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Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834

Source Note

JS, Letter, [Pike Co., IL], to
Emma Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

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,
Kirtland Township

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...

More Info
, Geauga Co., OH, 4 June 1834. Retained copy, [between ca. June and ca. Oct. 1839], in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 56–59; handwriting of
James Mulholland

1804–3 Nov. 1839. Born in Ireland. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Married Sarah Scott, 8 Feb. 1838/1839, at Far West, Caldwell Co., Missouri. Engaged in clerical work for JS, 1838, at Far West. Ordained a seventy, 28 Dec. 1838....

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; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 4 June 1834, JS dictated this letter to his wife
Emma Hale Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
from the eastern banks of the
Mississippi River

Principal U.S. river running southward from Itasca Lake, Minnesota, to Gulf of Mexico. Covered 3,160-mile course, 1839 (now about 2,350 miles). Drains about 1,100,000 square miles. Steamboat travel on Mississippi very important in 1830s and 1840s for shipping...

More Info
in
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
, where he and the rest of the
Camp of Israel

A group of approximately 205 men and about 20 women and children led by JS to Missouri, May–July 1834, to redeem Zion by helping the Saints who had been driven from Jackson County, Missouri, regain their lands; later referred to as “Zion’s Camp.” A 24 February...

View Glossary
had arrived earlier that morning. In the roughly two and a half weeks that had passed since he wrote to Emma on 18 May, JS and the expedition had traveled through
Indiana

First settled by French at Vincennes, early 1700s. Acquired by England in French and Indian War, 1763. U.S. took possession of area following American Revolution, 1783. Area became part of Northwest Territory, 1787. Partitioned off of Northwest Territory ...

More Info
and into Illinois, frequently using the National Road, a thoroughfare that ran from Maryland, through Indiana, and into Illinois.
1

Bruce, National Road, 11.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bruce, Robert. The National Road: Most Historic oroughfare in the United States, and Strategic Eastern Link in the National Old Trails Ocean-to-Ocean Highway. Washington DC: National Highways Association, 1916.

Residents of the towns they passed through noticed the company, particularly its relatively large numbers of armed men. Having received recruits from
branches

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...

View Glossary
of the church along the way, the expedition’s numbers were approximately 170 at this point.
2

Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 10; Woodruff, Journal, 1 May 1834; Radke, “We Also Marched,” 149. George A. Smith later remembered that Parley P. Pratt and Amasa Lyman were sent to a branch of the church at Eugene, Indiana; they returned on 26 May with “a company and some additional funds.” Pratt himself recalled that he “was chiefly engaged as a recruiting officer,” calling on branches of the church in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri for “men and means.” (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 20; Pratt, Autobiography, 122.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

Radke, Andrea G. “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834.” BYU Studies 39 (2000): 147–165.

Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

Many observers, however, estimated a much larger number for the group. For example, the Huron Reflector, published in Norwalk, Ohio, stated that the expedition had 300 members, each marching “with the Book of Mormon in one hand and a musket in the other.”
3

“Mormonism,” Huron Reflector (Norwalk, OH), 20 May 1834, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Huron Reflector. Norwalk, OH. 1830–1852.

The Richmond Palladium, an
Indiana

First settled by French at Vincennes, early 1700s. Acquired by England in French and Indian War, 1763. U.S. took possession of area following American Revolution, 1783. Area became part of Northwest Territory, 1787. Partitioned off of Northwest Territory ...

More Info
newspaper, described the expedition as numbering “about two hundred,” nearly all of whom carried firearms.
4

“Mormonites,” Richmond (IN) Palladium, 24 May 1834, [3].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Richmond Palladium. Richmond, IN. 1831–1837.

The Sangamo Journal of
Springfield

Settled by 1819. Incorporated as town, 1832. Became capital of Illinois, 1837. Incorporated as city, 1840. Sangamon Co. seat. Population in 1840 about 2,600. Stake of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized in Springfield, Nov. 1840; discontinued...

More Info
, Illinois, reported that the “generally armed” group consisted of between 250 and 300 men.
5

Report, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 7 June 1834, [2].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

Heber C. Kimball

14 June 1801–22 June 1868. Blacksmith, potter. Born at Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vermont. Son of Solomon Farnham Kimball and Anna Spaulding. Married Vilate Murray, 22 Nov. 1822, at Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Member of Baptist church at Mendon, 1831. Baptized...

