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Letter from Alphonso Young, 6 May 1842

Source Note

, Letter, , Macon Co., TN, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 6 May 1842; handwriting of ; three pages; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes address and docket. Transcription of first two pages from photocopied image; transcription of third page and addressing from original manuscript.
Two leaves. Because the location of the first leaf of the original manuscript is unknown, a photocopy of the leaf, in the Whitney Papers, was used for transcription. The photocopied image measures 12⅝ × 7¾ inches (32 × 20 cm). The photocopy shows that the left edge of the recto of the first leaf was damaged; also, the top, bottom, and right edges of the recto of the leaf had tears. The original included vertical and horizontal folds. Based on textual evidence in the letter, it appears that a leaf may be missing between the photocopied pages and the extant leaf.
The extant manuscript leaf measures 12¼ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). The leaf was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. It was subsequently folded for filing. It includes a docket in the handwriting of , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. The left edge of the recto is damaged. The leaf is worn along the folds, including some tearing, which resulted in the loss of text. The leaf has undergone conservation.
The photocopied pages of the first leaf and the extant manuscript leaf are part of the Newel K. Whitney collection at Brigham Young University. In late 1844, following JS’s death, became one of the interim church trustees and was appointed “first bishop” among other bishops. It was presumably during this time that many of the church’s financial and other administrative records passed into his possession. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Whitney kept, was inherited by Newel K. and ’s daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who was married to Isaac Groo. The documents were passed down within the Groo family. Between 1969 and 1974, the Groo family donated their collection of Newel K. Whitney’s papers to the J. Reuben Clark Library (renamed Harold B. Lee Library in 1973) at Brigham Young University.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

  2. [2]

    Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

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

  3. [3]

    Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24.

    Andrus, Hyrum L., and Chris Fuller, comp. Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers. Provo, UT: Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1978.

Historical Introduction

On 6 May 1842, wrote to JS in , Illinois, from , Macon County, Tennessee, expressing his desire to join the Saints in Nauvoo and reporting on his donations for the Nauvoo . Young had been sometime before December 1840 while living in Smith County, Tennessee. In late 1841 and early 1842, Young sent to Nauvoo via , who had become acquainted with Young while Lee was preaching in the region for several months between 1839 and 1841. During the spring of 1841, Young joined Lee in a public debate with Abraham Sallee and Samuel Dewhitt, members of another restorationist tradition. In April 1842, Lee returned to Tennessee, renewed contact with Young, and baptized a number of Young’s relatives. In the winter of 1841–1842, Young wrote to Lee in Nauvoo asking him to invite JS to pray that Young might be able to migrate to Nauvoo. When Young wrote to JS on 6 May, therefore, he believed JS knew of his desire to gather with the Saints.
In this 6 May 1842 letter, reiterated his desire to move to and asked JS for a authorizing him to preach and perform religious . He also discussed financial issues, including debts owed and donations made, and expressed his hope that JS would write back to him with advice on his situation. Young sent the letter with Lee, who left for Nauvoo on 10 May 1842 and arrived on 30 May. It is unknown if JS responded to Young’s letter, as no reply is extant.
Because the torn edges of the document have removed and obscured the text in several places, some text has been editorially supplied within brackets in the following transcript, based on context.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Witcher’s Cross Roads was the name of a post office established in 1833 in Smith County. In 1842, a portion of Smith County, including the location of the post office, became part of the newly formed Macon County. Witcher’s Cross Roads was changed to Gibbs’ Crossroads in 1854. Gibbs’ Crossroads is now located in Macon County, about fifty-four miles northeast of Nashville, Tennessee. (Maggart and Sutton, History of Smith County, Tennessee, 298.)

    Maggart, Sue Woodard, and Nina R. Sutton. The History of Smith County, Tennessee. Dallas: Curtis, 1987.

  2. [2]

    1840 U.S. Census, Smith Co., TN, 273; Lee, Journal, ca. 18 Dec. 1840.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

    Lee, John D. Journal, Mar. 1842–Aug. 1843. CHL. MS 2092.

  3. [3]

    Book of the Law of the Lord, 35, 100; Lee, Journal, 4 Apr. 1841; 10 and 16–30 May 1841; see also “Summary of News from the Elders Abroad,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1841, 2:415; Brooks, John Doyle Lee, 46–51; and Berrett, “History of the Southern States Mission,” 181–183.

    Lee, John D. Journal, Mar. 1842–Aug. 1843. CHL. MS 2092.

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

    Brooks, Juanita. John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1961.

    Berrett, LaMar C. “History of the Southern States Mission, 1831–1861.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1960.

