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Letter from Garret Bias, 3 April 1843

Source Note

Garret Bias

by 1810–after Mar. 1843. Mechanic, postmaster, sawmill owner/operator, tavernkeeper, farmer. Resident of Hamilton Co., Ohio, by 1821. Married first Mary (Polly) Linscott, 1 Mar. 1821, in Hamilton Co. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, by 1825. Moved to Union, Clermont...

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, Letter,
Independence

Village in northwestern Indiana, located at “northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty-eight, township 37, north of range 1 west” in LaPorte Co. Site of various businesses, including saw and grist mills, 1835–1841. Plat of village filed...

More Info
, St. Joseph Co. [or possibly LaPorte Co.], IN, to JS,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, 3 Apr. 1843; handwriting and signature of
Garret Bias

by 1810–after Mar. 1843. Mechanic, postmaster, sawmill owner/operator, tavernkeeper, farmer. Resident of Hamilton Co., Ohio, by 1821. Married first Mary (Polly) Linscott, 1 Mar. 1821, in Hamilton Co. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, by 1825. Moved to Union, Clermont...

View Full Bio
; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notation, postal stamps, endorsement, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 11¼ × 7½ inches (29 × 19 cm). The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red wax seal, and postmarked. Residue from the wax seal remains on the last page of the bifolium. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by
Thomas Bullock

23 Dec. 1816–10 Feb. 1885. Farmer, excise officer, secretary, clerk. Born in Leek, Staffordshire, England. Son of Thomas Bullock and Mary Hall. Married Henrietta Rushton, 25 June 1838. Moved to Ardee, Co. Louth, Ireland, Nov. 1839; to Isle of Anglesey, Aug...

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, who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865.
1

Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904.
2

“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
3

See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.


The document’s early docket, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  2. [2]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  3. [3]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 3 April 1843,
Garret Bias

by 1810–after Mar. 1843. Mechanic, postmaster, sawmill owner/operator, tavernkeeper, farmer. Resident of Hamilton Co., Ohio, by 1821. Married first Mary (Polly) Linscott, 1 Mar. 1821, in Hamilton Co. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, by 1825. Moved to Union, Clermont...

View Full Bio
wrote from
Independence

Village in northwestern Indiana, located at “northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty-eight, township 37, north of range 1 west” in LaPorte Co. Site of various businesses, including saw and grist mills, 1835–1841. Plat of village filed...

More Info
, Indiana, to JS in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois, to follow up on another letter Bias had written nearly a month earlier proposing a sale of arms. That letter, dated 7 March 1843, discussed Bias’s desire to sell fifty stands of weapons to the members of a militia unit he proposed to organize in Nauvoo.
1

Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.


Bias neglected to pay the postage on his previous letter and was therefore concerned that JS had not received it.
2

Despite Bias’s concern, someone must have paid the postage upon the letter’s arrival in Nauvoo because JS’s scribe Willard Richards drafted a response on 28 March 1843. The response indicates some distaste for Bias’s inquiry and for his neglect in paying the postage. (Letter to Garret Bias, 28 Mar. 1843.)


He paid the postage on this letter, which likely arrived in Nauvoo within one or two weeks. It appears that it was received by 30 April 1843, a date that appears in an endorsement that
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

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made on the letter. Though JS had refused the sale of the weapons in a draft response to Bias’s first letter, it is not known whether a response to this 3 April 1843 letter was ever written.
3

Letter to Garret Bias, 28 Mar. 1843.


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Despite Bias’s concern, someone must have paid the postage upon the letter’s arrival in Nauvoo because JS’s scribe Willard Richards drafted a response on 28 March 1843. The response indicates some distaste for Bias’s inquiry and for his neglect in paying the postage. (Letter to Garret Bias, 28 Mar. 1843.)

  3. [3]

    Letter to Garret Bias, 28 Mar. 1843.

Page [1]

Laport
Independance

Village in northwestern Indiana, located at “northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty-eight, township 37, north of range 1 west” in LaPorte Co. Site of various businesses, including saw and grist mills, 1835–1841. Plat of village filed...

More Info
April 3 1843
St Joseph Co

County in northern Indiana bordering Michigan to north. Organized 1830. Population in 1834 about 1,800. Population in 1843 about 6,400.

More Info
Indiana
1

St. Joseph County histories do not list a settlement called Independence, but there was a settlement called Independence in LaPorte County. Bias owned parcels of land in the neighboring counties of St. Joseph and LaPorte in Indiana. Some of the parcels Bias owned in St. Joseph County were on the county line and were within a few hundred yards of Independence village in LaPorte County. The county line moved in 1850. (St. Joseph Co., IN, Deed Records, 1830–1901, vol. G, p. 588, 22 Nov. 1842, microfilm 1,605,746; LaPorte Co., IN, Deed Records, 1833–1901, vol. F, pp. 632–633, 23 June 1837 and 8 May 1838, microfilm 1,674,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; History of La Porte County, Indiana, 595, 717, 885–886.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

History of La Porte County, Indiana; together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

Generl J Smith
2

JS was lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion. (Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841; JS, Journal, 11 Mar. 1842.)


Sir i addresed a letter to you and malied the same at Laport Indiana on or a bout the first of March 1843
3

Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.


on wich letter i did not pay the postiage thrue mistake and it this day occured to me that you may be trubled from many parts of the
usa

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
with letters on matters of little intrest to your Self
4

The 1 June 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons contained a notice from JS stating he would not pay postage on correspondence addressed to him because the multitude of unpaid letters created a financial burden on him. (Notice, ca. 1 June 1841.)


i thair four [therefore] feel quite sory that i faled to pay the postiage on my former letter but am disirous that you Shold resieve [receive] my letter addresed to you and maled at Laport Indiana Some thirty days prier to this’s date and Per mit me to ask you to re wanser [answer] my former letter wich i believe and Confidently hope and be lieve you will due
yours Respectfuly
Garret Bias

by 1810–after Mar. 1843. Mechanic, postmaster, sawmill owner/operator, tavernkeeper, farmer. Resident of Hamilton Co., Ohio, by 1821. Married first Mary (Polly) Linscott, 1 Mar. 1821, in Hamilton Co. Moved to Clermont Co., Ohio, by 1825. Moved to Union, Clermont...

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Source Note

Document Transcript

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Garret Bias, 3 April 1843
ID #
1030
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:150–152
Handwriting on This Page
  • Garret Bias

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    St. Joseph County histories do not list a settlement called Independence, but there was a settlement called Independence in LaPorte County. Bias owned parcels of land in the neighboring counties of St. Joseph and LaPorte in Indiana. Some of the parcels Bias owned in St. Joseph County were on the county line and were within a few hundred yards of Independence village in LaPorte County. The county line moved in 1850. (St. Joseph Co., IN, Deed Records, 1830–1901, vol. G, p. 588, 22 Nov. 1842, microfilm 1,605,746; LaPorte Co., IN, Deed Records, 1833–1901, vol. F, pp. 632–633, 23 June 1837 and 8 May 1838, microfilm 1,674,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; History of La Porte County, Indiana, 595, 717, 885–886.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    History of La Porte County, Indiana; together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

  2. [2]

    JS was lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion. (Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841; JS, Journal, 11 Mar. 1842.)

  3. [3]

    Letter from Garret Bias, 7 Mar. 1843.

  4. [4]

    The 1 June 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons contained a notice from JS stating he would not pay postage on correspondence addressed to him because the multitude of unpaid letters created a financial burden on him. (Notice, ca. 1 June 1841.)

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