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Letter from Hinkle, 12 June 1842

Source Note

Hinkle [likely
George M. Hinkle

13 Nov. 1801–Nov. 1861. Merchant, physician, publisher, minister, farmer. Born in Jefferson Co., Kentucky. Son of Michael Hinkle and Nancy Higgins. Married first Sarah Ann Starkey. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1832. Moved to ...

View Full Bio
], Letter,
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
, Adams 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, 12 June 1842; unidentified handwriting; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, and dockets.
Single leaf measuring 12½ × 8 inches (32 × 20 cm). The leaf is ruled with thirty-eight blue lines (now faded). The top, right, and bottom edges have the square cut of manufactured paper; the left edge is uneven, suggesting that the leaf was torn out of a blank book or was once part of a bifolium. The leaf was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The folding of the letter transferred ink from Hinkle’s signature and the last two lines of the letter to the portion of the leaf directly below the signature. The recto of the leaf bears residue from the wafer and a portion of paper from opening the letter. The leaf was later folded twice horizontally for filing and docketed. Some discoloration of the paper has occurred in the address block on the verso of the leaf.
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...

View Full Bio
, who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, docketed the letter.
1

JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

It was also docketed 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 document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904.
3

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


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
4

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


The document’s early dockets, the circa 1904 inventory, and inclusion in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

  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, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  4. [4]

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

Historical Introduction

On 12 June 1842, a man signing his name “Hinkle” wrote a letter from
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
, Illinois, to JS 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
, Illinois. The letter chided JS for denying that he had prophesied the death of 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 ...

More Info
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
, who had been shot in the head by an unknown assailant on 6 May 1842. The Quincy Whig published a report of “several rumors” about who fired the shot, “one of which throws the crime upon the Mormons,” and also stated that in 1841 JS prophesied Boggs’s “death by violent means,” a charge that
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
repeated in July 1842.
1

“Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 21 May 1842, [3]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 July 1842, [2]; see also Bennett, History of the Saints, 281–282.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

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

JS and other Latter-day Saints denied these accusations.
2

Letter to Sylvester Bartlett, 22 May 1842; JS, Nauvoo, IL, 27 May 1842, Letter to the Editor, Quincy (IL) Herald, 2 June 1842, [2]; Minutes, 26 May 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Quincy Herald. Quincy, IL. 1841–before 1851.

The author of the letter featured here claimed to have heard such a prophecy and also asserted that JS had ordered the poisoning of wells in Missouri, apparently during the 1838 conflict between
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...

View Glossary
members and their opponents in that state.
Although the letter does not provide the first name of the author, he was likely
George M. Hinkle

13 Nov. 1801–Nov. 1861. Merchant, physician, publisher, minister, farmer. Born in Jefferson Co., Kentucky. Son of Michael Hinkle and Nancy Higgins. Married first Sarah Ann Starkey. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1832. Moved to ...

View Full Bio
, a former church member who had served as a colonel of the
Caldwell County

Located in northwest Missouri. Settled by whites, by 1831. Described as being “one-third timber and two-thirds prairie” in 1836. Created specifically for Latter-day Saints by Missouri state legislature, 29 Dec. 1836, in attempt to solve “Mormon problem.” ...

More Info
regiment in the
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
state militia. Hinkle had drawn JS’s ire after surrendering JS and other church leaders to the militia as part of a negotiated truce during the 1838 conflict. Because JS believed Hinkle had betrayed him with this surrender, he declared Hinkle “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and one who had made the Saints suffer “an ocean of tribulation, and mean abuse.”
3

Letter to the Church in Caldwell Co., MO, 16 Dec. 1838.


The contents of the letter suggest that
George M. Hinkle

13 Nov. 1801–Nov. 1861. Merchant, physician, publisher, minister, farmer. Born in Jefferson Co., Kentucky. Son of Michael Hinkle and Nancy Higgins. Married first Sarah Ann Starkey. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1832. Moved to ...

View Full Bio
is the author, but that identification is not certain. First, the handwriting of the letter does not appear to be Hinkle’s, although someone else could have written the letter for him.
4

A comparison of this letter with one Hinkle wrote in 1835 to Reuben Middleton suggests that this 1842 letter is not in Hinkle’s handwriting. (George M. Hinkle, Portage Co., OH, to Reuben Middleton, Washington Co., IL, 22 Oct. 1835, Reuben Middleton, Papers, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Middleton, Reuben. Papers, 1835 and 1838. CHL.

Second, Hinkle was apparently not living in
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
at this time. He had been excommunicated in March 1839 in Quincy, but he had apparently moved more than a hundred miles up 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...

More Info
to Muscatine County, Iowa Territory, by 1840, when he formed an offshoot church called The Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride the Lamb’s Wife.
5

“Extracts of the Minutes of Conferences,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:15; Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 52; “History of the Rise and Progress of This Church,” Ensign, 15 July 1844, 1:13.


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

Hallwas, John E., and Roger D. Launius. Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 1995.

The Ensign. Independence, MO. 1844–1845.

In 1842, Hinkle was still leading that church, which appeared to be headquartered in Muscatine County.
6

“Conference Minutes,” Ensign, Oct. 1844, 1:61.


