Solomon Sharp and Jemima Budd. Lived at Smyrna, Kent Co., Delaware, June 1830. Moved to Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania...

View Full Bio
, the editor of the Warsaw Signal and an avowed opponent of Smith and the church who helped form the Anti-Mormon Party, lamented that the Democratic ticket, which he described as the “Mormon ticket,” had been elected.
89

[Thomas C. Sharp], “The Last Move,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 9 July 1842, [2]; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to the Citizens of Hancock County, ca. 2 July 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Meanwhile, the Saints hoped that when Governor
Thomas Ford

5 Dec. 1800–3 Nov. 1850. Schoolteacher, newspaperman, lawyer, politician, judge, author. Born in Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Robert Ford and Elizabeth Logue Forquer. Moved to St. Louis, 1804; to New Design (later American Bottom), Randolph...

View Full Bio
took office at the end of the year, he would prove more willing to protect them from outside forces and less willing to comply with Missouri officials’ attempts to extradite Smith than his predecessor,
Governor Carlin

18 July 1789–14 Feb. 1852. Ferry owner, farmer, sheriff, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of Thomas Carlin and Elizabeth Evans. Baptist. Moved to what became Missouri, by 1803. Moved to Illinois Territory, by 1812. Served in War of 1812. Married...

View Full Bio
, had been.
90

“The Election,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 6 Aug. 1842, [2]; Letter from Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

Fears of a new effort to extradite Joseph Smith from
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
to
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 ...

More Info
escalated after the attempted assassination of Missouri’s former governor
Lilburn W. Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

View Full Bio
.
91

In September 1840, Missouri authorities had attempted to extradite Smith based on a treason charge for which he had been imprisoned before his escape in 1839. Carlin complied with the request by issuing a warrant, but the arresting officer could not locate Smith in Nauvoo. In early June 1841, Carlin reissued the warrant and Smith was arrested, but an Illinois circuit court judge discharged him, arguing that the warrant, having been returned unserved, was invalid. (“Joseph Smith Documents from September 1839 through January 1841”; “The Late Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:447–449; see also Historical Introduction to Statement of Expenses to Thomas King, 30 Sept. 1841.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

On 6 May 1842, an assailant shot Boggs through the window of his home in
Jackson County

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

More Info
, Missouri, severely wounding him. Newspapers immediately began reporting his demise, although he eventually recovered from the injury.
92

“A Foul Deed,” Daily Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 12 May 1842, [2]; “Governor Boggs,” Jeffersonian Republican (Jefferson City, MO), 14 May 1842, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.

Jeffersonian Republican. Jefferson City, MO. 1831–1844.

By mid-May, reports reached
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
that Boggs had died.
93

JS, Journal, 14–15 May 1842; “Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 21 May 1842, [3].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

A few days later, in a Nauvoo City Council meeting—the same meeting in which Smith was elected to replace
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 ...

View Full Bio
as mayor—Smith “spoke at some length concerning the evil reports which were abroad in the city concerning himself— & the nec[e]ssity of counteracting the designs of our enemies. establishing a night watch &c.”
94

JS, Journal, 19 May 1842.


The city council proceeded to establish a new city watch, which received its orders from Smith the next day.
95

Minutes, 19 May 1842; Mayor’s Order to City Watch, 20 May 1842.


During the next few weeks, rumors circulated that Latter-day Saints had been involved in the attempted assassination of Boggs and that the city council had created the night watch to protect Smith from possible retaliation.
96

“Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 21 May 1842, [3]; “The Mormons,” Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 3 June 1842, [2]; see also Letter to Sylvester Bartlett, 22 May 1842; and “Public Meeting,” Wasp, 28 May 1842, [3].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

The Saints’ fears for Joseph Smith’s safety took more concrete form in June, when rumors reached Smith that Missourians were planning to send a mob to
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
to kidnap him. On 24 June, Smith notified Governor
Thomas Carlin

18 July 1789–14 Feb. 1852. Ferry owner, farmer, sheriff, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of Thomas Carlin and Elizabeth Evans. Baptist. Moved to what became Missouri, by 1803. Moved to Illinois Territory, by 1812. Served in War of 1812. Married...

View Full Bio
that
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 ...

View Full Bio
might be conspiring to help the Missourians and solicited advice on how to respond if a mob reached Nauvoo.
97

Letter to Thomas Carlin, 24 June 1842.


Smith’s concerns about an attack on Nauvoo went hand in hand with his fear of a forced return to
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 ...

More Info
, his memories of his earlier imprisonment there, and the Saints’ past conflicts with Missouri mobs. Carlin responded reassuringly on 30 June that there was no real threat of a mob attack, but he also indicated that he would be compelled to comply if Missouri’s governor initiated extradition procedures.
98

Letter from Thomas Carlin, 30 June 1842.


Anticipating both events, four days before Carlin’s response Joseph Smith and other church leaders had “united in Solemn prayer that God . . . would deliver his anointed, his people. from all the evil designs of
Governor Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

View Full Bio
. & the powers of the state of Missouri, & of Governor Carlin. & the authorities of
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
. . . . and. of
John C. Bennet[t]

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 ...

