Footnotes
David Felt & Co. was a stationery company run by David Felt in New York City at this time. (Longworth, Longworth’s American Almanac [1842], 234; Morris, Felt Genealogy, 155–156.)
Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Sixty-Seventh Year of American Independence. . . . New York: T. Longworth and Son, 1842.
Morris, John E., comp. The Felt Genealogy. A Record of the Descendants of George Felt of Casco Bay. Hartford, CT: Lockwood and Brainard, 1893.
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.
Richard Howard, email to Rachel Killebrew, 5 June 2017, copy in editors’ possession.
Footnotes
“Honorary Degree,” “Freedom of the City,” and “Military Appointment,” Wasp, 30 Apr. 1842, [3]; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 22 Apr. 1842, 74–75.
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
James Arlington Bennet [Cincinnatus, pseud.], “The Mormons,” New York Herald, 16 May 1842, [2].
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
Richards had traveled to the eastern United States to be reunited with his family and help them move to Nauvoo. At the same time, he had been assigned to raise money for the Nauvoo temple and to serve as an agent on general church business, but JS also wanted him to convey to Bennet “all the facts” relative to John C. Bennett. After staying with Bennet, Richards wrote a letter to JS conveying Bennet’s views on various matters. Bennet’s 16 August letter repeats some of this information. (“To the Eastern Churches,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1842, 3:814; Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 30 June 1842; Richards, Journal, 4 and 7 Aug. 1842; Letter from Willard Richards, 9 Aug. 1842.)
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
Bennett announced in his 4 July 1842 letter to the editor of the Sangamo Journal that he intended to publish “a book, to be called ‘The History of the Saints,’” which would convey “most of the actings and doings at Nauvoo for the last two years, of most of their great men, and some of their great women too.” (John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2].)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
TEXT: Possibly “1st”.
JS had earlier lauded James Gordon Bennett for treating the Saints fairly in the press. Like James Arlington Bennet, James Gordon Bennett had the freedom of the city of Nauvoo conferred upon him, received an honorary degree from the University of Nauvoo, and was appointed aide-de-camp in the Nauvoo Legion. However, in the 13 August 1842 issue of the New York Herald, he mocked these honors, stating sarcastically, “I am James Gordon Bennett, Freeman of the Holy City of Nauvoo, L. L. D. of the University of Nauvoo, and aid-de-camp to the Major General and Brigadier General to the Nauvoo Legion, with a fair prospect of being a prophet soon, and a saint in heaven hereafter. Volcanoes and asparagus. What next?” (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 18 Dec. 1841, 37; “Rising in the World,” New York Herald, 13 Aug. 1842, [2].)
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.
The New York Herald described John C. Bennett’s planned book as “a philosophical history of the Mormons, with a variety of engravings, representing their pious ways.” In another article, the work in progress was depicted as being “a full and complete history of the Mormons, public and private—the secrets of their religion, their mode of life at Nauvoo—the celebrated prophet Joe Smith’s secret systems of wives—their mode of warfare—tactics—civil and religious government—with various other curious and perfectly original matters.” (“The Mormons,” New York Herald, 20 Aug. 1842, [2]; “Arrival Extraordinary,” New York Herald, 12 Aug. 1842, [2].)
New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.