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Letter from Thomas Ward, 26 September 1842

Source Note

, Letter, , Lancashire, England, to “the Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ” (including JS), , Hancock Co., IL, 26 Sept. 1842; handwriting of ; one page; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes address, docket, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 8⅞ × 7⅜ inches (23 × 19 cm) when folded. Embossed in the upper left corner of the first recto is a rectangle containing the royal coat of arms of and “SUPERFINE | BATH”, indicating the quality of the paper and the location of its manufacture. The letter was inscribed on the recto of the first leaf. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style and addressed. A circular stain on the address block suggests the letter included a wafer or wax seal. Marked water damage has caused separation along the fold lines, completely separating the bottom portion of the bifolium from the rest of the document.
This document was docketed after it arrived in , Illinois, by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. In late 1844, following JS’s death, became one of the interim church trustees and was appointed “first bishop” among other Nauvoo bishops. It was presumably during this time that many of the church’s financial and other administrative records passed into his possession. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Whitney kept, was inherited by Newel K. and ’s daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who was married to 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 J. Reuben Clark Library (renamed Harold B. Lee Library in 1973) at Brigham Young University.

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]

    Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

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

  3. [3]

    Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24; Wilkinson et al., Brigham Young University, 4:255.

    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.

    Wilkinson, Ernest L., Leonard J. Arrington, and Bruce C. Hafen, eds. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. Vol. 4. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Historical Introduction

On 26 September 1842, wrote a letter from , England, to JS and other leaders of the in , Illinois, informing them of an alleged theft among Latter-day Saints preparing to emigrate to the . Ward was an English church member living in Liverpool. He served as a clerk for and assisted him in publishing the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star and in other administrative matters in the church’s British mission. According to Ward, , a church member immigrating to Nauvoo, left with money he was supposed to return to fellow church member Jean McDonald. Ward wrote to church leaders in Nauvoo to inform them of the situation so that they could deal with Wardrop as they saw fit once he arrived in Nauvoo.
It is unclear how long after ’s departure and other church leaders in discovered what had happened. Wardrop left on 17 September, but it is possible that they did not know about the unreturned money until the day that Ward wrote this letter, as prior knowledge might have caused them to write the letter earlier and send it to with , who traveled with a group of church members emigrating to the on a ship that left Liverpool on 25 September.
While did not address the letter to JS specifically, JS was the chief authority among “the Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ in ,” to whom it was addressed. In order to deliver the letter to JS in Nauvoo, Ward gave the letter to , who had left Nauvoo for a mission to in March 1842 to raise funds for the construction of the Nauvoo . He departed on 28 September and arrived in Nauvoo on 23 January. Snider presumably delivered the letter to JS or one of the other leaders of the church shortly after his arrival. There is no known record of any disciplinary action against .

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See, for example, “Conference Notice,” Millennial Star, Mar. 1842, 2:176; “Notices,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1842, 2:189; M. Morgan, Monmouth, Wales, to Levi Richards, 7 Sept. 1842, Levi Richards, Papers, CHL; and “General Conference,” Millennial Star, June 1842, 3:28.

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

    Richards, Levi. Papers, 1837–1867. CHL.

  2. [2]

    British Mission Manuscript History and Historical Reports, vol. 13, 17 Sept. 1842; Andrew Jenson, “Church Emigration,” Contributor, Oct. 1891, 441, 446. Hyde left on the ship Medford.

    British Mission Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1841–1971. CHL.

    Jenson, Andrew. “Church Emigration.” Contributor 12, no. 12 (Oct. 1891): 441–450.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 26 Mar. 1842.

  4. [4]

    Burgess, Journal, [59]–[60]; JS, Journal, 23 Jan. 1843. Although Snider reached Nauvoo that winter, the Levi Richards company, in which Wardrop traveled, was delayed in St. Louis for several months waiting for the ice on the Mississippi River to break up enough for a boat to carry them to Nauvoo. At least one member of the company arrived by 1 February 1843, but most did not arrive until April 1843. (Wright, Journal, 23–24 Nov. 1842, 409; 13 Dec. 1842, 421–423; John Greenhow, “To the Editor of the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1843, 4:91–92; Cannon, George Cannon, 109–119; JS, Journal, 12 Apr. 1843.)

    Burgess, James. Journal, 1841–1848. CHL. MS 1858.

    Wright, Alexander. Journal, 1839–1843. Alexander Wright, Papers, 1838–1876. CHL.

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

    Cannon, John Q. George Cannon, the Immigrant: Isle of Man, 1794–St. Louis, U.S.A., 1844; His Ancestry, His Life, His Native Land, His Posterity. Salt Lake City: By the author, 1927.

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Thomas Ward, 26 September 1842
ID #
935
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:108–110
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