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Letter from Moses Martin, 7 November 1841

Source Note

, Letter, La Porte, LaPorte Co., IN, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 7 Nov. 1841; handwriting of ; three pages; BYU. Includes addressing and docket.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7½ inches (32 × 19 cm). The pages are ruled with thirty-five horizontal blue lines. The letter was written on the first three pages and then addressed and trifolded twice in letter style. A red adhesive wafer is still adhered to the first page, and the last page was torn, likely when the letter was opened. The bottom three inches of the second leaf are missing, having been torn along the fold.
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. The Church Historical Department received a photocopy of this document in 1982 from a private collector. The original is currently housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, which has no available provenance information for this item.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

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

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

Historical Introduction

On 7 November 1841, wrote a letter to JS from La Porte, Indiana, reporting on his mission to the eastern . Likely at the August 1841 of the , Martin had been appointed to serve a mission to the eastern states. Within days of receiving this assignment, Martin left his home in , Iowa Territory, traveling northeast through and then through northern , where he stopped to write this letter.
As he traveled, visited the thriving of the in Knox and Stark counties in , where he experienced some proselytizing success. Prior to Martin’s preaching, local Congregationalist minister Samuel G. Wright had urged “some man competent to manage public discussions” to combat the growing influence of Latter-day Saints in the region. As the letter featured here indicates, Martin encountered challenges to his missionary efforts in the regions around , where local ministers and newspapers vocally opposed Latter-day Saint efforts.
While preaching in Will County, Illinois, learned that a week after his departure, the had published an epistle instructing all missionaries then “in the vineyard” to immediately write to the Twelve, detailing “their situations, designs, and all things relating to their ministry.” The epistle directed all missionaries to return quickly to , Illinois, where the would give them further instructions regarding their proselytizing duties. Sometime around 25 September, Martin wrote to , the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, for further instructions regarding the mission that he, Martin, had only recently undertaken. With Young’s approval, Martin continued his journey east.
While ’s letters to solicited direction regarding his mission, his letter to JS offered a report of his mission thus far. The contents of the letter also suggest that Martin may have been concerned about his family’s health in . At the time of his departure, sickness had been rampant throughout the settlement. Martin presumably sent the letter to from La Porte, Indiana. The lack of postal markings on the envelope suggests that Martin may have sent the letter via an unnamed courier. Extant records do not indicate any reply from JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The minutes of the conference do not mention Martin’s mission assignment, though the timing of the assignment suggests it was issued at the conference. (Iowa Stake, Record, 7–9 Aug. 1841, 101–104; Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 25 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

    Iowa Stake, Record. / Iowa Stake. “Church Record,” 1840–1841. CHL. LR 7817 21.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  2. [2]

    Samuel G. Wright, Henderson, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 16 Mar. 1841; Samuel G. Wright, Henderson, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 18 June 1841, American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, reel 18, CHL.

    American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, 1816–1898. Microfilm. CHL.

  3. [3]

    Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve, to the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:520.

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

  4. [4]

    Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 25 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; see also Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 29 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  5. [5]

    See Clayton, Diary, 1 July 1841; 8 and 17 Aug. 1841; 11 Sept. 1841.

    Clayton, William. Diary, Vol. 1, 1840–1842. BYU.

Page [1]

November the 7the 1841 Laport [La Porte] Indiana
Dear Br in the Lord it is with pleasure that I take my pen in hand to in form you whare I am and what my situation is at the preasant my hea[l]th is good as I could expect and I hope that thes few unpolished lines may <​find​> you enjoying the same Blessings with your family I left Lee Co Iowa on the 9th of August last by the advice of the Breatherin I Concluded that I would once more go forth to prune the vinyard of the Lord with the deturmi[n]ation never to leave it again unt til it is well pruned I went first to walnut grove then to Lafayett[e] near in company with others six hear was a of upward of thirty and meny are Believing and the work of the Lord is aroling forth in this part after staying hear some time and seeing that thare was some of the that Could preach in this place and could not go eny further from home I though[t] Best for me to go further so I went on toward until I came to the town of Juliet and vercinit [vicinity] when I commenced preaching preached in Juliet plainfield Napersville and in all the regions around about prejudise is giving away and meny are believeing the trut[h] and some have imbrased it all thou[gh] the preast of the day have set up a wonderful howling at a distance for the[y] dare not venter a close contack for they vary well know that thare old ship the reffuge of lies will not Bare close work thare fore they prowl around at a distance and Cry Jo Smith thus they prevale on some of the igneant and superstition not to hear whilest the more open harted and noble minded receve the truth and when those preasts are in vited to investigate the subgect they uterly refuse but flee to the old ship reffuge [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Moses Martin, 7 November 1841
ID #
1635
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:351–355
Handwriting on This Page
  • Moses Martin

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Breatherin” likely refers to the leaders of the Iowa Stake. In a letter to Brigham Young, Martin reported that he had been appointed to serve a mission by the “preasident and Bishop” of the Iowa stake, going “east as fair [far] as New hampshire.” (Moses Martin, Will Co., IL, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 25 Sept. 1841, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  2. [2]

    Martin completed a short mission to Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1834, following his return to Kirtland after the Camp of Israel expedition. (Martin, Journal, 10 Aug.–23 Oct. 1834.)