View Full Bio
. & all mobs.”
99

JS, Journal, 26 June 1842. A day later, Bennett wrote a letter stating that because Joseph Smith was “indicted for murder, treason, burglary, and arson, in Missouri,” Bennett would gladly “deliver him up to justice, or die in the attempt.” (John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 July 1842, [2].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

As the Saints’ anxieties about these possibilities increased, they prepared countermeasures, turning to the militia, city council, and government officials for assurance and protection.
100

JS, Journal, 4 July 1842.


In early July,
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
’s city council passed an ordinance bolstering the right of
habeas corpus

“Have the body”; a written order from a court of competent jurisdiction commanding anyone having a person in custody to produce such person at a certain time and place and to state the reasons why he or she is being held in custody. The court will determine...

View Glossary
in order to protect its citizens from being “subjected to illegal Process by their Enemies.”
101

Ordinance, 5 July 1842.


Concerned about Smith’s potential extradition,
Erastus Derby

14 Sept. 1810–3 Dec. 1890. Tailor, carpenter, farmer, joiner. Born in Hawley, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Edward Darby and Ruth Phoebe Hitchcock. Moved to Ohio, by 1834. Married Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton, 10 Aug. 1834, in Carthage, Hamilton Co., Ohio...

View Full Bio
and
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
traveled to
Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

More Info
to meet with
Governor Carlin

18 July 1789–14 Feb. 1852. Ferry owner, farmer, sheriff, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of Thomas Carlin and Elizabeth Evans. Baptist. Moved to what became Missouri, by 1803. Moved to Illinois Territory, by 1812. Served in War of 1812. Married...

View Full Bio
. After this the men intended to travel to
Jefferson City

City on south bank of Missouri River, about 130 miles west of St. Louis. Became capital of Missouri, 11 Jan. 1822. Population in 1844 about 1,200.

More Info
, Missouri, to meet with
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 ...

More Info
governor
Thomas Reynolds

12 Mar. 1796–9 Feb. 1844. Attorney, politician, judge. Born at Mason Co. (later Bracken Co.), Kentucky. Son of Nathaniel Reynolds and Catherine Vernon. Admitted to Kentucky bar, 1817. Moved to Illinois, by 1818. Served as clerk of Illinois House of Representatives...

View Full Bio
. Their interactions in Quincy convinced them that Smith had little to fear.
102

JS, Journal, 12 July 1842; Letter from Calvin A. Warren, 13 July 1842; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander (St. James, MI), 16 Aug. 1855, [3]–[4]. Miller had written Reynolds in late June and asked for information about Bennett’s efforts to “conspire with” Missourians to incite “mob voilence” against the Latter-day Saints. (George Miller, Nauvoo, IL, to Thomas Reynolds, 28 June 1842, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 236–237.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

But on 15 July the Sangamo Journal published
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 ...

View Full Bio
’s second and third letters, wherein he alleged that Smith had foretold
Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

View Full Bio
’s death and had sent
Orrin Porter Rockwell

June 1814–9 June 1878. Ferry operator, herdsman, farmer. Born in Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Orin Rockwell and Sarah Witt. Moved to Farmington (later in Manchester), Ontario Co., New York, 1817. Neighbor to JS. Baptized into Church of...

View Full Bio
to fulfill the prophecy.
103

John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

A few days later, Boggs signed an affidavit accusing Rockwell of the shooting and a second affidavit charging Smith with being an “accessary before the fact of the intended murder.” Reynolds responded by issuing requisitions demanding that
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
officials apprehend and extradite the two men from Illinois to Missouri.
104

Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; Thomas Reynolds, Requisition, 22 July 1842; Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.


Before the requisition reached Governor Carlin, though, he received a letter from Joseph Smith, as well as petitions from Nauvoo’s citizens, urging Carlin not to surrender Smith to Missouri authorities.
105

Minutes, 22 July 1842; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 22 July 1842, 95–97; JS, Journal, 22 July 1842; Nauvoo Female Relief Society, Petition to Thomas Carlin, ca. 22 July 1842, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 139–141.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

In his letter, Smith again expressed concerns about an attack on Nauvoo’s citizens, and again Carlin attempted to calm his fears.
106

Letter from Thomas Carlin, 27 July 1842; see also Letter from Aldrich & Chittenden, 28 July 1842.


However, on 8 August, after
Carlin

18 July 1789–14 Feb. 1852. Ferry owner, farmer, sheriff, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of Thomas Carlin and Elizabeth Evans. Baptist. Moved to what became Missouri, by 1803. Moved to Illinois Territory, by 1812. Served in War of 1812. Married...

View Full Bio
had received
Reynolds

12 Mar. 1796–9 Feb. 1844. Attorney, politician, judge. Born at Mason Co. (later Bracken Co.), Kentucky. Son of Nathaniel Reynolds and Catherine Vernon. Admitted to Kentucky bar, 1817. Moved to Illinois, by 1818. Served as clerk of Illinois House of Representatives...

View Full Bio
’s requisitions, he signed a warrant for the arrest of Smith and
Rockwell

June 1814–9 June 1878. Ferry operator, herdsman, farmer. Born in Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Orin Rockwell and Sarah Witt. Moved to Farmington (later in Manchester), Ontario Co., New York, 1817. Neighbor to JS. Baptized into Church of...

