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Letter to Thomas Ford, 21 August 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Sangamon Co., IL, 21 Aug. 1843. Featured version copied 21 Aug. 1843; handwriting of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, dockets, redactions, and archival markings.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was written on the first three pages and the top of the fourth page. The document was trifolded twice in letter style and addressed. It was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859, docketed the letter a second time. The letter may be one of three letters to listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [3]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. [4]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 21 August 1843, in , Illinois, wrote a letter on behalf of JS to governor , in , Illinois, conveying intelligence about a possible incursion of mobs into Illinois. The letter served as a cover letter for two documents JS had recently received and wished to transmit to Ford. On 11 August, , one of JS’s attorneys, wrote a letter to JS from , Illinois, informing him of the political backlash Patrick and fellow attorney faced for their legal defense of JS during a June 1843 extradition attempt. When he sent his letter to JS, Patrick also forwarded a letter he had received from Jacob Hall, an attorney living in , Missouri, that specifically criticized Patrick for his role in defending JS and warned that Missourians would require little inducement to attack Nauvoo if JS was not brought to Missouri to face justice. Hall also reported on the ongoing attempts to prosecute in Missouri. At the time, Rockwell was imprisoned at Independence, having been accused of attempting to assassinate former Missouri governor .
obtained ’s letter, with Hall’s letter enclosed, from the post office on the morning of 21 August. After Clayton delivered the letters, JS instructed “to have them copied with some additional remarks” addressed to . Richards copied the two letters into the featured draft of the brief cover letter, which informed Ford that while JS did not believe the threats from , he felt it best to forward them to keep Ford abreast of a potential threat to sovereignty. JS also assured Ford of his loyalty and patriotism should Ford call on the to defend Nauvoo and Illinois.
presumably finished copying the letters and drafting JS’s letter on 21 August, the date mentioned in JS’s journal and the date of the letter draft. However, Richards’s journal recorded that he “wrote” to on both 21 and 22 August. This second date may refer to the date Richards made a fair copy of the extant draft. Richards sent the cover letter along with ’s and Hall’s letters to Ford on 22 August. Although most of Richards’s cover letter to Ford appears last in the extant draft, the final iteration sent to Ford was presumably separate from and in addition to the forwarded letters. None of the three original letters have been located. Richards’s copies of Patrick’s and Hall’s letters, together with his draft cover letter, are featured here. Ford responded to JS’s letter and the enclosures on 13 September 1843.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS History, vol. E-1, 1827–1829; “Part 1: March 1843.”

  2. [2]

    Clayton, Journal, 21 Aug. 1843; JS, Journal, 21 Aug. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  3. [3]

    Richards, Journal, 21–22 Aug. 1843.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 22 Aug. 1843; Richards, Journal, 22 Aug. 1843. Richards later informed Brigham Young that he had forwarded the original letter from Hall to Ford after it was copied for publication. Patrick’s original letter presumably was included as well. (Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to Brigham Young, New York City, NY, 28 Aug. 1843, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Shepherd Patrick, 11 August 1843

Page 2

particular[l]y about Inlet & Palestine Groves, from whom we who have shewn ourselves your friends, encounter no small share of odium and reproach. But, be this as it may, I for one, shall never shrink from any responsibility I have incurred & shall always be ready to vindicate the proceedings of your case, and, when occasion requires, my own as well as your conduct towards the Ruffian .— I have lately been a candidate for Judge of Probate in this , & have been defeated principally for the reason that a story was circulated by my political enemies that I had joined the “Mormons” and had actually preached the mormon doctrine while in , How ridiculous! I care not for my defeat; that is a trifling matter— but I am at a loss whether to laugh at or mourn for the Gullibility of the people— also lost strength in this for a similar reason.
I am yours Respty
(signed)
The fo[llo]wing is a copy of the letter of “J. Hall” referred to above.
, Mo, July 23d 1843,
My Dear Old Friend,
Your letter dated on the 12th and mailed on the 14th inst, is just at hand, and not being able to answer your questions correctly, or advise you judiceously, in relation to the case, until after I see him, and some others of my friends, I will postpone that part of my <​this​> letter <​un​>till tomorrow, and in the mean time will say such things as I can write about without much reflection. , upon his return, gave me his compliments, from you, and for the first time I learned that you resided in . He also gave a narrative of his adventures in your state, which was any think thing but favorable, either to the reputations of your people, or yourself, as a law-abiding people, or a profound or honest lawyer, certainly there can be but little virtue in the community, and little honesty in [p. 2]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Thomas Ford, 21 August 1843
ID #
3553
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:64–70
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [3]

    These were two communities in central Lee County, Illinois, near where JS was arrested in June 1843. (Stevens, History of Lee County, Illinois, 158, 271; Chase, “Township of Amboy,” 57–58; Clayton, Journal, 21–23 June 1843.)

    Stevens, Frank. History of Lee County, Illinois. 2 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1914.

    Chase, D. G. “Township of Amboy.” In Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County, [edited by Seraphina Gardner Smith], 9–157. Dixon, IL: Inez A. Kennedy, 1893.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. [4]

    Reynolds, the Jackson County, Missouri, sheriff, went to Illinois to arrest JS in June 1843. (JS, Journal, 23 June 1843.)

  3. [5]

    Shepherd Patrick lost the Lee County election to O. A. Eddy. (Stevens, History of Lee County, Illinois, 71.)

    Stevens, Frank. History of Lee County, Illinois. 2 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1914.

  4. [6]

    Walker and the Whig Party suffered a surprisingly large defeat in Lee County, Illinois, during the 1843 election. In the 1842 gubernatorial election, the Whigs and Democrats were evenly matched, with the Whigs winning the county by a single vote—238 to 237—and the anti-slavery Liberty Party receiving a mere seven votes. In contrast, during the 1843 congressional election, Walker lost the county by seventy-five votes—223 to 298—with the Liberty Party vote increasing to thirty-three. Even with seventy-two additional voters, Walker received fifteen fewer votes than the Whig candidate for governor a year earlier. (Pease, Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848, 127, 140; Discourse, 6 Aug. 1843.)

    Pease, Theodore Calvin, ed. Illinois Election Returns, 1818–1848. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923.

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