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Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842

Source Note

Times and Seasons (, Hancock Co., IL), 1 Mar. 1842, vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 703–718; edited by JS. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

The first issue of the -affiliated newspaper Times and Seasons was published near , Illinois, in 1839. Owned jointly by and , the paper was edited at various times by Smith, Robinson, and through summer 1841. Following the deaths of Smith and Thompson in August 1841, Robinson became sole proprietor and editor of the paper. On 28 January 1842 JS dictated a revelation that directed the to assume editorial responsibility for the paper. A week later Robinson sold the newspaper, along with the remainder of his printing establishment, to JS.
Though JS assumed editorship of the Times and Seasons sometime in mid-February, he stated in his first editorial passage that he did not begin reviewing the paper’s content until the 1 March 1842 issue. A 2 March 1842 entry in JS’s journal notes, “Read the Proof of the ‘Times and Seasons’ as Editor for the first time, No. 9[th] Vol 3d. in which is the commencement of the Book of Abraham.” Though JS actively edited the paper at times, apparently assisted him in writing content. Regardless of who penned specific passages of editorial material, JS openly assumed editorial responsibility for all installments naming him as editor except the 15 February 1842 issue.
Included in the 1 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons are four editorial passages, which are featured below with introductions. Other JS documents published in this issue of the newspaper, including an excerpt from the Book of Abraham and a rare narrative history of the church, are featured as stand-alone documents in this or other volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers. In the first editorial passage, JS publicly announced his new role as editor of the Times and Seasons to the newspaper’s readership.
Note that only the editorial content created specifically for this issue of the Times and Seasons is annotated here. Articles reprinted from other papers, letters, conference minutes, and notices, are reproduced here but not annotated. Items that are stand-alone JS documents are annotated elsewhere; links are provided to these stand-alone documents.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, “Address,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:1–2.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  2. [2]

    Ebenezer Robinson, “To the Patrons of the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, 16 Aug. 1841, 2:511; Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 257; July 1890, 302; see also Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:91–92.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 28 Jan. 1842.

  4. [4]

    Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 Feb. 1842.

  5. [5]

    In the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, Robinson confirmed JS’s declaration. Apprising readers that in early February it had not been “fully decided whether President Smith should take the responsibility of editor, or not,” Robinson stated that the 15 February issue went to press without JS’s “personal inspection.” (Ebenezer Robinson, “To the Public,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:729.)

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1842.

  7. [7]

    Woodruff, Journal, 19 Feb. 1842.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  8. [8]

    JS was listed as editor of the newspaper through the 15 October 1842 issue; John Taylor was listed as editor thereafter. (Masthead, Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, 3:958; Masthead, Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1842, 4:16.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [9]

    Book of Abraham and Facsimiles, 1 Mar.–16 May 1842 [Abraham 1:1–2:18]; “Church History,” 1 Mar. 1842; Letter from Robert Peirce, 28 Feb. 1842; Notice, ca. 1 Mar. 1842; General Orders for Nauvoo Legion, 22–27 Feb. 1842.

  10. [10]

    See “Editorial Method”.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Notice, circa 1 March 1842–B *Letter from Robert Peirce, 28 February 1842 *“Church History,” 1 March 1842 *General Orders for Nauvoo Legion, 22–27 February 1842

