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Letter to “Hands in the Stone Shop,” 21 December 1842

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to “the hands in the Stone Shop,” [, Hancock Co., IL], 21 Dec. 1842. Featured version copied [ca. 21 Dec. 1842] in William Clayton, Journal, 27 Nov. 1842–28 Apr. 1843 and [24] Sept. 1844–31 Mar. 1845, pp. 27–29; handwriting of ; William Clayton, Journals, 1842–1846, CHL.
, Journal, 27 Nov. 1842–28 Apr. 1843 and [24] Sept. 1844–31 Mar. 1845; handwriting of ; 236 pages; William Clayton, Journals, 3 vols., Nov. 1842–Jan. 1846, CHL. Includes redactions, use marks, and archival marking.
Blank book measuring 6¼ × 4 × ⅞ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm) and containing 118 leaves of ledger paper bound in white leather. There are two flyleaves in the front of the volume and two in the back. The recto of the first flyleaf in the front was inscribed by : “William Clayton | Nauvoo 1842 | Journal”. An archival label pasted on the spine reads, “Journal by Wm. Clayton 1842–3.” Most pages in Clayton’s diary have a header indicating month and year. These headers are not reproduced in the transcript.
This volume is similar to at least two other books purchased by in , England, in the early 1840s, which may indicate that purchased the volume there prior to emigrating to in 1840. Clayton used the journal to record daily entries from 27 November 1842 to 28 April 1843 and from September 1844 to 31 March 1845. Shortly after Clayton finished making entries in the volume, he apparently loaned or gave it to the Church Historian’s Office (later CHL), and by winter 1845–1846 the office staff had begun using the journal to work on JS’s history. The journal was listed in inventories that the Church Historian’s Office produced in the nineteenth century. Sometime in the twentieth century, three of Clayton’s journals became part of the papers of Joseph Fielding Smith, who was church historian and recorder from 1921 to 1970. In 1970, when Smith became the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the journals became part of the First Presidency’s papers. In 2017 the Office of the First Presidency transferred this journal to the CHL.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Burgess, Journal, Jan.–Oct. 1841, flyleaf.

    Burgess, James. Journal, 1841–1848. CHL. MS 1858.

  2. [2]

    The Historian’s Office journal entry of 5 August 1845 references Clayton's journal as a source. By early 1846, the clerks of the Historian’s Office created rough draft minutes of the history that instructed scribes to incorporate Clayton’s journal into the final version of the history. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 5 Aug. 1845; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 9 Feb. 1843; see also Vogel, History of Joseph Smith, 1:xcviii; 7:xxxv.)

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Vogel, Dan, ed. History of Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Source and Text-Critical Edition. 8 vols. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2015.

  3. [3]

    See, for example, “Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [7]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [4], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. [4]

    Neilson and Marianno, “True and Faithful,” 14.

    Neilson, Reid L., and Scott D. Marianno. “True and Faithful: Joseph Fielding Smith as Mormon Historian and Theologian.” BYU Studies Quarterly 57, no. 1 (2018): 7–64.

  5. [5]

    “Inventory of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s Safe,” 23 May 1970, First Presidency, General Administration Files, CHL.

    “Inventory of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s Safe,” 23 May 1970. First Presidency, General Administration Files, 1921–1972. CHL.

  6. [6]

