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Recommendation from Quincy, Illinois, Branch, between 20 October and 1 November 1839

Source Note

Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

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, IL, branch, Recommendation, for JS,
Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

More Info
, Adams Co., IL, [between 20 Oct. and 1 Nov. 1839]; handwriting of
James Sloan

28 Oct. 1792–24 Oct. 1886. City recorder, notary public, attorney, judge, farmer. Born in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, Ireland. Son of Alexander Sloan and Anne. Married Mary Magill. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ordained an elder, ...

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; signatures of
James Sloan

28 Oct. 1792–24 Oct. 1886. City recorder, notary public, attorney, judge, farmer. Born in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, Ireland. Son of Alexander Sloan and Anne. Married Mary Magill. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ordained an elder, ...

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and
Reynolds Cahoon

30 Apr. 1790–29 Apr. 1861. Farmer, tanner, builder. Born at Cambridge, Washington Co., New York. Son of William Cahoon Jr. and Mehitable Hodges. Married Thirza Stiles, 11 Dec. 1810. Moved to northeastern Ohio, 1811. Located at Harpersfield, Ashtabula Co.,...

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; one page; Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC. Includes dockets.
One leaf, measuring 12½ × 7½ inches (32 × 19 cm). The document was folded in half and then trifolded—apparently for traveling.
In March 1840,
Elias Higbee

23 Oct. 1795–8 June 1843. Clerk, judge, surveyor. Born at Galloway, Gloucester Co., New Jersey. Son of Isaac Higbee and Sophia Somers. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, 1803. Married Sarah Elizabeth Ward, 10 Sept. 1818, in Tate Township, Clermont Co. Lived at ...

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collected all of the papers submitted to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in support of the church’s memorial to Congress and returned them to
Commerce

Located near middle of western boundary of state, bordering Mississippi River. European Americans settled area, 1820s. From bank of river, several feet above high-water mark, ground described as nearly level for six or seven blocks before gradually sloping...

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, Illinois. This recommendation was presumably included with the memorial and was still with that collection of documents when subsequent church delegations resubmitted the documents with additional petitions to the federal government.
1

Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 24 Mar. 1840.


Congress apparently stored this recommendation with other documents it received in the 1840s relative to the church’s ongoing petitioning efforts. Those records were transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration sometime after its creation in 1934. Since then, the National Archives and Records Administration has had continuous custody of the document.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 24 Mar. 1840.

Historical Introduction

Sometime between 20 October and 1 November 1839,
James Sloan

28 Oct. 1792–24 Oct. 1886. City recorder, notary public, attorney, judge, farmer. Born in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, Ireland. Son of Alexander Sloan and Anne. Married Mary Magill. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ordained an elder, ...

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, the clerk of a meeting of the
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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branch

An ecclesiastical organization of church members in a particular locale. A branch was generally smaller than a stake or a conference. Branches were also referred to as churches, as in “the Church of Shalersville.” In general, a branch was led by a presiding...

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in
Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

More Info
, Illinois, prepared this recommendation for JS. The timing and content of the recommendation strongly suggest that it was produced in support of JS’s trip to
Washington DC

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

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, where he and other appointed church members planned to petition the federal government for redress for property losses church members sustained in
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...

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.
1

It is not clear when members of the Quincy branch learned that JS would join the delegation that would petition the federal government, but the branch members were certainly aware of this plan by the time JS and the rest of the delegation arrived in Quincy on 30 October 1839. (See Historical Introductions to Statements, ca. 1 Nov. 1839–A and B; and Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 29 Oct. 1839, 66.)


According to the recommendation, the Quincy branch voted unanimously at a 20 October 1839 meeting to sustain JS as the “
presiding Elder

A leader over a local ecclesiastical unit of the church; also a title indicating the leading officers of the church. When the church was organized, JS and Oliver Cowdery were ordained as first and second elders, respectively, distinguishing them as the church...

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” of the church. Sloan then drafted the recommendation sometime before 1 November, when JS and his travel companions left Quincy for Washington DC.
2

On the day JS, Sidney Rigdon, Elias Higbee, and others in the travel party left Quincy, Higbee drafted a letter of recommendation for Oliver Granger. JS and Rigdon apparently signed Granger’s recommendation at that time, suggesting that the recommendation for JS may have been drafted by Sloan as late as 1 November and presented to JS before he continued on his journey to Washington DC on this same day. (Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 31 Oct.–1 Nov. 1839, 66; Historical Introduction to Recommendation for Oliver Granger, 1 Nov. 1839.)


JS likely carried the recommendation—signed by Sloan and the meeting’s presiding elder,
Reynolds Cahoon

30 Apr. 1790–29 Apr. 1861. Farmer, tanner, builder. Born at Cambridge, Washington Co., New York. Son of William Cahoon Jr. and Mehitable Hodges. Married Thirza Stiles, 11 Dec. 1810. Moved to northeastern Ohio, 1811. Located at Harpersfield, Ashtabula Co.,...

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—with him to Washington and submitted it to Congress with other documents pertaining to the church’s petition for reparations.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    It is not clear when members of the Quincy branch learned that JS would join the delegation that would petition the federal government, but the branch members were certainly aware of this plan by the time JS and the rest of the delegation arrived in Quincy on 30 October 1839. (See Historical Introductions to Statements, ca. 1 Nov. 1839–A and B; and Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 29 Oct. 1839, 66.)

  2. [2]

    On the day JS, Sidney Rigdon, Elias Higbee, and others in the travel party left Quincy, Higbee drafted a letter of recommendation for Oliver Granger. JS and Rigdon apparently signed Granger’s recommendation at that time, suggesting that the recommendation for JS may have been drafted by Sloan as late as 1 November and presented to JS before he continued on his journey to Washington DC on this same day. (Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 31 Oct.–1 Nov. 1839, 66; Historical Introduction to Recommendation for Oliver Granger, 1 Nov. 1839.)

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Recommendation from Quincy, Illinois, Branch, between 20 October and 1 November 1839
ID #
9622
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:32–34
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