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also reported that a man in
Jacksonville

Town located in west-central Illinois. Founded 1825. Established as county seat, 1825. Population in 1850 about 2,800. Camp of Israel expedition camped near town, 31 May–1 June 1834. Kirtland Camp passed through town en route to Missouri, 17 Sept. 1838.

More Info
, Illinois, counted the members of the expedition as they passed, giving the final count as more than 500. “This thing was attempted many times in villages and towns as we passed through,” Kimball explained, “but the people were never able to ascertain our number.”
6

“Elder Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1845, 6:773; “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1845, 6:788.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Similarly,
Joseph Noble

14 Jan. 1810–17 Aug. 1900. Farmer, miller, stock raiser. Born in Egremont, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Ezekiel Noble and Theodotia Bates. Moved to Penfield, Monroe Co., New York, 1815. Moved to Bloomfield, Ontario Co., New York, ca. 1828. Baptized...

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later remembered, “I never heard of our being numbered less than twice our actual number.”
7

Noble and Noble, Reminiscences, [7].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Noble, Joseph B., and Mary Adeline Beman Noble. Reminiscences, ca. 1836. CHL. MS 1031, fd. 1.

After arriving at the
Mississippi River

Principal U.S. river running southward from Itasca Lake, Minnesota, to Gulf of Mexico. Covered 3,160-mile course, 1839 (now about 2,350 miles). Drains about 1,100,000 square miles. Steamboat travel on Mississippi very important in 1830s and 1840s for shipping...

More Info
, the group had to wait for a ferry before crossing. Using the extra time, JS dictated this letter to
Emma

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
, detailing the camp’s organization, the food its members ate, the health of individual members, the attention the expedition received from curious onlookers, and the burial mounds they discovered in
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

More Info
that, for JS, confirmed the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. JS also shared his fears that he did not have enough men to protect the Saints once they were restored to their
Jackson County

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

More Info
lands. He expressed hope that members of the church would quickly move to
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 ...

More Info
to strengthen the church there.
In general, JS downplayed the difficulties the expedition was encountering, probably to alleviate any concerns
Emma

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
might have had about him. Although he mentioned spies of “the enemy,” he did not discuss threats that these individuals sometimes made against the camp, including declarations that the expedition would never reach
Jackson County

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

More Info
.
8

George A. Smith, Autobiography, 19.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

Likewise, JS stated that the camp experienced a “tolerable degree of union,” even though other accounts explained that the day before JS dictated this letter, he told the group that “the Lord was displeased” with them because of fault-finding and complaining.
9

George A. Smith, Autobiography, 26–27. George A. Smith also remembered an incident on 3 June in which some of the expedition’s members angrily hurled partially rotting ham at JS’s tent door, declaring, “We don’t eat dirty, stinking meat.”


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

JS also depicted the expedition as having sufficient food, but according to
Heber C. Kimball

14 June 1801–22 June 1868. Blacksmith, potter. Born at Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vermont. Son of Solomon Farnham Kimball and Anna Spaulding. Married Vilate Murray, 22 Nov. 1822, at Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Member of Baptist church at Mendon, 1831. Baptized...

View Full Bio
, their food was sometimes “scanty.”
10

Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 8.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

George A. Smith

26 June 1817–1 Sept. 1875. Born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., New York. Son of John Smith and Clarissa Lyman. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph H. Wakefield, 10 Sept. 1832, at Potsdam. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio,...

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later stated that at one point, he was so “weary, hungry and sleepy” that he “dreamed while walking along the road of seeing a beautiful stream of water by a pleasant shade and a nice loaf of bread and a bottle of milk laid out on a cloth by the side of the spring.”
11

George A. Smith, Autobiography, 15.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

The original of this letter has not been located. JS likely dictated it to
Frederick G. Williams

28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...

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, who penned a note at the end of it to his wife,
Rebecca Swain Williams

3 Aug. 1798–25 Sept. 1861. Born in Loyalsock, Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Fisher Swain and Elizabeth Hall. Moved to near Niagara Falls, Genesee Co., New York, ca. 1807. Moved to Youngstown, Niagara Co., New York. Married first Frederick ...

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. The letter was probably mailed to
Emma

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

View Full Bio
on 5 June after the group crossed the
Mississippi River

Principal U.S. river running southward from Itasca Lake, Minnesota, to Gulf of Mexico. Covered 3,160-mile course, 1839 (now about 2,350 miles). Drains about 1,100,000 square miles. Steamboat travel on Mississippi very important in 1830s and 1840s for shipping...

