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Petition from John Hammond and Others, 18 October 1842
Source Note
Source Note
and others, Petition, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS and the Nauvoo , , Hancock Co., IL, 18 Oct. 1842; handwriting possibly of ; signatures in the handwriting of and seven unidentified scribes; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets.
Single leaf, measuring 12⅝ × 7¾ inches (32 × 20 cm). Both sides of the leaf are ruled horizontally with forty printed lines. The bottom of the recto was divided into three columns for signatures with inscribed column lines. The leaf was folded for transmission and refolded for filing.
The petition was docketed by , the clerk of the , Illinois, . It was later docketed by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The petition’s dockets and inclusion in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.
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.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
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.
- [2]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 18 October 1842, and members of the Union of the in and around , Illinois, petitioned JS and other church leaders in , Illinois, to reorganize the boundaries of the branch. The Union branch had been established at a at Golden’s Point on 4 September 1842 with L. W. Brandon as president. It is unclear what the boundaries of the branch were at that time, but Golden’s Point appears to have been the meeting point near the branch’s geographic center.
The petitioners requested the change in boundaries presumably so the branch included more church members. The petition proposed boundaries in relation to the and to the locations of several church members’ property in , Illinois. However, extant county records do not include information on most of the properties mentioned. According to an April 1844 census conducted by the church, the revised boundaries included sections 15 and 16 of present-day Sonora Township in Hancock County. The main body of the petition, apparently written by , a counselor to David Evans of the Eleventh Ward, is dated 18 October 1842, and the initial signatories probably signed the petition the same day. Some of the later signatures may have been collected in subsequent days. There are few original signatures, as some signatories signed for others, including entire families.
was approximately seven miles south of , so the petition could have easily been delivered to Nauvoo within a day. It is unclear when JS, who was in hiding for much of October, first received the petition. The high council received this petition by 29 October, when the council considered it and resolved that it “be laid over untill Prest. return home” from a mission to the eastern . The council considered the petition again on 19 November; council member reported “that Presidents Joseph & Hyrum Smith wished the council to grant the petition of a part of the Union Branch of Oct the 18th inst inasmuch as it was their desire.” The high council subsequently resolved that the petition be granted and the boundaries adjusted.
The petition was copied into the minutes of the 29 October high council meeting, although the signatures of branch members were excluded in that version. The original version is featured here.
Footnotes
- [1]
“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1843, 4:111.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
- [2]
Nauvoo 11th Ward Census, Apr. 1844, CHL.
Nauvoo Stake. Ward Census, 1842. CHL.
- [3]
Hartley, “Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church’s First Wards,” 61–62.
Hartley, William G. “Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church’s First Wards.” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1–2 (1992): 57–80.
- [4]
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 29 Oct. 1842, 14; Letter from George Miller, 4 Sept. 1842.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
- [5]
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 19 Nov. 1842, 16.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
- [6]
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 29 Oct. 1842, 14–15.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
October the 18th 1842
To the Honorable Joseph Smith and of the at the City of
WE the under signed Subscribers members of the aforesaid Church belonging the Union at do petition Your most honorable body with president Smith also to grant unto us the privilege of Organizing a new or in other <words> Set us of[f] in to a new branch in cluding all <who> live in the following boundary to wit
Beginning at the so as to include Br. Luce and running East so <as> to exclude Jn Manfest’s place Continuing Easterly so as to include John Egbert and Joseph Curtis thence South 4 miles thence West to the So as to include the brethren at Montabello thence North to the beginning. We the under signed petitioners praying the for favour of the most honorable and dignified high Councelors at do hereby certify that this arrangement would be greatly to our advantage and convenience wherefore we subscribe our selves
Your humble petitioners and obedient servants
<we forward our petition by one of Bishop [David] Evans’s Councilors>
| Eveline Cownover | |
| Aaron H. Golden | A. W. Davis Elder |
| Nancy Golden | Pheby Davis |
| Emely Parks | Frances Williams |
| Kissiah Brunson | Alexander Williams Elder |
| M B Walton Elder | Jesse Spurgin priest |
| Hannah Walton | Lydia Spurgin |
| Isaac Walton | Susanna Spurgin |
| Sarah Stephenson | |
| J L Harvey | James Mc.minds elder |
| Sarah Harvey | Ann Mc.minds |
| Lewis Harvey | Benjamin Denton |
| Elizabeth Harvey | |
| P W Cownover |
[p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [1]
Possibly Malatiah Luce, who had joined the church on North Fox Island, Maine, before moving to Illinois. (Woodruff, Journal, 14 Nov. 1841.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
- [2]
According to Hancock County records, these coordinates covered what was likely a forty-acre plot in the northeast portion of the southwest quarter of section 28 in Township 6 North, Range 8 West. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 20P, pp. 52–53, 26 Jan. 1846, microfilm 954,602, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
- [3]
Curtis joined the church in 1833 and lived in Kirtland, Ohio, and Caldwell County, Missouri, before moving to Illinois in 1839. He was a member of the branch of the church organized at Warsaw, Illinois, in 1839. Extant Hancock County records do not indicate the location of Curtis’s property, but, according to his journal, he was not present at the meeting in which Hammond and others decided to petition the church for a reorganization of the Union branch’s boundaries. (Curtis, Reminiscences and Diary, 4–11, 53–54.)
Curtis, Joseph. Reminiscences and Diary, 1839–1881. CHL.
Signatures of John Hammond and George W. Brandon in the handwriting of first unidentified scribe, possibly John Hammond, which is the handwriting of the main text.
Signatures of Eveline Cownover, A. W. Davis, Pheby Davis, and Frances Williams are in the handwriting of fourth unidentified scribe, possibly Eveline Cownover.
Signatures of Aaron H. Golden, Nancy Golden, Emely Parks, and Kissiah Brunson are in the handwriting of second unidentified scribe, likely Aaron H. Golden.
- [4]
At the conference at which the branch was organized, Golden was selected as the branch’s clerk. (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1843, 4:111.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Signature of Alexander Williams in the handwriting of fifth unidentified scribe, most likely Alexander Williams.
Signatures from M. B. Walton to the bottom of the column (P. W. Cownover) are in the handwriting of third unidentified scribe and are all rewritten in a darker inscription.
Signatures of Jesse Spurgin, Lydia Spurgin, and Susanna Spurgin in the handwriting of sixth unidentified scribe, most likely Jesse Spurgin.
Signature of Levi Jackman.
Signatures of James McMinds, Ann McMinds, and Benjamin Denton in the handwriting of seventh unidentified scribe.
- [5]
Likely Peter W. Cownover, who had joined the church with his wife in Nauvoo in 1840. The September 1842 conference to organize the branch took place in P. W. Cownover’s home at Golden’s Point. (Cownover, Autobiographical Sketch, 2; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1843, 4:111.)
Cownover, Peter W. Autobiographical Sketch, no date. Peter W. Cownover, Reminiscences, no date. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.