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Letter from Isaac Galland, 24 July 1839

Source Note

, Letter, Chillocothe, Ross Co., OH, to JS, , , , and , , Hancock Co., IL, 24 July 1839. Featured version copied [between 5 Aug. and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 70–71; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

Historical Introduction

On 24 July 1839, land speculator and wrote to JS and other church leaders in regarding Galland’s recent travels and conversations with notable men about the church. Galland’s relationship with the church began in February 1839 as a financial association. In several transactions between 30 April and 26 June 1839, Galland sold church leaders land in , Illinois—including the hotel in which he was living at —and in , Iowa Territory. Likely influenced by interactions with JS and other Latter-day Saints, Galland was and by JS on 3 July in Commerce. The same day, JS him to the office of . Within a day, Galland and his family left Illinois on a steam packet, having divested their western land holdings to the church and wanting to return to the East, where they were originally from. The boat stopped in , Missouri, before arriving in Chillicothe, Ohio, around 13 July. Galland and his family took up residence at a hotel, where Galland planned to live until he could purchase a home in the region. He may have written the featured letter from this hotel.
In this 24 July 1839 letter addressed to the , scribe , and (who acted as a church in many of the land transactions), portrayed himself as an ardent advocate of and missionary for the church. However, a letter he had sent two days earlier to his friend Samuel Swasey, a New Hampshire politician, differed significantly in content and tone, suggesting that Galland was less committed to the church than his 24 July letter purports. In his letter to Swasey, Galland related a brief history of the Saints’ expulsion from but did not mention his conversion or his association with the Saints beyond land transactions. Further, while Galland’s letter to JS and others contained several expressions of confidence in the church, Galland’s correspondence with Swasey included the prediction that once the Saints established themselves in , their success would “induce the surrounding thieves to rob them again; at which time they will no doubt have to renounce their religion; or submit to a repetition of similar acts of violence, and outrage, as have already been inflicted on them.”
’s letter to church leaders arrived in by 11 September 1839, when JS responded with an update on the affairs of the church. Although Galland’s original letter is apparently not extant, copied it and JS’s response into Letterbook 2 sometime between 5 August and 30 October 1839.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Edward Partridge, 5 Mar. 1839; Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839; and Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839.

  2. [2]

    Agreement with George W. Robinson, 30 Apr. 1839; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12 G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195; Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, vol. 1, pp. 507–510, microfilm 959,238; vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, 26 June 1839, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 3 July 1839; see also Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

  4. [4]

    According to Latter-day Saint Franklin D. Richards, Galland and his family left the region because his wife was opposed to the church. (Franklin D. Richards, Quincy, IL, to Phineas Richards and Wealthy Dewey Richards, 5 Aug.–5 Sept. 1839, typescript, Richards Family Collection, CHL; see also Isaac Galland, Chillicothe, OH, to Samuel Swasey, North Haverhill, NH, 22 July 1839, CCLA.)

    Richards Family. Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215.

    Galland, Isaac. Letter, Chillicothe, OH, to Samuel Swasey, North Haverhill, NH, 22 July 1839. CCLA.

  5. [5]

    Isaac Galland, Chillicothe, OH, to Samuel Swasey, North Haverhill, NH, 22 July 1839, CCLA. Shortly after Galland arrived in Chillicothe, an anonymous advertisement was published in a local newspaper, soliciting a house “for a small family.” The advertisement indicated that all responses were to be given to Ely Bentley, the owner of the hotel where Galland was staying, located at the corner of Water and Walnut streets. According to the ad, Bentley would forward responses to the interested party, presumably Galland. (“House Wanted,” Scioto Gazette [Chillicothe, OH], 1 Aug. 1839, [3]; “National Hotel,” Scioto Gazette, 29 Aug. 1839, [3].)

    Galland, Isaac. Letter, Chillicothe, OH, to Samuel Swasey, North Haverhill, NH, 22 July 1839. CCLA.

    Scioto Gazette. Chillicothe, OH. 1827–1854.

  6. [6]

    See Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, bk. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, 26 June 1839, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  7. [7]

    Isaac Galland, Chillicothe, OH, to Samuel Swasey, North Haverhill, NH, 22 July 1839, CCLA.

    Galland, Isaac. Letter, Chillicothe, OH, to Samuel Swasey, North Haverhill, NH, 22 July 1839. CCLA.

  8. [8]

    JS, Commerce, IL, to Isaac Galland, Kirtland, OH, 11 Sept. 1839, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 71–73.

  9. [9]

    Mulholland copied Galland’s letter after he recorded a 5 August 1839 letter to Isaac Russell on page 69 of JS Letterbook 2, making that the earliest likely copying date for Galland’s letter.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Isaac Galland, 24 July 1839 Letterbook 2

Page 71

stomachs being already filled to overflowing, And so of the doctrines of the “New Jerusalem Church” if none but those who read And understand the many thousand metaphysical solutions of philisophical problems, which Swedenborg has published, can be saved, then truly must Heaven be content with a spare population until the inhabitants intellectual capacities of the human race are vastly improved— but if the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, And if God has chosen a system of salvation which is to the greeks foolishness And is not taught in the wisdom of mens words, then indeed must it be a vain effort to establish a system in lieu thereof, which is purely the wisdom of the wise— And which has for its whole charm the praise of being philosophically systematic.
I expect next week to set out for Akron and And as I shall write immediately on my return to this place, or perhaps from one of the above places, I will now conclude by requesting that I may be favored with letters from as many of you as can take time to write me, I shall probably have something more interesting to write about when I write you again, give my best wishes and my Assurance of my sincere affection to all the brethren [a]nd believe me ever your’s most sincerely—
P. S. Please let me hear every matter of importance which relates to the success or hindrance, prosperity or adversity of the .
Yours truly
To J Smith Jr
&c
Hancock Co Illinois—— [p. 71]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 71

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Isaac Galland, 24 July 1839
ID #
479
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D6:528–533
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Mulholland

Footnotes

  1. [11]

    See 1 Corinthians 1:17–31.

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