View Full Bio
, and three officers arrived 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
and detained them. Smith and Rockwell immediately petitioned Nauvoo’s municipal court for writs of habeas corpus. Smith applied for the writ with the understanding that the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
Constitution and
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
law characterized fugitives from justice as those who committed a crime in one state and fled to another state.
107

U.S. Constitution, art. 4, sec. 2; An Act concerning Fugitives from Justice [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 319, sec. 4.


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

In his petition, Smith expressed his intent to prove he was not a fugitive from justice, a charge that Reynolds had made based on
Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

View Full Bio
’s affidavit, though Boggs had simply stated that Smith was a citizen of Illinois.
108

Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842; Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; see also Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.


The municipal court granted Smith and Rockwell their requests for writs of habeas corpus and demanded that the officers deliver them to the court for investigation.
109

Writ of habeas corpus for JS, 8 Aug. 1842; Writ of habeas corpus for Orrin Porter Rockwell, 8 Aug. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.


Uncertain about the court’s authority to make such a demand, the arresting officers left Smith and Rockwell in the hands of Nauvoo’s marshal,
Henry G. Sherwood

20 Apr. 1785–24 Nov. 1867. Surveyor. Born at Kingsbury, Washington Co., New York. Son of Newcomb Sherwood and a woman whose maiden name was Tolman (first name unidentified). Married first Jane J. McManagal (McMangle) of Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland, ca. 1824...

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, and returned to
Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

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, Illinois, to receive clarification from Carlin.
110

JS, Journal, 8 Aug. 1842.


At this point,
Sherwood

20 Apr. 1785–24 Nov. 1867. Surveyor. Born at Kingsbury, Washington Co., New York. Son of Newcomb Sherwood and a woman whose maiden name was Tolman (first name unidentified). Married first Jane J. McManagal (McMangle) of Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland, ca. 1824...

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released Smith and
Rockwell

June 1814–9 June 1878. Ferry operator, herdsman, farmer. Born in Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Orin Rockwell and Sarah Witt. Moved to Farmington (later in Manchester), Ontario Co., New York, 1817. Neighbor to JS. Baptized into Church of...

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, and Smith went into hiding, first across the
Mississippi River

Principal U.S. river running southward from Itasca Lake, Minnesota, to Gulf of Mexico. Covered 3,160-mile course, 1839 (now about 2,350 miles). Drains about 1,100,000 square miles. Steamboat travel on Mississippi very important in 1830s and 1840s for shipping...

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in
Zarahemla

Located about one mile west of Mississippi River; area settled, by May 1839. Site for town selected by JS, 2 July 1839, and later confirmed by revelation, Mar. 1841. Iowa stake of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized by JS, by Oct. 1839. ...

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, Iowa Territory, and then in and around
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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, where church members and sympathetic neighbors sheltered him.
111

Thomas R. King, Fillmore, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 21 Feb. 1868, Obituary Notices and Biographies, CHL; JS, Journal, 10–23 Aug. 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Obituary Notices and Biographies, 1854–1877. CHL.

Despite his exile, Smith continued to meet with church leaders and close associates about how to address the threat of extradition. He also corresponded frequently with his wife
Emma

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

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and with
Wilson Law

26 Feb. 1806–15 Oct. 1876. Merchant, millwright, land speculator, farmer. Born in Ireland. Son of Richard Law and Ann Hunter. Immigrated to U.S. and settled in Springfield Township, Mercer Co., Pennsylvania, by 1820. Moved to Delaware Township, Mercer Co....

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, major general of the
Nauvoo Legion

A contingent of the Illinois state militia provided for in the Nauvoo city charter. The Nauvoo Legion was organized into two cohorts: one infantry and one cavalry. Each cohort could potentially comprise several thousand men and was overseen by a brigadier...

View Glossary
. He asked for their opinion on whether he should temporarily leave
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

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to ensure the safety of the Saints and his family; he even considered relocating to
Wisconsin Territory

Area settled by French, before 1700. Became part of U.S. by Treaty of Paris, 1783. Territory officially formed, 1836, with Belmont established as capital. Capital moved to present-day Burlington, Iowa, 1837. Territory initially included all or part of present...

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, where the church had established a lumber operation.
112

Letter to Wilson Law, 14 Aug. 1842; Letter from Wilson Law, 15 Aug. 1842; Letter to Emma Smith, 16 Aug. 1842; Letter to Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842; Letter from Emma Smith, 16 Aug. 1842; Letter from Wilson Law, 17 Aug. 1842.


The weeks he spent in hiding appear to have been an introspective time for Joseph Smith, as he remembered past kindnesses and further refined instructions for the practice of proxy
baptisms

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

View Glossary
for deceased friends and family. Smith’s absence 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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was keenly felt among the Saints.
Wilson Law

26 Feb. 1806–15 Oct. 1876. Merchant, millwright, land speculator, farmer. Born in Ireland. Son of Richard Law and Ann Hunter. Immigrated to U.S. and settled in Springfield Township, Mercer Co., Pennsylvania, by 1820. Moved to Delaware Township, Mercer Co....

