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Blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, 23 March 1843

Source Note

JS, Blessing, to , , Hancock Co., IL, 23 Mar. 1843; handwriting and signature of JS; one page; Whitney Family Documents Collection, CHL.
Bifolium measuring 7–8 × 5 inches (18–20 × 13 cm). Each leaf has a rounded top with the apex of an arch at the middle. Two parallel, machine-ruled red lines—the outside line slightly thicker than the inside—create a border around the entire recto of the first leaf. The upper portion of the verso of the second leaf contains three distinct panels with similar red borders. The top bordered panel follows the curve at the top of the leaf; the two bordered panels below it are rectangular. When the bifolium is folded twice horizontally, these bordered panels form the front and back of an envelope with a half-circle flap to fold over the letter.
The blessing remained in the Whitney family throughout the nineteenth century. At an unknown time, the document was acquired by ’s mother, . During the last years of her life, Elizabeth Ann Whitney lived with her daughter Mary Jane Whitney Groo, who acquired the document. Groo gave this document to her nephew Orson F. Whitney, and in 1912, he donated the document to Joseph F. Smith, who was then serving as president of the church. In 2010, the document was transferred from the Office of the First Presidency to the Church History Department (CHL).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Orson F. Whitney, Salt Lake City, UT, to Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, UT, 1 Apr. 1912, Whitney Family Documents Collection, CHL; see also Whitney, Diary, 1 Apr. 1912, 32.

    Whitney Family Documents Collection, 1843–1912. CHL.

    Whitney, Orson F. Diaries, 1877–1931. Special Collections and Archives, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.

Historical Introduction

On 23 March 1843, JS inscribed a blessing in , Illinois, for eighteen-year-old , promising blessings for her and her family on the condition that she “remain in the to the end.” Sarah Ann, daughter of and , first met JS when he and his family briefly moved in with the Whitneys in early 1831. Over the succeeding twelve years, her family interacted often with JS, in part because of her parents’ ecclesiastical positions—Newel was a of the and Elizabeth Ann was a counselor in the of the .
In 1842, JS introduced plural marriage to the Whitney family, who preserved a rare contemporaneous textual record of their experiences. On 27 July 1842, and JS in a plural marriage. A revelation addressed to Newel on the day of the 1842 sealing promised him “honor and immortality and eternal life to all your house both old and young.” Less than a month after the sealing, JS spoke of his desire “to get the fulness of my blessings sealed upon” his own head and the heads of Newel, , and Sarah Ann Whitney. Three days later, Newel and Elizabeth Ann were blessed “with part in the first reserrection also with many other blessings together with the promise to all [the Whitneys’] House the same day.” Finally, about a week later, Newel K. Whitney was “blessed above others with long life[,] the of the [,] a double portion of the spirit heretofore confered upon all my fellows[, and] with all gifts posessed by my progenitors who held the Priesthood before me anciently.” Of the several documents promising blessings to Whitney family members, the blessing featured here is the only document directed solely to Sarah Ann.
On the day JS wrote the blessing for , JS also blessed with eternal life and promised him an eternal marriage with his recently deceased wife, , sister of . Joseph Kingsbury later reported that his blessing was connected with a plan JS introduced to have Kingsbury and Sarah Ann Whitney undergo a “pretended marriage.” Sarah Ann and JS were sealed to each other in July the previous year, and JS and others counseled Kingsbury to enter the agreed-upon relationship “for the purpose of Bringing about the purposes of God.”
It is unknown when on 23 March 1843 this blessing was given or what relationship it had to the blessing given the same day to . Unlike the Kingsbury blessing, which apparently is a record of a verbal blessing JS pronounced upon Kingsbury, JS composed this document for —“the one into whose hands this may fall”—evidently while she was not present. According to Kingsbury’s recollection, he, Sarah Ann, and her parents were together when JS pronounced Kingsbury’s blessing. It is unknown whether JS wrote the blessing for Sarah Ann before, during, or after this meeting. JS composed the blessing on stationery of a unique style and shape; this same stationery was used for at least one other document—a document written at an unknown time by to her mother, . That the stationery was apparently kept in the Whitney family may indicate that JS received the paper from the Whitneys. JS noted that he wrote the document in “,” though at the time he was supposed to be on a trip to , Illinois.
Few of ’s own writings survive, and none is known to illuminate this blessing from her perspective. However, the Whitney family preserved a significant number of family and church records. This document, along with a select few other records likely important to the family, was isolated from that larger collection, suggesting that Sarah Ann, her , and other family members assigned those select documents a special status.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 92–93.

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–A [D&C 72:8]; Minutes and Discourses, 17 Mar. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 27 July 1842.

  4. [4]

    Letter to Newel K., Elizabeth Ann Smith, and Sarah Ann Whitney, 18 Aug. 1842.

  5. [5]

    Entries dated for 21 and 27 Aug. 1842, in “Revelation to Newel K. Whitney through Joseph the Seer,” 27 July 1842, copy, Revelations Collection, CHL.

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

  6. [6]

    Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843; Obituary for Caroline Whitney Kingsbury, Wasp, 29 Oct. 1842, [3].

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  7. [7]

    Kingsbury, Autobiography, 13. Though Kingsbury mentions “others” in his autobiography, he does not specify who they were. He was likely referring to Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney.

    Kingsbury, Joseph C. Autobiography, ca. 1848–1864. Ronald and Ilene Kingsbury Papers, 1832–1995. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

  8. [8]

    See Historical Introduction to Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.

  9. [9]

    Kingsbury, Autobiography, 16.

    Kingsbury, Joseph C. Autobiography, ca. 1848–1864. Ronald and Ilene Kingsbury Papers, 1832–1995. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

  10. [10]

    Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, “To My Mother,” Orson F. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

    Whitney, Orson F. Papers, 1842–1964. BYU.

  11. [11]

    See Historical Introduction to Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.

  12. [12]

    In an 1856 letter to her third husband, Heber C. Kimball, Sarah Ann described her family life at the time—she was by then a wife and mother in a plural marriage—and contrasted it with a time when she was “young gay & buoyant with hope and the brightest dreams of ideal fancy.” She also expressed her belief in sacrificing for a deeply believed cause without complaint: “She who learns to lean upon the Lord and by His strength to suffer and be silent has learnt a lesson which all the world cannot wrench from her.” (Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball to Heber C. Kimball, 8 Jan. 1856, Heber C. Kimball, Letters to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, CHL.)

    Kimball, Heber C. Letters to Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball, 1845–1856. CHL.

  13. [13]

    See Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Blessing to Sarah Ann Whitney, 23 March 1843
ID #
7087
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:100–104
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