Letter from William Appleby, circa March 1842
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Source Note
, Letter, [Recklesstown Township, Burlington Co., NJ], to [JS], [, Hancock Co., IL, ca. Mar. 1842]. Featured version published in “Letter from W. J. Appleby. Esq.,” Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842, vol. 3, no. 13, 777–778. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
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Historical Introduction
About March 1842, Latter-day Saint , a resident of Recklesstown, New Jersey, wrote to JS expressing sympathy for the difficulties JS had endured and reporting on the state of the in . Appleby first learned of the church in 1838 and was , along with his wife, Sarah Price Appleby, in September 1840. After being an by in October, Appleby began preaching and baptizing in the vicinity of Recklesstown. In May 1841 Appleby visited , Illinois, where he met with JS for the first time. Upon his return, Appleby presided over the of the church in Recklesstown and continued to proselytize in New Jersey and Delaware.In his letter to JS, reflected on the persecution JS and the church had experienced and offered a prayerful affirmation that he and the church would ultimately prevail. Appleby also recounted the progress of the church in , requested assistance in his efforts to preach to residents in the region, and reported on two families planning to migrate from New Jersey to in April 1842.The original letter has not been located, but its contents were published in the 2 May 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. Though the published version does not include a date, external and internal evidence provides some indication of when the letter was written. In his letter mentioned a baptism he had performed “but a few weeks ago” in which he “broke the ice to do it.” This was likely a reference to a baptism that took place during winter 1841–1842 or early spring 1842. Appleby also noted that the Recklesstown branch of the church had 22 members and that the Recklesstown and Cream Ridge area had “something near two hundred members.” Minutes of a 6–10 April 1842 held in note the Recklesstown branch had 26 members and the Cream Ridge and Recklesstown branches had a combined 166 members. This suggests that the letter was written sometime around the early April 1842 conference.That ’s letter appeared in the 2 May 1842 issue of the semimonthly Times and Seasons suggests that the letter was received in sometime after the contents of the 15 April issue had been finalized. Letters from Saints in the Delaware River Valley usually took about two or three weeks to travel to Nauvoo, so it is likely that Appleby sent his letter sometime in March or possibly in early April. No response is known to exist, but the letter’s publication in the Times and Seasons indicates that JS believed that its contents should be shared with the church.
Footnotes
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1
Recklesstown Township (now Chesterfield) was located approximately thirty miles northeast of Philadelphia.
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2
Appleby, Autobiography and Journal, 14, 23, 27, 39; Erastus Snow, Journal, Sept. 1840, 91; Letter from Orson Hyde, 28 Sept. 1840.
Appleby, William I. Autobiography and Journal, 1848–1856. CHL. MS 1401.
Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.
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3
Appleby, Autobiography and Journal, 52–53.
Appleby, William I. Autobiography and Journal, 1848–1856. CHL. MS 1401.
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4
Appleby, Autobiography and Journal, 68–71, 96–97. Erastus Snow organized a branch in Recklesstown on 4 July 1841, during his second mission to the area. (Erastus Snow, Journal, 4 July 1841, 2.)
Appleby, William I. Autobiography and Journal, 1848–1856. CHL. MS 1401.
Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.
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5
Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 6–10 Apr. 1842, 24.
Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854. CCLA.
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