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Letter from John Mills, 1 September 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 1 Sept. 1843; handwriting of ; three pages; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes address, docket, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12⅜ × 7⅜ inches (31 × 19 cm). The letter was written on the first three pages. It was trifolded twice in letter style and addressed. The letter was later refolded for filing and docketed.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as temple recorder from 1842 to 1846. In late 1844, following JS’s death, became one of the interim church trustees and was appointed “first bishop” among other Nauvoo bishops. It was presumably during this time that many of the church’s financial and other administrative records passed into his possession. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Whitney kept, was inherited by Newel K. and ’s daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who was married to Isaac Groo. The documents were passed down within the Groo family. Between 1969 and 1974, the Groo family donated their collection of Newel K. Whitney’s papers to the J. Reuben Clark Library (renamed Harold B. Lee Library in 1973) at Brigham Young University.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.

    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.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  2. [2]

    Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

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

  3. [3]

    Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24; Wilkinson et al., Brigham Young University, 4:255.

    Andrus, Hyrum L., and Chris Fuller, comp. Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers. Provo, UT: Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1978.

    Wilkinson, Ernest L., Leonard J. Arrington, and Bruce C. Hafen, eds. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. Vol. 4. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Historical Introduction

On 1 September 1843, wrote a letter from , Iowa Territory, to JS in , Illinois, concerning a land dispute and his own ongoing poverty. Mills had joined the church in 1837 in , and he had generously donated money and consecrated his property for the benefit of the church. According to his letter, in 1838 he helped fellow Canadian converts immigrate to the to join the Saints. After moving to and facing expulsion with other church members, Mills settled his family on church-owned land in southeast . Following JS’s counsel for Saints in Iowa to move to Nauvoo, Mills purchased property there in summer 1841. Much to his dissatisfaction, the land purchase was not properly recorded, and the land was deeded to another party. In an effort to recoup his losses or obtain an alternate parcel of land, Mills contacted JS, who had refer Mills to a lot occupied by . Tidwell and Mills could not agree on an arrangement, so Mills requested that JS help him find a different lot.
wrote the letter featured here on 1 September and likely sent it shortly thereafter. The lack of postal markings indicates that Mills either hand delivered the letter or sent it by courier to JS in . was within five miles of Nauvoo, so the letter could have easily been delivered within a day. The letter was received in Nauvoo, as is evident from a docket added by , JS’s clerk. There is no known response. Within a few months, however, Mills received a deed to a different lot of land in Nauvoo.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848, 31:168–169.

    Black, Susan Easton, comp. Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848. 50 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1989. Also available as “Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848,” LDS Family History Suite: LDS Vital Records Library, CD-ROM ([Provo], UT: Infobases, Inc., 1996).

  2. [2]

    See Trustees Land Book A, White Purchase, block 161, lot 2.

  3. [3]

    Mills had the deed to the land recorded in January 1844. (Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, p. 55.)

Page [3]

was determined to stop there no longer than till I could get away and I went to and bought me that small Lot and I thought I would have built a house on it before now but I have met with several misfortunes Stephen H Burtes got in my debt 200 dollars and took the insolvent Oath and Nelson McKarty of got in my debt about 65 dollars and took the insolvent Oath which was 265 dollars besides other small sums and if I got a dollar I had so many ways for it that I neglected my deed
In short I have worked hard and lived poor and destitute and now <​I​> appeal to your honor to know if I must loose my lot also
I truly remain your Obedient servent
As a Witness to the above facts I site you to and family of [1/4 page blank] [p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John Mills, 1 September 1843
ID #
1155
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:97–101
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Mills

Footnotes

  1. [12]

    This meant declaring oneself insolvent before the clerk of the county commissioner. For related information on insolvency and bankruptcy, see JS, Journal, 18 Apr. 1842; and Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.

  2. [13]

    Taylor and Mills were in the same company of Canadian Saints that immigrated to De Witt, Missouri. (See Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:508; and Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 153–154.)

    Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

    Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

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