Footnotes
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.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
See Rowley, “Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries,” 119–148; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [4]; and George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2].
Rowley, Dennis. “The Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries, 1841–1845.” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (1992): 119–148.
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
JS, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844. In January 1844, Wight and George Miller sent Mitchel Curtis and Stephen Curtis to Nauvoo to inquire if Wight should proselytize among these two tribes. JS told the messengers that Wight should “do what he thinks best. & he shall never be brought into difficulty about it by us.”
Wight later published his letter, which matches the letter featured here. (Wight, Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life, 1–3.)
Wight, Lyman. An Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life from February 1844 up to April 1848, with an Appeal to the Latter Day Saints. [Austin, TX], [ca. 1848].
JS’s journal entry for 10 March suggests that the letter written by Miller may have been read first. The journal reports that “a Letter was read from Lyman Wight & others Dated Feb 15. 1844. to B. Youg W. Richads &c . . . also a letter to Joseph Smith. &c— from Lyman Wight and others a committee of the branch at th[e] pinery Black River. Falls.— Feb 15. 1844.” Both letters close by listing JS, Brigham Young, and Willard Richards as the addressees. However, the greeting in the letter written by Miller was to the “first Presidency” and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, whereas the greeting in the letter written by Wight was to “Joseph Smith” and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Since the journal entry has the letter “to Joseph Smith. &c” being read second, these greetings suggest that the men read the letter from Miller first and the letter from Wight second—the same order in which William Clayton transcribed the letters into the Council of Fifty record. (JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2].)
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2].
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
In the treaty with the United States ratified in 1837, the Menominee were promised an annual cash and goods annuity from the federal government for twenty years. They were to annually receive $20,000 in cash, $3,000 worth of provisions, thirty barrels of salt, $500 worth of husbandry equipment or farming utensils, and two thousand pounds of tobacco. By 1843 this annuity payment amounted to only about $10.35 per tribal member. In addition, the payments were often weeks late and the goods were of substandard quality. (Articles of Agreement [3 Sept. 1836], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, pp. 507, 509, art. 2; Beck, Siege and Survival, 147–155.)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Beck, David R. M. Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634–1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Following Andrew Jackson’s invasion and occupation of the Spanish province of West Florida in 1818, Spain agreed to cede the two provinces of East and West Florida to the United States, which soon consolidated the provinces into a single territorial government. (Coker and Parker, “Second Spanish Period in the Two Floridas,” 156–157, 164; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 97–111, 516–517.)
Coker, William, and Susan R. Parker. “The Second Spanish Period in the Two Floridas.” In The New History of Florida, edited by Michael Gannon, 150–166. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996.
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. The Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
That is, the territories belonging to the United States: Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, unorganized territory, and Indian Territory. (See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 26 Mar. 1844.)
George Miller later recounted that when Oshkosh, chief of the Menominee, visited the Latter-day Saint lumber operation, he “said he believed we were right, for many things we had told him were backed up by Indian tradition; but for him, the principal chief, to act on his belief would avail nothing; that at some future period it would be best to call a council of all his chiefs, (he could not then as they were on their winter’s hunt,) and deliberately consider the whole matter, and act upon it in national council, and in that case their change of religion would be national and permanent, and that he had no doubt in bringing it about.” Wight and Miller sent Mitchel Curtis and Stephen Curtis to Nauvoo to inquire whether Wight “should preach to the Indians,” which the Menominee and the Chippewa had requested. JS told them on 20 February 1844, “I have no council to give him. he is there on his own ground. and he must act on his own responsibility. & do what he thinks best. & he shall never be brought into difficulty about it by us.” Wilford Woodruff clarified that on the subject of preaching to the Indians, “Joseph thought it wisdom not to do it He said if Lyman did any thing about it he must do it on his own responsibility but finally decided not to send any Council to him but let him act with the best wisdom he had in all things.” (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2]; JS, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844; Woodruff, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844.)
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Ephraim was one of the two sons of Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob (Israel). By 1831 descent from Ephraim had become associated with the membership of the church. (Genesis chap. 48; Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:36]; Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133:30–34]; see also Letter to Stephen Post, 17 Sept. 1838.)