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Letter to Emma Smith, 4 April 1839

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Clay Co., MO, to , , Adams Co., IL, 4 Apr. 1839; handwriting and signature (now missing) of JS; three pages; JS Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Includes address, wafer seal, and redactions.
Bifolium measuring 12¾ × 7½ inches (32 × 19 cm). The letter was addressed, trifolded twice in letter style, sealed with an adhesive wafer, and postmarked. At some point, the leaves became separated and the wafer became detached. Later, JS’s signature was cut out, resulting in loss of text on the recto of the second leaf. The top of the recto of the second leaf was inscribed in graphite with “Letter of Joseph Smith | Prophet of the | Mormons”, likely by a document dealer. The document has undergone conservation.
The letter was presumably in ’s possession for some time after she received it. Eventually it came into the possession of Oliver R. Barrett, a noted collector of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia, who owned the document at the time of his death in 1950. The same year, Parke-Bernet Galleries of New York City sold the letter and other selected manuscripts from Barrett’s collection. The letter was later acquired by William Robertson Coe, who donated it with his extensive Americana collection to Yale University in the early 1950s.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Lazare, American Book-Prices Current (1951), xxiii, 599; Sandburg, Lincoln Collector, 3–8.

    Lazare, Edward, ed. American Book-Prices Current, a Record of Literary Properties Sold at Auction in the United States during the Seasons of 1950–1951. New York: R. R. Bowker, 1951.

    Sandburg, Carl. Lincoln Collector: The Story of Oliver R. Barrett’s Great Private Collection. New York City: Harcourt, Brace, 1950.

  2. [2]

    Withington, Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Collection of Western Americana, 244.

    Withington, Mary C., comp. A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Collection of Western Americana Founded by William Robertson Coe, Yale University Library. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1952.

Historical Introduction

On 4 April 1839, JS wrote to his wife Emma Smith in , Illinois, as he contemplated his imminent departure from the in , Clay County, Missouri, after months of incarceration. On 31 March, the prisoners’ lawyer, Peter Burnett, had visited them in the jail and likely informed them that guards would soon transport the men from Liberty to in , Missouri, where a grand jury hearing for the eleventh judicial circuit was scheduled to begin on 8 April. Burnett may have also told the prisoners that they would have the right to petition the court to change the venue of their upcoming trial to another county.
JS summarized these updates in this letter to his . He also expressed his profound desire to be reunited with her and their children, and he offered her counsel regarding their family. As with previous letters JS penned to Emma from the jail, he wrote this 4 April letter himself rather than dictating it to a scribe. Instead of sending the missive to with a courier, as he apparently did with earlier letters to his wife, JS opted to send it through the postal service on 5 April 1839. It probably arrived sometime before 11 April.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Hyrum Smith, Diary, 31 Mar. 1839; Ruling, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, p. [124], State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Jud. Cir. 1838), in State of Missouri, “Evidence”; An Act to Prescribe the Times of Holding Courts in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit [12 Feb. 1839], Laws of the State of Missouri [1839], p. 36.

    Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.

    Laws of the State of Missouri, Passed at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, on Monday, the Nineteenth Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight. Jefferson, MO: Calvin Gunn, 1838.

  2. [2]

    On 4 April 1839, Hyrum Smith named in his journal six Missouri counties—Audrain, Monroe, Shelby, Clark, Lewis, and Marion—presumably as potential destinations for the venue change. (Hyrum Smith, Diary, 4 Apr. 1839.)

    Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Mar.–Apr. 1839, Oct. 1840. CHL. MS 2945.

  3. [3]

    See Letter to Emma Smith, 4 Nov. 1838; Letter to Emma Smith, 12 Nov. 1838; and Letter to Emma Smith, 21 Mar. 1839.

  4. [4]

    This assumption is based on the speed that contemporary correspondence was delivered through the mail. Hyrum Smith sent a letter, postmarked 5 April 1839, from the Liberty post office to his wife, Mary Fielding Smith, in Quincy. In her 11 April 1839 letter to her husband, she added an undated postscript acknowledging receipt of his missive. (Hyrum Smith, Liberty, MO, to Mary Fielding Smith, Quincy, IL, 23 Mar. 1839; Mary Fielding Smith, [Quincy, IL], to Hyrum Smith, 11 Apr. 1839, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL.)

    Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779.

Page [3]

the need of my council, and help, but as <​a​> combinnation <​of​> things have conspired to place me where I am, and I know it <​is​> not my fault, and further if my voice and council, had been heeded I should not have been here, but I find no fault with you, att all I know nothing but what you have done the best you could, if there is any thing it is known to yourself, you must be your own judge, on that subject: and if ether of done us have done wrong it is wise in us to repent of it, and for God sake, do not b[e] so foolish as to yield to the flattery of the Devel, faslshoods, and vainty, in this hour of trouble, that our affections be drawn, away from the right objects, those preasious things, God has given us will rise up in judgement against us in the day of judgement against us if we do not mark well our steps, and ways. My heart has often been exceeding sorrowful when I have thought of these thing[s] for many considerations, one thing let [me?] [adm]onished you by way of my duty, do not [be?] self willed, neither harber a spirit of revevenge: and again remember that he who is my enemys, is yours also, and never give up an old tried friend, who has waded through all manner of toil, for your sake, and throw him away becaus fools may tell <​you​> he <​has​> some faults; these things have accured to <​me​> as I have been writing, I do speak of <​them​> because you do not know them, but because I want to stir up your pure mind by way of rememberance: all feelings of diss[at]isfaction is far from my heart, I wish to act upon that principle of generosity, that will acquit myself in the preasance of [page cut] through the mercy of God You[rs?] [Joseph Smith Jr.] [p. [3]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Emma Smith, 4 April 1839
ID #
433
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D6:401–406
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.

Footnotes

  1. [10]

    TEXT: “b[page torn]”.

  2. [11]

    TEXT: “thing[page torn]”.

  3. [12]

    TEXT: Page torn because of loss of seal.

  4. [13]

    TEXT: Page torn because of loss of seal.

  5. [14]

    TEXT: The dot of an i and possibly the top of an ascender are visible above the clipped portion.

  6. [15]

    TEXT: JS’s signature was cut out of this letter at an unknown date.

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