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Letter from Austin Cowles, 13 March 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Hillsborough Co., NH, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 13 Mar. 1843; handwriting and signature of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with twenty-nine horizontal blue lines. The upper left corner of the folded bifolium bears an illegible circular embossment that goes through both leaves. The letter was written in blue ink, trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. It was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The notation “Copied by A. J.” was apparently added by a clerk or secretary for Andrew Jenson, who served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The document was listed in an inventory that was 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 letter’s early dockets, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    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.

  2. [2]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  3. [3]

    Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 48–52, 55.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. [4]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  5. [5]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 13 March 1843, wrote a letter from , New Hampshire, to JS, in , Illinois, advocating for to be allowed to continue his mission in and reporting on Cowles’s own proselytizing efforts. Cowles was a counselor to , the president in Nauvoo, and had been preaching in and New Hampshire since fall 1842. Cowles encountered Adams in January 1843, sometime after Adams returned to New England from an 1842 visit to Nauvoo. Although JS talked to Adams about charges of adultery while Adams was in Nauvoo in 1842, he called for Adams to again come back to Nauvoo after he received a January 1843 letter from Adams’s wife, , alleging that Adams had been involved in an extramarital affair. On 10 March 1843, Adams received a letter from and ordering his return to Nauvoo. He responded immediately, relaying his intention to return speedily to Nauvoo.
However, was a significant asset for the in , having debated detractors and lectured regularly to refute opposition to the church, and Latter-day Saints in the area, likely unaware of the accusations against Adams, did not want him to leave. On 12 March, leaders in Boston passed resolutions requesting that church leaders allow Adams to come back to Boston after he answered the call to return to . Similarly, in this 13 March letter to JS, recommended that church leaders allow Adams to return to Boston to continue his ministry. There is no indication that Cowles was aware of the reason Adams was ordered to return to Nauvoo.
In addition to requesting that stay in , informed JS of the preaching success he had in Gilsum, New Hampshire, the birthplace of JS’s mother, . Lucy’s brother and JS’s uncle Solomon Mack Jr. still resided there. According to the letter, Cowles Solomon’s son Chilion Mack and hoped to baptize Solomon and other members of the family.
The absence of postage on the letter suggests that it was hand carried to . JS apparently received the letter, probably either in late March or early April. There is no indication that JS responded to the letter, perhaps because stated his intention to return to Nauvoo by early June.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Cowles is listed as attending a Nauvoo high council meeting on 22 October 1842, but he does not appear as an attendee in the minutes for the rest of 1842, suggesting he was no longer in Nauvoo. (Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 22 Oct. 1842.)

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Caroline Youngs Adams, ca. 15 Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 10 Feb. 1843.

  3. [3]

    George J. Adams, New York City, NY, to Brigham Young and Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Mar. 1843, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  4. [4]

    See, for example, “Dr. West and the Mormons,” Boston Investigator, 22 June 1842, [3].

    Boston Investigator. Boston. 1831–1904.

  5. [5]

    Resolutions of the Boston Conference, 12 Mar. 1843.

  6. [6]

    Although this 13 March letter to JS provides no indication that Cowles knew of the adultery accusations, in September 1843 Cowles brought charges of adultery, lying, and “unchristian conduct” against Adams before the Nauvoo high council. (Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 1 Sept. 1843.)

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.

Page [1]

March 13. 1843
Dear Brother Joseph a Communication from me though unexpected may not Be altogether unacceptable to you Inasmuch as it Embraces a matter that needs your Counsel and for Which I am authorised to Corrispond with you and Give you the Circumstances as they have fallon under my Observation you will have Learned E’er this Reaches you that there is no Small Stir in Concerning this Sect that is Every where spoken against and as has Given me the privilege to write to you that you may know that he is willing to stay in that place if it Be your Counsel and also tell the Circumstances as under my Observation having had an Interview with him and List[e]ned to his Discourses Delivered to Crowded assemblies and the universal applause Bestowed on him from Every quarter I have no hesitation in saying that I Believe that No in the Can at present fill his place in that that the access that he has to the people and the press: and acquaintance with Citizens Gives him an Influence over the minds of the people that no minister Beside however able Can Obtain But through much Labor this Communication I thought Good to make to the Intent that you might [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Austin Cowles, 13 March 1843
ID #
1012
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:43–46
Handwriting on This Page
  • Austin Cowles

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Adams received positive coverage of his lectures and Latter-day Saint beliefs in the Boston press. Some of these reports were later republished in the Times and Seasons. In February the Boston Daily Bee even published an article he had written. (“What Do the Mormons Believe?,” Daily Bee [Boston], 27 Feb. 1843, [1]; see also “Mormon Conference,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1843, 4:124–125.)

    Boston Daily Bee. Boston. 1842–1857.

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

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