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Letter from Don Carlos Smith, 3 June 1841

Source Note

Don Carlos Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

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, Letter,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, to JS,
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
, Hancock Co., IL, 3 June 1841; handwriting of
Don Carlos Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

View Full Bio
; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7⅞ inches (25 × 20 cm) ruled with thirty horizontal blue lines that are now faded. The letter was written on the recto and verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red wafer. The first leaf was torn, likely when the letter was opened.
The document was docketed by
John Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

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, who served in a clerical capacity for JS from 1841 to 1842.
1

See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

A later docket was added by
Leo Hawkins

19 July 1834–28 May 1859. Clerk, reporter. Born in London. Son of Samuel Harris Hawkins and Charlotte Savage. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by John Banks, 23 Oct. 1848. Immigrated to U.S. with his family; arrived in New Orleans...

View Full Bio
, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859.
2

“Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

The letter was listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904.
3

“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, 1, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

The dockets and inventory suggest continuous institutional custody of this letter from the time it was received.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.

    Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

  2. [2]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [3]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, 1, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

Historical Introduction

Don Carlos Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

View Full Bio
wrote a letter to his brother JS on 3 June 1841 before departing
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
, Illinois, on a business trip to
Cincinnati

Area settled largely by emigrants from New England and New Jersey, by 1788. Village founded and surveyed adjacent to site of Fort Washington, 1789. First seat of legislature of Northwest Territory, 1790. Incorporated as city, 1819. Developed rapidly as shipping...

More Info
.
1

Don Carlos was going to Cincinnati with Ebenezer Robinson to “settle with Mr. Shepherd, and also to lay in a stock of paper and other printing material,” as Robinson later recalled. Don Carlos and Robinson had been coeditors of the Times and Seasons and had also printed a new edition of the Book of Mormon in 1840. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], June 1890, 287.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

As indicated in his letter, Don Carlos hoped JS could help him with several business transactions, including exchanging property in
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
for property 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
, settling debts in Ohio, and selling land in Illinois. Although the brothers both lived in Nauvoo, Don Carlos explained in this letter that he had written instead of visiting because JS was busy and unavailable.
At the time this letter was written,
Don Carlos Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

View Full Bio
was working as an editor of the Times and Seasons and was “strugling in poverty to sustain the press.” He also had outstanding financial obligations in
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 hoped he could settle these debts with the aid of JS’s
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...

View Glossary
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. ...

View Full Bio
, who was in the
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...

More Info
area.
2

Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 14 Feb. 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.

Both JS and Don Carlos had written to Granger concerning these matters, yet neither appears to have received a response. With this letter, Don Carlos attempted to deal directly with JS in order to move the business forward. Unfortunately, Don Carlos passed away on 7 August.
3

“Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons, 16 Aug. 1841, 2:503.


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

JS apparently received the letter and, near the end of August, attempted again to contact Granger and commission him to have Don Carlos’s property in Kirtland deeded to
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...

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, Don Carlos’s widow.
4

Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841; Letter to Oliver Granger, 30 Aug. 1841. Kirtland lot 8 in block 113 was bonded to Granger’s son Gilbert Granger from Daniel Carter in September 1841, and the bond was transferred to Agnes Coolbrith Smith in March 1842. (Daniel Carter to Gilbert Granger, Bond, Kirtland, OH, 16 Sept. 1841, JS Office Papers, CHL.)


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Don Carlos was going to Cincinnati with Ebenezer Robinson to “settle with Mr. Shepherd, and also to lay in a stock of paper and other printing material,” as Robinson later recalled. Don Carlos and Robinson had been coeditors of the Times and Seasons and had also printed a new edition of the Book of Mormon in 1840. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], June 1890, 287.)

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  2. [2]

    Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 14 Feb. 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL.

    Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.

  3. [3]

    “Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons, 16 Aug. 1841, 2:503.