More Info
and camped near the town Louisiana, Missouri, where a post office was located.
12

Register of Officers and Agents, 161 (second numbering); “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1845, 6:788.


Comprehensive Works Cited

A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth Day of September, 1817; Together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of all the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Prepared at the Department of State, In Pursuance of a Resolution of Congress, of the 27th of April, 1816. Washington DC: E. De Krafft, 1818.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1829; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1830.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1831; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1831.

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

In 1839,
James Mulholland

1804–3 Nov. 1839. Born in Ireland. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Married Sarah Scott, 8 Feb. 1838/1839, at Far West, Caldwell Co., Missouri. Engaged in clerical work for JS, 1838, at Far West. Ordained a seventy, 28 Dec. 1838....

View Full Bio
copied the letter into Letterbook 2, including the note from Williams to his wife.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Bruce, National Road, 11.

    Bruce, Robert. The National Road: Most Historic oroughfare in the United States, and Strategic Eastern Link in the National Old Trails Ocean-to-Ocean Highway. Washington DC: National Highways Association, 1916.

  2. [2]

    Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 10; Woodruff, Journal, 1 May 1834; Radke, “We Also Marched,” 149. George A. Smith later remembered that Parley P. Pratt and Amasa Lyman were sent to a branch of the church at Eugene, Indiana; they returned on 26 May with “a company and some additional funds.” Pratt himself recalled that he “was chiefly engaged as a recruiting officer,” calling on branches of the church in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri for “men and means.” (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 20; Pratt, Autobiography, 122.)

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Radke, Andrea G. “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834.” BYU Studies 39 (2000): 147–165.

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

  3. [3]

    “Mormonism,” Huron Reflector (Norwalk, OH), 20 May 1834, [2].

    Huron Reflector. Norwalk, OH. 1830–1852.

  4. [4]

    “Mormonites,” Richmond (IN) Palladium, 24 May 1834, [3].

    Richmond Palladium. Richmond, IN. 1831–1837.

  5. [5]

    Report, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 7 June 1834, [2].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  6. [6]

    “Elder Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1845, 6:773; “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1845, 6:788.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  7. [7]

    Noble and Noble, Reminiscences, [7].

    Noble, Joseph B., and Mary Adeline Beman Noble. Reminiscences, ca. 1836. CHL. MS 1031, fd. 1.

  8. [8]

    George A. Smith, Autobiography, 19.

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  9. [9]

    George A. Smith, Autobiography, 26–27. George A. Smith also remembered an incident on 3 June in which some of the expedition’s members angrily hurled partially rotting ham at JS’s tent door, declaring, “We don’t eat dirty, stinking meat.”

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  10. [10]

    Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 8.

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

  11. [11]

    George A. Smith, Autobiography, 15.

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  12. [12]

    Register of Officers and Agents, 161 (second numbering); “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1845, 6:788.

    A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth Day of September, 1817; Together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of all the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Prepared at the Department of State, In Pursuance of a Resolution of Congress, of the 27th of April, 1816. Washington DC: E. De Krafft, 1818.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1829; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1830.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1831; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1831.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834 Letterbook 2

Page 58

occasionaly the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity,
14

On 3 June, the Camp of Israel passed through the vicinity of what is now Valley City, Illinois, where several members of the camp climbed a large mound. At the top, they uncovered the skeletal remains of an individual JS reportedly identified as Zelph, a “white Lamanite.” Archeologists have since identified the mound as Naples–Russell Mound #8 and have classified it as a Hopewell burial mound of the Middle Woodland period of the North American pre-Columbian era (roughly 50 BC to AD 250). (Godfrey, “The Zelph Story,” 31, 34; Farnsworth, “Lamanitish Arrows,” 25–48.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Faulring, Scott H. “Early Marriages Performed by the Latter-day Saint Elders in Jackson County, Missouri, 1832–1834.” Mormon Historical Studies 2 (Fall 2001): 197–210.Godfrey, Matthew C. “‘Seeking after Monarchal Power and Authority’: Joseph Smith and Leadership in the Church of Christ, 1831–1832.” Mormon Historical Studies 13 (Spring/Fall 2012): 15–37.

