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Letter from Joseph Tippets, 2 April 1843

Source Note

, Letter, between and , [Hancock Co., IL], to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 2 Apr. 1843; handwriting presumably of ; four pages; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes address and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7½ inches (32 × 19 cm) and ruled with thirty-two horizontal gray lines. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style and addressed. The letter was refolded for filing.
In late 1844, following JS’s death, became one of the interim church trustees and was appointed “first bishop” among other bishops. It was presumably during this time that many of the church’s financial and other administrative records passed into his possession. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Newel K. Whitney kept, was inherited by Newel K. and ’s daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who was married to Isaac Groo. The documents were passed down within the Groo family. Between 1969 and 1974, the Groo family donated their collection of Newel K. Whitney’s papers to the J. Reuben Clark Library (renamed Harold B. Lee Library in 1973) at Brigham Young University.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Willard Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

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

  2. [2]

    Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24; Wilkinson et al., Brigham Young University, 4:255.

    Andrus, Hyrum L., and Chris Fuller, comp. Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers. Provo, UT: Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1978.

    Wilkinson, Ernest L., Leonard J. Arrington, and Bruce C. Hafen, eds. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. Vol. 4. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Historical Introduction

On 2 April 1843, Latter-day Saint wrote a letter to JS seeking counsel in the wake of his misfortunes. Tippets had joined the in the early 1830s in and, along with his extended family, had contributed substantial resources and labor toward building the in , Ohio, and purchasing land for the church in . With other church members, Tippets was expelled from Missouri in 1839 and relocated to . His first wife, Rosalia Elvira Perry, died in 1841, leaving him to raise two children on his own. In June 1842, he married Amanda Melvina Perry, Rosalia’s sister. In 1843 he lost his home in , Illinois, to fire. Emphasizing his faithfulness in paying to the church, in the letter featured here Tippets mentioned a blessing he had received from and asked JS when the prosperity it promised would be realized.
wrote the letter from the home of his father-in-law, , located in , “about fore miles from and about five from .” The letter lacks any postage marks, indicating that Tippets sent it to with a courier or delivered it himself, presumably when he attended the church’s April 1843 . There is no known reply.

Page [1]

April 2th 1843
From ,
Dear brother Joseph I am happy to improve the presant oppertunity to enform you of my presant situation, I should be more happy if I could enform you that I was p[r]ospering and doing well, but on the contrary I have to enform you that I have just had my house burned and every thing I had in it, though my house and furniture was nothing verry Costly yet it was all I had which consisted of clothing beding house and furniture &C, all we saved, was what we had on our backs which was the poorest we had, to be turned out of dours my self and family in this cold and enclement season of the year is truly trying indeed, it reminded me of the words of the Saviour, the foxes have houls [holes] and the burds of the are [air] have nests but the son of man hath not where to lay his hed, but we are quite happily entertained at presant, at my s whare we are welcomly received, I desine in this letter to give <​you​> a histary in general of my of self, or in other words render an account of my self for a few years past, I suppose it has ben so long since you saw or heard of me you have all most or quite forgot you eaver new me but you will reccollect som few years a gow when you ware living <​in​> Ohio myself in company with brother ware sent from the state of on a mishon to with money for the purpose of purchaseing lands for our brethren, we came to where where agreable to counsyl given to us there we taried through the following winter and summer during which time I went to scool through the winter and during the summer worked considerably on the , when in the fall we a gain persued our Journey to in fulfillment of our mishion on ariveing there we spent our little monies for lands to the [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Joseph Tippets, 2 April 1843
ID #
1029
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:145–150
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Tippets

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Matthew 8:20.

  2. [2]

    Gustavus Perry. (Tippets and Moncur, Brigham Lewis Tippets, Sr. Family, 18, 257.)

    Tippets, Elizabeth Wilcock, and Lucile Tippets Moncur, comps. Brigham Lewis Tippets, Sr. Family: A History of Brigham Lewis Tippets, Sr., His Wife, Abigail Eliza, Their Children, Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1988.

  3. [3]

    In mid-December 1833, JS dictated a revelation that instructed church members to “gather to gether all their monies” in order to purchase land in and around Jackson County, Missouri, which was designated as the “Land of Zion.” The revelation instructed Latter-day Saints “in the eastern countries” to appoint “wise men” who would convey the donations to Missouri. In 1834, church members in Lewis, New York, raised $848.40 and appointed Joseph Tippets and his cousin John Tippets to carry the money to Missouri. (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:70–74]; Minutes, 28 Nov. 1834.)

  4. [4]

    In November 1834, cousins John Tippets and Joseph Tippets, along with Joseph’s sister Caroline, met with JS and the high council in Kirtland, Ohio. The council advised the cousins to stay in Ohio for the winter. Joseph Tippets apparently attended the Elders School that was held in Kirtland during winter 1834–1835. (Minutes, 28 Nov. 1834; see also JS History, vol. B-1, 557–558, 562.)

  5. [5]

    The Tippets family departed for Missouri in September 1835. (JS, Journal, 23 Sept. 1835.)

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