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Letters from Newton E. French and James H. Seymour, 27 December 1843
Source Note
Source Note
Newton E. French, Letter, Lenox Township, Ashtabula Co., OH, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 27 Dec. 1843, with appended Letter from , Lenox Township, Ashtabula Co., OH, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 27 Dec. 1843; handwriting presumably of Newton E. French and ; signatures presumably of Newton E. French and ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, wafer seal, postal notations, dockets, and notations.
Bifolium measuring 11⅞ × 7⅞ inches (30 × 20 cm) and ruled with thirty-seven printed lines, now heavily faded. The text of both letters is inscribed in blue ink on the first three pages. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style with a seal flap, addressed in black ink, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked in black ink. The first page was torn at the wafer site when the document was opened, resulting in a loss of text. The wafer remains on the verso of the second leaf.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. Two unidentified scribes later amended the docket to include the authors’ full names in graphite and red ballpoint pen. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket and notations as well as its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
- [2]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 27 December 1843, two young Ohioans wrote letters to JS in , Illinois. Newton E. French and , both residents of Lenox Township, Ohio, were nineteen and eighteen years old, respectively. French was a stranger to JS. While he apparently knew of the persecution experienced by JS and the Latter-day Saints, his letter evinced little familiarity with JS’s religious thought. Seymour, on the other hand, indicated an awareness of JS’s visions and revelations, his teachings on the of Israel, and his efforts to erect a in Nauvoo. It is not known how French and Seymour learned of JS or the , but the men’s families lived for many years in Lenox, about thirty miles east of JS’s former residence in , Ohio. No known records indicate that either man formally joined the church, though Seymour expressed a belief in JS and his teachings and a hope to join the Saints in .
In his letter, French voiced his indignation at the attempts JS’s enemies had made on his life and relief that JS had escaped their grasp, perhaps referring to the failed attempts to extradite JS to in 1842 and 1843. ’s letter is an expression of his faith and his interest in contributing to the building up of . As young men addressing a well-known religious and political leader, both wrote with some affectation, but with apparently sincere interest in JS and the Latter-day Saints.
French and wrote their letters on the same bifolium, which was mailed from Lenox Township on 28 December. The letters were subsequently received by JS in . On 16 January, JS wrote to Seymour thanking both men for their compliments, stating that Nauvoo was a gathering place for all who wished to “covenant by sacrifice,” and concluding with his respects to “the gentlemen who wrote and all friends.” There is no known record of any continued correspondence and no evidence that French or Seymour ever visited Nauvoo.
Footnotes
- [1]
French was born on 4 January 1824 in Lenox and later became a prominent Ohio banker. Seymour was born on 9 July 1825 and went on to become a politician in Nebraska. (Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio, 333–334; Omaha Illustrated: A History of the Pioneer Period and the Omaha of To-day, [24].)
Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio: Embracing the Counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake. Containing Portraits of All the Presidents of the United States, with a Biography of Each, Together with Portraits and Biographies of Joshua R. Giddings, Benjamin F. Wade, and a Large Number of the Early Settlers and Representative Families of To-day. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1893.
Omaha, Illustrated: A History of the Pioneer Period and the Omaha of To-day, Embracing Reliable Statstics and Information. . . Omaha: D. C. Dunbar, 1888.
- [2]
There were three attempts to extradite JS to Missouri based on allegations of treason committed during the 1838 “Mormon War” and of complicity in an assassination attempt on former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. The most recent extradition attempt occurred in June and July 1843. (See “Joseph Smith Documents from February through November 1841”; Introduction to Appendix 1: Missouri Extradition Attempt, 1842–1843, Selected Documents; and “Part 4: June–July 1843”; see also Historical Introduction to Extradition of JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes; Historical Introduction to Extradition of JS for Accessory to Assault; and Historical Introduction to Extradition of JS for Treason.)
- [3]
JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James H. Seymour, Lenox Township, OH, 16 Jan. 1844, JS Collection, CHL; see also JS, Journal, 16 Jan. 1844.
Lenox December 27[th]. 1843
Mr Joseph Smith
Rev Sir— I am a stranger. Never did I see you— yet, I feel a strong desire to address you ◊ in congratulation of your past success in obtaining deliverance from the hands of those who sought your destruction. Believe me, sir, when I say I have watched the various attempts that have been put forth for your death, with unspeakable anxiety— fearing lest the assassin should be able in some unlooked for moment, to consummate his dark and damnable scheme. Pardon me dear sir, if in speaking of those who would gladly have imbued their hands in the blood of innocence, I use language, not of the softer kind. The atrocity of there crimes demands it— the duty I owe to man and God demands it— and the duty I owe to my country demands it. Why should I sit supinely down, and suffer the dagger of the [a]ssassin to be raised, ready for the fatal stab, and not make one single effort for the rescue of its victim? No reason can be assigned. Why then should I not raise my feeble voice against those who would break the express command of God which says. Thou shalt not kill . . . But, as yet their efforts have proved ineffectual. Again and again have you been delivered from the toils of the wicked, and been brought, by that Being, who presides over the destinies of the whole family of man, to behold the confines of another year. Doubtless you have during the year to which we must all soon bid an eternal farewell, seen the common lot of mortals, visited upon the friends of your bosom, consigning them to the silent tomb, the receptacle of all living. Yet you live. And I have no hesitancy in saying, that God has thus spares you to enjoy an earthly existince a little longer, that you may be instrumental in winning souls to Him. [p. [1]]