Farnsworth, Kenneth W. “Lamanitish Arrows and Eagles with Lead Eyes: Tales of the First Recorded Explorations in an Illinois Valley Hopewell Mound.” Illinois Archaeology 22 (2010): 25–48.

and gazing upon a country the fertility, the splendour and the goodness so indescribable, all serves to pass away time unnoticed, and in short were it not at every now and then our thoughts linger with inexpressible anxiety for our wives and our children our kindred according to the flesh who are entwined around our hearts; And also our brethren and friends; our whole journey would be as a dream, and this would be the happiest period of all our lives. We learn this journey how to travel, and we look with pleasing anticipation for the time to come, when we shall retrace our steps, and take this journey again in the enjoyment and embrace of that society we so much love, which society can only cause us to have any desire or lingering thoughts of that which is below. We have not as yet heard any thing from
Lyman [Wight]

9 May 1796–31 Mar. 1858. Farmer. Born at Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York. Son of Levi Wight Jr. and Sarah Corbin. Served in War of 1812. Married Harriet Benton, 5 Jan. 1823, at Henrietta, Monroe Co., New York. Moved to Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, ...

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and
Hyrum [Smith]

9 Feb. 1800–27 June 1844. Farmer, cooper. Born at Tunbridge, Orange Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Randolph, Orange Co., 1802; back to Tunbridge, before May 1803; to Royalton, Windsor Co., Vermont, 1804; to Sharon, Windsor Co...

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and do not expect to till we get to
salt river

More Info
Church, which is only fifty miles from this place.
15

The Salt River, or Allred, settlement, located near Paris, Missouri, was the designated rendezvous site for the Ohio company, led by JS, and the Michigan contingent, led by Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight. JS’s company arrived there on 7 June, and Hyrum’s company came the following day. With the addition of the Michigan group, the expedition consisted of approximately 205 men and around 12 women and 10 children. (Bradley, Zion’s Camp 1834, 28; Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 11; “Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,” 7–8; Radke, “We Also Marched,” 149.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bradley, James L. Zion’s Camp 1834: Prelude to the Civil War. Logan, UT: By the author, 1990.

Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

“Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,” May–June 1834. CHL. MS 4610.

Radke, Andrea G. “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834.” BYU Studies 39 (2000): 147–165.

Tell
Father Smith

12 July 1771–14 Sept. 1840. Cooper, farmer, teacher, merchant. Born at Topsfield, Essex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Asael Smith and Mary Duty. Nominal member of Congregationalist church at Topsfield. Married to Lucy Mack by Seth Austin, 24 Jan. 1796, at Tunbridge...

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[Joseph Smith Sr.] and all the family, and
brother Oliver [Cowdery]

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

View Full Bio
to be comforted and look forward to the day when the trials and tribulations of this life will be at an end, and we all enjoy the fruits of our labour if we hold out faithful to the end which I pray may be the happy lot of us all.
From your’s in the bonds of affliction.
Joseph Smith Jr.
N.B. The enclosed bill we could not get changed and is of no use to us now,
16

Notes and paper money were issued by a variety of state banks, as well as the Bank of the United States, during the 1830s, and a note from one institution may not have been accepted by another. As William Thomson, who visited the United States from Europe in the early 1840s, stated, “The greatest annoyance I was subjected to in travelling was in exchanging money. It is impossible to describe the wretched state of the currency—which is all bills issued by private individuals, companies, cities, and states.” (Thomson, Tradesman’s Travels, 60.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Thomson, William. A Tradesman’s Travels, in the United States and Canada, in the Years 1840, 41, and 42. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1842.

and we send to you &
sister [Rebecca Swain] Williams

3 Aug. 1798–25 Sept. 1861. Born in Loyalsock, Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Fisher Swain and Elizabeth Hall. Moved to near Niagara Falls, Genesee Co., New York, ca. 1807. Moved to Youngstown, Niagara Co., New York. Married first Frederick ...

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to be divided between you, that you may be able to procure such necessaries as you need &c.
 
17

TEXT: A dotted line separates this paragraph from the previous one. Frederick G. Williams’s note to his wife, Rebecca Swain Williams, begins here.


I embrace this opportunity to fill up this sheet to you, my beloved companion, not that I have anything important to communicate, but remembering your request to write to you while on the road, but as I write every week to
brother Oliver

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

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, you will know all the particulars of our journey.
18

In an 18 May 1834 letter to Emma Smith, JS noted that “Brother Fredrick [Frederick G. Williams] will write to Oliver [Cowdery] and give him the names of the places we pass through and a history of our jou[rn]ey from time to time.” These letters from Williams to Cowdery have not been located. (Letter to Emma Smith, 18 May 1834.)


