Skip to main content

Letter from Sylvester Emmons, 21 June 1844

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Letter from Sylvester Emmons, 21 June 1844

Source Note

, Letter, [, Hancock Co., IL], to Nauvoo City Council (including JS), [, Hancock Co., IL, 21 June 1844]; handwriting and signature of ; one page; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Includes address, endorsement, dockets, use marks, and notation.
Single leaf measuring 12½ × 8 inches (32 × 20 cm). Both pages are ruled with thirty-seven horizontal lines printed in blue ink. The left side of the recto was hand cut, which suggests that the leaf was removed from a book or larger sheet. The letter was folded in half and then trifolded twice in letter style. It was addressed and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, remnants of which are on both pages. The document was later refolded for filing.
The letter was endorsed and docketed 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. The document was also 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. This letter was presumably kept among city records. In 1845 the city of Nauvoo was disincorporated. Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Family and Church History Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley. The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904. The Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection was arranged and cataloged by the Family and Church History Department (now CHL) in 2006. The document’s early endorsement and dockets, its likely inclusion with the city records listed in early church inventories, and its later inclusion in the Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection indicate continuous church custody since 1845.

Footnotes

  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. 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.

  3. “An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2018, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Illinois General Assembly. Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  4. “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  5. “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  6. See the full bibliographic entry for Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 21 June 1844 in , Illinois, city councilor sent a letter to the Nauvoo City Council, including JS, to tender his resignation. Not a , Emmons had been a member of the council since February 1843. However, he was absent from several council meetings during late 1843 and early 1844—apparently for reasons related to his growing association with Nauvoo dissidents. Through May and early June 1844, Emmons ran into difficulty with the council because of his involvement in the publication of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper established by and promoting the views of several prominent church dissenters. In early May the prospectus for the Expositor announced that Emmons would “have entire charge and supervision of the Editorial department.” The introductory editorial for the Expositor explained that the purpose of the paper was to demand “radical reform in the city of Nauvoo” and to illuminate for the public what Emmons considered to be JS’s poor moral character and abuse of power as mayor. Emmons and the publishers charged JS and other city officials with ordering individuals to commit “high crimes . . . against the government of the ” and then protecting them from prosecution.
In a meeting on 8 June, the day after the publication of the first issue of the Expositor, the City Council discussed —who was absent—and his position on the council. moved that “Emmons be suspended” until he could be investigated for libeling the council in the Expositor. Speaking of Emmons, stated that “the curse of God shall rest up[o]n him” for his role in the newspaper. complained that by editing the Expositor, Emmons was trying to destroy Nauvoo’s charter, or the legislative act incorporating Nauvoo, and its ordinances even though he had helped craft some of the city’s laws. Phelps’s motion carried, and the decision was subsequently printed in the 12 and 19 June issues of the Nauvoo Neighbor.
wrote the featured letter to JS and the members of the city council in response to this action taken against him. Rather than undergoing an investigation, Emmons resigned his position. Although the letter does not bear an address line, it was likely written in on 21 June.
The city council received ’s letter on 21 June, and it considered the letter in a special meeting held that afternoon. The council accepted Emmons’s resignation and dropped him from the council.

Footnotes

  1. “City Election,” Wasp, 8 Feb. 1843, [2].

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  2. The newspaper listed its publishers as William Law, Wilson Law, Charles Ivins, Francis M. Higbee, Chauncey L. Higbee, Robert D. Foster, and Charles A. Foster. Except for Charles A. Foster, the publishers of the Nauvoo Expositor were formerly church members. Chauncey L. Higbee was cut off in May 1842, and the others were excommunicated during April and May 1844. Those former members joined a new church established by William Law on 5 May 1844. (Prospectus of the Nauvoo Expositor [Nauvoo, IL: 10 May 1844], copy at CHL; Woodruff, Journal, 5 May 1844.)

    Nauvoo Expositor Prospectus. Nauvoo, IL: ca. 10 May 1844. Copy at CHL.

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

  3. Prospectus of the Nauvoo Expositor (Nauvoo, IL: 10 May 1844), copy at CHL.

    Nauvoo Expositor Prospectus. Nauvoo, IL: ca. 10 May 1844. Copy at CHL.

  4. Sylvester Emmons, “Introductory,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2].

  5. Minutes, 8 June 1844. Emmons was a member of the city council’s committee on municipal laws. (Committee Appointments, 11 Feb. 1843.)

  6. Minutes, 8 June 1844; “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 12 June 1844, [3]; “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 June 1844, [2].

  7. Minutes, 21 June 1844.

Page [1]

Go to next page 2
To the Hon members of the City Council of
Sirs
I see by a report of Council I am suspended untill as a member of the Council untill further investigation to avoid that necessity I herewith tender to you a resignation of all the rights and immunities of said membership the fine that was imposed upon me during my absence through the fall, winter & Spring I respectfully ask to have remitted the Code of criminal Laws which I drew up for the action of the Council when respectfully addressed upon the subject they shall be at the service of the Council
Yours Respectfully
<​Recd.— to council— June 21,— 1844— Accepted.​> [17 lines blank] [p. [1]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [1]

Go to next page 2

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Sylvester Emmons, 21 June 1844
ID #
12462
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Sylvester Emmons
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. On 12 February 1844, JS fined Sylvester Emmons $4.50 for his absences from city council meetings during fall 1843 and winter 1843–1844. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 12 Feb. 1844, 205; “The Attendance of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo. Commencing August 12th 1843”; “The Attendance of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo— Commencing February 10th 1844,” Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

  2. As a member of the committee on municipal laws in 1843, Sylvester Emmons helped prepare a criminal code for Nauvoo. Likely because of Emmons’s failure to participate in the Nauvoo City Council during fall 1843, William W. Phelps replaced Emmons on the committee on 21 December 1843. Despite this change, the draft of the code apparently remained in Emmons’s possession until at least 12 February 1844. The document is not extant. (Committee Appointments, 11 Feb. 1843; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 21 Dec. 1843, 30; 12 Feb. 1844, 1.)

  3. Endorsement in the handwriting of Willard Richards.

Go to page