This item is reproduced by permission of Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Rowley,
Massachusetts.
Footnotes
This is likely the insignia of the Springfield, Massachusetts, paper mill firm established by Wells and Edward Southworth in 1839. (Weeks, History of Paper-Manufacturing in the United States, 249.)
Weeks, Lyman Horace. A History of Paper-Manufacturing in the United States, 1690–1916. New York: Lockwood Trade Journal, 1916.
Peabody Essex Museum, “Donations to the Essex Institute, November 1854 to April 1861.”
Peabody Essex Museum. "About PEM." Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Accessed 2 Mar. 2020. https://www.pem.org/about-pem.
See Peabody Essex Museum, “About PEM.”
Peabody Essex Museum. "About PEM." Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Accessed 2 Mar. 2020. https://www.pem.org/about-pem.
Footnotes
Historical Introduction to Letter from Joseph L. Heywood, 23 Oct. 1843; see also John Frierson, Quincy, IL, to Franklin H. Elmore, 12 Oct. 1843, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 June 1844, [2]–[3]; Jacob Bond I’On et al., Charleston, SC, to “Dear Sir,” 23 Sept. 1843, in JS Office Papers, CHL; and Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1017.
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989: The Continental Congress September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States from the First through the One Hundredth Congresses March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1989, Inclusive. Edited by Kathryn Allamong Jacob and Bruce A. Ragsdale. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.
JS, Journal, 25 Nov. 1843; John Frierson, Quincy, IL, to Franklin H. Elmore, 12 Oct. 1843, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 June 1844, [2]–[3]. Frierson promised to “open a correspondence with Ex-Governor Lucas and other members of Congress, whom I know to be friendly and engage their ass[is]tance.” Frierson did not identify his congressional connections. “Ex-Governor Lucas” is probably Robert Lucas, who had served as governor of Ohio and Iowa Territory. (“Lucas, Robert,” in Dictionary of American Biography, 6:487–488.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Malone, Dumas, ed. Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 9. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932.
JS, Journal, 2 Nov. 1843; Clayton, Journal, 2 Nov. 1843.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
When JS met with Frierson later that month, he showed him documents including affidavits from Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, George Pitkin, and Sidney Rigdon regarding the treatment of the Saints in Missouri. (Woodruff, Journal, 26 Nov. 1843; Hyrum Smith, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843; Brigham Young, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843; Parley P. Pratt, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843; Lyman Wight, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843; George Pitkin, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843; Sidney Rigdon, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
JS, Journal, 25 and 26 Nov. 1843; see also John Frierson, Quincy, IL, to Franklin H. Elmore, 12 Oct. 1843, in Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 June 1844, [3]; and Letter from Joseph L. Heywood, 23 Oct. 1843.
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
The “Circular” referred to a document supporting John C. Calhoun’s presidential candidacy. At a council meeting held before this letter was written, church leaders determined to write to all the presidential candidates, including Calhoun. (Jacob Bond I’On et al., Charleston, SC, to “Dear Sir,” 23 Sept. 1843, in JS Office Papers, CHL; JS, Journal, 2 and 4 Nov. 1843; see also Letter to John C. Calhoun, 4 Nov. 1843.)
The Saints made several attempts to publicize their treatment in Missouri, including publishing accounts of their persecution in serialized histories, a broadside (which was reprinted in a special issue of the church’s newspaper), and several pamphlets. (“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Dec. 1839–Oct. 1840; “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833–Mar. 1834 and May–June 1834; Parley P. Pratt et al., “‘The Mormons’ So Called,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]–[2]; John P. Greene, Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order” [Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839]; John Taylor, A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, upon the Latter Day Saints . . . [Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Greene, John P. Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order.” By John P. Greene, an Authorized Representative of the Mormons. Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839.
Taylor, John. A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, Upon the Latter Day Saints. Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839.
TEXT: Beginning here through the end of the text, the ink is a darker shade of brown than the ink of the letter’s earlier text.