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Letter from Joseph Wood, 14 March 1843

Source Note

Joseph Wood, Letter, Bonhomme Township, St. Louis Co., MO, to and JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 14 Mar. 1843; handwriting and signature of Joseph Wood; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notations, endorsement, dockets, and redaction.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7½ inches (32 × 19 cm). Each page is ruled with thirty-nine horizontal gray lines. The letter was inscribed on the first three pages; the fourth page is blank except for the address and later notations. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked.
Upon receipt, endorsed the letter. The letter was later refolded for filing. The letter was docketed twice 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. The letter 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 letter was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973, the letter 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, 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.

  3. [3]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  4. [4]

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

Historical Introduction

On 14 March 1843, attorney and former Latter-day Saint Joseph Wood wrote from Bonhomme Township, Missouri, to and JS in , Illinois, offering to defend member from charges of attempting to assassinate former Missouri governor in May 1842. Although Wood had joined the church about a decade earlier, he was excommunicated on two different occasions, and he implied in the letter featured here that he was no longer participating in the church. He nevertheless maintained that he still believed in the faith and stated that he had no desire to see “one of my brethren” convicted of a crime.
was taken into custody on 5 March 1843 while passing through under an assumed name. Wood learned of Rockwell’s arrest and visited him in the St. Louis County jail to offer legal counsel. He then wrote a letter addressed to , although he clarified that its contents were indirectly addressed to JS, whom he referred to as “Rev. Joseph Smith.” Wood also mentioned “the counsel” and “The Presidency” as possible recipients, likely referring to the and the . Wood’s letter urged church leaders to hire him and another St. Louis lawyer, , as soon as possible to act as Rockwell’s defense attorneys. Wood mailed the letter on 21 March; it evidently did not arrive in Nauvoo until 26 April, the day Whitney noted its receipt on the second leaf.
presumably shared the letter with JS soon after receiving it. Although it is unknown whether JS responded, Wood did not represent . Ultimately, in August 1843 the court appointed prominent attorney , who had represented JS and other church members during the 1830s, to defend Rockwell.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Minute Book 1, 19 Mar. 1833. Wood was excommunicated on 3 February 1834 in Pontiac, Michigan Territory, for licentious sexual conduct. Although he was reinstated by 1840, in November of that year he was again excommunicated for “conduct unbecoming a man of God.” He evidently had not sought reinstatement by 1843. (Letter to J. G. Fosdick, 3 Feb. 1834; General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 36; News Item, Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1841, 2:335.)

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

  2. [2]

    “Orrin Porter Rockwell,” Daily Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 6 Mar. 1843, [3]; see also “Part 1: March 1843.”

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

  3. [3]

    Wood may not have been familiar with the church’s various governing bodies or common church vocabulary, as suggested by his use of “reverend,” a title rarely used by early Latter-day Saints to refer to JS.

  4. [4]

    See also Letter to Richard Blennerhassett, 17 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    See Transcript of Proceedings, 18 Nov. 1843, State of Missouri v. Rockwell (Clay Co. Cir. Ct. 1843), [6], Historical Department, Nineteenth-Century Legal Documents Collection, CHL.

    Historical Department. Nineteenth-Century Legal Documents Collection, ca. 1825–1890. CHL. CR 100 339.

Page [2]

and Joseph under the name of lecturing against mormonism in order to excite prejudice and hatred against, and some fools have believed him, but the most enlightened believe that he is a knave, if I could meet with him sometime when I am in the humour & about half shaved I would give him hell to such a degree that he would hate ever after.
Now when you receive this if you intend to do any thing for , recollect, it must be done immediately: therefore if you intend to help him as soon as you receive this send some man in whom you can put confidence, with to me immediately, and send with him about Four hundred Dollars, suppose you send , unless he is very much altered I k[n]ow him to be trusty and a battalion himself though he has but one arm. If you send I will immediately go up and try for a change venue, for I am informed they intend to try him in , and if they do he is a gone sucker— he must get a change of venue— all that I will demand for my services will be but little over my expences, and the loss that I will necessarily incur by neglect of other business or the employing another Lawyer to attend to my business <​during​> my absence— I don’t want a mormon convicted, that people are too near my heart for me to bear the thought—
Now don’t send a fool here who will blab & gab and get himself into difficulty, but if you send any one, charge him to ask no questions nor answer any, nor tell where he lives, nor his business, but only that he has heard of me as a lawyer and has come for advice, and not that he is personally acquainted with me.
My office <​is​> in at Hillsboro Jefferson County, but I am about half the time in ab[o]ut three miles of Manchester. whomsoever you send, let him come to by water and from thence to Manchester by stage, and there let him enquire where I reside, and any person in Manchester can tell him— I Board with a man by the name of James Pruet & when he gets there if I am off on business, or at my office at Hill’s boro, he must wait till I return or send Mr Pruet after me, he is a very clever [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Joseph Wood, 14 March 1843
ID #
1014
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:49–54
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Wood

Footnotes

  1. [4]

    Bennett lectured extensively throughout the eastern United States in 1842 and in St. Louis in January 1843. (See Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, chap. 9; and Letter from Isaac Galland, 11 Mar. 1843.)

    Smith, Andrew F. The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

  2. [5]

    Shaved was a nineteenth-century colloquialism for being inebriated. (Farmer and Henley, Slang and Its Analogues, 6:164.)

    Farmer, John S., and W. E. Henley, eds. Slang and Its Analogues, Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Society for More Than Three Hundred Years. With Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, Etc. 7 vols. [London], 1890–1904.

  3. [6]

    In comparison, JS paid Illinois attorney Justin Butterfield $500 to represent him in the extradition proceedings before the United States Circuit Court for the District of Illinois in January 1843. (JS, Journal, 6 Jan. 1843.)

  4. [7]

    Wood was instrumental in Coray’s 1840 conversion to the church and in securing employment for Coray as one of JS’s scribes. According to family tradition, Coray lost his left arm below the elbow in an accident. (Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 1; Tate, “Howard and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray,” 354n12.)

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

    Tate, Charles D., Jr. “Howard and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray.” In Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Illinois, edited by H. Dean Garrett, 331–357. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1995.

  5. [8]

    Hillsboro, Missouri, is about forty miles southwest of St. Louis.

  6. [9]

    Manchester, Missouri, is about twenty miles west of St. Louis.

  7. [10]

    A James Pruett was identified as living in St. Louis County in the 1840 U.S. census. (1840 U.S. Census, Meramec Township, St. Louis Co., MO, 259.)

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

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