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Letter from Osee Welch, 25 October 1843

Source Note

Osee Welch, Letter, , Jo Daviess Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 25 Oct. 1843; handwriting and signature presumably of Osee Welch; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, wafer seal, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The first three pages are ruled with twenty-seven printed lines. The author inscribed the letter on the first page. The second and third pages are blank, with the address block on the fourth page. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The second leaf tore when the letter was opened, and the recto and verso of the second leaf contain wafer residue. The letter was refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. A later docket was inscribed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859. The document was listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its 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.

    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.

  2. [2]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

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

  3. [3]

    “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.

  4. [4]

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

Historical Introduction

On 25 October 1843, Osee Welch of , Illinois, wrote a short letter to JS in , Illinois, requesting background information on former member . A merchant born in Auburn, New York, Welch settled in Massillon, Ohio, by the mid-1830s. In 1841, he filed for bankruptcy and later moved his family to the lead-mining boomtown Galena. Welch apparently owned a hardware establishment with two business partners, William and George McCully.
, who served as scribe to JS during the mid-1830s, was excommunicated from the church in , Ohio, in December 1837. Parrish moved to , Ohio, and lived there through at least January 1841 before moving approximately seventy-five miles south to Massillon, Ohio. In July 1842, Parrish wrote a letter from Massillon to excommunicated church member , expressing support for Bennett’s efforts in disparaging the leaders of the church and “breaking them up.” Parrish also indicated that he was then a partner in a mercantile establishment in Massillon. In fall 1843, Parrish accepted a position as pastor of a Baptist congregation in Rockford, Illinois, located eighty miles east of . It is possible that Parrish and Welch established a business relationship in Ohio during the late 1830s or early 1840s or that they became acquainted in 1843 through the Baptist church in northern Illinois.
Fearing that intended to deceive him, Welch wrote to JS on 25 October 1843 seeking information about Parrish’s “character and doings.” The lack of postal markings suggests that the letter was hand delivered to by an unidentified courier. A docket in the handwriting of indicates that the letter was received by JS in Nauvoo. There is no known response.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Osee Welch,” Greenwood Cemetery, Galena, Jo Daviess Co., IL, U.S. Find a Grave Index; Stark Co., OH, Marriage Records, 1809–1916, vol. B, p. 17, 20 Aug. 1836, microfilm 897,628, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Perrin, History of Stark County, 459–460.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Perrin, William Henry, ed. History of Stark County, with an Outline Sketch of Ohio. Chicago: Baskin and Battey, 1881.

  2. [2]

    Perrin, History of Stark County, 460.

    Perrin, William Henry, ed. History of Stark County, with an Outline Sketch of Ohio. Chicago: Baskin and Battey, 1881.

  3. [3]

    Jo Daviess Co., IL, Will Records, 1829–1921, vol. A, pp. 99–100, 5 Oct. 1853, microfilm 1,602,716, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 29 Oct. 1835; John Smith and Clarissa Lyman Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, Shinnston, VA, 1 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL.

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

  5. [5]

    1840 U.S. Census, Chardon Township, Geauga Co., OH, 165; John Smith and George Gee, Ambrosia, Iowa Territory, to George A. Smith, Staffordshire, England, 7 Jan. 1841, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL; Warren Parrish, Massillon, OH, to John C. Bennett, 31 July 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 46; William W. Phelps, Nauvoo, IL, to Warren Parrish, Massillon, OH, 22 Mar. 1843, CHL.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

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

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

    Phelps, William W. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Warren Parrish, Massillon, OH, 22 Mar. 1843. CHL.

  6. [6]

    Warren Parrish, Massillon, OH, to John C. Bennett, 31 July 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 46–48.

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

  7. [7]

    Church, History of Rockford and Winnebago County Illinois, 141.

    Church, Charles A. History of Rockford and Winnebago County Illinois from the First Settlement in 1834 to the Civil War. Rockford, IL: New England Soceity, 1900.

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Osee Welch, 25 October 1843
ID #
1188
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:226–228
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