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Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 18 August 1841

Source Note

John M. Bernhisel

23 June 1799–28 Sept. 1881. Physician, politician. Born in Sandy Hill, Tyrone Township, Cumberland Co. (later in Perry Co.), Pennsylvania. Son of Samuel Bernhisel and Susannah Bower. Attended medical lectures at University of Pennsylvania, 1818, in Philadelphia...

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, Letter,
New York City

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

More Info
, New York Co., NY, 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, 18 Aug. 1841; handwriting of
John M. Bernhisel

23 June 1799–28 Sept. 1881. Physician, politician. Born in Sandy Hill, Tyrone Township, Cumberland Co. (later in Perry Co.), Pennsylvania. Son of Samuel Bernhisel and Susannah Bower. Attended medical lectures at University of Pennsylvania, 1818, in Philadelphia...

View Full Bio
; two pages; BYU. Includes address, postal stamps, postal notations, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm) and ruled with twenty-eight horizontal blue lines that are now faded. An embossed logo for a paper mill appears in the top left corner of the first page and reads “Southworth Co., Springfield”. The letter was written on the recto and verso of the first leaf. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The second leaf was torn, likely when the letter was opened. The letter was later folded for filing.
A docket in the handwriting of
John S. Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

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, who served in a clerical capacity for JS from 1841 to 1842, appears on the verso of the second leaf.
1

See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

The first page is torn along the top horizontal fold. According to a notation on a photocopy of this document, the letter was acquired at an auction in 1964 by Brigham Young University, where it remains as part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.

    Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

Historical Introduction

John M. Bernhisel

23 June 1799–28 Sept. 1881. Physician, politician. Born in Sandy Hill, Tyrone Township, Cumberland Co. (later in Perry Co.), Pennsylvania. Son of Samuel Bernhisel and Susannah Bower. Attended medical lectures at University of Pennsylvania, 1818, in Philadelphia...

View Full Bio
wrote this letter to JS on 18 August 1841 in
New York

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

More Info
regarding his intention to buy land near
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. The letter followed up on a previous communication Bernhisel sent to JS on this same subject. In that earlier letter, Bernhisel included a certificate of deposit for $425 to be used for procuring land on his behalf.
1

Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841.


To confirm JS’s receipt of the deposit, Bernhisel sent the letter featured here and another nonextant communication to an “Elder Kimball,” likely
Heber C. Kimball

14 June 1801–22 June 1868. Blacksmith, potter. Born at Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vermont. Son of Solomon Farnham Kimball and Anna Spaulding. Married Vilate Murray, 22 Nov. 1822, at Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Member of Baptist church at Mendon, 1831. Baptized...

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. Though JS answered Bernhisel’s first letter in a communication dated 3 August 1841, evidently Bernhisel had not yet received it. That letter was intended primarily to inform Bernhisel that JS had indeed received his letter and deposit.
2

Letter to John M. Bernhisel, 3 Aug. 1841.


A docket in the handwriting of JS’s clerk
John S. Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

View Full Bio
indicates that JS received this 18 August letter. JS also received an additional letter from
Bernhisel

23 June 1799–28 Sept. 1881. Physician, politician. Born in Sandy Hill, Tyrone Township, Cumberland Co. (later in Perry Co.), Pennsylvania. Son of Samuel Bernhisel and Susannah Bower. Attended medical lectures at University of Pennsylvania, 1818, in Philadelphia...

View Full Bio
less than a month later.
3

See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 8 Sept. 1841.


JS responded to both letters in mid-November 1841.
4

See Letter to John M. Bernhisel, 16 Nov. 1841.


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841.

  2. [2]

    Letter to John M. Bernhisel, 3 Aug. 1841.

  3. [3]

    See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 8 Sept. 1841.

  4. [4]

    See Letter to John M. Bernhisel, 16 Nov. 1841.

Page [1]

New York

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

More Info
August 18th. 1841
Dear Brother,
I wrote you about the 12th. Ultimo
1

See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841.


enclosing a certificate of deposite on the Greenwich bank in this
city

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

More Info
2

The Greenwich Savings Bank was incorporated in 1833 and in 1841 was located at number eleven Sixth Avenue in New York City. The building was situated in lower west Manhattan, within a few blocks of Bernhisel’s residence on Hudson Street. (History of the Greenwich Savings Bank, 7–8.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

History of the Greenwich Savings Bank, New York, Together with the Acts of Incorporation and a List of the Trustees and Officers from the Foundation of the Institution. New York: De Vinne Press, 1896.

for four hundred and twenty five dollars, and requested that you would do me the favor to purchase land for me to the amount of about five hundred [d]ollars,
3

TEXT: “[Hole in paper]ollars”.


and stated that I would remit you the remaining [s]eventy five dollars by the 1st of July next, but I shall probably be enabled to do so in the course of the ensuing winter, certainly by the first of May next. Not having received an acknowledgment of the receipt of the certificate of deposite, and supposing that you were probably prevented from acknowledging <​it​> by the pressure of other business, I wrote a few days since to Elder Kimball,
4

This was likely Heber C. Kimball, who, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was designated an elder. Kimball had recently traveled through New York on his way back to Nauvoo after the completion of his mission to the British Isles. (Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 Feb. 1835; Woodruff, Journal, 23 May 1841; Notice, Times and Seasons, 15 July 1841, 2:478.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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

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

requesting him to make the inquiry and write me, as I felt anxious to know whether it had reached you in safety. In my last I desired you to make the purchase within two or three miles of
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
, but I have very recently been informed that the price of land is very high in the immediate vicinity of that
city

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
, I should therefore obtain a very small tract for five hundred dollars. If this be the case, you will have the goodness to purchase land, (if you have not already done so) at any distance within ten miles of your
city

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
, but you will please to act in this matter as if you were purchasing for yourself, for you are on the spot and perfectly well acquainted with all the advantages and disadvantages of location &c &c [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 18 August 1841
ID #
673
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:231–233
Handwriting on This Page
  • John M. Bernhisel

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 12 July 1841.

  2. [2]

    The Greenwich Savings Bank was incorporated in 1833 and in 1841 was located at number eleven Sixth Avenue in New York City. The building was situated in lower west Manhattan, within a few blocks of Bernhisel’s residence on Hudson Street. (History of the Greenwich Savings Bank, 7–8.)

    History of the Greenwich Savings Bank, New York, Together with the Acts of Incorporation and a List of the Trustees and Officers from the Foundation of the Institution. New York: De Vinne Press, 1896.

  3. [3]

    TEXT: “[Hole in paper]ollars”.

  4. [4]

    This was likely Heber C. Kimball, who, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was designated an elder. Kimball had recently traveled through New York on his way back to Nauvoo after the completion of his mission to the British Isles. (Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 Feb. 1835; Woodruff, Journal, 23 May 1841; Notice, Times and Seasons, 15 July 1841, 2:478.)

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

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

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