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noted that Smith’s exile deprived the Saints of his “society and governing wisdom.”
113

See Letter from Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842, underlining in original.


Expressing similar sentiments,
Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

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composed two poems in August, each lamenting the injustice Smith had suffered and the sadness occasioned by his absence.
114

See Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842.


Upon his return from hiding in late August, Smith announced that he had successfully escaped from his enemies, whom he defined broadly as
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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and
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
government officials,
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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, and others like
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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,
George W. Robinson

14 May 1814–10 Feb. 1878. Clerk, postmaster, merchant, clothier, banker. Born at Pawlet, Rutland Co., Vermont. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, by 1836. Clerk and recorder for Kirtland high...

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, and
Orson Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

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, all of whom had sided with Bennett. Smith’s late August discourses resounded with his victorious enthusiasm. But his celebration was short lived. Days later, in early September, legal authorities returned to
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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, and Smith went back into hiding.
115

JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842.


The four months documented in this volume, May to August 1842, were a time of dramatic change and increasing anxiety for Joseph Smith and the community of
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
. The specter of
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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looms large over the documentary record of these four months. His misconduct and his separation from the church and city he participated in building placed significant strain on Smith as he assumed Bennett’s role as mayor and as the church investigated Bennett’s illicit affairs. Accusations by the former church leader created division and doubt at a time when Smith’s practice of plural marriage was expanding, and Bennett’s threats of collaboration with
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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mobs induced anxiety in Smith and his followers. The threat of extradition reemerged with the May assassination attempt on
Boggs

14 Dec. 1796–14 Mar. 1860. Bookkeeper, bank cashier, merchant, Indian agent and trader, lawyer, doctor, postmaster, politician. Born at Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of John M. Boggs and Martha Oliver. Served in War of 1812. Moved to St. Louis, ca...

View Full Bio
and was amplified into a terrifyingly real possibility in early August. Assured that extradition to Missouri would mean another difficult imprisonment and potentially death, Smith abandoned legal recourse and went into hiding. Although he returned triumphant to Nauvoo at the end of August, the threat of this extradition attempt persisted and would not be resolved until January 1843.
116

See JS, Journal, 4–6 Jan. 1843.


The documents in this volume—consisting of correspondence, accounts of discourses, minutes of meetings, and financial and legal records—illuminate and contextualize this tumultuous season in Joseph Smith’s life, which brought difficulties that would only increase with the passage of time.
  1. 1

    An earlier attempt by Missouri officials to extradite Smith to Missouri came in September 1840 and was revived in June 1841. (See Editorial, Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:169–170; and “The Late Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:447–449; see also Historical Introduction to Statement of Expenses to Thomas King, 30 Sept. 1841.)

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

  2. 2

    Wilford Woodruff, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, 18 June 1842, Parley P. Pratt, Correspondence, CHL.

    Pratt, Parley P. Correspondence, 1842–1855. CHL. MS 897.

  3. 3

    This is particularly the case with featured financial and civic documents, such as deeds, promissory notes, and city ordinances, which are representative of dozens of similar documents found among Smith’s papers. All of these records are available on this website.

  4. 4

    See Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842; Reflections and Blessings, 16 and 23 Aug. 1842; Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842; and Authorization for Thomas R. King, 27 Aug. 1842.

  5. 5

    The largest number of records created during these four months are ecclesiastical licenses provided to proselytizing elders, the majority of which are no longer extant. (See, for example, License for James Flanigan, 14 May 1842, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL.)

  6. 6

    See Minutes and Discourses, 17 Mar. 1842; and Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 3–16.

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

  7. 7

    See Minutes, 19 May 1842.

  8. 8

    See Oath, 21 June 1842; see also Docket Entry, Nauvoo Mayor’s Court, ca. 5 July 1842. While the mayor’s court functioned as both a justice of the peace court and a local court for the mayor to try alleged breaches of city ordinances, the municipal court was primarily an appellate court for violations of city ordinances. Appeals on decisions made by the justice of the peace were sent to the Hancock County Circuit Court.

  9. 9

    See Nauvoo City Scrip, 14 July 1842. The scrip was intended only for local use and was provided by the mayor or city council to municipal staff or others working on behalf of the city. The scrip could be used to pay city taxes or could be redeemed for specie from the city treasurer.

  10. 10

    See Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 Feb. 1842.

  11. 11

    See Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842.

  12. 12

    See JS, Lease, Nauvoo, IL, to John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, Nauvoo, IL, [between 8 and 10] Dec. 1842, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.

  13. 13

    See An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy [19 Aug. 1841], Public Statutes at Large, 27th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 9, pp. 440–449; see also Balleisen, Navigating Failure, 1–8.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

    Balleisen, Edward J. Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

  14. 14

    “In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts,” 259–269.

    “In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts” / “Circuit Court of the United States, Massachusetts, September 7, 1842, at Boston. In Bankruptcy. In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts.” Law Reporter 5 (Oct. 1842): 259–269.

  15. 15

    Over 41,000 individuals in the United States filed petitions under the act; 1,592 petitions were filed in Illinois from February 1842 to March 1843, when the act was repealed. (Balleisen, Navigating Failure, 124, 172.)

