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Letter from John Smith, 16 June 1844

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Letter from John Smith, 16 June 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 16 June 1844; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, dockets, and use marks.
Single leaf measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). It is horizontally ruled with thirty blue lines on the recto and twenty-nine blue lines on the verso. The left side of the recto is rough, which suggests that the leaf was torn or hand cut from a book or larger sheet. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, remnants of which appear on the verso of the leaf. Some additional damage later occurred along the left side of the recto, resulting in the loss of text in one docket.
The letter was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. Jonathan Grimshaw, who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1856, later refolded the letter and docketed it again. Grimshaw copied the letter into JS’s history in 1856. The letter was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 it had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The letter’s early dockets, its incorporation into JS’s history, its listing in the circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  2. Historian’s Office, Journal, 7 June 1853; Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 30 Aug. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 364.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Historian’s Office. Letterpress Copybooks, 1854–1879, 1885–1886. CHL. CR 100 38.

  3. JS History, vol. F-1, 109. Grimshaw copied the letter into JS’s history sometime in 1856. (Source Note for and Historical Introduction to History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1.)

  4. “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

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

Historical Introduction

On 16 June 1844, JS’s uncle wrote a letter from , Hancock County, Illinois, to JS in , Hancock County, asking for counsel regarding how members in and around Macedonia should proceed amid growing threats. Following the 10 June destruction of the press of the Nauvoo Expositor, opponents of the church in and —nearby towns in —gathered in mass meetings and passed resolutions advocating violence against the Saints. One directive included driving church members living in outlying areas of Nauvoo—presumably including the Latter-day Saint community in Macedonia, approximately twenty-two miles east of the city—into Nauvoo. Attendees established committees to accomplish this purpose and encouraged that other similar committees be established.
Accordingly, those in antagonistic to the church issued threats and ultimatums to church members in several communities throughout the county. Members of the in the southwestern part of the county received threats of violence. Some Saints were threatened with violence if they did not assist in JS’s arrest. Other Saints were told to choose between joining JS’s opponents, giving up their arms and remaining neutral, and immediately moving to . Similar threats and ultimatums apparently reached the regions around . One nearby resident wrote that unless governor ordered the arrest of JS and the others responsible for the Expositor’s destruction, the citizens were “determined to take the law in their own hands and bring them to justice or clear them out.” Such sentiments may have prompted , the and church in Macedonia, to compose the 16 June letter to JS, dictating the letter to his clerk, . Smith noted that despite their urgent need for information, the Saints in Macedonia had not contacted JS sooner because the unusually wet month and its resultant high waters had made travel and communication between Nauvoo and Macedonia challenging during June 1844.
After writing the letter, gave it to a Mr. Perkins and another man, presumably both from the branch, who then carried it over twenty miles to . JS received the letter the following morning before ten o’clock. In response to Smith’s request, which characterized as seeking “instruction relative to the emergency,” JS immediately dictated a letter to his uncle, advising the Macedonia Saints to hold on to their weapons and to swear out affidavits to send to .

Footnotes

  1. Warsaw (IL) Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844, [1].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  2. Historical Introduction to Letter from Isaac Morley, 16 June 1844.

  3. Letter from Isaac Morley, 16 June 1844; Minutes, 21 June 1844.

  4. Martha McConnell Walker, [Fountain Green, IL], to [Martha McConnell Walker, Fannettsburg, PA], 18 and 20 June 1844; 1 July 1844, in Shave, My Dear Aunt Martha, 121–123.

    Shave, Barbara J. My Dear Aunt Martha: A 19th Century American Epic from the Letters of Those Who Lived It. Castlegar, BC: Raven, 2011.

  5. Macedonia Branch, Record, 24 Sept. 1843, 35; Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, 15:230; “Death of the Patriarch John Smith,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 25 May 1854, [2].

    Macedonia Branch, Record / “A Record of the Chur[c]h of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Macedonia (Also Called Ramus),” 1839–1850. CHL. LR 11808 21.

    Carter, Kate B., comp. Our Pioneer Heritage. 20 vols. Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1937–1977.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  6. William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844; Letter to John Smith, 17 June 1844.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter from John Smith, 16 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

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Ill Sunday June 16th. 1844
Prest Smith
Dr Sir
We send you Bro Perkins’s two faithful Brethren who will give you all the information which is within, our Knowledge, of the proceedings of our Enemies and as we have not heard or received Communication from as regards the course we should pursue, we now ask your counsel & you will pleas forwa[r]d, pr Bro Perkin’s. We should have sought your Counsel Sooner only on account of High water please Communicate in writing the Course we in this part of the should pursue. The Breth[r]en in these parts war are in good faith, Spirits & health, gene[r]ally & may be relied on
Respectfuly
pr
Clk
Gen. Jos. Smith [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John Smith, 16 June 1844
ID #
1392
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Johnson

Footnotes

  1. On 15 June 1844, Bathsheba Bigler Smith noted in a letter to her husband, George A. Smith, that “the roads have been so bad the bridges are most all washed a way that it is all most inpossable to go to or come from Messadonia here.” (Bathsheba Bigler Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to George A. Smith, Boston, MA, 15 June 1844, [1], George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL.)

    Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.

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