    See the full bibliographic entry for William Clayton, Journals, 1842–1846, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 21 December 1842, JS wrote a letter to the stonecutters working on the in , Illinois, admonishing them to defer to the Nauvoo ’s handling of finances and to continue making material sacrifices to support the temple construction. The letter grew out of a months-long controversy over the temple committee’s distribution of goods and provisions to the temple workers. Many members—especially those employed by the temple committee—felt that committee members and , as well as their sons, were receiving preferential treatment. Responding to these rumors, in October 1842 JS directed to publish a notice in the Times and Seasons expressing his support for the committee’s conduct. JS also instructed those with grievances to bring all further complaints directly to him.
Despite JS’s notice, many of the men employed by the temple committee continued to complain that the committee was refusing to recognize the workers’ dire need for food and other necessities for their families. This seems to have been especially true for the men employed in the stonecutting shop. Between October and December 1842, the relationship between the stonecutters and the temple committee continued to worsen. One stonecutter, , later recalled that his situation had become so perilous that he “had to sell off nearly all our Clothing, Watches and Rings to obtain food” to feed his family. When he asked the temple committee for a set of tools to continue his work, replied that the tools Hovey requested were to be given to Cahoon’s sons. Moreover, Hovey claimed that despite his work “the committee would not promise me any provisions” and that on one occasion he received only “a peck of corn Meal” to feed his entire household. Hovey eventually became so desperate that he even considered leaving so that he could better provide for his family. His concerns and experiences appear to have been shared by many of the stonecutters, and, based on the financial accounts of the temple committee, it appears their complaints were justified. The temple committee’s daybooks reveal a clear bias toward , Cahoon, and their sons in the amount of work and provisions they received.
In November 1842, as winter set in and their conditions continued to worsen, the men employed in the stonecutting shop presented the with a written complaint accusing and of “oppressive and unchristian conduct” for giving “an unequal distribution of provisions, Iron & Steel tools &c” to their sons. Based on this complaint, JS presided over an ecclesiastical trial on 28 November that lasted ten hours. According to accounts of the trial, it concluded with JS “correcting the errors of both [parties] in kindness.” Although JS decided to retain the committee as it stood, he admonished its members to remember that they had signed bonds guaranteeing “a faithful performance of [their] duties as [a] committee and if they embezled property they were liable to the penetentiary.”
Following the 28 November trial, it appears that the situation began to improve for the stonecutters. In December 1842, for example, the committee members and their sons collected only around 3 percent of the beef distributed by the committee rather than the 18 percent they had collected in previous months. In April 1843, claimed that during winter 1842 he “dealt out meal & flour to the hands to the last ounce when I had not a morsel of bread meal or flour in my house.” Nevertheless, it appears that disagreements between the committee and the stonecutters continued, although the workers’ exact complaints are unclear. On 21 December 1842, , the temple committee, and JS met to discuss “laying by provisions for summer,” apparently in response to another complaint from the stone workers.
After hearing explain the issue, JS dictated a letter addressed to “the hands in the Stone Shop” stating that he had considered their concerns and had sided with the temple committee. He reproved the workers for not showing enough respect for the committee members and encouraged them to submit patiently to help further work on the . JS closed the letter as “Sole Trustee in Trust for the church.”
afterward “took this letter and read it to the hands in the shop,” noting in his journal that “some appeared satisfied & about three seemed not exactly so.” There is no record of the stonecutters complaining further after they received JS’s letter, though it appears that the letter did not entirely resolve the issue. Based on his review of the temple committee’s financial records, Clayton submitted similar charges of financial mismanagement against the committee at the April 1843 of the church. After a hearing before the conference, the committee members apologized and were retained by the conference.
The original letter is not extant, but copied it into his journal entry for 21 December.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Notice, 11 Oct. 1842; JS, Journal, 1 Oct. 1842; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 34–35.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  2. [2]

    The exact number of men working in the stonecutting shop in December 1842 is unknown. According to the daybooks the temple committee kept, about twenty-five men were credited for stonecutting work between September and December 1842. (See Daybook B, 1841–1843, Nauvoo Temple Building Committee, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Temple Building Committee Records, 1841–1852. CHL.

  3. [3]

    Joseph Hovey, Autobiography, July 1868, Obituary Notices and Biographies, CHL.

    Obituary Notices and Biographies, 1854–1877. CHL. MS 4760.

  4. [4]

    See Daybook B, 1841–1843, Nauvoo Temple Building Committee, Records, CHL; see also JS, Journal, 6 Apr. 1843.

    Nauvoo Temple Building Committee Records, 1841–1852. CHL.

  5. [5]

    Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 36.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 28 Nov. 1842; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 36–37.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  7. [7]

    Clayton, Journal, 28 Nov. 1842; see also JS, Journal, 28 Nov. 1842. These bonds are apparently not extant. It appears, however, that temple committee agents regularly submitted bonds to JS guaranteeing the faithful completion of their duties. (See, for example, Henry Miller to JS as trustee-in-trust, Bond, 10 Apr. 1841, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; and Bond from Samuel Bent, 11 Oct. 1842.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  8. [8]

    See Daybook B, 1841–1843, Nauvoo Temple Building Committee, Records, CHL.

    Nauvoo Temple Building Committee Records, 1841–1852. CHL.

  9. [9]

    JS, Journal, 7 Apr. 1843.

  10. [10]

    Clayton, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  11. [11]

    Clayton, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  12. [12]

    JS, Journal, 6 and 7 Apr. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to “Hands in the Stone Shop,” 21 December 1842
History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 27

Decr. 21— 1842
To the hands in the Stone Shop.
Whereas, an appeal has been made to me as Sole Trustee in Trust for the for a decision in relation to sundry matters in regulating the stone cutting &c. &c. by the . I have duly considered their complaints, [p. 27]
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Source Note

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Page 27

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to “Hands in the Stone Shop,” 21 December 1842
ID #
8133
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:295–298
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    At both the 1 October 1842 meeting and the 28 November 1842 trial, as well as in the published 11 October 1842 notice, JS emphasized that he supervised the temple committee through his role as trustee-in-trust for the church. (JS, Journal, 1 Oct. and 28 Nov. 1842; Notice, 11 Oct. 1842.)

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