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

  4. [4]

    Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841; Letter to Oliver Granger, 30 Aug. 1841. Kirtland lot 8 in block 113 was bonded to Granger’s son Gilbert Granger from Daniel Carter in September 1841, and the bond was transferred to Agnes Coolbrith Smith in March 1842. (Daniel Carter to Gilbert Granger, Bond, Kirtland, OH, 16 Sept. 1841, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

Page [3]

and have contracted new ones by borrowing of “Peter to pay Paul,” (as the maxim runs) I owe about five hundred dollars in all; I have papers on hand <​and accounts​> to the amount of 800 or 1000 dollars, and <​accounts​> The printing establishment, aparatus &c.
6

In June 1839 the First Presidency of the church decided to let Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson “have the printing press and type” that had been salvaged from Missouri. The two men were commissioned to print a periodical for the church but were allowed to function independently. This arrangement gave them any profits made from the enterprise. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], May 1890, 257.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

is worth $1500,00. you see by this that if I could raise five hundred dollars, to pay my debts, out of my land or in any way; it would leave me a property of $2500,00, or at least 2300,00 dollars. Now this is my exact situation, and I have written it because because I had not the opportunity of talking it, and I hope you will not think strange of this letter, because I am going away and do not know but what you could sell this land for me while I am gone. The title is good &c. &c. Would you, or could you let me have
city

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
property here, for the property which
Elder [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. ...

View Full Bio
has 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...

More Info
that should be mine? I have reference to the house and lot.
7

In July, Don Carlos wrote to Granger, “I understand that you are the owner of the house and lot that used to be mine,” and offered to give money or Nauvoo property to reimburse Granger for what he had paid for the property. In fact, JS had already commissioned Granger a month earlier to deed Don Carlos’s former house and land in Kirtland to Don Carlos’s wife, Agnes Coolbrith Smith. (Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 11 July 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL; Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.

You can tell me all about these matters when I come home.
As it did <​not​> fall to my lot to get an interest in the
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...

More Info
with you by selling out &c. which, after due reflection, did not appear to <​be​> wisdom for the present;
8

The store referred to is JS’s red brick store in Nauvoo, which JS was preparing to open for business. (Floor Plan for Joseph Smith’s Store, between Feb. and Dec. 1841, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; Leonard, Nauvoo, 145.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.

I feel anxious to enlarge the printing business by publishing a weekly news paper, and I think it will do well, if it should, it will be very valuable.
9

Don Carlos, along with his coeditor, Ebenezer Robinson, announced a plan to publish a weekly, general-interest newspaper in June 1840. By December they had abandoned the project because of a lack of subscribers. (“Proposals,” Times and Seasons, Apr. 1840, 1:96; Notice, Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1840, 2:234; see also Tanner, “Mormon Press in Nauvoo,” 97–98.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

Tanner, Terrence A. “The Mormon Press in Nauvoo, 1839–46.” In Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History, edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas, 94–118. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.

D. C. [Don Carlos] Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

View Full Bio
[p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Don Carlos Smith, 3 June 1841
ID #
658
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:161–164
Handwriting on This Page
  • Don Carlos Smith

Footnotes

  1. [6]

    In June 1839 the First Presidency of the church decided to let Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson “have the printing press and type” that had been salvaged from Missouri. The two men were commissioned to print a periodical for the church but were allowed to function independently. This arrangement gave them any profits made from the enterprise. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], May 1890, 257.)

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  2. [7]

    In July, Don Carlos wrote to Granger, “I understand that you are the owner of the house and lot that used to be mine,” and offered to give money or Nauvoo property to reimburse Granger for what he had paid for the property. In fact, JS had already commissioned Granger a month earlier to deed Don Carlos’s former house and land in Kirtland to Don Carlos’s wife, Agnes Coolbrith Smith. (Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 11 July 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL; Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.)

    Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.

  3. [8]

    The store referred to is JS’s red brick store in Nauvoo, which JS was preparing to open for business. (Floor Plan for Joseph Smith’s Store, between Feb. and Dec. 1841, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; Leonard, Nauvoo, 145.)

    Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.

  4. [9]

    Don Carlos, along with his coeditor, Ebenezer Robinson, announced a plan to publish a weekly, general-interest newspaper in June 1840. By December they had abandoned the project because of a lack of subscribers. (“Proposals,” Times and Seasons, Apr. 1840, 1:96; Notice, Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1840, 2:234; see also Tanner, “Mormon Press in Nauvoo,” 97–98.)

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

    Tanner, Terrence A. “The Mormon Press in Nauvoo, 1839–46.” In Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History, edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas, 94–118. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.

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