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Letter from John E. Page, 1 September 1841

Source Note

, Letter, , Philadelphia Co., PA, to JS and “council,” , Hancock Co., IL, 1 Sept. 1841; handwriting of ; eight pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket and notation.
Two bifolia—each measuring 12¾ × 7⅞ inches (32 × 20 cm)—fastened together with thread. The document is inscribed with both blue ink and black ink. The document was folded for filing. Several staple holes appear on each page of the letter in the upper left corner. The document shows discoloration from an unknown substance.
A docket in the upper left corner of the first page was inscribed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. A graphite notation in the same area was apparently added by a clerk or secretary for Andrew Jenson, who served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The letter is listed in a Church Historian’s Office inventory from circa 1904. By 1973 this letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The docket, notation, and inclusion in the JS Collection indicate this letter has remained in continuous institutional custody since its receipt in 1841.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 48–55.

    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 1 September 1841, , a member of the , wrote to JS and other leaders in , Illinois, to express his condolences for the death of JS’s brother and to provide them with an update of his travels and missionary efforts. At the April 1840 general , Page had been appointed to travel with fellow apostle to Europe and . Page and Hyde separated in sometime in late August 1840, with Hyde venturing on to before sailing to . Hyde had hoped to meet Page in in fall 1840, but these plans did not materialize, and Page did not accompany Hyde overseas.
Both and received a public rebuke for their inability to quickly reach the destination of their mission. In January 1841 the Times and Seasons printed a terse message to the men: “ Orson Hyde and John E. Page are informed, that the Lord is not well pleased with them in consequence of delaying their mission, (Elder John E. Page in particular,) and they are requested by the to hasten their journey towards their destination.” In addition, at the April 1841 general conference, attendees objected to Page’s membership in the Quorum of the Twelve; reasons for their objection are unknown, but after an investigation he was not removed from the by the conference.
After traveling and proselytizing through , , and other parts of the eastern , arrived in shortly before he penned this 1 September letter. It appears that Page wrote the following letter in part to justify his actions, explaining the missionary labors he undertook on his own and with others, including ; the difficulties he experienced with ; and the reasons he felt he was unable to travel to Europe and at the present. Page nevertheless expressed his hope and intent to go eventually to the Holy Land. He also reported on a variety of other matters, most notably his observations of the church in Philadelphia under the leadership of . Though extant evidence does not reveal any improprieties on Winchester’s part, Page recommended that the First Presidency remove Winchester as the of the Philadelphia .
The letter featured here is the original sent from and received by JS in , probably in mid-September 1841. Page requested that JS respond to his letter, though it is unclear if JS did so since no immediate reply has been located.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    There are no extant letters from Page to the Nauvoo church leaders between September 1840 and September 1841. (Letter from John E. Page, 23 Sept. 1840.)

  2. [2]

    Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840; Letter from Orson Hyde, 28 Sept. 1840; Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 Apr. 1841.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Orson Hyde, 28 Sept. 1840.

  4. [4]

    Notice, Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1841, 2:287.

  5. [5]

    Minutes, 7–11 Apr. 1841.

  6. [6]

    Winchester and Page appear to have had a mutual dislike for one another. Later in September, Winchester wrote a letter to JS in which he complained about Page’s conduct in the eastern branches. (Letter from Benjamin Winchester, 18 Sept. 1841.)

Page 3

voiage across the ociean— I am here with only $160 and but indiffernt clothes— let it be rem[em]bered by all the that had with him and concequently took with him all the means that we had raised for our mishion from of Adams Co. of Ill— to the city of excepting 23 dollars and 31 cents he left in my hands as he left me he alwa[y]s carryed the bag— at we parted for a few days for me to answer a call for preaching in a vilage called Milton wher I raised a verry respectable church in the mean time went to where in my absince he published a second Edition of the “Apeal to the American people” (2000 copies) when I arrived the work was about completed after disposing of as many of them as posible and suplying the market about and the adjacient county country he left me with some fourteen of or fifteen hundred on hand, <​to​> dispose of them the best way you can <​says he​> while I go ahead and visit with Churches in &c. saying to me stay and finish up the preaching that seemed nessesary to be done at that time in — I stayed till near the last of Oct and built up a church in — I then considered that had gon ahead and suplyed the market with the sale of the “Appeal” so I thought best in order to sell my Books I would go back to Milton &c and market my lumber that had so gracefullly lodged on my hands as his lackey— I found as quick a sale as I could reasonablely expect— however before navigation opened in the Spring— for me to return to and thus procede to left in Feb for Europe takeing all with him for he had visited every church in his way and raised in all the a very very liberal donations in the name of us both— and to make his plan effectual he has extoled me in every Branch to be something a great deal more than common [p. 3]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John E. Page, 1 September 1841
ID #
681
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:250–260
Handwriting on This Page
  • John E. Page

Footnotes

  1. [10]

    Cincinnati was the publishing and printing center of the western United States at this time. “Apeal to the American people” refers to Sidney Rigdon’s tract, An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, second edition (Cincinnati: Shepard and Stearns, 1840). Hyde and Page printed and distributed Rigdon’s tract. According to a notice in the Times and Seasons, the second edition was published by Hyde and Page and was being sold in Nauvoo. (Teaford, Cities of the Heartland, 13–16; Sutton, “Cincinnati as a Frontier Publishing and Book Trade Center,” 142–143; “Also,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1841, 2:288.)

    Teaford, Jon C. Cities of the Heartland: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Midwest. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.

    Sutton, Walter. “Cincinnati as a Frontier Publishing and Book Trade Center, 1796–1830.” Ohio History 56, no. 2 (Apr. 1947): 117–143.

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

  2. [11]

    According to an early American steamboat directory, ice on the Ohio River usually broke up in February, opening the river for navigation. In March 1838 the chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reported that “the navigation of the Ohio River opens always by the 1st of March, and generally by the middle of February.” (Lloyd, Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, 50–51; Documents Submitted by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, 12; Lass, Navigating the Missouri, 89; see also Roberts, Improvement of the Ohio River, 14, 25.)

    Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters, Containing the History of the First Application of Steam, as a Motive Power. . . . Cincinnati: James T. Lloyd, 1856.

    Documents Submitted by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, in Behalf of Their Application to the Legislature of Virginia. Richmond, VA: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, 1838.

    Lass, William E. Navigating the Missouri: Steamboating on Nature’s Highway, 1819–1835. Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark, 2008.

    Roberts, W. Milnor. Practical Views on the Proposed Improvement of the Ohio River. Philadelphia: Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1857.

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