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Letter to David Hale, 12–19 February 1841
Source Note
Source Note
, , and JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to David Hale, Independence Township, Washington Co., PA, 12–19 Feb. 1841; handwriting of , , and JS; four pages. Transcription from digital color image, BYU.
Two leaves, dimensions unknown. Pages appear approximately two-thirds as wide as they are tall and were possibly originally connected as a bifolium. The letter was written in ink, trifolded in letter style, and sent by post. The letter has several tears, including a large tear along the top right corner of the second page. It was repaired with adhesive tape along the fold lines.
The original was in the possession of a descendant of the Hale family residing in San Diego, California, as late as the 1950s. Around that time, an acquaintance of that descendant made a typescript of the letter; the acquaintance later donated the typescript to the Church History Library in 1984. At some point, Brigham Young University obtained a scanned image of the original, likely at the same time it received other Hale family documents in 2010. The original is apparently in private possession.
Footnotes
- [1]
Lorenzo Wasson et al., Nauvoo, IL, to David Hale, Independence, PA, 12–19 Feb. 1841, typescript, CHL; Ellen E. Kristjanson, San Marcos, CA, to Donald Schmidt, Salt Lake City, 12 Mar. 1984, CHL.
Wasson, Lorenzo D. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to David Hale, Independence, PA, 12–19 Feb. 1841. Typescript. CHL. MS 7395.
Kristjanson, Ellen E. Letter, San Marcos, CA, to Donald Schmidt, Salt Lake City, UT, 12 Mar. 1984. CHL.
- [2]
See David and Ira P. Hale Papers, 1827–1888, BYU.
Hale, David. Ledger, 1827–1869. David and Ira P. Hale, Papers, 1827–1888. BYU.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
Between 12 and 19 February 1841, wrote a letter to his uncle David Hale in , to which his aunt and uncle JS also added. Wasson, who was in his early twenties, was the son of Emma’s sister Elizabeth Hale Wasson. He left his home in Amboy, Illinois, during fall 1840 and was living with Emma and JS in , Illinois, when he wrote this letter. Wasson resided at the Smith home for approximately a year and a half; during that time he corresponded with members of the Hale family.
Prior to this time, JS and ’s relationship with the Hale family had been strained. Emma’s father, , had reservations about JS’s reputation and employment, and he was angered when JS eloped with his daughter in 1827. Likely influenced by their father, who passed away in 1839, the Hale family had made no known contact with Emma and JS since the two had moved from , Pennsylvania, in 1830. This letter indicated a desire on JS and Emma’s part to renew contact with the Hales.
wrote this letter in answer to communication from David Hale, ’s older brother. He began the letter on 12 February 1841, and Emma and JS added their own thoughts at some point during the course of the week. Wasson then added a concluding paragraph on 19 February and mailed the letter the following day. The fact that the original letter was in the Hale family’s possession indicates that David Hale received it, but no further correspondence between David Hale and the Smith family has been identified.
Because the original manuscript can no longer be located, the following transcript of the letter was created by consulting incomplete scanned images of the original made in 2010, from which the final page is missing, and a typescript made in 1984. Portions of the letter are not legible in the scanned images because adhesive tape was placed over damaged areas at some point. All text in brackets was missing or illegible in the scanned images and was supplied by consulting the typescript.
Footnotes
- [1]
David Hale left his home in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, in 1839 and initially moved southwest to Brooke County, Virginia, before eventually settling in Amboy, Illinois. (Staker and Jensen, “David Hale’s Store Ledger,” 106; David Hale, Ledger, David and Ira P. Hale, Papers, BYU; 1840 U.S. Census, Brooke Co., VA, 218; “Brooke County, Property Book for 1841,” in Brooke Co., VA, Personal Property Tax Lists, 1797–1851, microfilm 2,024,494, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Staker, Mark L., and Robin Scott Jensen. “David Hale’s Store Ledger: New Details about Joseph and Emma Smith, the Hale Family, and the Book of Mormon.” BYU Studies 53, no. 3 (2014): 77–112.
Hale, David. Ledger, 1827–1869. David and Ira P. Hale, Papers, 1827–1888. BYU.
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
- [2]
Soon after his baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 20 March 1842, Wasson was sent as a traveling missionary to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (Lorenzo Wasson, Philadelphia, to JS and Emma Smith, Nauvoo, IL, 30 July 1842, in Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1842, 3:891.)
- [3]
See Isaac Hale, Affidavit, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]. In his manuscript history, JS noted that Emma’s father, Isaac Hale, “was greatly opposed to our being married.” Hale’s dissatisfaction with JS corresponded with a broader distrust of JS propagated by local ministers, in particular Hale’s brother-in-law Nathaniel Lewis, a prominent Methodist in the Harmony, Pennsylvania, area. (JS History, vol. A-1, 8, 53; Nathaniel Lewis, Affidavit, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian, 1 May 1834, [1].)
Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.
- [4]
Anderson, Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale, 302.
Anderson, Mary Audentia Smith. Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale: With Little Sketches of Their Immigrant Ancestors All of Whom Came to America between the Years 1620 and 1685, and Settled in the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1929.
Having some more room to improve I would tell you that since you have left the old mountains of Susquhannah I think you had <better> continue on westward untill you get there here [as] there is land so plenty that every one can have what he wants to improve without working land on shares.
I feel quite anxious that all of my s family sh[ould] [come and settle in this country as I think it is far better than any other place east of here, I should also like to have you all] investigate our doctrines and all become good Mormons, [as] we are generaly called, but there is no compulsion in as to the subject of our religion, you can live here if you are [not] Mormons. We are in tolerable good circum[stances] at presant, my family and all in good health.
I was glad to get so good an account of all the families [of my] brothers and sisters. I have five children one g[irl she] will be ten years old next May her name is , [my] boys name is he was eight last Nov. the [next] is he will be five next June the [next is] who will be three next June the [next is] he will be one year next June I think they [are as smart children as can be found any where and perhaps a little smarter.]
[yours affectionately ]
[M]r. David Hale
As and hav[e] [gi]ve<an> me space for a few lines, I gladly imbrace [i]t, to send to you and yours my sincere and heart felt respects, and I do honestly think if you will come to this country, and settle it would be much to your advantage. I [will] do what has stated and even more [I] will help you to improve the land; also, [we] want to see you all very much well [settled in this country].
[Yours respectfully, Joseph Smith]. [p. [3]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [16]
Working land on shares, or sharecropping, generally meant that the occupant would farm or improve the land and receive only a portion of the crops and produce. A share of the goods functioned as payment for occupancy, but the land remained the property of the owner. (See Gates, “Frontier Landlords and Pioneer Tenants,” 146–147.)
Gates, Paul Wallace. “Frontier Landlords and Pioneer Tenants.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 38, no. 2 (June 1945): 143–206.
- [17]
In addition to five brothers, Emma Smith had three sisters (Phebe, Elizabeth, and Tryal).
Emma Smith handwriting ends; JS begins.