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Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 24 October 1841

Source Note

, Letter, , Lancashire, England, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 24 Oct. 1841; handwriting of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamps, postal notation, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 8 inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was written on all four pages and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked in Philadelphia. The letter was later folded for filing.
The document was docketed in its original trifolded state 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. After the letter was folded for filing, it was docketed a second time by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859. The letter is listed in a Church Historian’s Office inventory from circa 1904. By 1973 it had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The dockets, inventory, and inclusion in the JS Collection indicate this letter has remained in continuous institutional custody since its receipt in 1842.

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]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [3]

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

Historical Introduction

On 24 October 1841, wrote a letter from , England, to JS in , Illinois, to report on the British mission and to confirm his intention to send funds for the construction of the in Nauvoo. Pratt was a member of the , and he and the rest of the were called in an 1838 revelation dictated by JS to serve an overseas mission to Great Britain. Several of the apostles eventually headed east a year later in 1839. Pratt departed on 9 March 1840 and arrived in on 6 April. Several months later, he returned to New York to escort his and children to because he expected to stay to preside over the mission when the other members of his quorum returned home. Pratt had been back in England for a year when he wrote this letter.
In accordance with JS’s direction, most of the apostles completed their missions and left during the spring of 1841. Staying behind with his family, managed the ’s printing operations in England, chiefly the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star newspaper, and supervised the continued emigration of church members from England. In his letter, Pratt reported on emigration, church growth, and recent excommunications.
likely mailed the letter in late October or early November. It was stamped upon arrival in on 23 December 1841. A version of the letter was published in the 1 February 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, indicating that the letter was likely received by JS sometime in January.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 8 July 1838–A [D&C 118].

  2. [2]

    Pratt, Autobiography, 332–333, 342–343.

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

  3. [3]

    In December 1840, JS expressed his support of Pratt’s continued labors in England. Parley P. Pratt was the only apostle in Great Britain in October 1841. Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Brigham Young departed for the United States in April 1841, and Orson Hyde left for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in June. (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to Sidney Rigdon, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1841, 2:364–365.)

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

  4. [4]

    Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1842, 3:682–683. Though the letter was formally and primarily addressed to JS, it was common practice to publish such letters reporting on missionary work. In this case, the letter published in the Times and Seasons also included words of encouragement for “the Building Committe, and to the saints in general,” and conveyances of love from Pratt and his wife to friends and fellow Latter-day Saints back home.

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

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 24 October 1841 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

from one to two hundred Saints on board, with at their head.
The in this are generally Rejoicing, and filled with the testimony of Jesus. Great zeal is manifested by the officers in general, of which there is probibly more than one thousand. we are increasing in Numbers and in Gifts and blessings. New of the Church are rising in many places, and great additions made to the old ones. and vicinity has poured forth a stream of emigration for the last 18 months, and still we numbered on at our , two weeks ago, near sixteen hundred members, in between one and two hundred officers; all these with<​in​> one hours journey of . There has been a general time of pruning, we have cut off upwards of 100 members from this Conferene in a few months; this causes the young and tender Branches to grow with double vigour.— I now come to the principal subject for which I write this letter, viz. the !
The Lord enabled us to send about sixty dollars in Gold by ; this was mostly subscribed by two or three individuals. We shall probibly send as much more by the Ship Chaos, in care of . [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 24 October 1841
ID #
702
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:325–330
Handwriting on This Page
  • Parley P. Pratt

Footnotes

  1. [8]

    On 16 April 1840 a church conference held in Preston, England, selected Peter Melling as the first patriarch in England and ordained him the following evening. (Woodruff, Journal, 15–17 Apr. 1840; JS History, vol. C-1, 1052–1053.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [9]

    The April 1841 church conference in Manchester reported 5,814 members, 136 elders, 303 priests, 169 teachers, and 68 deacons throughout the British Isles. (Minutes, Manchester, England, 6 Apr. 1841, in Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 1:302.)

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [10]

    The 17 October church conference in Manchester took place at Carpenters’ Hall. (Minutes, Manchester, England, 17 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:105.)

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  4. [11]

    The October issue of the Millennial Star (printed about one week before the conference) expressed concern about those who had been baptized without a full testimony and ended up “blaspheming against the things now revealed, and railing against the servants of the most high.” It urged that “the rules of the church discipline should be strictly enforced, and iniquity rooted out of the church.” The next month, the Millennial Star reported that 125 members had been excommunicated, and in December the paper notified readers that church member Andrew Gardner and his followers, though professing to be Latter-day Saints, had been excommunicated for “rebelling against the constituted authorities” of the church. (“To the Elders and Priests of the Church of the Saints,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1841, 2:87; Minutes, Manchester, England, 17 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:105; “Beware of a Deceiver,” Millennial Star, Dec. 1841, 2:128.)

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  5. [12]

    See John 15:2–6.

  6. [13]

    A January 1841 revelation commanded the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:22–36].)

  7. [14]

    In a diary entry written before his departure from England, Joseph Fielding mentioned unnamed “Saints who mostly made Presents to Elders Pratt and [Amos] Fielding of [two shillings and sixpence] each and this chiefly, they have sent by me for the Building of the Temple in Nauvoo.” (Fielding, Journal, Feb.–Oct. 1841, 80; see also Book of the Law of Lord, 112.)

    Fielding, Joseph. Journals, 1837–1859. CHL. MS 1567.

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