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Letter from Robert Peirce, 20 August 1841

Source Note

Robert Peirce

11 Apr. 1797–27 Mar. 1884. Supervisor of roads, fireman, farmer. Born in Concord, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Thomas Peirce (Pierce) and Margaret Trimble. Married Hannah Harvey, 23 Jan. 1821, in Pennsylvania. Moved to Uwchlan Township, Chester Co.,...

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, Letter,
Brandywine

Township located approximately thirty miles northwest of Philadelphia. Population in 1830 about 1,500. Branch of church established in township, 1830s. JS visited township and attended elders’ conference there during trip to eastern U.S., Jan. 1840.

More Info
, Chester Co., PA, to JS,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, 20 Aug. 1841; handwriting presumably of
Robert Peirce

11 Apr. 1797–27 Mar. 1884. Supervisor of roads, fireman, farmer. Born in Concord, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Thomas Peirce (Pierce) and Margaret Trimble. Married Hannah Harvey, 23 Jan. 1821, in Pennsylvania. Moved to Uwchlan Township, Chester Co.,...

View Full Bio
; one page; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes address and docket.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7⅞ inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was written on the first page and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The second leaf was torn, likely when the letter was opened. The letter was folded for filing. The manuscript shows substantial wear and has tears along the fold lines.
A docket was added by
John S. Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

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, who served in a clerical capacity for JS from 1841 to 1842.
1

See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

JS presumably gave this document to
Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

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, who kept a variety of financial records for the church. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Newel K. Whitney kept, was inherited by his daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who married 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 Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.
2

Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24.


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.

    Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24.

    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.

Historical Introduction

On 20 August 1841,
Robert Peirce

11 Apr. 1797–27 Mar. 1884. Supervisor of roads, fireman, farmer. Born in Concord, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Thomas Peirce (Pierce) and Margaret Trimble. Married Hannah Harvey, 23 Jan. 1821, in Pennsylvania. Moved to Uwchlan Township, Chester Co.,...

View Full Bio
, a member of the
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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residing in
Brandywine

Township located approximately thirty miles northwest of Philadelphia. Population in 1830 about 1,500. Branch of church established in township, 1830s. JS visited township and attended elders’ conference there during trip to eastern U.S., Jan. 1840.

More Info
, Pennsylvania, wrote a letter regarding financial matters to JS in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois. Peirce had recently sold land in
Pennsylvania

Area first settled by Swedish immigrants, 1628. William Penn received grant for territory from King Charles II, 1681, and established British settlement, 1682. Philadelphia was center of government for original thirteen U.S. colonies from time of Revolutionary...

More Info
to
Almon Babbitt

Oct. 1812–Sept. 1856. Postmaster, editor, attorney. Born at Cheshire, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Ira Babbitt and Nancy Crosier. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ca. 1830. Located in Amherst, Lorain Co., Ohio, July 1831....

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, who was acting as an
agent

A specific church office and, more generally, someone “entrusted with the business of another.” Agents in the church assisted other ecclesiastical officers, especially the bishop in his oversight of the church’s temporal affairs. A May 1831 revelation instructed...

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for JS, and JS owed Peirce the value of his property.
1

Extant deeds reveal that the property was deeded from Peirce to Almon Babbitt in March 1841 and then from Babbitt to Isaac Galland the next month.a Galland purchased Peirce’s land in Chester County, Pennsylvania, as a part of the church’s effort to offer land deeds to Horace Hotchkiss as payment for land church leaders had purchased in the Commerce area of Illinois.b The 28 February 1842 entry in JS’s journal recorded that Peirce was paid $2,700, “the balance due him for a farm Dr Galland Bought of Bro Peirce.”c The note from JS promising payment to Peirce is no longer extant but likely would have resembled a bond received by Henry Kern. That bond was for a similar transaction made around the same time, also through Galland, who was acting as agent for JS.d(aChester Co., PA, Deeds, 1688–1903, vol. U-4, pp. 82–83, 185–187, microfilm 557,205, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.bSee Authorization for Hyrum Smith and Isaac Galland, 15 Feb. 1841.cJS, Journal, 28 Feb. 1842.dSee JS et al., Bond, Nauvoo, IL, to Henry Kern, Bart Township, PA, 6 Apr. 1841, JS Collection, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

With this communication, Peirce hoped to use that credit to make two transactions. First, Peirce wanted JS to draw on Peirce’s account to provide land in Nauvoo for fellow church members William Gheen and
Edward Hunter

22 June 1793–16 Oct. 1883. Farmer, currier, surveyor, merchant. Born at Newtown Township, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Edward Hunter and Hannah Maris. Volunteer cavalryman in Delaware Co. militia, 1822–1829. Served as Delaware Co. commissioner. Moved...