    Balleisen, Edward J. Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

  16. 16

    See Bankruptcy Notice for JS, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 6 May 1842, [3]; and Notice, 28 Apr. 1842.

  17. 17

    See JS, Journal, 14–16 Apr. 1842; and Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.

  18. 18

    See JS, Journal, 18 Apr. 1842; and Notice, 28 Apr. 1842.

  19. 19

    See Notice to Creditors and Others, 17 June 1842.

  20. 20

    The principal payment for the land was $50,000. As part of this agreement, the purchasers also promised annual interest payments of $3,000 for twenty years, making a total obligation to Hotchkiss, Gillet, and Tuttle of $110,000. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.)

  21. 21

    Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 13 May 1842.

  22. 22

    See Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 May 1842.

  23. 23

    See Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.

  24. 24

    See Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 30 June 1842; and Historical Introduction to Deed to Emma Smith, 13 June 1842.

  25. 25

    See Deed to Emma Smith, 13 June 1842; and Oaks and Bentley, “Joseph Smith and Legal Process,” 735–782.

    Oaks, Dallin H., and Joseph I. Bentley. “Joseph Smith and Legal Process: In the Wake of the Steamboat Nauvoo.” Brigham Young University Law Review, no. 3 (1976): 735–782.

  26. 26

    See Power of Attorney to Oliver Granger, 27 Sept. 1837; Authorization for Oliver Granger, 13 May 1839; Agreement with Mead & Betts, 2 Aug. 1839; and Agreement with Oliver Granger, 29 Apr. 1840.

  27. 27

    See Account with Estate of Oliver Granger, between ca. 3 Feb. and ca. 2 Mar. 1842; and Obituary for Oliver Granger, Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:550.

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

  28. 28

    See Letter from Alonzo LeBaron, ca. 29 June 1842; and Receipt, 8 July 1842.

  29. 29

    See Times and Seasons, 16 May 1842. A census of church members in Nauvoo in 1842 included approximately four thousand Latter-day Saints. The census did not account for those who were not members of the church or living outside of the city limits. By November 1843, the Nauvoo Neighbor estimated that the population of Nauvoo and the surrounding area was between eight thousand and twelve thousand. (Nauvoo Stake, Ward Census, 1842, CHL; News Item, Nauvoo Neighbor, 15 Nov. 1843, [2].)

    Nauvoo Stake. Ward Census, 1842. CHL.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  30. 30

    See Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842; Letter to Edward Hunter, 9 and 11 Mar. 1842; and Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 10 Mar. 1842. The use of promissory notes often significantly delayed payment. An inventory of Nauvoo resident John M. Burk’s assets in late June 1842 recorded that in addition to tools, livestock, and household goods, he held several uncollected promissory notes in amounts varying from $2 to $27, with unsettled accounts from Missouri worth a combined $300. (See Inventory of John M. Burk Property, 30 June 1842, Jameson Family Collection, CHL.)

    Jameson Family Collection, 1825–1938. CHL. MS 14052.

  31. 31

    George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander (St. James, MI), 16 Aug. 1855, [3]–[4].

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  32. 32

    See Notice, 8 July 1842; and Notice, 9 July 1842.

  33. 33

    Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842, 3:767–769.

  34. 34

    See Discourse, 1 May 1842.

  35. 35

    JS, Journal, 4 May 1842. The group consisted of Willard Richards, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Newel K. Whitney, George Miller, James Adams, William Law, and William Marks. (See Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 May 1842. For more on the concept of endowment, see Discourse, 1 May 1842.)

  36. 36

    Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 May 1842; see also JS, Journal, 4 May 1842.

  37. 37

    See “The Temple,” Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842.

  38. 38

    See Clayton, Journal, 16 May and 16 July 1843; and Parley P. Pratt, “This Number Closes the First Volume of the ‘Prophet,’” Prophet, 24 May 1845, [2].

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    The Prophet. New York City, NY. May 1844–Dec. 1845.

  39. 39

    See Ephesians 1:10; Acts 3:20–21; and Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 125 [Jacob 2:27–30].

  40. 40

    Snow, “Sketch of My Life,” 16.

    Snow, Eliza R. “Sketch of My Life,” n.d. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

  41. 41

    Willard Richards, [Nauvoo, IL], to Jennetta Richards Richards, [Richmond, MA], 26 Feb. 1842, Jennetta Richards Richards, Collection, CHL.

    Richards, Willard. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Jennetta Richards, Richmond, MA, 26 Feb. 1842. Jennetta Richards Collection, 1842–1845. CHL. MS 23042.

  42. 42

    For additional resources on Joseph Smith’s practice of plural marriage and the experiences of the women who married him as plural wives, see Compton, In Sacred Loneliness; and Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy.

    Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.

    Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

  43. 43

    Secrecy about the practice meant that these plural marriage relationships usually involved infrequent and clandestine interactions; however, some evidence suggests affection and even deeper emotional attachments developed between at least a few couples. Eliza R. Snow wrote two poems to Smith in August 1842 that convey her concern about his welfare and her attachment to him. (See Historical Introduction to Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842.)