    Martin, Moses. Journal, 1834. CHL. MS 1986.

  3. [3]

    Walnut Grove, a township in Knox County, Illinois, had a sizable branch of the church at this time, consisting of ninety-two members, with one high priest, ten elders, two priests, two teachers, and two deacons. (Walnut Grove Branch, Minutes, 10 July 1841, William Burton, Papers, CHL.)

    Burton, William. Papers, ca. 1837–1851. CHL.

  4. [4]

    La Fayette is a township in Stark County, Illinois, that was surveyed and settled in 1836. (Hall, Stark County, Illinois, 1:125, 260.)

    Hall, J. Knox. Stark County, Illinois, and Its People: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement. 2 vols. Chicago: Pioneer Publishing, 1916.

  5. [5]

    In June 1842, Reverend Samuel G. Wright, a Protestant minister in the area, described a Latter-day Saint branch near La Fayette as consisting of “between 30, & 40 members.” The branch met at the home of Latter-day Saint convert and Stark County resident James McClenahan. (Samuel G. Wright, Rochester, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 21 June 1842, American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, reel 18, CHL; Stark Co., IL, Marriage Register, 1839–1931, vol. 1, p. 3, 27 Mar. 1840, microfilm 1,403,417, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Samuel G. Wright, Diary, 23 May 1842, in McKenzie, “Congregational Church, Toulon, Illinois,” 508.)

    American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, 1816–1898. Microfilm. CHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    McKenzie, Clare. “Congregational Church, Toulon, Illinois, 1846–1921: The Story of Seventy-Five Years in the Congregational Church of Toulon, Illinois.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 13, no. 4 (Jan. 1921): 504–537.

  6. [6]

    Reverend Samuel G. Wright noted the growth of the Latter-day Saints in this area during 1841. Early that year, Wright wrote, “The Mormons have a settlement of 25 families & their preachers go to every neighbourhood where they can get an audience.” Two months later he reported “prodigious” growth among the Latter-day Saints in the region. (Samuel G. Wright, Henderson, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 16 Mar. 1841; Samuel G. Wright, Henderson, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 18 June 1841, American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, reel 18, CHL.)

    American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, 1816–1898. Microfilm. CHL.

  7. [7]

    Juliet, Illinois (later renamed Joliet), was incorporated in 1837. Plainfield, Illinois, is a town in Will County, Illinois, settled around 1826. Naperville, Illinois, is a town in DuPage County, settled in 1831. (Joliet Illustrated, 3–4; History of Will County, Illinois, 380, 477–478; Richmond and Vallette, History of the County of Du Page, Illinois, 88–90.)

    Joliet Illustrated: Historical, Descriptive and Biographical. Joliet, IL: Daily Republican, 1897.

    History of Will County, Illinois, containing a History of the County—Its Cities, Towns, &c.; a Directory of Its Real Estate Owners; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men. . . . Chicago: William Le Baron Jr., 1878.

    Richmond, C. W., and H. F. Vallette. A History of the County of Du Page, Illinois; Containing an Account of Its Early Settlement and Present Advantages, a Separate History of the Several Towns, Including Notices of Religious Organizations, Education, Agriculture and Manufactures, with the Names and Some Account of the First Settlers in Each Township, and Much Valuable Statistical Information. Chicago: Scripps, Bross and Spears, 1857.

  8. [8]

    Reverend John H. Prentiss, a Congregationalist minister in Naperville, Illinois, affirmed that many people tried to thwart the Saints’ proselytizing efforts there. Prentiss wrote, “Mormon preachers have been prouling around, and in the midst of us, but have gone away discouraged, their efforts proving an entire failure.” He explained further: “A considerable proportion of the professors of religion in this community are firm in the belief, & strong in their attachments to the fundamental doctrines of the Bible. Hence they are prepared to regard with a jealous eye, the efforts of those who would subvert the gospel of Christ.” (John H. Prentiss, Naperville, IL, to Milton Badger, New York City, NY, 1 Dec. 1841, American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, reel 18, CHL.)

    American Home Missionary Society Incoming Correspondence, 1816–1898. Microfilm. CHL.

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