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Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 February 1840

Source Note

, Letter, , to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL?], 22 Feb. 1840. Featured version copied [between Apr. and June 1840] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 111–115; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 22 February 1840, wrote a letter to JS from , the fourth in a series of seven extant letters written to inform JS of the proceedings of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which was considering the ’s memorial. In this letter, Higbee continued to recount the testimonies given to the committee by Senator and Representative of (both of whom had also testified on 21 February), as well as that of a Mr. Corwin, whom Higbee described in this letter as a former newspaper editor from . Higbee responded to Linn’s and Jameson’s respective testimonies—which depicted church members and JS negatively—and suggested that the church prepare several men to travel to Washington as witnesses if the committee decided that the church’s memorial should be considered in an additional investigation.
presumably sent this letter by post to , Illinois, and JS presumably received it after he returned to Commerce by 29 February 1840. The original letter is not extant. copied the version featured here into JS Letterbook 2 sometime between April and June 1840.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–A.

  2. [2]

    John Smith, Journal, 1836–1840, 29 Feb. 1840, [58].

    Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.

  3. [3]

    Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19.

    Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 February 1840
Letterbook 2 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 111

Feb 22d. 1840
Dear Brother
I have just returned from the committee room; the committee being present to day, a Mr. Corwin of , formerly a democratick editor, emtied his budget: which was as great a bundle of nonsense and stuff, as could be thought of; I suppose not what he knew but what gentlemen had told him, for— instance the religious & others. I confess I had hard work to restrain my feelings some of the time; but I did succeed in keeping silence—tolerably well. Himself & summoned all the energies of their mind to impress upon the assembly, that Jo. Smith as he called him, led the people altogether by revelation, in their [p. 111]
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Source Note

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Page 111

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Elias Higbee, 22 February 1840
ID #
517
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:193–198
Handwriting on This Page
  • Howard Coray

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Presumably one of several committee rooms in the United States Capitol.

  2. [2]

    “Mr. Corwin” appears to be the friend of Linn and Jameson that Higbee mentioned in two previous letters to JS. (Letter from Elias Higbee, 20 Feb. 1840–A; Letter from Elias Higbee, 21 Feb. 1840.)

  3. [3]

    “Emtied his budget” is possibly an idiomatic phrase based on an archaic definition of the word budget as “a stock or store.” (“Budget,” in American Dictionary [1841], 222.)

    An American Dictionary of the English Language; First Edition in Octavo, Containing the Whole Vocabulary of the Quarto, with Corrections, Improvements and Several Thousand Additional Words. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New Haven: By the author, 1841.

  4. [4]

    Clark was in charge of the Missouri militia operations against the Saints in October 1838 and cooperated with civil authorities in the prosecution of JS and other church leaders. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Jefferson City, MO, to John B. Clark, Fayette, MO, 27 Oct. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City; “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:162.)

    Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.

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