  44. 44

    Mercy Fielding Thompson, who was a widow, recorded that she was sealed to Hyrum Smith, her brother-in-law, as a plural wife for time only and was married eternally to her deceased husband, Robert B. Thompson. The widows who married Smith as plural wives may have been in a similar situation—possibly including widows Martha McBride Knight and Delcena Johnson Sherman, to whom Smith was sealed in summer 1842. (See Mercy Fielding Thompson, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], to Joseph Smith III, Lamoni, IA, 5 Sept. 1883, copy, Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL; Martha McBride Kimball, Affidavit, Millard Co., Utah Territory, 8 July 1869, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; and Benjamin F. Johnson, [Mesa, Arizona Territory], to George F. Gibbs, Salt Lake City, UT, ca. Apr.–ca. Oct. 1903, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, CHL.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289, box 2, fd. 1.

  45. 45

    Revelation, 27 July 1842. In some of his plural marriages, Smith may have followed the biblical pattern of levirate marriage, in which a man married his deceased brother’s wife in order to father children on the brother’s behalf. This may have been Smith’s intention in marrying Agnes Coolbrith Smith, the widow of his brother Don Carlos Smith. Similarly, Smith’s close friendships and sense of brotherhood with men like Vinson Knight may have influenced his decision to be sealed to their widows as his plural wives. (See Deuteronomy 25:5–6; and Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 1:258–262, 497–498.)

    Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.

  46. 46

    See Revelation, 12 July 1843, Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 132:4–7, 15–19, 26–27]. Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married. Neither these women nor Smith explained much about these sealings, though sources suggest that some of these marriages were for eternity alone. These sealings may have been an early version of linking one family to another. In Nauvoo, most if not all of the first husbands seem to have continued to live in the same household with their wives during Smith’s lifetime, and complaints from either the women or their first husband about these sealings to Joseph Smith are virtually absent from the documentary record. (See, for example, Presendia Huntington Kimball, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:7; Presendia Huntington Kimball, Reminiscences, 1881, CHL; Patty Bartlett Sessions to Brigham Young, June 1867, Ecclesiastical Files, Files relating to Marriage and Other Ordinances, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Affidavit, 23 Mar. 1877, Collected Material concerning JS and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912, CHL.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Kimball, Presendia Lathrop Huntington. Reminiscences, 1881. CHL. MS 742.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

    Collected Material concerning Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912. CHL.

  47. 47

    See Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842; and Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiographical Sketch, 30 Mar. 1881, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Papers, CHL.

    Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball. Papers, 1881–1882. CHL.

  48. 48

    Apostles Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball both wrote letters conveying their desire for eternal connections. (See Willard Richards, [Nauvoo, IL], to Jennetta Richards Richards, [Richmond, MA], 26 Feb. 1842, Jennetta Richards Richards, Collection, CHL; and Heber C. Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, 9 May 1845, Heber C. Kimball, Letters to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, CHL.)

    Richards, Willard. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Jennetta Richards, Richmond, MA, 26 Feb. 1842. Jennetta Richards Collection, 1842–1845. CHL. MS 23042.

    Kimball, Heber C. Letters to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, 1845–1856. CHL.

  49. 49

    At least six women who were likely sealed to Joseph Smith from 1841 to 1844 were related to prominent church leaders who were close friends of Smith: Sarah Ann Whitney, Emily Partridge, Eliza Partridge, Helen Mar Kimball, Rhoda Richards, and Fanny Young Murray. (Revelation, 27 July 1842; Emily Dow Partridge Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Rhoda Richards, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Augusta Adams Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 12 July 1869; Eliza Maria Partridge Lyman, Affidavit, Millard Co., Utah Territory, 1 July 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:11, 17, 52, 2:32; Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiographical Sketch, 30 Mar. 1881, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Papers, CHL.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball. Papers, 1881–1882. CHL.

  50. 50

    See Revelation, 27 July 1842.

  51. 51

    See Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842.

  52. 52

    Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, “Scenes in Nauvoo after the Martyrdom,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Mar. 1883, 11:146.

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

  53. 53

    The six are Louisa Beman, Zina Huntington Jacobs, Presendia Huntington Buell, Agnes Coolbrith Smith, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, and Patty Bartlett Sessions, listed in chronological order of their sealings. This number does not include the plural marriages of Sylvia Sessions Lyon and Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde—whose sealings may have taken place in either 1842 or 1843—or other women who may have married Joseph Smith during this period but for whom less reliable sources exist. (Joseph Bates Noble, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 26 June 1869; Zina Diantha Huntington Young, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869; Presendia Huntington Kimball, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 1 May 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:3, 5, 7; Mary Ann West, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, ca. 22 Mar. 1892, pp. 499–500, questions 141–144, pp. 521–522, questions 676–687, 696–699, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri et al. [C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894], typescript, United States Testimony, CHL; Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Affidavit, 23 Mar. 1877, Collected Material concerning JS and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912, CHL; Patty Bartlett Sessions to Brigham Young, June 1867, Ecclesiastical Files, Files relating to Marriage and Other Ordinances, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; see also Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:15, 3:62.)

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.