Page 711

 
————
Editorial Note
In the third editorial passage, JS commented on an article originally printed in the London Dispatch in late 1841 related to the death of English member Elizabeth Morgan. Morgan and her husband, Benjamin Morgan, were among the earliest Londoners to join the church during the ’s second mission to , which went from 1839 to 1841. The Morgan family resided in St. Luke’s parish, , and boarded several church missionaries, including , who was living with them when Elizabeth Morgan passed away on 28 October 1841. According to the Dispatch, local authorities investigated the circumstances surrounding her death because she had declined professional medical treatment, a choice that the paper’s editors and others directly attributed to her religious beliefs.
While JS and other church members believed that they could be healed through various religious rituals, in this editorial the editor emphatically stated that the church did not prohibit its members from receiving medical aid. Preferences for healing treatments varied from person to person, but Latter-day Saints employed contemporary medical techniques, as well as traditional folk remedies, that were influenced by the medical knowledge and practices of American society during the antebellum era. In the early 1840s modern medical practices were still in their infancy. While a few elite American doctors received medical training in Europe or at select universities on the East Coast, most medical practitioners in the received little formal education aside from a short period of apprenticeship. Little was understood about the vectors of disease, and many practitioners of conventional, or “heroic,” medicine continued to treat illnesses in patients’ homes through archaic and often harmful medical practices such as bloodletting or calomel purges. In response to the methods of heroic physicians, in the 1820s and 1830s Samuel Thomson, a self-taught herbalist, popularized an alternative system of treating patients referred to as botanic medicine. Thomson’s methods were embraced by some physicians in the United States and , including by some Latter-day Saint doctors, such as , , and , although Latter-day Saints in and relied on both heroic and botanic medicine.
Like many other editorial pieces, this editorial tried to counter perceived falsehoods about Latter-day Saint belief and practice that were circulating in public discourse. Commenting on the Dispatch’s report, JS criticized the underlying assumption that Morgan’s religious beliefs, as well as “improper treatment by unqualified persons,” were somehow responsible for her death. JS also defended Morgan’s right to refuse medical aid and the church’s belief in divine healing.
THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
extract from the “london despatch.”
On Wednesday an investigation was gone into before Mr. Baker, the coroner, at the Royal Oak, Galway-street, St. Luke’s, on the body of Elizabeth Morgan, aged 55 years, whose death was alleged to have been caused through improper treatment by unqualified persons. Maria Watkins, of 31, Cross-street, Islington, said she had known the deceased about 12 months. For some time past she had suffered from a spasmodic affection, and on Tuesday week last witness was sent for to attend her. Witness found her very ill, but no medical gentleman was called in, it being against the religious tenets of the sect to which the deceased belonged to do so. The sect to which she belonged styled themselves “,” their place of meeting being in Castle-street, Cow-cross. They dated their origin from the Apostles, and treated their sick according to the following text, taken from the last chapter of the Epistle of St. James: “If there be any illness amongst you ye shall call for the of the Church, and annoint yourselves with oil in the name of the Lord.” She (witness) had known cases of healing under such circumstances, but the deceased sank and died on Saturday last. Mary Ann Albin, Spencer-place, Goswell-road, wife of one of the elders of this foolish sect, said she was called to see the deceased on Tuesday morning, and from her appearance thought she was suffering from inflammation of the bowels. No surgeon was sent for. Witness administered some “sage tea with Cayenne pepper” in it; leeches and other remedies were also applied. Every thing was prayed over before it was given. The Coroner said the remedy appeared to him to be worse than the disease, and he hardly knew how to deal with the case, as he had his doubts whether it was not one of manslaughter. In his opinion the case was not strong enough to warrant a verdict of manslaughter being returned, but he trusted the publication of it in the papers would act as a caution to the members of this strange sect, and that they would see the necessity of calling in medical aid. The jury, after some deliberation returned a verdict of “Natural death,” with a hope that the present inquiry would act as a caution to that body how they acted in such cases for the future.
If we were not somewhat conversant with the follies and absurdity of men who profess to regulate religious affairs, and to give tone and energy to the multifarious creeds that are now extant, we could scarcely have believed that any men professing any degree of intelligence, or holding any office of importance, could be found to give birth unto, be connected with, or bear witness of such a bundle of nonsense; such sheer ignorance, and profound folly, as is manifested in the above article. But as it is published by the ‘London Despatch,’ a journal that professes to rank among the foremost of the British Empire, and in other papers of importance in the professed metropolis of the world, as it has emanated from the emporium of learning, science, and divinity; the professed fountain of all true intelligence, the seat of bible societies, missionary societies, and tract societies; the place where nobles are instructed and kings learn wisdom, we of course must notice it. What then is the important thing that has attracted the attention of nearly all editors in the city of ? that has excited the deep interest, and careful investigation of a learned jury, and a more profoundly learned coroner? something solemn, deep, and awful, something that must be published in the public journals of the day, and be heralded to all the world. Therefore listen ye nations and give ear ye kings of the earth, let all the world attend with respectful deference, for be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that “ELIZABETH MORGAN, AGED 55 YEARS,” IS DEAD. Oh, Tempore!!! Oh Mores!!!! Yes the solemn fact is announced by the “London Despatch”—she is dead—but what gives deep interest to the fact and adds solemnity to the scene is that she died a “natural death!!!!![”] she was not murdered in cold blood; she was not poisoned, nor drowned, nor burned to death, she did not die in a mad-house, nor cut her throat; neither had she the privilege of being killed throught the administration of the learned medical faculty, not through the nostrums of the more learned, but less popular Thompson; it was her fate to die a natural death! and therefore the learned coroner “trusted the publication of it in the papers would act as a caution to the members of this strange sect, and that they would see the necessity of calling in medical aid.” Therefore ye pay attention and live forever; for it would seem by this that the inhabitants of the city of never die, because they have abundance of “medical aid” or if they do die [p. 711]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842
ID #
8487
Total Pages
16
Print Volume Location
JSP, D9:192–202
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Footnotes

