, Letter, , Lancashire, England, to JS and the , , Hancock Co., IL, 13 Mar. 1842; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes addresses and docket.
Bifolium measuring 13 × 8¼ inches (33 × 21 cm). The bifolium was originally part of a larger book used as a ship’s passenger manifest. Each preprinted page includes eight columns of varying widths demarcated by red vertical lines. Red horizontal lines create a header row containing column titles: “No. of Ticket.”, “NAMES.”, “Age.”, “Under 14.”, “Under 7.”, “Infts.”, “OCCUPATION.”, and “WHERE BOUND TO.” Below the header row, each page is ruled with forty blue horizontal lines. The text of the letter is written across the columns of the first three pages. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed with both the mailing address and return mailing information, and sealed with two red adhesive wafers. Remnants of the adhesive wafers are on the verso of the second leaf. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as temple recorder from 1842 to 1846. It may be one of the 1842 letters from listed in inventories that were produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket as well as its possible inclusion in the circa 1904 inventories and its inclusion in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2]; “Index to Papers in the Historian’s Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 13 March 1842 wrote to JS and the in , Illinois, concerning a new plan to acquire goods and funds to help streamline the migration of British Saints to the . In April 1841 the apostles in reported that voyages to were less expensive than voyages to but that “it will never do for emigrants to go by New Orleans in the Summer on account of the heat and sickness of the climate.” Therefore, the did not charter vessels in summer 1841. From September 1841 through February 1842, the church chartered five ships that carried approximately 990 converts to New Orleans. A sixth vessel, the Hanover, was scheduled to depart on 14 March 1842 for the Saints’ final voyage before summer.
In his 13 March 1842 letter, introduced and recommended , who planned to depart the following day on the Hanover. Fielding was an English convert who was appointed in April 1841 “to superintend the fitting out of the Saints from to .” Pratt explained that Fielding wanted to secure an emigration agent in and organize travel up the to . In addition, Pratt explained that Fielding would arrange for gold and fabrics from to be exchanged for flour and wheat from Nauvoo. Fielding would bring the flour and wheat with him when he returned to to assist with emigration starting in September. The plan to exchange gold and goods was believed to be mutually beneficial. Nauvoo was functioning as a barter society with an abundance of goods but little monetary wealth. Money was more readily available in Great Britain, but goods there were six times the price of goods in Nauvoo, according to Pratt.
suggested he would send the letter via , who departed for the three days after Pratt wrote the letter. The absence of postal markings suggests that the letter was hand delivered. JS responded to Pratt on 12 June 1842, noting that would return to England as Pratt requested.
In a January 1842 letter to Pratt, Joseph Fielding described the economy in Nauvoo, stating that “almost all things here are carried on without the use of money.” (Joseph Fielding, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Jan. 1842, in Millennial Star, Aug. 1842, 3:79.)
I am pr[i]nting his account of the mission to and Will send a Coppy next week to be Reprinted by you. G[eorge] J, Adams has been to sea ten weeks and is Blown Back to this port. With the Conversion of many of the Ship Company. he will sail again tuesday next for . he is well. I think I shall send this line by him.
Great War in India, the British army is Slaughteredby thenatives.
Great Distress in , thousands are looking to us and our god for Deliverance, and flocking to our ships for the Land of Joseph, Both and unbaptised.
In haste I Remain Yours in the
P, S,
has safely arived, and is Doing good.
I Rec’d a line from three of the Dated feb 1st Josephs translating Room for Which I feel thankful. and shall be glad to assist in arrangements, for the temporal or Spiritual good of the cause, Both sides of the water.
Excuse this hasty Line and good night, God Bless you All. [p. [3]]
In the March 1842 issue of the Millennial Star,Pratt printed a portion of a letter Hyde wrote on 1 January 1842. (“Highly Interesting from Jerusalem,” Millennial Star, Mar. 1842, 2:166–169; Hyde, Voice from Jerusalem, 6–20.)
Hyde, Orson. A Voice from Jerusalem, or a Sketch of the Travels and Ministry of Elder Orson Hyde, Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to Germany, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Liverpool: P. P. Pratt, 1842.
Adams departed Liverpool on the Mersey on 31 December 1841. The first eight days of the voyage were marked by “fair wind and good weather,” but the duration of the voyage was marked by stormy weather. A weeklong tempest began on 6 February 1842, damaging the ship and forcing the company to return to Liverpool. The company arrived on 25 February 1842. (Letter from George J. Adams, 21 Apr. 1842.)
Pratt was alluding to recent developments in the First Anglo-Afghan War, which involved Afghanistan and British-governed India. Pratt provided more details in an article published a month earlier: “War has suddenly commenced in India, and a large tract of country is in a state of insurrection, and the people in arms against the British forces, whose officers were massacred, detachments cut in pieces, large bodies of troops blockaded, almost without provisions or ammunition, the English government fearing to hear every day that these too have surrendered or been massacred.” (“War,” Millennial Star, Feb. 1842, 2:160, emphasis in original.)
Pratt was referring to the increasing civil unrest resulting from the Corn Laws, which restricted the importation of grain into the United Kingdom. (See Letter from Alfred Cordon, 17 Feb. 1842.)