On 26 January 1841, JS wrote a letter to encouraging him to cooperate with in leading the at , Ohio. Granger, who was working to resolve outstanding debts of JS and the church, was appointed as the presiding officer over the Kirtland Saints in May 1839. However, a general of the church held in October 1840 assigned Babbitt to that position. Babbitt had only recently been cleared of charges that included speaking against JS and other church leaders, but JS had been under the impression that Granger would soon return to the , Illinois, area, necessitating the appointment of another presiding officer in Kirtland. JS expressed concern that the news of the leadership change would upset Granger and assured him of his confidence that the two men could work together in leading the Kirtland church.

JS also addressed ’s assignment of extricating JS and other church leaders from debts they owed to merchants in . JS applauded Granger’s apparent success in paying off a mortgage that the firm of Mead, Stafford & Co. held against the and informed Granger that , and possibly , would be traveling to the eastern to help with the church’s business transactions. JS also asked to be kept informed of Granger’s progress in paying off the remainder of the debts.

With serving as scribe, JS began writing the letter after receiving one from as well as additional correspondence discussing the state of the church in and Granger’s attempts to pay off the debts. After receiving another letter from Granger, dated 9 January 1841, JS continued composing this letter. The letter includes two initialed postscripts by JS, and a postmark indicates he mailed the letter from on 29 January 1841. If the letter took the same amount of time to get to Kirtland as Granger’s correspondence took to get to Nauvoo, Granger would have received the letter sometime around mid-February 1841.