JS, Notice, [, Hancock Co., IL, 15 Nov. 1842]. Featured version published in “Valedictory,” Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1842, vol. 4, no. 1, 8. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
The 15 November 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons published a notice from JS to its subscribers explaining that he would no longer be acting as the newspaper’s editor due to the demand of other responsibilities. JS had served in that role since March, and the 15 October 1842 issue of the paper was the last one published under his editorship. , whom JS appointed as his replacement, assumed the role of the newspaper’s editor starting with the 15 November issue, the first in the paper’s fourth volume. Under the headline “Valedictory,” this notice served as JS’s public resignation from the newspaper business. JS may have drafted the notice sometime between 7 and 12 November, when he asked Taylor and to assume responsibility for the .
Although the Times and Seasons was published semimonthly, there was no 1 November 1842 issue. It is unclear why this issue was missed, but it may have been because of a fire that nearly consumed the printing office on 24 October 1842. (Woodruff, Journal, 24 Oct. 1842.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
I beg leave to inform the subscribers of the Times and Seasons that it is impossible for me to fulfil the arduous duties of the editorial department any longer. The multiplicity of other business that daily devolves upon me, renders it impossible for me to do justice to a paper so widely circulated as the Times and Seasons. I have appointed , who is less encumbered and fully competent to assume the responsiblities of that office, and I doubt not but that he will give satisfaction to the patrons of the paper. As this number commences a new volume, it also commences his editorial career.