  4. [4]

    Crihfield’s Christian Family Library and Journal of Biblical Science, 18 July 1842, 210–211; 25 July 1842, 217–219; 1 Aug. 1842, 228–229; 15 Aug. 1842, 236–238; see also Hughes, “Two Restoration Traditions,” 34–51.

    Crihfield’s Christian Family Library and Journal of Biblical Science. Harrodsburg, KY. 1842–1843.

    Hughes, Richard T. “Two Restoration Traditions: Mormons and Churches of Christ in the Nineteenth Century.” Journal of Mormon History 19, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 34–51.

  5. [5]

    Lee, Journal, 6–12 and 25–26 Apr. 1842.

    Lee, John D. Journal, Mar. 1842–Aug. 1843. CHL. MS 2092.

  6. [6]

    Lee, Journal, 10 and 30 May 1842.

    Lee, John D. Journal, Mar. 1842–Aug. 1843. CHL. MS 2092.

Page [1]

Te[nnessee]
May 6th 1842.
Dear Bro in Christ.
I most cheerfully avail myself of the present opportunity to address you.
I presume you will not be at all surprized to recieve a line from a stranger with whom you have never conferred on any business whatever.
you have before learned through Bro that there is an Individual a friend to truth bearing my name. A Brother an in the which you under god, have been the favored Instrument in Raising up in these last days. I wrote to last winter while he was in and Requested him to Ask for me, the prayers, and Blessing of the prophet of the Lord. That I might also prosper in this land what time I am compelled to remain here. But that [t]he way may soon be opened before me so that I may reque[s]t bring my matters to a close speedily and acquit myself honorably and honestly before God and all men, and without delay gather with the saints to the land of , the Saints Inheritance where I may Share in the Toils, and Sufferings, of my brethren. These things must needs be so for I desire nothing else <​more​> than to be Sharer of their blessings. until I can come I can repair to the church the fountain of Instruction, I desire to be recognized by the authorities thereof as their brother, and Remembered in their Supplications. As there are frequent calls for me to preach & sometimes administer in the , I wish to have a . for Information respecting that matter I refer them to Elders — . And A[braham] O. Smoot. Also Sister M[argaret] T. Smoot as she has been an inmate of our Cabin [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Alphonso Young, 6 May 1842
ID #
1667
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:30–35
Handwriting on This Page
  • Alphonso Young

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    That is, “Cross Roads.”

  2. [2]

    TEXT: “[Page torn]he”.

  3. [3]

    JS’s early revelations and teachings described Zion as a geographical location where the Saints would gather and receive the land as a divine inheritance. A July 1831 revelation designated Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, as the “centre place” of Zion. Eight years later, an October 1839 general church conference accepted Commerce, Illinois, as “a place of gathering for the saints.” In a July 1840 discourse, JS offered a broader description of Zion, describing it as “north and south America” and, more conceptually, as the place “where the Saints g[ather].” (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:35]; Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:66–67]; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–3]; Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839; Discourse, ca. 19 July 1840.)

  4. [4]

    The “recommend” that Young desired was also known as a “license” authorizing him to preach and perform ordinances. Young was probably an elder by the time he wrote this letter and, if so, was eligible for such a license. The church’s foundational “Articles and Covenants” explained that church elders were assigned to administer the ordinances of baptism, the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, and confirmation. The same document outlined how elders could obtain licenses, which authorized them to perform their duties. An 1838 conference in Far West, Missouri, determined that such licenses should be signed by a member of the First Presidency. Young received his elder’s license on 13 July 1843. (Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842; Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:38–43, 64]; Resolution, ca. 8 Apr. 1838; Far West and Nauvoo Elders’ Certificates, 113.)

  5. [5]

    TEXT: “[Page torn]amuel.”

  6. [6]

    Young appears to have been acquainted with Frost. An 18 May 1842 letter signed by Frost, Young, and Lee reported Frost’s proselytizing efforts, including his work in Knox County, Tennessee, where he and his fellow missionaries had baptized twenty-two individuals. (See Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842.)

  7. [7]

    Smoot was preaching in and around Smith County during the summer of 1840 and probably met Young during that time. At a conference held in Nauvoo in August 1841, Smoot was appointed to preach in Charleston, South Carolina. While making his way to Charleston that fall, he returned to Smith County and became reacquainted with Young, with whom he stayed during part of the fall and winter. (Abraham Smoot, Whitleyville, TN, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 1:181; Minutes, 16 Aug. 1841; Smoot, Diary, 25 Aug. 1841; 24–25 Sept. 1841; 12 Dec. 1841; 18 Jan. 1842.)

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

    Smoot, Abraham O. Diary, 1836–1845. Photocopy. Abraham O. Smoot, Papers, 1836–1893. Photocopy. CHL.

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