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Letter from Henry Q. Jennison, 18 August 1841

Source Note

Henry Q. Jennison, Letter, Steamboat Rapids, Mississippi River, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 18 Aug. 1841; handwriting presumably of Henry Q. Jennison; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The document was folded in letter style with four horizontal and two vertical folds. On the top left of the first leaf is a watermark of an eagle holding arrows and an olive branch in its talons, with the words “R. Hubbard Norwich Conn”. There is a large tear, measuring 1⅝ × ½ inches (4 × 1 cm), on the second page of the bifolium, likely caused by the removal of an adhesive wafer.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. Another docket was added 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 letter was first identified in a Church Historian’s Office index from circa 1904. The dockets and index suggest that this letter has remained in institutional custody since its receipt in 1841.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  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.

Historical Introduction

On 18 August 1841, Henry Q. Jennison of Bloomington Township, Iowa Territory, wrote to JS to offer his services as a civil engineer. By the time he wrote the letter, Jennison had been engaged in civil engineering for at least a decade, working in , , and . In 1833 he became a member of the Robert Williams Surveying Company, where he assisted with surveying Iowa Territory and planning Bloomington Township in that territory. As a surveyor and engineer, Jennison helped establish orderly settlements in the West and validate land claims in a region dominated by squatters. Although civil engineering was still in its infancy in the , efforts were afoot in 1841 to systematize the profession. These efforts included a meeting of several prominent engineers in , New York, to establish a professional society of American civil engineers—the American Institute of Engineers, which lasted only a short time.
Jennison’s letter was written from “St. Boat Rapids,” likely the steamboat named Rapids, which regularly traveled the between , Missouri, and , Illinois, during 1841. At the time the letter was written, Jennison was traveling back to Bloomington from the eastern via St. Louis. Likely while passing the growing city of , Illinois, the approximate halfway point on the steamboat’s route, Jennison penned this letter to JS. Jennison’s proffering of his engineering services coincided with several Nauvoo city ordinances passed in 1841 that related to surveying and engineering. The 1 March 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons published two of the city ordinances that dealt with surveying, including one that allowed for the election of a “Surveyor and Engineer.” Although the city council appointed to the post during its 8 March meeting, the Times and Seasons did not publish the appointment until December. If Jennison had become aware of the position, he may have believed the post was still available when he addressed this letter to JS.
No information regarding Jennison in is available from extant sources. It is unlikely that JS accepted Jennison’s offer.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For biographical information on Henry Q. Jennison, see Gideon, Indian Territory, 332–333.

    Gideon, D. C. Indian Territory: Descriptive, Biographical and Genealogical, Including the Landed Estates, County Seats, Etc., Etc., with a General History of the Territory. New York: Lewis Publishing, 1901.

  2. [2]

    Gideon, Indian Territory, 332.

    Gideon, D. C. Indian Territory: Descriptive, Biographical and Genealogical, Including the Landed Estates, County Seats, Etc., Etc., with a General History of the Territory. New York: Lewis Publishing, 1901.

  3. [3]

    Opie, Law of the Land, xx, 49–51, 58; Chura, Thoreau the Land Surveyor, 3.

    Opie, John. The Law of the Land: Two Hundred Years of American Farmland Policy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.

    Chura, Patrick. Thoreau the Land Surveyor. Gainesville: University of Florida, 2010.

  4. [4]

    “Who Were the Founders of the American Society of Civil Engineers?,” 232; “Institution of Civil Engineers,” 65–66.

    “Who Were the Founders of the American Society of Civil Engineers?” Engineering News and American Railway Journal 13, no. 10 (8 Mar. 1890): 232.

    “Institution of Civil Engineers.” American Railroad Journal, and Mechanics’ Magazine 4, no. 3 (1 Feb. 1840): 65–66.

  5. [5]

    See, for example, “Port of St. Louis,” Daily Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 26 Apr. 1841, [2]; and “A Handsome Cargo,” Daily Missouri Republican, 11 Dec. 1841, [2]. According to the Daily Missouri Republican, the Rapids left St. Louis sometime around 20 July 1841. (“Port of St. Louis,” Daily Missouri Republican, 20 July 1841, [2].)

    Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.

  6. [6]

    “City Ordinances,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1841, 2:336.

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

  7. [7]

    Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 Mar. 1841, 15; “Officers of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:638.

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

Page [1]

St. Boat Rapids Aug. 18th. /41—
Revd. Jos. Smith
Dr. Sir,
I am just returning from the East with a first rate Set of Levelling, or Civil Engineers instruments, and Should you in the prosecution of any of the improvements in your , need my assistance in Architecture, Engineering, or Levellings. Ten years practical Service in , & as Resident, & Assistant Engineer, with References from the Commissioners of the above States, and of , will entitle me to your confidence—
In haste I am yours very Respectfully
Address H[enry] Q. Jennison
Bloomington
Iowa Terry.
Charges very Moderate} [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Henry Q. Jennison, 18 August 1841
ID #
672
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:229–231
Handwriting on This Page
  • H.Q. Jennison

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Nineteenth-century engineering instruments included various kinds of levels and rods used to mark surveyed distances, altitude changes, and locations. (Gillespie, Treatise on Levelling, 5–30.)

    Gillespie, William M. A Treatise on Levelling, Topography and Higher Surveying. Edited by Cady Staley. New York: D. Appleton, 1874.

  2. [2]

    Leveling instruments allowed civil engineers to make topographical observations and geometric determinations about the land, which in turn allowed surveyors to lay out settlements in an orderly manner. (Gillespie, Treatise on Levelling, 1–4.)

    Gillespie, William M. A Treatise on Levelling, Topography and Higher Surveying. Edited by Cady Staley. New York: D. Appleton, 1874.

  3. [3]

    Jennison was in Pike County, Ohio, by at least March 1833. (Pike Co., OH, Marriage Records, 1815–1913, vol. 1, p. 203, 5 Mar. 1833, microfilm 292,748, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  4. [4]

    According to a later history, Jennison was a resident of Logansport, Indiana, in 1831, though the source may be inaccurate since it suggests that Jennison and his wife married in Indiana in 1831 despite other evidence showing that they married in Ohio in 1833. The history does, however, help establish the timing of Jennison’s work in Indiana. (Gideon, Indian Territory, 333.)

    Gideon, D. C. Indian Territory: Descriptive, Biographical and Genealogical, Including the Landed Estates, County Seats, Etc., Etc., with a General History of the Territory. New York: Lewis Publishing, 1901.

  5. [5]

    Jennison and his family moved to Bloomington, Iowa Territory, by 1839. (“Death of Mrs. H. Q. Jennison,” in “Old Settlers’ Register,” 1:175; Muscatine Co., IA, Land and Lot Deeds, 1838–1930, bk. B, pp. 155–156, 26 Oct. 1839, microfilm 1,003,316, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    “Old Settlers’ Register,” no date. 2 vols. Musser Public Library, Muscatine, IA. Transcript available at http://iagenweb.org/muscatine/index.htm.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  6. [6]

    Engineering and surveying on the American frontier could be quite profitable, with some surveyors earning upward of $100 per week. (Opie, Law of the Land, 47–48; Chura, Thoreau the Land Surveyor, 3.)

    Opie, John. The Law of the Land: Two Hundred Years of American Farmland Policy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.

    Chura, Patrick. Thoreau the Land Surveyor. Gainesville: University of Florida, 2010.

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