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Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 30 October 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , New York Co., NY, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 30 Oct. 1843; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, wafer seal, postal stamps, postal notations, docket, and notation.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 8 inches (31 × 20 cm). Each leaf is ruled with thirty-four horizontal lines, printed in blue ink. The top left corner of the recto of the first leaf is embossed with two concentric ovals containing initials that appear to be “PS & C”. The letter was written in blue ink, inscribed on the first page only, trifolded twice in letter style, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, addressed, and postmarked. The second leaf was torn when the letter was opened. The letter has undergone some conservation.
The letter was received by JS, likely sometime in November 1843, and docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. It may be 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 letter’s early docket and notation as well as its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest 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]

    “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 30 October 1843, wrote a letter from to JS in , Illinois, responding to JS’s 12–13 October missive and inquiring about financial opportunities in Nauvoo. Hotchkiss wanted to increase profits from property he owned in . He proposed using some “rear lots” he owned in Nauvoo to pay “some responsible contractor”—whom JS would presumably hire—to construct warehouses on his waterfront property in Nauvoo. Hotchkiss hoped such an arrangement would better facilitate commerce and be lucrative for both him and JS. Hotchkiss also offered farmlands he owned in other parts of Illinois as payment to any contractors who preferred that to city lots.
mailed his letter on 31 October from the post office near , Connecticut, where he lived. The letter was received in , likely within two weeks’ time, and presumably read by JS. It was docketed and filed by his private clerk . There is no known response.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    In August 1839, church leaders purchased nearly five hundred acres of land in the Commerce (later Nauvoo) area of Illinois from Hotchkiss and his partners Smith Tuttle and John Gillet. (Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.)

Page [1]

30th. Oct. 1843
Jos. Smith Esqr.
Dear Sir— Your obliging letter is received and it appears the Carthage Resolutions were what many even here supposed they were the mere ebulitions of angry politicians— I contemplate visiting the coming winter and have taken this liberty to trouble you with another letter of enquiry upon another subject—I am very desirous to improve the property at your belonging to Messrs. and and so that I can derive an income from it— I wish to enquire of you whether it would be practicable to exchange some of our rear lots to some responsible contractor for buildings erected on our front or water lots— It would be an object of importance to have a block of extensive ware houses built where produce and goods could be received and have them easily accessible to Steam Boats— If continues to succed they will soon be indispensably required and as bricks and other building materials are I understand plenty and cheap with you I thought it probable that an arrangement of this sort might be entered into— If you have leisure from your other avocations will you favour me with your views upon this subject— If any contractor would prefer farming lands instead of City Lots I can in that way make to him a very satisfactory arrangement as we have such lands in different parts of the of the choicest quality
Very Respectfully Yours
[p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 30 October 1843
ID #
1190
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:234–236
Handwriting on This Page
  • Horace Hotchkiss

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The “Carthage Resolutions” referred to resolutions drafted in Carthage, Illinois, by opponents of the Latter-day Saints and JS. (For more information, see “Great Meeting of Anti-Mormons!,” Warsaw [IL] Message, 13 Sept. 1843, [1]–[2]; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 Sept. 1843; and Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 12–13 Oct. 1843.)

    Warsaw Message. Warsaw, IL. 1843–1844.

  2. [2]

    Hotchkiss last visited Nauvoo on 23 October 1840, when he met with JS, discussed repayment plans, and accepted a new promissory note from JS for a Nauvoo land purchase. (Promissory Note to Horace Hotchkiss, 23 Oct. 1840; Horace Hotchkiss to JS, Quitclaim Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 24 Oct. 1840, Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. H, p. 625, microfilm 954,598, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

  3. [3]

    See JS et al. to Smith Tuttle et al., Quitclaim Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 7 July 1843, Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, p. 299, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; and Bond from Smith Tuttle and John Gillet, 7 July 1843.

  4. [4]

    For the location and orientation of the waterfront lots in the Nauvoo area, see “Nauvoo Plats, Blocks, and Lots, 31 Dec. 1843.”

  5. [5]

    According to an entry in JS’s history, the land Hotchkiss sold to the church “includes all the Land lying North of the White Purchase to the River, and thence on the River South, including the best Steam Boat landing.” (JS History, vol. C-1, 1223.)

  6. [6]

    Brick manufacturing became a thriving industry in Nauvoo to support residential construction. In order to regulate the burgeoning industry, the Nauvoo City Council standardized the size of bricks in 1842. In January 1843, Hiram Kimball advertised to contract the manufacture of one million bricks. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, Jan. 1891, 13; John C. Bennett, “An Ordiance Fixing the Size of Brick Moulds, in the City of Nauvoo,” Wasp, 30 Apr. 1842, [3]; Hiram Kimball, “To Brickmakers and Laborers,” Wasp, 14 Jan. 1843, [3].)

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

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

  7. [7]

    Hotchkiss also owned lands in the Rock River area and in Sangamon and Logan counties in Illinois. (See Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 1 Apr. 1840.)

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