A fire destroyed a large portion of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 10 April 1845; contemporaries estimated that it destroyed fifty-six acres in and near the city and burned more than a thousand buildings that had once housed between six and eight thousand people. The Nauvoo Neighbor published a brief account of the fire the day after this meeting. The Mormons’ interest in the Pittsburgh fire was twofold: first, they saw several large fires at this time as evidence of the judgments of God against the nation for their treatment of the Saints; and second, Pittsburgh was the headquarters for Sidney Rigdon’s schismatic church. (Foster, Full Account of the Great Fire at Pittsburgh, 6, 14; “Great Fire in Pittsburgh,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 23 Apr. 1845, [2]; see also Pittsburgh, PA, 14 Apr. 1845, Letter to the Editor, Nauvoo Neighbor, 30 Apr. 1845, [3]; and “Fires,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 7 May 1845, [2].)
Foster, J. Heron, comp. A Full Account of the Great Fire at Pittsburgh, on the Tenth Day of April, 1845; with the Individual Losses, and Contributions for Relief. Pittsburgh: J. W. Cook, 1845.
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
This committee, consisting of Samuel Bent, Daniel Spencer, and John S. Fullmer, was appointed at the 11 April 1845 council meeting. According to Spencer, the committee met following the meeting of the Council of Fifty on 15 April and agreed to meet again on 18 April. It is unclear if the committee met as planned. While in his 18 April journal entry Spencer recorded attending “a Council of the Liv[i]ng Constitution” that day, that is almost certainly a reference to the trades association, of which he was a trustee. Elsewhere Spencer clearly differentiated his Council of Fifty assignments from his trades association assignments. Regardless, Spencer apparently spent part of the day on 18 April purchasing some supplies “for the Mission.” The committee, or at least some of the men associated with the Western Mission, met again on the evening of 21 April. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1845; Spencer, Diary, 12, 15, 18, and 21 Apr. 1845.)
Spencer, Daniel. Diaries, 1845–1857. CHL.