Letter to Abraham Jonas, 25 March 1843, Page 1
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Letter to Abraham Jonas, 25 March 1843

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Adams Co., IL, 25 Mar. 184[3]. Featured version drafted 25 Mar. 1843; handwriting of and ; signature of JS by ; one page; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes docket and archival marking.
Single leaf measuring 7⅝ × 5¾ inches (19 × 15 cm). It appears the leaf was the wrapper for a legal document that was produced by in his role as clerk of the mayor’s court. Phelps repurposed the wrapper for the inscription of this letter. The letter was folded twice, producing three vertical folds. The document has marked damage along two of the three folds. Along the left fold is a gap 4 inches long and 1¼ inches wide at the top tapering off to ⅛ inch at the bottom. Along the right fold is a hole that is 1½ inches wide at its widest point and 2¼ inches long. The document’s top edge is fragmented, as are the upper right and upper left edges. The damage has resulted in a significant loss of text.
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. 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]

    Phelps was appointed clerk of the mayor’s court on 11 February 1843. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 11 Feb. 1843, 159.)

  2. [2]

    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–.

  3. [3]

    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.

  4. [4]

    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 25 March 1843 in , Illinois, JS dictated a letter to of , Illinois, granting Jonas’s earlier request to borrow a cannon. Jonas was upset because the legislature had passed legislation cutting off the eastern half of his county, , to create , “contrary to” the wishes of the eastern Adams County citizens and “in contempt of their remonstrances.” The legislation, however, placed the creation of the new county into the hands of its citizens—if they failed to organize the county by electing county officers, Marquette County would not legally exist. Jonas encouraged his fellow citizens to protest the establishment of the new county by not participating in the forthcoming elections. In his 21 March 1843 letter requesting a cannon from JS, Jonas explained that he wanted to fire the cannon in celebration of the failed organization of the county and in retaliation against residents who earlier fired a cannon to celebrate the legislature’s establishment of Marquette County.
JS dictated his response to his clerk . Although tears in the letter have removed much of the text, an endorsement on ’s letter of request and a notation in JS’s journal indicate that JS’s letter conveyed permission for Jonas to borrow the cannon. The method of transmission of this letter from JS in to Jonas in is not known, nor is it known whether the cannon was actually borrowed. Regardless, voters did not select county officers at the election, meaning Jonas and other eastern residents were successful in preventing the organization of at that time. One newspaper reported, “And so the farce is ended—and Adams county is, as she has been for the last twenty years, and, as we hope she will continue for the next hundred—whole and undivided. The legislative power has proved too weak in the attempt to impose an act of tyranny upon the people.”
While a fair copy of the letter was presumably sent, it is apparently not extant. The draft is featured here. Due to its damaged state, editorial expansions and conjectures appear throughout the transcript.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Letter from Abraham Jonas, 21 Mar. 1843. JS did not personally have a cannon to lend. As lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion, however, he could lend one of the legion’s cannons, of which the legion had at least two. (See Nauvoo Legion, Second Cohort, General Return, 1843, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion, Second Cohort. General Return, 1843. CHL.

  2. [2]

    “Marquette County,” Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 6 Apr. 1843, [3].

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Abraham Jonas, 21 Mar. 1843; JS, Journal, 25 Mar. 1843; Collins and Perry, Past and Present of the City of Quincy, 94–95; see also An Act to Change the Name of the County of Marquette [27 Feb. 1847], Laws of the State of Illinois [1846–1847], pp. 38–41.

    Collins, William H., and Cicero F. Perry. Past and Present of the City of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing, 1905.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.

  4. [4]

    Letter from Abraham Jonas, 21 Mar. 1843; JS, Journal, 25 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    “Non-Organization of Marquette County—Future Action,” Quincy (IL) Whig, 12 Apr. 1843, [2].

    Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.

Page [1]

State of City of March 25th 184[3]
[page torn] yours of the 21 [instant] rec’ed, an[d] [page torn] I have to [page torn] you c[an obt]ain a cannon [page torn] desire[.] I [am?] [g]lad to hear that stuck to [you?] throug[h] your can[page torn]t, and that alr[ead]y you had forced u[po]n the new county of yet still you [page torn] pacific with and offer dual remedy success to freedom and peace old county and old friends
Respectfully yours
Joseph Smith
Esqr
P Five hund[r]ed cannons you should have if I had them [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Abraham Jonas, 25 March 1843
ID #
1019
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:108–112
Handwriting on This Page
  • William W. Phelps

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    TEXT: William W. Phelps handwriting begins.

  2. [2]

    TEXT: “State of I[page torn]”. Text missing because of damage here and in the rest of the document has been supplied from context.

  3. [3]

    TEXT: “Nau[page torn]oo”.

  4. [4]

    TEXT: “184[page torn]”.

  5. [5]

    TEXT: Based on the extant inscription and the size of the tear in the paper, there was a word here, possibly a brief salutation, such as “Sir,”.

  6. [6]

    TEXT: Page torn.

  7. [7]

    TEXT: “an[page torn]”.

  8. [8]

    TEXT: Portions of illegible letters are visible.

  9. [9]

    TEXT: “c[page torn]ain”.

  10. [10]

    TEXT: “I [page torn]lad”. A portion of what appears to be an “a” in “am” is visible before the tear.

  11. [11]

    TEXT: “[page torn]am”.

  12. [12]

    TEXT: Page torn.

  13. [13]

    TEXT: Probably “contest,”. Jonas, in his previous letter to JS, mentioned that “the history of this infamous transaction”—meaning the legislative maneuvering to create Marquette County—“can be given to you by your brother William [Smith] who I am happy to say stuck to me thr[ough]out the contest— for which I shall always be grateful.” (Letter from Abraham Jonas, 21 Mar. 1843.)

  14. [14]

    TEXT: “alr[page torn]y”.

  15. [15]

    TEXT: “u[page torn]n”. A portion of the “p” is visible.

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