Statement, circa 1 November 1839–B
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Source Note
JS, , and , Statement, , Adams Co., IL, ca. 1 Nov. 1839. Featured version published [between ca. Jan. and May 1840] as part of [Sidney Rigdon], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri. By Authority of Said Church, Cincinnati: Glezen and Shepard, 1840, [2]. Transcription from digital color images obtained from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, in 2012.The pamphlet measures 6⅝ × 4 × ¼ inches (17 × 10 × 1 cm). According to the bookplate, this copy was part of the William Robertson Coe Collection of Western Americana. This collection was donated to Yale in annual installments beginning in 1942.
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Historical Introduction
On or soon after 1 November 1839, JS and his in the signed a statement documenting the church’s approval to publish a history of the persecutions that the had faced in . The history, which included a narrative interspersed with affidavits, orders, and other documents related to the Saints’ experiences, was one of many documents church members had recently written to tell the story of their suffering. Published as An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, the history was read at a of church members on 1 November 1839 in , Illinois, and those in attendance approved the manuscript for publication. Among those at the conference were JS, , , and , all of whom had traveled from , Illinois, to Quincy on 30 October. JS’s group remained in Quincy until the conference concluded on 1 November, leaving later in the day for to seek redress for land church members lost in Missouri during the 1830s. Possibly before the group left or shortly thereafter, the featured statement was prepared and appended to the preface of the history.While the statement includes the printed signatures of JS, , and , it is unclear whether Hyrum was with JS and Rigdon in on 1 November. He is not identified in JS’s history or in other sources as having joined JS and his companions when they departed , and he did not accompany the travel party on the rest of their journey to . However, Hyrum’s handwritten signature appears on another document—a letter of recommendation for —also dated 1 November 1839 in Quincy and signed by JS and Rigdon, which indicates Hyrum may have been in Quincy that day. The statement also includes ’s printed signature, as attesting clerk. Robinson, who was the First Presidency’s clerk and Rigdon’s son-in-law, appears to have been in Quincy in November 1839.retained the manuscript after it was approved at the 1 November conference, and a few weeks later he met with in , Illinois, to plan for the publication of the manuscript. Robinson made arrangements with publisher Glezen and Shepard to print the history as a pamphlet, and Hyde raised funds to pay for the publication. According to Hyde, when he arrived in Cincinnati sometime after 6 January 1840, “the books were not done and would not be short of about ten days.” The printing was completed by May 1840, when the Times and Seasons began advertising that the pamphlet was available for twenty-five cents. Neither the first edition of the Appeal nor the second edition, printed in the same year and city by Shepard and Stearns, identifies the author, but contemporary records indicate wrote the narrative. Because the original statement is evidently not extant, the featured statement is reproduced from the first edition of the published volume.
Footnotes
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1
See, for example, John P. Greene, Facts relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order” (Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839); John Taylor, A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, upon the Latter Day Saints ([Springfield, IL], [1839]); Parley P. Pratt, History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839); and “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:17–20.
Greene, John P. Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order.” By John P. Greene, an Authorized Representative of the Mormons. Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839.
Scott, Franklin William. Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814–1879. Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910.Taylor, John. A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, Upon the Latter Day Saints. Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839.
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2
[Sidney Rigdon], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri (Cincinnati: Glezen and Shepard, 1840).
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3
Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 29 Oct. 1839, 66; Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.
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4
Correspondence between Hyrum Smith and JS places Hyrum in Commerce during the ensuing months. (See, for example, Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; and Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840.)
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6
See “Robinson, George W.,” in Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:252–253.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
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7
Orson Hyde, Commerce, IL, 4 Mar. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:71–73.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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8
Orson Hyde, Commerce, IL, 4 Mar. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:72.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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9
George W. Robinson, “To the Public,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:112. The advertisement, in Robinson’s name, did not specify that Robinson had copies available in the Nauvoo area but stated that the pamphlets had “recently been published at Cincinnatti.” It is unclear how many copies of the first edition were printed, but two thousand copies of a second, slightly revised edition were printed by the same Cincinnati publishing house later in the year. (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:124.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
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10
In a letter dated 4 March 1840, Hyde wrote to Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson, editors of the Times and Seasons, that while in Springfield in November 1839 he “fell in company with Brother George W. Robinson, of this place [Commerce], who was going eastward to Vermont & other States, having with him the history of the church from 1833, written by President Rigdon, read and approved of by the Quincy conference.” Additionally, the 1 and 15 January and 1 February 1841 issues of the Times and Seasons printed notices for George W. Robinson’s printing and bookbinding business, advertising, among other publications, the second edition of “S. Rigdon’s Appeal.” The second edition was published as [Sidney Rigdon], An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri, 2nd ed. (Cincinnati: Shepard and Stearns, 1840). (Orson Hyde, Commerce, IL, 4 Mar. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Mar. 1840, 1:72; Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:272; 15 Jan. 1841, 2:288; 1 Feb. 1841, 2:310.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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1
Document Transcript
| JOSEPH SMITH, Jr.,) | Presidents of said Church. | |
| ,) | ||
| .) |
Footnotes
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1
The manuscript was quite lengthy; the two published editions of the Appeal ran to eighty-four and sixty pages, respectively. It is unclear how much of the appeal was read at the conference. (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:103–104, 124.)
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
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2
Robinson was appointed general church recorder and clerk for the First Presidency on 6 April 1838. (Minutes, 6 Apr. 1838.)