Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 August 1840

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Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 August 1840
Source Note

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 ...
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, Letter,
Fairfield
Town in southern Illinois, approximately 150 miles southeast of Springfield. County seat. Laid out, 1819. John C. Bennett lived in town when he began corresponding with JS, July 1840.
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, Wayne Co., IL, to JS, and
Sidney Rigdon
19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
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, [
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....
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, Hancock Co., IL], 15 Aug. 1840. Featured version copied [probably ca. late Aug. 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 171–172; handwriting of
Howard Coray
6 May 1817–16 Jan. 1908. Bookkeeper, clerk, teacher, farmer. Born in Dansville, Steuben Co., New York. Son of Silas Coray and Mary Stephens. Moved to Providence, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania, ca. 1827; to Williams, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, by 1830; and...
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; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction
John C. Bennett
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wrote to JS and
Sidney Rigdon
19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...
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on 15 August 1840, his fourth letter to them in three weeks.
1
Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840.
JS had responded to Bennett’s three previous letters on 8 August 1840, but Bennett had not received the response before writing this letter.
2
Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 Aug. 1840. Fairfield, Illinois, from where Bennett was writing, is a city in the southeastern part of the state. Given the distance and usual travel routes between Nauvoo and Fairfield, Bennett likely received JS’s response shortly after sending this 15 August letter.
Bennett reiterated that he intended to move to
Hancock County
Formed from Pike Co., 1825. Described in 1837 as predominantly prairie and “deficient in timber.” Early settlers came mainly from mid-Atlantic and southern states. Population in 1835 about 3,200; in 1840 about 9,900; and in 1844 at least 15,000. Carthage ...
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, Illinois, and to become a
Latter-day Saint
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...
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himself. He predicted that he would arrive 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, in about two weeks, a timetable that considerably accelerated his original plan to join with the Saints early the following year.
3
Letter from John C. Bennett, 25 July 1840.
No response from JS has been located, perhaps because Bennett reached Nauvoo before JS had the opportunity to respond; Bennett arrived within a couple weeks of when JS would have received this letter.
4
Bennett wrote in 1842 that he moved to Nauvoo in September 1840. (Bennett, History of the Saints, 18.)
Comprehensive Works Cited
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

Howard Coray
6 May 1817–16 Jan. 1908. Bookkeeper, clerk, teacher, farmer. Born in Dansville, Steuben Co., New York. Son of Silas Coray and Mary Stephens. Moved to Providence, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania, ca. 1827; to Williams, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania, by 1830; and...
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copied the letter into JS Letterbook 2, probably soon after JS received it.
5
Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19.
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.
The original letter has not been located.
Footnotes
[1]
Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840.
[2]
Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 Aug. 1840. Fairfield, Illinois, from where Bennett was writing, is a city in the southeastern part of the state. Given the distance and usual travel routes between Nauvoo and Fairfield, Bennett likely received JS’s response shortly after sending this 15 August letter.
[3]
Letter from John C. Bennett, 25 July 1840.
[4]
Bennett wrote in 1842 that he moved to Nauvoo in September 1840. (Bennett, History of the Saints, 18.)
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
[5]
Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19.
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 August 1840 Letterbook 2 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”
Page 172
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community now in this place informs me that they are one and the same.
1
The Commerce, Illinois, area became more officially known as Nauvoo in April 1840, when the name of the post office changed from Commerce to Nauvoo. (Robert Johnstone to Richard M. Young, 21 Apr. 1840, in JS History, vol. C-1, 1053; News Item, Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:106.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
I have received no reply to my letters and attribute the delay to a press of business or professional absence. I have come to the conclusion to join your people immediately and take up my abode with you.

Let us adopt as our motto— Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis—(As God was with our fathers, so may he be with us)—and adopt the means to the end and the victory is ours— The winged warrior of the air will not cease to be our proud emblem of liberty,
2
Bennett used the same eagle imagery in his inaugural address as mayor of Nauvoo on 3 February 1841: “The winged warrior of the air perches upon the pole of American liberty, and the beast that has the temerity to ruffle her feathers should be made to feel the power of her talons; and until she ceases to be our proud national emblem we should not cease to show our attachment to Illinois.” (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318.)
and the dogs of war will be forever chained.
3
The phrase “dogs of war” derives from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 3, sc. 1, l. 273, in Riverside Shakespeare, 1166.)
The Riverside Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Edited by G. Blakemore Evans, J. J. M. Tobin, Herschel Baker, Anne Barton, Frank Kermode, Harry Levin, Hallett Smith, and Marie Edel. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
I shall be with you in about two weeks and shall devote my time and energies to the advancement of the cause of truth and virtue and the advocacy of the Holy religion which you have so nobly defended, & so honorably sustained. My love to all the bretheren. With sentiments of paternal regard

Yours, Respectfully

J[ohn] C. Bennett
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 August 1840
ID #
566
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:374–376
Handwriting on This Page
Howard Coray
Footnotes
[1]
The Commerce, Illinois, area became more officially known as Nauvoo in April 1840, when the name of the post office changed from Commerce to Nauvoo. (Robert Johnstone to Richard M. Young, 21 Apr. 1840, in JS History, vol. C-1, 1053; News Item, Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:106.)
[2]
Bennett used the same eagle imagery in his inaugural address as mayor of Nauvoo on 3 February 1841: “The winged warrior of the air perches upon the pole of American liberty, and the beast that has the temerity to ruffle her feathers should be made to feel the power of her talons; and until she ceases to be our proud national emblem we should not cease to show our attachment to Illinois.” (John C. Bennett, “Inaugural Address,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:318.)
[3]
The phrase “dogs of war” derives from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 3, sc. 1, l. 273, in Riverside Shakespeare, 1166.)
The Riverside Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Edited by G. Blakemore Evans, J. J. M. Tobin, Herschel Baker, Anne Barton, Frank Kermode, Harry Levin, Hallett Smith, and Marie Edel. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.