  1. [20]

    Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, 28 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:109–110; Woodruff, Journal, 25 Dec. 1840 and 15 Jan. 1841.

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

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  2. [21]

    1841 England Census, Middlesex Co., Hundred of Ossulstone [Finsbury Division], St. Luke’s Parish, Liberty of City Road East, Enumeration District 14, Ironmonger Row, Piece 666, bk. 6, p. 12; Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to Heber C. Kimball, 22 Oct. 1841, in Snow, Letterbook, [88]; Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, 28 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:109–110. St. Luke’s was a suburban parish of London, located in Finsbury Division, Ossulstone Hundred, Middlesex County, England. (Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of England, 3:171.)

    Great Britain. Public Record Office. Census Returns of England and Wales. Microfilm. FHL.

    Snow, Lorenzo. Letterbook, ca. 1839–1846. CHL.

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

    Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of England: Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate, and Market Towns, Parishes, and Townships. . . . 5th ed. 4 vols. London: S. Lewis and Co., 1842.

  3. [22]

    Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, 28 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:109–110; Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to Wilford Woodruff, 27 Oct. 1841, in Snow, Letterbook, [117]. This same assumption was repeated in at least one other English newspaper and two medical journals. (“Coroners’ Inquests,” Times [London], 4 Nov. 1841, 6; “Effects of Prayer and Cayenne Pepper on Inflammation of the Bowels,” 141–142; “Fanaticism versus the Profession,” Medical Times, 13 Nov. 1841, 80.)

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

    Snow, Lorenzo. Letterbook, ca. 1839–1846. CHL.

    Times. London. 1785–.

    “Effects of Prayer and Cayenne Pepper on Inflammation of the Bowels.” Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal 3, no. 7 (13 Nov. 1841): 141–142.

    Medical Times. London. 1839–1853.

  4. [23]

    Religious healing rituals included anointing with oil and blessing by the laying on of hands as well as baptism for healing. For contemporary accounts of these healing rituals, see, for example, Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:44]; Minutes, 8 Sept. 1834; McLellin, Journal, 1 May 1836; Woodruff, Journal, 22 July 1839, 15 May 1842; and “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1842, 3:763.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, Apr.–June 1836. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 6. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [24]

    Bush, “Mormon Tradition,” 397–420; Divett, “Medicine and the Mormons,” 19–23.

    Bush, Lester E. “The Mormon Tradition.” In Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions, edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen, 397–420. New York: Macmillan, 1986.

    Divett, Robert T. “Medicine and the Mormons: A Historical Perspective.” Dialogue 12, no. 3 (Fall 1979): 16–25.

  6. [25]

    Rothstein, American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century, 34–36, 85–87; Rosenberg, Care of Strangers, 18–20.

    Rothstein, William G. American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century: From Sects to Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972.

    Rosenberg, Charles E. The Care of Strangers: The Rise of America’s Hospital System. New York: Basic Books, 1987.

  7. [26]

    This period predated the acceptance of germ theory (or the belief that infectious disease was caused by the presence and spread of microscopic organisms) as well as related advances in bacteriology, immunization, and sterilization. (See Waller, Discovery of the Germ, chaps. 6–7; and Rothstein, American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century, 26–27, 45–52.)

