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Letter from Don Carlos and Agnes Coolbrith Smith, 11 April 1839

Source Note

, Letter with postscript by , , Adams Co., IL, to and JS, , Clay Co., MO, 11 Apr. 1839. Featured version copied [between 29 May and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 39–40; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 11 April 1839, wrote from , Illinois, to his brother in the in , Missouri; Don Carlos’s wife, , added a postscript addressed to Hyrum and JS. In the letter, Don Carlos provided an update on Hyrum’s family, who had departed , Missouri, earlier in the year and settled in the vicinity of Quincy.
This letter was the second one sent to the prison. In his 6 March letter, he noted that ’s wife, , continued to suffer with a “severe cold.” He also reported that she and her infant son were staying with her sister and Mercy’s husband, , and that Hyrum’s five children from his deceased wife, , were staying with Hyrum’s parents. Don Carlos also suggested there were problems with family dynamics. This troublesome news was exacerbated because Hyrum had not received direct communication from Mary. According to the contents of the featured letter, Hyrum apparently replied to Don Carlos in late March, expressing anxiety and asking for additional information about his family. Don Carlos responded with this 11 April letter, reassuring his brother that Mary’s health was improving and that the tensions in the family were partially relieved. Don Carlos also asked Hyrum to convey words of encouragement to JS and the other prisoners—, , and . then added a short postscript addressed to Hyrum and JS, expressing her faith in divine providence and referring to the well-being of Hyrum’s and JS’s children.
As with the letters and wrote to the prisoners on 10 April 1839, it is unknown whether and ’s 11 April letter was carried to immediately or held until the received further information about the prisoners’ anticipated change of venue. The original letter is apparently not extant; however, copied the letter into JS Letterbook 2 sometime between 29 May and 30 October 1839.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Letter from Don Carlos Smith and William Smith, 6 Mar. 1839.

  2. [2]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 10 Apr. 1839.

  3. [3]

    Mulholland copied his own 29 May 1839 letter to Edward Partridge on page 15 of Letterbook 2, making that the earliest likely copying date for documents he subsequently copied but that had dates preceding 29 May.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter from Don Carlos and Agnes Coolbrith Smith, 11 April 1839
Letterbook 2 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 39

April 11th 1839
, after reading a line from you to myself, and one to which awakens all the feelings of tenderness and brotherly affection that one heart is capable of containing, I sit down in haste to answer it; My health and that of my family is tolerable good, and have been very sick but are getting better. Your family are in better health now than at any other period since your confinement: is getting tolerable good health, she is doing the best she can for the good and enjoyment of the children; the family are all together and seem to be contented. Lovina is a good girl and has quite a motherly care for the children, and takes considerable interest in the welfare of her mother. As respects you[r] fears concerning , you may put them to rest: I believe that she is your friend, and desires to promote your happiness; I have no fault to find with , for she has had a long fit of sickness, and where there has been a lack of wisdom, had she been well and had her own way, there would in all probability been no call for the observations that I made in my letter to you. I think it will be wisdom for to remain where she is at present. The course that we have pursued I think has proved advantageous to her. I am in hopes that my letter did not increase your trouble, for I know that your affliction is too great for human nature to bear, and if I did not know that there was a God in Heaven, and that his promises are sure and faithful, and that he is your friend in the midst of all your trouble, I would fly to your relief and either be with you in prison, or see you breathe free air, air too that had not been inhaled by and corrupted by a pack of ruffians who trample upon virtue and innocence with impunity and are not even satisfied with the property and blood of the , but must exult over the dead. You both have my prayers, my influence, and warmest feelings with a fixed determination if it should so be, that you should be destroyed, to avenge your blood four fold. Joseph must excuse me for not writing to him at this time Give my love to all the prisoners, write to me as often as you can, and do not be worried about your families; Your’s in affliction as well as in peace.
[p. 39]
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Source Note

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Page 39

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Don Carlos and Agnes Coolbrith Smith, 11 April 1839
ID #
436
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D6:414–417
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Mulholland

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Soon after arriving in Illinois, Lucy Mack Smith and her daughter Lucy fell ill with “a very severe case of Cholera.” (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 17, [2].)

  2. [2]

    After being essentially bedridden for “4 or 5 months,” Mary Fielding Smith wrote to her husband on 11 April 1839—the same date as the featured letter—noting that her health was rapidly improving. (Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], to Hyrum Smith, 11 Apr. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL.)

    Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.

  3. [3]

    Lovina, the oldest daughter of Hyrum and Jerusha Barden Smith, was born on 16 September 1827. (Hyrum Smith Family Bible.)

    Hyrum Smith Family Bible, 1834. In Hyrum Smith, Papers, ca. 1832–1844. BYU.

  4. [4]

    On 19 March 1839, when church member David W. Rogers brought the prisoners letters from family and friends, Hyrum Smith was distraught that there was nothing from his wife, Mary Fielding Smith. The next day, he wrote to Mary: “If you have forsaken me you could also send me word then I should know what to depend upon.” (Hyrum Smith, Liberty, MO, to Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], 20 Mar. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL.)

    Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.

  5. [5]

    In his 6 March 1839 letter to Hyrum Smith and JS, Don Carlos Smith expressed his opinion about either Mary Fielding Smith or Mercy Fielding Thompson: “The family would do better without her than with her; which I am confident you will regulate when you come. One reason for so saying, is that I do not think that she is a suitable person to govern the family.” Don Carlos’s language is too vague to determine with certainty which woman he was referring to. (Letter from Don Carlos Smith and William Smith, 6 Mar. 1839; see also Esplin, “Hyrum Smith,” 122–163.)

    Esplin, Ronald K. “Hyrum Smith.” In United by Faith: The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family, edited by Kyle R. Walker, 122–163. American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, 2006.

  6. [6]

    As of 11 April 1839, Mercy Fielding Thompson, Robert B. Thompson, and their daughter, Mary Jane, lived “in a small House in Quincy” with Mary Fielding Smith; her five-month-old son, Joseph F. Smith; and her five stepchildren, who had evidently relocated from their grandparents’ residence. (Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], to Hyrum Smith, 11 Apr. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL.)

    Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.

  7. [7]

    See Psalm 138:7.

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