    Collected Material concerning Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage, ca. 1870–1912. CHL.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  54. 54

    Johnson, “A Life Review,” 86–93; Benjamin F. Johnson, [Mesa, Arizona Territory], to George F. Gibbs, Salt Lake City, UT, ca. Apr.–ca. Oct. 1903, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, CHL. Delcena Sherman was later sealed to her deceased husband, Lyman Sherman, for eternity in the Nauvoo temple, making unclear the intended duration of her sealing to Smith. (See Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 36–37, entry no. 79.)

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289, box 2, fd. 1.

    Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 1846. CHL.

  55. 55

    “Death of Pioneer Woman,” Standard (Ogden, UT), 21 Nov. 1901, 5. Martha McBride Knight apparently chose to be sealed to Smith for eternity in the Nauvoo temple, rather than be sealed by proxy to her deceased husband, Vinson Knight. (See Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 42–43, entry no. 92.)

    Standard. Ogden, UT. 1888–1902.

    Nauvoo Temple Sealings of Couples, 1846. CHL.

  56. 56

    Eliza Roxcy Snow Smith, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 7 June 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:25.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  57. 57

    See Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842.

  58. 58

    Snow, “Sketch of My Life,” 17.

    Snow, Eliza R. “Sketch of My Life,” n.d. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

  59. 59

    See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 27 July 1842; and Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842.

  60. 60

    For example, see Oliver Olney’s discussion of rumors of immorality in his 1842 notebooks and other personal writings. (Oliver Olney, Papers, microfilm, CHL.)

    Olney, Oliver H. Papers, 1842–1844. Microfilm. CHL.

  61. 61

    See Relief Society Minute Book, 24 Mar. 1842, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 38–39; Young, Journal, 1837–1845, 6 Jan. 1842; and List of Women, in Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Manuscript Fragment, [ca. 1843], Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

    Young, Brigham. Journals, 1832–1877. Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1, boxes 71–73.

    Western Americana Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

  62. 62

    Bennett, History of the Saints, 18; Notice, Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1840, 2:234.

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

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

  63. 63

    See Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841; and Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.

  64. 64

    Minutes, 7–11 Apr. 1841.

  65. 65

    Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:16–17].

  66. 66

    Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; see also Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 5–6. Bennett may have been referring to plural marriage in his accusations against Smith.

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  67. 67

    Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; Times and Seasons, 1 July 1842.

  68. 68

    See Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842.

  69. 69

    JS, Journal, 10 Apr. 1842; Notice, 11 May 1842.

  70. 70

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 20, 27, and 28 May 1842; Margaret Nyman, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 21 May 1842; Matilda Nyman, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 21 May 1842; Sarah Miller, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 24 May 1842; Catherine Fuller Warren, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 25 May 1842, Testimonies in Nauvoo High Council Cases, CHL; Mary Clift, Testimony, Hancock Co., IL, 4 Sept. 1842, Nauvoo High Council Papers, CHL. These affidavits noted that in addition to justifying their actions as sanctioned by church leaders, some of the men also coerced the women through promises of marriage or of supplying provisions, like food. Although two affidavits claimed that William Smith, a younger brother of Joseph Smith, affirmed that Joseph had approved of the men’s actions, William was not charged or tried by the high council. (Catherine Fuller Warren, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 25 May 1842; Sarah Miller, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 24 May 1842, Testimonies in Nauvoo High Council Cases, CHL.)

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

    Testimonies in Nauvoo High Council Cases, May 1842. CHL.

    Nauvoo High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.

  71. 71

    The women who testified before the high council included Catherine Fuller Warren, Margaret Nyman, Matilda Nyman, and Sarah Miller.

  72. 72

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 24, 25, 27, and 28 May 1842.

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

  73. 73

    “New Election of Mayor, and Vice Mayor, of the City of Nauvoo,” Wasp, 21 May 1842, [3]; Letters from John C. Bennett and James Sloan, 17 May 1842; Woodruff, Journal, 18 June 1842; JS, Journal, 16 and 30 June 1842.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  74. 74

    [Nauvoo Masonic Lodge], Nauvoo, IL, to Abraham Jonas, [Columbus, IL], 21 June 1842, Letters pertaining to Freemasonry in Nauvoo, CHL; “Trouble among the Mormons,” Hawkeye and Iowa Patriot [Burlington], 23 June 1842, [2].

    Letters pertaining to Freemasonry in Nauvoo, 1842. CHL.

    Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot. Burlington, IA. 1839–1851.

  75. 75

    Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842.

  76. 76

    Letter to Thomas Carlin, 24 June 1842; Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842.

  77. 77

    For more information on Danites in Missouri, see Introduction to Part 2: 8 July–29 Oct. 1838.

  78. 78

    See John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; and John C. Bennett, St. Louis, MO, 15 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 22 July 1842, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  79. 79

    John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; “Bennett’s Second and Third Letters,” Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  80. 80

    Letter from John E. Page, 8 Aug. 1842.

  81. 81

    JS, Journal, 26 Aug. 1842.

  82. 82

    See Historical Introduction to Minutes, 26 May 1842.

  83. 83

    Letter to Friends in Illinois, 20 Dec. 1841; see also Flanders, “Kingdom of God in Illinois,” 153.

