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Letter to Oliver Granger, 30 August 1841

This item is reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
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Letter to Oliver Granger, 30 August 1841

Source Note

and JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Lake Co., OH, 30 Aug. 1841; handwriting of ; two pages; The Huntington Library (HM 28167), San Marino, CA. Includes address, postal stamp, and postal notation.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The letter was written on the recto and verso of the first leaf and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and stamped at the Nauvoo post office.
Along with other Granger family documents, this letter came into the possession of Maxwell Hunley. In 1964, Hunley sold these documents to the Henry E. Huntington Library.

Footnotes

  1. Denman, Guide to Mormon Manuscripts at the Huntington Library, 13.

    Denman, Katrina C. “A Firm Testimony of the Truth”: A Guide to Mormon Manuscripts at the Huntington Library. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, Library Division—Manuscripts Department, 2015.

Historical Introduction

On 30 August 1841, wrote a letter on behalf of himself and JS to in , Ohio, to solicit more information concerning the settlement of debts in the eastern . Granger had been acting as an for the church to settle debts for over a year. In earlier communications, the requested that Granger inform them of his progress, and because he had become ill, they also urged him to transfer some of his duties to . For unknown reasons, Galland never met with Granger to assume the financial responsibilities.
In addition to giving instruction and inquiring about ’s progress with settling church debts, this 30 August letter also informed Granger of the recent deaths of and . Unbeknownst to JS and , however, Granger had also passed away in the last week of August. Hyrum Smith wrote this letter on 30 August, appended JS’s name, and mailed it through the Nauvoo post office on 4 September. The letter was likely received by Granger’s surviving family members later that month.

Footnotes

  1. Letter to Oliver Granger, 26 Jan. 1841; Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.

  2. Obituary for Oliver Granger, Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:550.

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

Brother when he came home from he would not have wanted any further information on the Subject the commandments & revelations are before him the Proclamation to the to with the reqest of the & the word of the Lord saying there remained a Stourge Scourge for the People of or for the in hab[i]tants of & C
is qite sick at this time we think he is some better on the mend is qite smart the general health of <​the​> Place <​is​> as good as can be Expectted considering the Long <​spell of​> Dry weather there has been no rain here for three month to wit wet the ground in two Inches the Inglish grain & corn crops are good but the Potatoes are good for nothing the & the Prospers beyond Expectation
My family & Brother Josephs are well at Present there is but a verry few Sick in this Place at this time
this Is an Eventful Period a Day of Darkness & of thick darkness & Mourning & weeping & Lemantation & what Ever the saints find to do Let them do it qickly & above all things Else Let them strive to be Prepard to die—
Please write to us on the receipt of this & Let us Know all the Particulars of all the affairs Brother Joseph sends his Love to you & famaly My Love to all &.C.
yours in the Bonds of the Everlasting Covenant
Joseph Smith [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Oliver Granger, 30 August 1841
ID #
678
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:243–247
Handwriting on This Page
  • Hyrum Smith

Footnotes

  1. In March 1841, Hyrum Smith met with Almon Babbitt and William W. Phelps during his trip to the eastern United States with Isaac Galland. He and Galland had been sent as agents for JS, and they asked Babbitt for help in executing some land transactions.a Hyrum Smith also apparently conversed with Babbitt and Phelps about the future of Nauvoo and of Kirtland, which had long been the central gathering place for church members. Apparently there existed some ambiguity concerning the future of Kirtland. As early as 1838, Wilford Woodruff recorded in his journal that he had heard JS prophesy of a scourge over Kirtland.b A revelation in January 1841 similarly pronounced “a scourge prepared for the inhabitants” of Kirtland, but only after stating that the Lord would “build up Kirtland.” The same revelation declared, “Let all my saints, [come] from afar” and reinforced Nauvoo’s designation as the central stake and gathering place for church members.c In May the First Presidency published a charge instructing church members to discontinue all stakes outside Hancock County, Illinois, and Lee County, Iowa Territory. Members outside those areas were specifically directed to relocate to Hancock County.d Phelps and Babbitt were unsure whether they should maintain their stake of the church in Kirtland or discontinue the stake and move to Nauvoo. Babbitt expressed his desire to follow the First Presidency but felt he deserved clarification regarding the future of the Kirtland stake. Recalling his meeting with Hyrum Smith, Babbitt wrote in October 1841, “I do not want to be rebelous the Lord Knows my heart . . . but I want somthing tangeable to act upon if you want all the bretheren to leave this place Say it in so many words.”e

    (aLetter from Isaac Galland, 5 Apr. 1841; Letter from Almon Babbitt, 19 Oct. 1841. bWoodruff, Journal, 8 Mar. 1838. cRevelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:2, 25, 83]. dLetter to the Saints Abroad, 24 May 1841. eLetter from Almon Babbitt, 19 Oct. 1841.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. Sarah Granger Kimball was a daughter of Oliver and Lydia Dibble Granger and had married Hiram Kimball in 1840. (Sarah Granger Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 12:51.)

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

  3. In addition to commanding the Saints to build a temple, a revelation received in January 1841 also directed them to build a “boarding house,” called the Nauvoo House, to accommodate travelers. During the general conference of the church in October 1841, JS announced that there would not be another conference until the Saints could meet in the temple, implying that construction was expected to move quickly enough that the building would be sufficiently advanced to use as a meeting place by the time of the next general conference six months later. On 2 October 1841, the First Presidency laid the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House, signaling that construction on that building had begun in earnest. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:23, 56, 60]; Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841.)

  4. See Revelation, 23 July 1837 [D&C 112:24].

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