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Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 27 March 1843

Source Note

, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS, [, Hancock Co., IL], 27 Mar. 1843; handwriting and signature of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, dockets, use marks, and redaction.
Bifolium measuring 11 × 9 inches (30 × 23 cm) and ruled with thirty-three horizontal gray lines, now faded. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The letter 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. After the letter was refolded for filing, 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 copied into the manuscript history of the church by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. Hawkins may have added use marks at this time. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The letter’s early dockets, its inclusion in the manuscript history, 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]

    JS History, vol. D-1, 1504–1505; Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441; “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  4. [4]

    “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.

  5. [5]

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

Historical Introduction

On 27 March 1843 in , Illinois, wrote a letter to JS, responding to concerns JS had expressed in a letter earlier in the day. The two men had become somewhat alienated during the previous year, and JS’s letter recounted his belief that Rigdon had aided in his attacks on JS. The letter expressed JS’s intent to withdraw fellowship from Rigdon, JS’s first counselor in the , at the April 1843 unless a reconciliation could be negotiated. JS sent , his personal secretary, to deliver the letter to Rigdon. The letter was apparently sent before 11:00 a.m. It was delivered to Rigdon in the Nauvoo post office, which was located in his home.
Within “a few minutes” of receiving JS’s letter, began writing a letter of reply. He denied any connection with , described the circumstances that led to his appointment as the postmaster of —the appointment had become a major point of contention between the two men—and related details regarding his recent trip to , Illinois. Rigdon concluded by expressing his desire to be at peace with JS. Portions of the letter do not correspond directly to items in JS’s 27 March 1843 letter, suggesting that Rigdon was also responding to verbal remarks made by JS when the two men met on 26 March. JS’s presence in Nauvoo and the simple addressing on Rigdon’s letter suggest that it was hand delivered to JS. There is no known response from JS.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter to Sidney Rigdon, 27 Mar. 1843.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Letter to Sidney Rigdon, 27 Mar. 1843.

  4. [4]

    JS did not withdraw fellowship from Rigdon at the conference. He did, however, present the First Presidency “for trial,” inviting church members to either sustain or raise objections to church leaders continuing in their callings. After discussing Rigdon’s past dealings with Bennett, the conference sustained Rigdon as a member of the presidency. (JS, Journal, 6 Apr. 1843; Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 27 March 1843 History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

As to the difficulties here I never at any time gave any countanance in relation to it, and he knows it as well as I do and feels it keenly he has threatened me severely that he could do with me as he pleased, and if I did not cease to aid you and quit trying to save my Prophet—as he calls you—from the punishment of law he would turn against me, and while at on his way to Upper Missouri he in one of his speeches made a violent attack on myself, all predicated on the fact that I would not aid him. Such are his feelings on the subject. and his threatnings. As to if there is any thing in his mind unfavorably disposed to you he has as far as I know kept it to himself for he never said any thing to me nor in my hearing from which I could draw even an inference of that kind, He was here yesterday when you came much dejected in spirit in relation to his temporal affairs. and commenced telling of the great injuries he had received by his Son-in law and the great losses he had sustained by him, and seemed greatly dejected on account of it. but he never mentioned any other subject. When I went to on Friday, I it was purely in relation to temporal matters making arangements for provisions for the ensuing season and to regulate some matters in relation to property only. While there I heard the report of the new indictments, and told me the day before I went out that I was among the number of those indicted, <​who were to be demanded,​> in relation to this I made such inquiry as I thought would enable me to determine the fact, but failed in the attempt I confess I felt some considerable interest in determining this fact. and felt anxious to know if I could find out how it was. Now on the broad scale I can assert in truth, that with myself and no any other person on this globe there never was nor is there now existing any <​thing​> privately or publickly to injure your character, in any respect whatever neither has any person spoken to me on any such subject. All that has ever [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 27 March 1843
ID #
1022
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:116–120
Handwriting on This Page
  • Sidney Rigdon

Footnotes

  1. [2]

    In October 1842, Rigdon shared with William Clayton information regarding a potential plot by Illinois governor Thomas Carlin to lure JS out of hiding in order to have him arrested and extradited to Missouri to stand trial on the charge of being an accessory to the attempted assassination of former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. Rigdon also wrote to United States attorney Justin Butterfield in October requesting his legal opinion regarding the legality of the efforts by Missouri officials to extradite JS. (JS, Journal, 5 Oct. 1842; Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, to Sidney Rigdon, [Nauvoo, IL], 20 Oct. 1842, Sidney Rigdon, Collection, CHL.)

    Rigdon, Sidney. Collection, 1831–1858. CHL. MS 713.

  2. [3]

    Bennett delivered lectures critical of JS and the church in St. Louis at the Lyceum Hall on 17 and 18 January 1843 and at the Concert Hall on 19, 20, and 21 January. (Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 133.)

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

  3. [4]

    Asahel Palmer was married to Carter’s daughter, Evaline. (See Nauvoo First Ward Census, 1842, Nauvoo Stake, Ward Census, CHL; and 1850 U.S. Census, DeKalb Township, DeKalb Co., IL, 379[A].)

    Nauvoo First Ward Census. Nauvoo City Census, 1842. CHL.

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

  4. [5]

    24 March 1843.

  5. [6]

    Rigdon may have been visiting his daughter Athalia and son-in-law, George W. Robinson, who had moved to La Harpe by September 1842. (George W. Robinson to John C. Bennett, 16 Sept. 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 248–249.)

    Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.

  6. [7]

    See JS, Journal, 17 Mar. 1843.

  7. [8]

    “Dr. Charles Higbee,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 28 Jan. 1843, [3].

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  8. [9]

    On 17 March 1843, a rumor circulated in Nauvoo that a Missouri grand jury had found new indictments naming JS and others for crimes allegedly committed during the 1838 conflict. The report, however, was incorrect. In June 1843, a grand jury in Daviess County, Missouri, indicted only JS for treason. (Indictment, Daviess Co., MO, [5] June 1843, State of Missouri v. JS for Treason [Daviess Co. Cir. Ct. 1843], Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.)

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