, Letter, , Carroll Co., MO, to JS, [, Caldwell Co., MO], 31 Mar. 1838. Featured version copied [ca. mid- or late Apr. 1838] in JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 26–28; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes use marks. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.
Historical Introduction
, a land speculator in Carroll County, Missouri, wrote to JS on 31 March 1838, suggesting that the Latter-day Saints purchase land in that area. Thomas, who had apparently met JS and his wife , offered to sell the Saints a part of his land near . Thomas also introduced JS to , another Carroll County landowner who was interested in selling land to the Saints. Root reportedly visited with JS and in the next few days. Later, church leaders met with Thomas and Root and eventually agreed to purchase land from Root at De Witt, where Latter-day Saints proceeded to settle.
See Sidney Rigdon, Testimony, Nauvoo, IL, 1 July 1843, pp. [2]–[3], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; and [Rigdon], Appeal to the American People, 36–37; see also Perkins, “Prelude to Expulsion,” 264–268; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 144–145; and LeSueur, “Missouri’s Failed Compromise,” 140–144.
Perkins, Keith W. “De Witt—Prelude to Expulsion.” In Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Missouri, edited by Arnold K. Garr and Clark V. Johnson, 261–280. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1994.
Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).
LeSueur, Stephen C. “Missouri’s Failed Compromise: The Creation of Caldwell County for the Mormons.” Journal of Mormon History 31, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 113–144.