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Letter from Unidentified Author, 29 August 1842, Extract

Source Note

Unidentified author, Letter, [, Lancashire, England], to [JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 29 Aug. 1842]. Extract published in 1883 in Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883, pp. 394–395. Transcription made from digital images obtained from Harvard University by Google Books in 2008.

Historical Introduction

On 29 August 1842, an unidentified Latter-day Saint in , England, wrote a letter to JS in , Illinois, about his conversion and desire to meet the prophet. Little is known about this letter or its author aside from an excerpt later published by writer and socialite . The letter, as described by Quincy, comprised “four pages of gilt-edged paper.” It had been given to missionary to give to JS along with presents of a hat, satin necktie, and brooch.
Although suppressed the writer’s name, leaving his identity unknown, his story is typical of those of many other British Latter-day Saints in the late 1830s and early 1840s. and led the church’s first mission to in 1837 accompanied by several men, including British and Canadian immigrants such as and . This first mission resulted in around fifteen hundred in , England, and the surrounding area. A subsequent mission led by a majority of the Twelve Apostles beginning in 1840 was even more successful; by the time the missionaries were preparing to leave in April 1841, the church had reached a total membership of almost six thousand in Great Britain. Many of these converts decided to come to the to join the Saints. By 1842, there was a sizable population of British immigrants arriving in . According to Quincy, the writer of the 29 August letter—who appears to have joined the church in 1840 and left a paid position in the Church of England to do so—wished to join them, but opposition from his mother-in-law prevented his emigration.
In May 1844, visited JS in . During the visit Quincy apparently found several letters in a “basket of wastepaper” in the and asked if he could keep three of them as souvenirs. A chapter on JS in his 1883 memoir includes excerpts and summaries of those letters. Quincy’s excerpt from the 29 August letter, which he considered the “most interesting,” is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Quincy, Figures of the Past, 394–395.

    Quincy, Josiah. Figures of the Past: From the Leaves of Old Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883.

  2. [2]

    Quincy, Figures of the Past, 394. These presents likely represented donations made for the Nauvoo temple. In January 1841, church leaders had requested the Saints abroad to donate to the temple construction effort, and the Book of the Law of the Lord includes long lists of donations from British Latter-day Saints brought to Nauvoo by missionaries. Snider returned from his mission in January 1843, but a notation in the Book of the Law of the Lord indicates that the donations he collected were not recorded until June 1843. None of his donations recorded there match the three items described here. (Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:26–27]; Book of the Law of the Lord, 301, 319–325.)

    Quincy, Josiah. Figures of the Past: From the Leaves of Old Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883.

  3. [3]

    Historical Introduction to Recommendation for Heber C. Kimball, between 2 and 13 June 1837; Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, to Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, 2–6 Sept. 1837, in Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837, 4–7; Orson Hyde, Preston, England, to Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, Kirtland, OH, 14 Sept. 1837, in Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 19–22; Joseph Fielding, Preston, England, to Mary Fielding, Kirtland, OH, 2 Oct. 1837, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL; Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 53.

    Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.

    Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.

  4. [4]

    Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 106, 300-302.

    Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.

  5. [5]

    For example, the 16 May 1842 issue of the church’s newspaper, the Times and Seasons, included a notice that a hundred and fifty British converts had arrived in Nauvoo a few days earlier and that “a ship load came some time ago, and another is expected soon.” (Notice, Times and Seasons, 16 May 1842, 3:790.)

  6. [6]

    Quincy, Figures of the Past, 394–395.

    Quincy, Josiah. Figures of the Past: From the Leaves of Old Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883.

  7. [7]

    Quincy, Figures of the Past, 377, 393–395.

    Quincy, Josiah. Figures of the Past: From the Leaves of Old Journals. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1883.

Page 394

I take the liberty of writing a few lines, being assured that you are a man of God and a prophet of the Most High, not only from testimony given by the brethren, but the Spirit itself beareth witness. It is true that mine eyes have not seen and mine ears heard you; but the testimony I have received shows plainly that God does reveal by his Spirit things that the natural man has not seen by his natural eyes. You may perhaps wonder who the individual is that has written this letter. I will tell you, in a few words: My father died about twenty-four years since, [p. 394]
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Editorial Title
Letter from Unidentified Author, 29 August 1842, Extract
ID #
13377
Total Pages
2
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