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Letter from Garret Bias, 3 April 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , St. Joseph Co. [or possibly LaPorte Co.], IN, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 3 Apr. 1843; handwriting and signature of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notation, postal stamps, endorsement, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 11¼ × 7½ inches (29 × 19 cm). The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red wax seal, and postmarked. Residue from the wax seal remains on the last page of the bifolium. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  2. [2]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  3. [3]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 3 April 1843, wrote from , Indiana, to JS in , Illinois, to follow up on another letter Bias had written nearly a month earlier proposing a sale of arms. That letter, dated 7 March 1843, discussed Bias’s desire to sell fifty stands of weapons to the members of a militia unit he proposed to organize in Nauvoo. Bias neglected to pay the postage on his previous letter and was therefore concerned that JS had not received it. He paid the postage on this letter, which likely arrived in Nauvoo within one or two weeks. It appears that it was received by 30 April 1843, a date that appears in an endorsement that made on the letter. Though JS had refused the sale of the weapons in a draft response to Bias’s first letter, it is not known whether a response to this 3 April 1843 letter was ever written.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Despite Bias’s concern, someone must have paid the postage upon the letter’s arrival in Nauvoo because JS’s scribe Willard Richards drafted a response on 28 March 1843. The response indicates some distaste for Bias’s inquiry and for his neglect in paying the postage. (Letter to Garret Bias, 28 Mar. 1843.)

  3. [3]

    Letter to Garret Bias, 28 Mar. 1843.

Page [1]

Laport April 3 1843
Indiana
Generl J Smith
Sir i addresed a letter to you and malied the same at Laport Indiana on or a bout the first of March 1843 on wich letter i did not pay the postiage thrue mistake and it this day occured to me that you may be trubled from many parts of the with letters on matters of little intrest to your Self i thair four [therefore] feel quite sory that i faled to pay the postiage on my former letter but am disirous that you Shold resieve [receive] my letter addresed to you and maled at Laport Indiana Some thirty days prier to this’s date and Per mit me to ask you to re wanser [answer] my former letter wich i believe and Confidently hope and be lieve you will due
yours Respectfuly
[p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Garret Bias, 3 April 1843
ID #
1030
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:150–152
Handwriting on This Page
  • Garret Bias

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    St. Joseph County histories do not list a settlement called Independence, but there was a settlement called Independence in LaPorte County. Bias owned parcels of land in the neighboring counties of St. Joseph and LaPorte in Indiana. Some of the parcels Bias owned in St. Joseph County were on the county line and were within a few hundred yards of Independence village in LaPorte County. The county line moved in 1850. (St. Joseph Co., IN, Deed Records, 1830–1901, vol. G, p. 588, 22 Nov. 1842, microfilm 1,605,746; LaPorte Co., IN, Deed Records, 1833–1901, vol. F, pp. 632–633, 23 June 1837 and 8 May 1838, microfilm 1,674,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; History of La Porte County, Indiana, 595, 717, 885–886.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    History of La Porte County, Indiana; together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

  2. [2]

    JS was lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion. (Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841; JS, Journal, 11 Mar. 1842.)

  3. [3]

    Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.

  4. [4]

    The 1 June 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons contained a notice from JS stating he would not pay postage on correspondence addressed to him because the multitude of unpaid letters created a financial burden on him. (Notice, ca. 1 June 1841.)

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