    Waller, John. The Discovery of the Germ: Twenty Years That Transformed the Way We Think about Disease. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

    Rothstein, William G. American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century: From Sects to Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972.

  8. [27]

    Refuting heroic medical practices such as calomel purging, Thomson noted, “Much of what is at this day called medicine, is deadly poison, and were people to know what is offered them of this kind they would absolutely refuse ever to receive it as a medicine.” (Thomson, New Guide to Health, 184, 202–203.)

    Thomson, Samuel. New Guide to Health; or, Botanic Family Physician. Containing a Complete System of Practice . . . to Which Is Prefixed a Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of the Author. Boston: By the author, 1822.

  9. [28]

    Haller, People’s Doctors, 83, 239–240; Bush, “Mormon Tradition,” 397–420; Divett, “Medicine and the Mormons,” 19–20.

    Haller, John S., Jr. The People’s Doctors: Samuel Thomson and the American Botanical Movement, 1790–1860. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000.

    Bush, Lester E. “The Mormon Tradition.” In Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions, edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen, 397–420. New York: Macmillan, 1986.

    Divett, Robert T. “Medicine and the Mormons: A Historical Perspective.” Dialogue 12, no. 3 (Fall 1979): 16–25.

  10. [29]

    The original London Dispatch article has not been located; an article printed in the 4 November 1841 issue of the London Times used similar language in describing the events. (“Coroners’ Inquests,” Times [London], 4 Nov. 1841, 6.)

    Times. London. 1785–.

  11. [30]

    Islington was a suburban parish of London, located in Finsbury Division, Ossulstone Hundred, Middlesex County, England. (Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of England, 2:569.)

    Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of England: Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate, and Market Towns, Parishes, and Townships. . . . 5th ed. 4 vols. London: S. Lewis and Co., 1842.

  12. [31]

    See James 5:14.

  13. [32]

    Believing that cold caused illness, and that treatment producing heat would aid in recovery, practitioners of the Thomsonian method often used plants such as cayenne pepper in their medicinal recipes. In Thomsonian Materia Medica, Samuel Thomson wrote, “As a medicine, it [cayenne] is useful in cases of enfeebled and languid stomach, and is prescribed with happy effects in most of the chronic diseases of our country.” (Thomson, Thomsonian Materia Medica, 506, 591.)

    Thomson, Samuel. The Thomsonian Materia Medica; or, Botanic Family Physician: Comprising a Philosophical Theory, the Natural Organization and Assumed Principles of Animal and Vegetable Life: To Which Are Added the Description of Plants and Their Various Compounds: Together with Practical Illustrations, Including Much Other Useful Matter. 12th ed. Albany: J. Munsell, 1841.

  14. [33]

    See “Coroners’ Inquests,” Times (London), 4 Nov. 1841, 6; “Effects of Prayer and Cayenne Pepper on Inflammation of the Bowels,” Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, 13 Nov. 1841, 141–142; “Fanaticism versus the Profession,” Medical Times, 13 Nov. 1841, 80.

    Times. London. 1785–.

    “Effects of Prayer and Cayenne Pepper on Inflammation of the Bowels.” Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal 3, no. 7 (13 Nov. 1841): 141–142.

    Medical Times. London. 1839–1853.

  15. [34]

    It appears that some of Morgan’s caretakers were tried for negligence in her death but were eventually acquitted. In an 11 November 1841 letter, Lorenzo Snow informed his parents that “a Coronor’s Inquest was held over her [Morgan’s] body They were very anxious to bring in a verdict of ‘manslaughter’ but finely concluded the evidence was not hardly strong enough so we escaped Newgate [Prison] this time.” (Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to Oliver and Rosetta Snow, 11 Nov. 1841, in Lorenzo Snow, Journal, [122]–[123], underlining in original.)

    Snow, Lorenzo. Journals, 1836–1845, 1872. CHL. MS 1330.

  16. [35]

    Variously translated as “Oh the times! Oh the customs!” or “Shame on the age and on its principles!,” this Latin phrase was famously used in a speech by Roman orator and lawyer Cicero in 63 BC. (Yonge, Orations of Cicero against Catiline, 280.)

    Yonge, C. D., trans. The Orations of Cicero against Catiline. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1919.

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