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Note from Willard Richards, 22 September 1843

Source Note

, Note, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 22 Sept. [1843]; handwriting of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes notation and dockets.
Single leaf measuring 4⅝ × 7⅛ inches (12 × 18 cm) and ruled with fourteen horizontal lines. An uneven cut along the top edge indicates the leaf was excised from a larger sheet of paper. The author inscribed the note on the recto. A notation and dockets were later added to the verso.
A notation on the verso was made 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. The document was docketed by Robert L. Campbell, who served as clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1854 to 1874, and an unidentified scribe. By 1973 the document was included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early notation and docket by Campbell as well as its 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]

    Historian’s Office, Journal, 20 Nov. 1854 and 11 Apr. 1874.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

  3. [3]

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

Historical Introduction

On 22 September 1843, in , Illinois, wrote a note to JS seeking permission to utilize unused building materials for Richards’s new home. Since 1 May 1843, Willard and had been living in on the southeast corner of the intersection of Water and Granger streets. In early August, Willard Richards began building a home southeast of the intersection of White and Partridge streets. Still living at JS’s store, Richards noticed that certain building materials intended for a “house near the brick store” remained unused. Needing the lumber and other materials for his own house, Richards apparently asked the if he could make use of the idle supplies. After the temple committee indicated that he could, Richards wrote to JS asking him to affirm the committee’s decision. Before sending the note to JS, Richards added a second question seeking clarification on the performance of proxy for deceased individuals. Though Richards dated the note 22 September 1842, his journal and evidence of construction on his home in the second half of 1843 suggest that he wrote the note in 1843.
Given his close relationship with JS and service as his scribe, likely delivered this note personally. On 23 September 1843, JS read and responded to the queries. Richards recorded JS’s permission for him to use the building materials in a notation on the verso of the document.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Richards, Journal, 1 May 1843; see also “Western Nauvoo, Illinois, Aug.–Dec. 1843.”

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

  2. [2]

    Historical Introduction to Subscriptions for Willard Richards, 2 Aug. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Latter-day Saints and others occasionally petitioned JS for assistance in recovering money owed them or obtaining land or materials. (See, for example, Letter from Thomas Rawcliff, 24 May 1843; and Poem from William W. Phelps, 7 Nov. 1843.)

  4. [4]

    For more information on baptism for the dead, see Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:29–36]; “Joseph Smith Documents from February through November 1841”; and Joseph Fielding, “Joseph Fielding’s Letter,” Millennial Star, Aug. 1842, 3:78.

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

  5. [5]

    Richards, Journal, 1 May and Aug.–Sept. 1843; Historical Introduction to Subscriptions for Willard Richards, 2 Aug. 1843.

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

Page [1]

I am The brethren are progressing some what with the foundation of my house, but I find it slow raising lumber and some other articles: And the & have expressed to me that they expected I would have some of the door & window frames, troughs trimmings &c. which are lyining [lying] idle, and originally designed for the house near the , if needed them.— and as this is the fact, I would ask the president if he approves of their expressi[o]ns—?
Your Servant. Most Respectfully.
. Sept. 22. 1842 [1843].—
Does the President approve the practice of go <​confirming​> in the water, and times and again without coming up out of the water, in the for the dead? [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Note from Willard Richards, 22 September 1843
ID #
2218
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:117–119
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A shortage of lumber plagued development in Nauvoo. In 1841, the Nauvoo House Association and the temple committee began a joint lumbering venture on the Black River in Wisconsin Territory that eventually included four mills and about six logging camps before it ceased operation sometime before spring 1845. (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [3]; Rowley, “Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries,” 121, 127; for more on the amount of and access to lumber in Illinois and Iowa, see News Item, North American and Daily Advertiser [Philadelphia], 3 Sept. 1840, [1]; Letter from George W. Henry, 18 July 1841; Letter to Edward Hunter, 21 Dec. 1841; and JS, Journal, 26 and 28 June 1842.)

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

    Rowley, Dennis. “The Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries, 1841–1845.” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (1992): 119–148.

    North American and Daily Advertiser. Philadelphia. 1839–1845.

  2. [2]

    The temple committee at this time consisted of Reynolds Cahoon and Alpheus Cutler. (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; see also “Officers of Church-Affiliated Organizations in Nauvoo, Illinois, Aug.–Dec. 1843.”)

  3. [3]

    See Mark 1:10.

  4. [4]

    After the introduction of proxy baptism for the dead in August 1840, questions about the practice and doctrine periodically arose. (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Baugh, “The Practice of Baptism for the Dead Outside the Nauvoo Temple,” 48–50.)

    Baugh, Alexander L. “‘For This Ordinance Belongeth to My House’: The Practice of Baptism for the Dead Outside the Nauvoo Temple.” Mormon Historical Studies 3 (Spring 2002): 47–58.

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