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Letter from John E. Page, 24 April 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Allegheny Co., PA, to JS and , , Hancock Co., IL, 24 Apr. 1843; handwriting and signature of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, dockets, and notation.
Single leaf measuring 12 × 7½ inches (30 × 19 cm). The leaf is ruled with thirty-nine horizontal blue lines. Page wrote the letter in blue ink. It was folded in half and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. A hole was torn at the bottom of the leaf when the letter was opened. The leaf was later refolded for filing.
, who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, docketed the document, as did , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. The notation “Copied by A. J.” was apparently added by a clerk or secretary to Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, notation, and later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    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.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  2. [2]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  3. [3]

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

Historical Introduction

On 24 April 1843, wrote a letter to JS and from , reporting on the proselytizing work in that city and on a group of Pittsburgh Saints who planned to migrate to , Illinois. Page had been preaching in Pittsburgh since December 1841, although he was not officially assigned there until April 1842. He corresponded with JS in summer 1842 about the progress of the in Pittsburgh, but their correspondence apparently ceased thereafter. This letter was evidently the first Page had written to JS in several months. The lack of communication concerned JS, and just five days before Page wrote this letter, JS stated that Page could not “get money enough to pay po[s]tage” on a letter and instructed the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to remove him from Pittsburgh and to put a “good ” there in “his pl[a]ce.”
Although the letter was addressed solely to JS, its contents name his wife as an intended recipient as well. directed the second part of the letter to Emma, warning her that Mary Spratly, who would be coming to from Pittsburgh and who wanted to meet Emma, had an unbridled tongue.
The lack of postal markings on the letter indicates that it was delivered to JS by courier. The courier was likely , who apparently made a trip from to in April and May and called on , allowing him to hastily compose this letter to the Smiths. Although it is not clear when Hunter returned to Nauvoo, the letter may have reached JS before a 16 May 1843 meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In this meeting, the apostles decided that Page should “repair immediately to to prea[c]h.” He was later sent there.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from George Gee, 30 Dec. 1841; Minutes and Discourses, 6–8 Apr. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Letter to John E. Page, 16 July 1842; Letter from John E. Page, 8 Aug. 1842; Letter from John E. Page, 15 Aug. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Minutes, 19 Apr. 1843.

  4. [4]

    JS signed a promissory note to Hunter on 10 April 1843, suggesting Hunter was in Nauvoo at that time. On 1 June, Hunter was elected a member of the Nauvoo City Council, suggesting that he had returned to Nauvoo by then. ([JS] to Edward Hunter, Promissory Note, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Apr. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 1 June 1843, 180.)

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 16 May 1843; Kimball, Journal, 23 and 29 June 1843; Woodruff, Journal, 28 July 1843.

    Kimball, Heber C. Journals, 1837–1848. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL.

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

Page [1]

April the 24— 1843
Joseph Smith
Dear Brother
I have a moment to which I chearfully embrace to address a line to you and your to let you know that I have not forgoten you— Bro has just called on me by this oppertunity I will say that I have not yet heard the returns of the —
I am well so is my family I am just on the Start to answer a Masidonian Call to Preach about 16 miles in the Country a new place entirely and a volentary call Many are enquireing after the truth Millerism is on the wane
I am sorry I have to say it and yet I must Bro one of the was here last week makeing an effort to Purchace a steamboat to convey the Saints to Elder Brooks was with him for some cause indulged himself in the act of intoxication in the presence of the world and the Saints his example in this impropriety has done mor hurt than many good examples can mend in a long time—
Please advise for me—
A word to there is quite a company of saints just leaveing here for your among the Number is one Mary Spratly the wife of James Spratly I will just say that Sister Spratly will no doubt seek to form an acquaintance with you sudenly If you can make any thing of her it will be well but if not you will only be disappointed as I am. [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John E. Page, 24 April 1843
ID #
1054
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:234–237
Handwriting on This Page
  • John E. Page

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A special conference of the church was held from 6 to 9 April 1843 in Nauvoo. During the conference, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of which Page was a member, received an assignment to raise money for construction of the Nauvoo House. (Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843; JS, Journal, 6–9 Apr. 1843.)

  2. [2]

    See Acts 16:9–10.

  3. [3]

    Many followers of William Miller, a Baptist preacher, believed that Jesus Christ would return to the earth on 3 April 1843, three weeks before Page wrote this letter. Because of this prediction, Miller and his adherents gained much attention in early 1843; the Latter-day Saints were among those who took notice of Miller, in part because Millerites preached in Chicago that “Mormonism” was “one of the greatest humbugs of the age.” By May, at least one Pennsylvania newspaper was offering the same assessment as Page: “The Miller mania is comparatively at an end.” (“Millerism,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1843, 4:105; News Item, Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette [Philadelphia], 11 May 1843, [2]; see also “Millerism,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1843, 4:168–171; and Historical Introduction to Instruction, 2 Apr. 1843 [D&C 130].)

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

    Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette. Philadelphia. 1842–1859.

  4. [4]

    At a conference of the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, on 6–7 April 1843, Wight and other church leaders took “measures for the removal of the church in this place, to the city of Nauvoo” and explained “the gathering of the Saints . . . to the entire satisfaction of the congregation.” (“Conference Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1843, 4:286.)

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

  5. [5]

    This is almost certainly Lester Brooks, who was appointed as a counselor to Almon Babbitt, the president of the Kirtland stake, in May 1841. In October 1842, after it was determined that the church in Kirtland would be organized as a branch and not a stake, Brooks was chosen as president. (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1841, 2:458; Letter from Lester Brooks and Others, 16 Nov. 1841; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:39; see also Letter from Lester Brooks, 7 Nov. 1842.)

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

  6. [6]

    George Miller, one of the church’s bishops in Nauvoo in 1843, later recalled that in the spring of 1843, Wight “had become wholly disqualified for business of any kind, in consequence of his indulgence in a habit that he was occasionally addicted to, his face and body very much bloated or swollen.” (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1].)

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

  7. [7]

    Around February 1842, James Spratly, who was not a member of the church at the time, signed a petition to church leaders asking that Page be allowed to stay in Pittsburgh and continue preaching. Spratly (and presumably his wife, Mary) was baptized into the church in April 1843. (Petition from Richard Savary and Others, ca. 2 Feb. 1842; Laub, Reminiscences and Journal, 66.)

    Laub, George. Reminiscences and Journal, 1845–1857. CHL. MS 9628.

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