    Flanders, Robert Bruce. “The Kingdom of God in Illinois: Politics in Utopia.” In Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History, edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas, 147–159. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.

  84. 84

    “Death of Col. Snyder,” Wasp, 28 May 1842, [3].

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  85. 85

    Minutes, 26 May 1842.

  86. 86

    Letter to the Citizens of Hancock County, ca. 2 July 1842.

  87. 87

    See Letter from John Harper, 13 July 1842; Letter from John Harper, 14 July 1842; Letter from William S. Wright, 24 July 1842; Letter from Aldrich & Chittenden, 28 July 1842; and Letter from Isaac Morley, 24 July 1842.

  88. 88

    “Election Returns,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 6 Aug. 1842, [2]; Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 283, 449; Pease, Illinois Election Returns, 126–131, 351, 363.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

    Pease, Theodore Calvin, ed. Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923.

  89. 89

    [Thomas C. Sharp], “The Last Move,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 9 July 1842, [2]; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to the Citizens of Hancock County, ca. 2 July 1842.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  90. 90

    “The Election,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 6 Aug. 1842, [2]; Letter from Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  91. 91

    In September 1840, Missouri authorities had attempted to extradite Smith based on a treason charge for which he had been imprisoned before his escape in 1839. Carlin complied with the request by issuing a warrant, but the arresting officer could not locate Smith in Nauvoo. In early June 1841, Carlin reissued the warrant and Smith was arrested, but an Illinois circuit court judge discharged him, arguing that the warrant, having been returned unserved, was invalid. (“Joseph Smith Documents from September 1839 through January 1841”; “The Late Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:447–449; see also Historical Introduction to Statement of Expenses to Thomas King, 30 Sept. 1841.)

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

  92. 92

    “A Foul Deed,” Daily Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 12 May 1842, [2]; “Governor Boggs,” Jeffersonian Republican (Jefferson City, MO), 14 May 1842, [2].

    Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.

    Jeffersonian Republican. Jefferson City, MO. 1831–1844.

  93. 93

    JS, Journal, 14–15 May 1842; “Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 21 May 1842, [3].

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

  94. 94

    JS, Journal, 19 May 1842.

  95. 95

    Minutes, 19 May 1842; Mayor’s Order to City Watch, 20 May 1842.

  96. 96

    “Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 21 May 1842, [3]; “The Mormons,” Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 3 June 1842, [2]; see also Letter to Sylvester Bartlett, 22 May 1842; and “Public Meeting,” Wasp, 28 May 1842, [3].

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  97. 97

    Letter to Thomas Carlin, 24 June 1842.

  98. 98

    Letter from Thomas Carlin, 30 June 1842.

  99. 99

    JS, Journal, 26 June 1842. A day later, Bennett wrote a letter stating that because Joseph Smith was “indicted for murder, treason, burglary, and arson, in Missouri,” Bennett would gladly “deliver him up to justice, or die in the attempt.” (John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 July 1842, [2].)

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  100. 100

    JS, Journal, 4 July 1842.

  101. 101

    Ordinance, 5 July 1842.

  102. 102

    JS, Journal, 12 July 1842; Letter from Calvin A. Warren, 13 July 1842; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander (St. James, MI), 16 Aug. 1855, [3]–[4]. Miller had written Reynolds in late June and asked for information about Bennett’s efforts to “conspire with” Missourians to incite “mob voilence” against the Latter-day Saints. (George Miller, Nauvoo, IL, to Thomas Reynolds, 28 June 1842, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 236–237.)

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  103. 103

    John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  104. 104

    Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; Thomas Reynolds, Requisition, 22 July 1842; Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  105. 105

    Minutes, 22 July 1842; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 22 July 1842, 95–97; JS, Journal, 22 July 1842; Nauvoo Female Relief Society, Petition to Thomas Carlin, ca. 22 July 1842, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 139–141.

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

  106. 106

    Letter from Thomas Carlin, 27 July 1842; see also Letter from Aldrich & Chittenden, 28 July 1842.

  107. 107

    U.S. Constitution, art. 4, sec. 2; An Act concerning Fugitives from Justice [6 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 319, sec. 4.

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  108. 108

    Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842; Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; see also Orrin Porter Rockwell, Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  109. 109

    Writ of habeas corpus for JS, 8 Aug. 1842; Writ of habeas corpus for Orrin Porter Rockwell, 8 Aug. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  110. 110

    JS, Journal, 8 Aug. 1842.

  111. 111

    Thomas R. King, Fillmore, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 21 Feb. 1868, Obituary Notices and Biographies, CHL; JS, Journal, 10–23 Aug. 1842.

    Obituary Notices and Biographies, 1854–1877. CHL.

  112. 112

    Letter to Wilson Law, 14 Aug. 1842; Letter from Wilson Law, 15 Aug. 1842; Letter to Emma Smith, 16 Aug. 1842; Letter to Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842; Letter from Emma Smith, 16 Aug. 1842; Letter from Wilson Law, 17 Aug. 1842.

  113. 113

    See Letter from Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842, underlining in original.

  114. 114

    See Poem from Eliza R. Snow, 20 Aug. 1842.

  115. 115

    JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842.

  116. 116

    See JS, Journal, 4–6 Jan. 1843.

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