Comprehensive Works Cited

The Ensign. Independence, MO. 1844–1845.

If the letter was not written by George M. Hinkle, however, it is not clear what other individual with the surname Hinkle might have written it.
7

The 1840 census includes a William Hinkle living in Quincy. (1840 U.S. Census, Quincy, Adams Co., IL, 42.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

The letter was postmarked 14 June 1842 in
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
. JS presumably received it shortly thereafter. There is no record of a reply from JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 21 May 1842, [3]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 July 1842, [2]; see also Bennett, History of the Saints, 281–282.

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

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

  2. [2]

    Letter to Sylvester Bartlett, 22 May 1842; JS, Nauvoo, IL, 27 May 1842, Letter to the Editor, Quincy (IL) Herald, 2 June 1842, [2]; Minutes, 26 May 1842.

    Quincy Herald. Quincy, IL. 1841–before 1851.

  3. [3]

    Letter to the Church in Caldwell Co., MO, 16 Dec. 1838.

  4. [4]

    A comparison of this letter with one Hinkle wrote in 1835 to Reuben Middleton suggests that this 1842 letter is not in Hinkle’s handwriting. (George M. Hinkle, Portage Co., OH, to Reuben Middleton, Washington Co., IL, 22 Oct. 1835, Reuben Middleton, Papers, CHL.)

    Middleton, Reuben. Papers, 1835 and 1838. CHL.

  5. [5]

    “Extracts of the Minutes of Conferences,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:15; Hallwas and Launius, Cultures in Conflict, 52; “History of the Rise and Progress of This Church,” Ensign, 15 July 1844, 1:13.

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

    Hallwas, John E., and Roger D. Launius. Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 1995.

    The Ensign. Independence, MO. 1844–1845.

  6. [6]

    “Conference Minutes,” Ensign, Oct. 1844, 1:61.

    The Ensign. Independence, MO. 1844–1845.

  7. [7]

    The 1840 census includes a William Hinkle living in Quincy. (1840 U.S. Census, Quincy, Adams Co., IL, 42.)

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

Page [1]

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
June 12th. 1842
Come! Come! Joe,
That tale in the Herald and Whig denying your having prophecyed the violent death 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...

View Full Bio
wont do,
1

See JS, Nauvoo, IL, 27 May 1842, Letter to the Editor, Quincy (IL) Herald, 2 June 1842, [2]; and Letter to Sylvester Bartlett, 22 May 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Quincy Herald. Quincy, IL. 1841–before 1851.

too many people have heard you myself among the rest.
I also know all about the Arsenic you directed to be thrown in the wells 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
—.
2

At a hearing held in 1838 in Missouri for JS and other church leaders, two men testified that in October 1838, Sidney Rigdon presided over a meeting of the Danites, a secret paramilitary organization pledged to uphold the church’s First Presidency, and that he stated that if the Saints “could not get rid of the mob in any other way, they could poison them to death.”a John Corrill, who became disaffected from the church during the 1838 conflict, also claimed he had heard rumors that church leaders had planned to “scatter poison, pestilence, and disease, among the inhabitants” of Missouri “and make them think it was judgments sent from God.” However, Corrill also said that when he confronted JS and Rigdon with this charge, “they both denied it promptly.”b Although George Hinkle himself testified against JS and Rigdon in 1838, he never mentioned anything about arsenic or poisoning in his testimony.c(aBurr Riggs, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838; William W. Phelps, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence,” [77], [93].bCorrill, Brief History, 31; see also Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde, Affidavit, Richmond, MO, 24 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA.cSee George M. Hinkle, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence,” [38]–[45].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

I hate the Missourian’s as bad as you but it is useless denying what can be proved.
Hinkle [27 lines blank] [p. [1]]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Hinkle, 12 June 1842
ID #
226
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:140–142
Handwriting on This Page
  • Unidentified

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See JS, Nauvoo, IL, 27 May 1842, Letter to the Editor, Quincy (IL) Herald, 2 June 1842, [2]; and Letter to Sylvester Bartlett, 22 May 1842.

    Quincy Herald. Quincy, IL. 1841–before 1851.

  2. [2]

    At a hearing held in 1838 in Missouri for JS and other church leaders, two men testified that in October 1838, Sidney Rigdon presided over a meeting of the Danites, a secret paramilitary organization pledged to uphold the church’s First Presidency, and that he stated that if the Saints “could not get rid of the mob in any other way, they could poison them to death.”a John Corrill, who became disaffected from the church during the 1838 conflict, also claimed he had heard rumors that church leaders had planned to “scatter poison, pestilence, and disease, among the inhabitants” of Missouri “and make them think it was judgments sent from God.” However, Corrill also said that when he confronted JS and Rigdon with this charge, “they both denied it promptly.”b Although George Hinkle himself testified against JS and Rigdon in 1838, he never mentioned anything about arsenic or poisoning in his testimony.c

    (aBurr Riggs, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838; William W. Phelps, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence,” [77], [93]. bCorrill, Brief History, 31; see also Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde, Affidavit, Richmond, MO, 24 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA. cSee George M. Hinkle, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence,” [38]–[45].)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

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