Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 24 October 1841
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Source Note
, Letter, , Lancashire, England, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 24 Oct. 1841; handwriting of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamps, postal notation, and dockets.Bifolium measuring 9¾ × 8 inches (25 × 20 cm). The letter was written on all four pages and then trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and postmarked in Philadelphia. The letter was later folded for filing.The document was docketed in its original trifolded state by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. After the letter was folded for filing, it was docketed a second time by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859. The letter is listed in a Church Historian’s Office inventory from circa 1904. By 1973 it had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The dockets, inventory, and inclusion in the JS Collection indicate this letter has remained in continuous institutional custody since its receipt in 1842.
Footnotes
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1
JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
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2
“Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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3
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
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1
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Historical Introduction
On 24 October 1841, wrote a letter from , England, to JS in , Illinois, to report on the British mission and to confirm his intention to send funds for the construction of the in Nauvoo. Pratt was a member of the , and he and the rest of the were called in an 1838 revelation dictated by JS to serve an overseas mission to Great Britain. Several of the apostles eventually headed east a year later in 1839. Pratt departed on 9 March 1840 and arrived in on 6 April. Several months later, he returned to New York to escort his and children to because he expected to stay to preside over the mission when the other members of his quorum returned home. Pratt had been back in England for a year when he wrote this letter.In accordance with JS’s direction, most of the apostles completed their missions and left during the spring of 1841. Staying behind with his family, managed the ’s printing operations in England, chiefly the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star newspaper, and supervised the continued emigration of church members from England. In his letter, Pratt reported on emigration, church growth, and recent excommunications.likely mailed the letter in late October or early November. It was stamped upon arrival in on 23 December 1841. A version of the letter was published in the 1 February 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, indicating that the letter was likely received by JS sometime in January.
Footnotes
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1
Revelation, 8 July 1838–A [D&C 118].
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2
Pratt, Autobiography, 332–333, 342–343.
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
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3
In December 1840, JS expressed his support of Pratt’s continued labors in England. Parley P. Pratt was the only apostle in Great Britain in October 1841. Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Brigham Young departed for the United States in April 1841, and Orson Hyde left for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in June. (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to Sidney Rigdon, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1841, 2:364–365.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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4
Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1842, 3:682–683. Though the letter was formally and primarily addressed to JS, it was common practice to publish such letters reporting on missionary work. In this case, the letter published in the Times and Seasons also included words of encouragement for “the Building Committe, and to the saints in general,” and conveyances of love from Pratt and his wife to friends and fellow Latter-day Saints back home.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
The August and September issues of the Times and Seasons included an article titled “The Church and Its Prospects,” obituaries of Don Carlos Smith and Robert B. Thompson, and a poem Eliza Snow had written for Don Carlos. Pratt reprinted these items in the November issue of the Millennial Star. None of the letters Pratt received from Nauvoo were reprinted in the Millennial Star in November and December. (“The Church and Its Prospects,” Obituaries for Don Carlos Smith and Robert B. Thompson, and “The Funeral of Brig. General Smith,” Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:102–103, 108–109, 111–112.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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2
Don Carlos Smith, a brigadier general in the Nauvoo Legion and JS’s youngest brother, died on 7 August 1841. JS’s scribe Robert B. Thompson, who served as an aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel in the Nauvoo Legion, died on 27 August 1841. (“Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons, 16 Aug. 1841, 2:503; “Death of Col. Robert B. Thompson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:519; Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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3
Pratt baptized and confirmed Thompson in May 1836. (Mercy Fielding Thompson, “Robert B. Thompson Biography,” Nov. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, 1839–1860, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
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4
The Tyrian, built in 1841, “was a three-master with two decks but no galleries, a square stern, and a billethead.” (Sonne, Ships, Saints, and Mariners, 190.)
Sonne, Conway B. Ships, Saints, and Mariners: A Maritime Encyclopedia of Mormon Migration, 1830–1890. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987.
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There were 207 passengers on the Tyrian. (Editorial, Millennial Star, Oct. 1841, 2:94.) Fielding, a native of England who had immigrated to Canada, traveled back to Preston, England, with Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde in 1838 to help open missionary work in Britain. (Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 25, 61.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.
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A September 1841 announcement in the Millennial Star estimated that by chartering the Tyrian, “from £1 10s. to £2 will be saved on each passenger in the price of passage and provisions to New Orleans, and some more saved in going up the river from New Orleans to Nauvoo.” (“To Emigrants,” Millennial Star, Sept. 1841, 2:80.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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7
The Chaos was built in 1840. Like the Tyrian, it “had three masts, two decks, a square stern, no galleries, and a billethead.” (Sonne, Ships, Saints, and Mariners, 39–40.)
Sonne, Conway B. Ships, Saints, and Mariners: A Maritime Encyclopedia of Mormon Migration, 1830–1890. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987.
