The surviving copies of this letter bear postmarks from St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New York City, and Louisville, Kentucky.a Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo complained about the mail as early as 1842, when JS wrote, “It is with great difficulty that we can get our letters to or from our friends. Our letters are broken open and robbed of their contents— Our papers that we send to our subscribers, are embezzled, and burned or wasted. We get no money from our subscribers, and very little information from abroad; and what little we do get, we get by private means.” In fall 1845 Willard Richards complained “of the difficulties we labor under as a people, with regard to the United States Mail.”b
(aSee, for example, the copies of this letter dated between 24 April and 1 May, signed by Brigham Young as president of a committee writing in behalf of the church, and sent to John H. Steele at Concord, New Hampshire; James Fenner at “Providence or Newport,” Rhode Island; Benjamin Fitzpatrick at Tuscaloosa, Alabama; William Owsley at Frankfort, Kentucky; William A. Graham at Raleigh, North Carolina; James McDowell at Richmond, Virginia; and Roger S. Baldwin at “Hartford or New Haven,” Connecticut, and collected as photocopies at CHL. 1 June 1801–29 Aug. 1877. Carpenter, painter, glazier, colonizer. Born at Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of John Young and Abigail (Nabby) Howe. Brought up in Methodist household; later joined Methodist church. Moved to Sherburne, Chenango Co., New... Significant port city in Connecticut, four miles from Long Island Sound. Settled by company from London, 1638. United with Connecticut Colony, 1662. Population in 1830 about 10,000. Population in 1840 about 13,000. JS corresponded with Horace Hotchkiss and... bJS, Nauvoo, IL, to [James Arlington Bennet], 8 Sept. 1842, draft, JS Collection, CHL; Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to John Wentworth, 12 Sept. 1845, copy, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.