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Letter to Edward Hunter, 5 January 1842

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , Chester Co., PA, 5 Jan. 1842; handwriting of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamp, postal notation, docket, use marks, and notation.
Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was inscribed on all four pages, ending partway down the fourth page. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked. Wafer residue appears on the verso of the second leaf. The letter was later refolded for filing. The second leaf has undergone conservation.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The letter was used to prepare an excerpt transcribed into the manuscript history of the church, volume C-1 addenda, likely sometime between 24 April and 19 June 1855, at which time use marks were made in graphite. A graphite notation reading “Printed” was added by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1882 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket, use marks, and notation as well as its inclusion in the circa 1904 inventory and in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate 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]

    See JS History, vol. C-1 Addenda, 50–51; and Vogel, History of Joseph Smith, 1:xcvii.

    Vogel, Dan, ed. History of Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Source and Text-Critical Edition. 8 vols. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2015.

  3. [3]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 131, 133, 135, 141, 192, 389; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 44–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. [4]

    “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.

  5. [5]

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

Historical Introduction

On 5 January 1842 JS composed a letter in , Illinois, to in , Pennsylvania, imparting much of the same business information he had relayed to Hunter in a 21 December 1841 letter, apparently because he feared that Hunter had not received the December letter. Hunter was in conducting business, including settling the financial affairs of Margaret Smith, a recent convert to the church who had moved to Nauvoo. JS explained that the power of attorney Margaret Smith had granted to Hunter had been sent to the county clerk to be properly certified. JS also stated that he had received and accepted goods Hunter had sent and that he had purchased land near Nauvoo for Hunter. In addition, JS described his new general and emphasized that Margaret Smith’s donated money would be needed to supply the store with new merchandise for the spring. He requested Hunter to write him with any further news on settling Smith’s financial affairs.
acted as scribe for the letter. Shortly after its creation, the letter was copied into JS’s letterbook. The letter was mailed from the post office and postmarked 11 January 1842. received the letter by 10 February 1842, when he wrote a response.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Edward Hunter, West Nantmeal, PA, 5 Jan. 1842, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 222–224.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Edward Hunter, 10 Feb. 1842.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Edward Hunter, 5 January 1842 Letterbook 2 History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [2]

the below, which is nearly 10 feet high is devoted to exclusively to Shelves. <​&​> drawers, Except 1 door opening back into the space, on the left of which is are the cellar & chamber Stairs. & on the Right the Counting Room;— from the space at the top of the chamber stairs, opens a door into the Large front room, of the same size with the one below.— the walls lined with counters. coverd with reserve goods.— in front of the stairs opens the door to my Private Office, or where I keep the sacred writings. with a window to the south. overlooking the below. & the opposite shore for a great distance, <​which​> together with the passage of boats in the season thereof, constitutes a peculiarly interesting situation, in prospect & no less interesting from its retirement from the bustle & confusion of the neighborhood & city. and altogether is a place the Lord is pleased to bless.—
The painting of the has been ex[e]cuted by some of our English bethen [brethren].— & the counters, drawers— & pillars present a very respectble representation of Oak. Mahagony & Marble— for a back woods establishment,—
The Lord has blessed our exertions in a wonderful manner, and although some individuals have succeded in detain[in]g goods. to a considerable amount for the time being, yet we have been enabled to s[e]cure goods in the Sufficient to fill all the shelves. <​& soon as they were completed​> & have some in reserve, both in loft. & cellar. Our assortment, is tolerably good— very good considering the different purchases made by different individuals,— at different times, and under circumstances which controuled their choice to some extent, but, I rejoice [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Edward Hunter, 5 January 1842
ID #
739
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D9:83–88
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [7]

    The counting room referred to a “room appropriated by merchants, traders, and manufacturers, to the business of keeping their books, accounts, letters, and papers.” (“Counting-room,” in American Dictionary [1841], 406.)

    An American Dictionary of the English Language; First Edition in Octavo, Containing the Whole Vocabulary of the Quarto, with Corrections, Improvements and Several Thousand Additional Words. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New Haven: By the author, 1841.

  2. [8]

    According to Willard Richards, boats were not able to ascend the river from Keokuk, Iowa Territory, until February because of “extremely cold & freezing” weather. In 1843 they did not ascend the river until April. (JS, Journal, 4 Mar. and 12 Apr. 1843.)

  3. [9]

    While the initial goods for the store were detained in New Orleans, thirteen wagons carrying supplies from St. Louis via Warsaw, Illinois, arrived on 22 December 1841. (JS, Journal, 22 Dec. 1841.)

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