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8
On 16 April 1840 a church conference held in Preston, England, selected Peter Melling as the first patriarch in England and ordained him the following evening. (Woodruff, Journal, 15–17 Apr. 1840; JS History, vol. C-1, 1052–1053.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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9
The April 1841 church conference in Manchester reported 5,814 members, 136 elders, 303 priests, 169 teachers, and 68 deacons throughout the British Isles. (Minutes, Manchester, England, 6 Apr. 1841, in Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 1:302.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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10
The 17 October church conference in Manchester took place at Carpenters’ Hall. (Minutes, Manchester, England, 17 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:105.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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11
The October issue of the Millennial Star (printed about one week before the conference) expressed concern about those who had been baptized without a full testimony and ended up “blaspheming against the things now revealed, and railing against the servants of the most high.” It urged that “the rules of the church discipline should be strictly enforced, and iniquity rooted out of the church.” The next month, the Millennial Star reported that 125 members had been excommunicated, and in December the paper notified readers that church member Andrew Gardner and his followers, though professing to be Latter-day Saints, had been excommunicated for “rebelling against the constituted authorities” of the church. (“To the Elders and Priests of the Church of the Saints,” Millennial Star, Oct. 1841, 2:87; Minutes, Manchester, England, 17 Oct. 1841, in Millennial Star, Nov. 1841, 2:105; “Beware of a Deceiver,” Millennial Star, Dec. 1841, 2:128.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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12
See John 15:2–6.
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13
A January 1841 revelation commanded the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:22–36].)
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14
In a diary entry written before his departure from England, Joseph Fielding mentioned unnamed “Saints who mostly made Presents to Elders Pratt and [Amos] Fielding of [two shillings and sixpence] each and this chiefly, they have sent by me for the Building of the Temple in Nauvoo.” (Fielding, Journal, Feb.–Oct. 1841, 80; see also Book of the Law of Lord, 112.)
Fielding, Joseph. Journals, 1837–1859. CHL. MS 1567.
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15
At the October 1840 general church conference in Nauvoo, JS emphasized the need to build a temple, and the conference formed a building committee consisting of Reynolds Cahoon, Elias Higbee, and Alpheus Cutler. (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.)
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16
In an earlier 1841 letter, Pratt promised to send money for the temple construction: “I have obtained a few dollars for the temple, from two or three individuals, and am in hopes to add something to it, before the sailing of the ‘Tyrean,’ and some more before the sailing of the next ship.” (Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to the Church in Nauvoo, IL, 12 Aug. and 12 Sept. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:625, italics in original.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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17
In April 1841 church member Amos Fielding was given the assignment to oversee emigration as an agent for the church. Fielding also helped Pratt solicit donations for the temple’s construction and forward them to the First Presidency. (“An Epistle of the Twelve,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 1:311; Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 4 Dec. 1841, JS Collection, CHL.)
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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18
See Zephaniah 3:16; John 14:1; and Psalm 34:10.
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19
In the 1820s and 1830s, fireproofing buildings by constructing them with metal materials became a priority in English architecture, but builders usually used iron, not lead. Though lead was used in the United States for some eighteenth-century architecture, lead was not commonly used in English architecture until the 1850s. (Gayle et al., Metals in America’s Historic Buildings, 8–11, 42–72; Wermiel, “Development of Fireproof Construction,” 3–10.)
Gayle, Margot, David W. Look, and John C. Waite. Metals in America’s Historic Buildings: Uses and Preservation Treatments. Washington DC: Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1980.
Wermiel, Sara. “The Development of Fireproof Construction in Great Britain and the United States in the Nineteenth Century.” Construction History 9 (1993): 3–26.
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20
Likely James Scofield, who sailed to the United States the following month with Peter Melling on the ship Chaos. (Manifest for Ship Chaos, List no. 20, 14 Jan. 1842, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, 1820–1945, microfilm 200,150, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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21
The first two sentences of this paragraph were omitted for the letter’s publication in the Times and Seasons. (Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 24 Oct. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1842, 3:683.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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22
At the time, Pratt’s household consisted of his wife, Mary Ann Frost Pratt; his stepdaughter, Mary Ann Stearns (born 6 April 1833); a son from a previous marriage, Parley P. Pratt Jr. (born 25 March 1837); and two children from his marriage to Mary Ann, Nathan Pratt (born 31 August 1838) and Olivia Pratt (born 2 June 1841).
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23
Some of the missionaries sent from the United States who were then in England included Hiram Clark and Samuel Mulliner, who arrived on 3 December 1839; Reuben Hedlock, who arrived on 6 April 1840; Lorenzo Snow, who arrived in the fall of 1840; and George J. Adams, who arrived on 3 March 1841. (“From England,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:110; Letter from Heber C. Kimball, 9 July 1840; Lorenzo Snow, London, England, 14 Apr. 1841, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:529; Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 Apr. 1841.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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Postal place and date stamped in brown ink.
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Postage in unidentified handwriting.
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Postal stamp in brown ink.