In consequence of my being away from the encampment last sunday (the cause you will see in my next to
Oliver

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

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)
19

According to George A. Smith’s account of the expedition, Williams stayed in Jacksonville, Illinois, the night of Sunday, 31 May. He returned to camp on 1 June with some residents of Jacksonville and then went back to Jacksonville with them. (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 23–25.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

did not write to him as usual but shall now embrace the first opportunity to bring up my journal which you will find some what more interesting, than any previous to it—
I want you to make use of the money I send you in wisdom, for such things as you need, and make yourselves as comfortable and contented as you can and continue to pray to the Lord to hasten the day when we shall be permitted to behold each other’s face again and enjoy the blessing of the family circle in peace and in righteousness, and be prepared to meet every event that awaits us in life.
Tell the children to remember that passage of scripture which says, “children obey your parents in all things”,
20

Colossians 3:20.


for this is right, and God will bless them. I [p. 58]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Emma Smith, 4 June 1834
ID #
225
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:52–59
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Mulholland

Footnotes

  1. [14]

    On 3 June, the Camp of Israel passed through the vicinity of what is now Valley City, Illinois, where several members of the camp climbed a large mound. At the top, they uncovered the skeletal remains of an individual JS reportedly identified as Zelph, a “white Lamanite.” Archeologists have since identified the mound as Naples–Russell Mound #8 and have classified it as a Hopewell burial mound of the Middle Woodland period of the North American pre-Columbian era (roughly 50 BC to AD 250). (Godfrey, “The Zelph Story,” 31, 34; Farnsworth, “Lamanitish Arrows,” 25–48.)

    Faulring, Scott H. “Early Marriages Performed by the Latter-day Saint Elders in Jackson County, Missouri, 1832–1834.” Mormon Historical Studies 2 (Fall 2001): 197–210.Godfrey, Matthew C. “‘Seeking after Monarchal Power and Authority’: Joseph Smith and Leadership in the Church of Christ, 1831–1832.” Mormon Historical Studies 13 (Spring/Fall 2012): 15–37.

    Farnsworth, Kenneth W. “Lamanitish Arrows and Eagles with Lead Eyes: Tales of the First Recorded Explorations in an Illinois Valley Hopewell Mound.” Illinois Archaeology 22 (2010): 25–48.

  2. [15]

    The Salt River, or Allred, settlement, located near Paris, Missouri, was the designated rendezvous site for the Ohio company, led by JS, and the Michigan contingent, led by Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight. JS’s company arrived there on 7 June, and Hyrum’s company came the following day. With the addition of the Michigan group, the expedition consisted of approximately 205 men and around 12 women and 10 children. (Bradley, Zion’s Camp 1834, 28; Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 11; “Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,” 7–8; Radke, “We Also Marched,” 149.)

    Bradley, James L. Zion’s Camp 1834: Prelude to the Civil War. Logan, UT: By the author, 1990.

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

    “Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,” May–June 1834. CHL. MS 4610.

    Radke, Andrea G. “We Also Marched: The Women and Children of Zion’s Camp, 1834.” BYU Studies 39 (2000): 147–165.

  3. [16]

    Notes and paper money were issued by a variety of state banks, as well as the Bank of the United States, during the 1830s, and a note from one institution may not have been accepted by another. As William Thomson, who visited the United States from Europe in the early 1840s, stated, “The greatest annoyance I was subjected to in travelling was in exchanging money. It is impossible to describe the wretched state of the currency—which is all bills issued by private individuals, companies, cities, and states.” (Thomson, Tradesman’s Travels, 60.)

    Thomson, William. A Tradesman’s Travels, in the United States and Canada, in the Years 1840, 41, and 42. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1842.

  4. [17]

    TEXT: A dotted line separates this paragraph from the previous one. Frederick G. Williams’s note to his wife, Rebecca Swain Williams, begins here.

  5. [18]

    In an 18 May 1834 letter to Emma Smith, JS noted that “Brother Fredrick [Frederick G. Williams] will write to Oliver [Cowdery] and give him the names of the places we pass through and a history of our jou[rn]ey from time to time.” These letters from Williams to Cowdery have not been located. (Letter to Emma Smith, 18 May 1834.)

  6. [19]

    According to George A. Smith’s account of the expedition, Williams stayed in Jacksonville, Illinois, the night of Sunday, 31 May. He returned to camp on 1 June with some residents of Jacksonville and then went back to Jacksonville with them. (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 23–25.)

    Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

  7. [20]

    Colossians 3:20.

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