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, who were preparing to relocate there from Pennsylvania.
2

Although Peirce’s neighbors in Pennsylvania apparently doubted that JS would honor the notes that Peirce had received from Galland, Peirce later confirmed that the notes were indeed honored. (Robert Peirce, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1842, in Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:715.)


Second, Peirce wanted his letter to function as a pay order, requesting that JS give money to a “Brother Whitesides” (likely James Whitesides) on Peirce’s behalf. JS would then deduct the payment to Whitesides from what he owed Peirce.
Peirce

11 Apr. 1797–27 Mar. 1884. Supervisor of roads, fireman, farmer. Born in Concord, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Thomas Peirce (Pierce) and Margaret Trimble. Married Hannah Harvey, 23 Jan. 1821, in Pennsylvania. Moved to Uwchlan Township, Chester Co.,...

View Full Bio
sent the letter with Gheen, who delivered it to JS. A docket on the letter in the handwriting of JS’s scribe
John S. Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

View Full Bio
indicates that JS received it. One month after the letter was written, Gheen and
Hunter

22 June 1793–16 Oct. 1883. Farmer, currier, surveyor, merchant. Born at Newtown Township, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Edward Hunter and Hannah Maris. Volunteer cavalryman in Delaware Co. militia, 1822–1829. Served as Delaware Co. commissioner. Moved...

View Full Bio
each received property in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
.
3

JS and Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, to William Gheen, Chester Co., PA, 18 Sept. 1841; JS and Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, to Edward Hunter, Chester Co., PA, 18 Sept. 1841; JS and Edward Hunter, Agreement, Nauvoo, IL, 18 Sept. 1841, Edward Hunter, Collection, CHL. JS’s negotiations with Peirce and Hunter continued into the next year. (See Letter from Edward Hunter, 27 Oct. 1841; and Robert Peirce, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1842, in Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:715.)


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Extant deeds reveal that the property was deeded from Peirce to Almon Babbitt in March 1841 and then from Babbitt to Isaac Galland the next month.a Galland purchased Peirce’s land in Chester County, Pennsylvania, as a part of the church’s effort to offer land deeds to Horace Hotchkiss as payment for land church leaders had purchased in the Commerce area of Illinois.b The 28 February 1842 entry in JS’s journal recorded that Peirce was paid $2,700, “the balance due him for a farm Dr Galland Bought of Bro Peirce.”c The note from JS promising payment to Peirce is no longer extant but likely would have resembled a bond received by Henry Kern. That bond was for a similar transaction made around the same time, also through Galland, who was acting as agent for JS.d

    (aChester Co., PA, Deeds, 1688–1903, vol. U-4, pp. 82–83, 185–187, microfilm 557,205, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. bSee Authorization for Hyrum Smith and Isaac Galland, 15 Feb. 1841. cJS, Journal, 28 Feb. 1842. dSee JS et al., Bond, Nauvoo, IL, to Henry Kern, Bart Township, PA, 6 Apr. 1841, JS Collection, CHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  2. [2]

    Although Peirce’s neighbors in Pennsylvania apparently doubted that JS would honor the notes that Peirce had received from Galland, Peirce later confirmed that the notes were indeed honored. (Robert Peirce, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1842, in Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:715.)

  3. [3]

    JS and Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, to William Gheen, Chester Co., PA, 18 Sept. 1841; JS and Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, to Edward Hunter, Chester Co., PA, 18 Sept. 1841; JS and Edward Hunter, Agreement, Nauvoo, IL, 18 Sept. 1841, Edward Hunter, Collection, CHL. JS’s negotiations with Peirce and Hunter continued into the next year. (See Letter from Edward Hunter, 27 Oct. 1841; and Robert Peirce, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1842, in Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:715.)

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Robert Peirce, 20 August 1841
ID #
674
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:233–235
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