Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 2, 1 March–6 May 1845

TEXT: Possibly “so to”.  

The act incorporating the city of Nauvoo contained not only the provision, or charter, for the organization of a municipal government but also charters providing for the creation of a university and the organization of the Nauvoo Legion. The repeal of this act in 1845 meant that these organizations were defunct. (An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], pp. 52–57.)  

Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.

It is unclear what Governor Thomas Ford had proposed at this point. A month later he indicated that he supported attempts to organize a town government under the Illinois statute regarding corporations. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 15 Apr. 1845.)  

According to later testimony before the Voree, Wisconsin Territory, high council—a body composed of followers of James J. Strang—Jehiel Savage said that “Aunt Peggy” was a vigilante group in Nauvoo supported by Brigham Young. He described “an institution called Aunt Peggy . . . it was a censure to say by way of threat we will deliver over to Aunt Peggy. . . . Aunt Peggy was deemed a very sever[e] woman.” Contrary to Savage’s assertion, however, there is no contemporary evidence that “Aunt Peggy” referred to an organized vigilante movement, such as the whistling and whittling activities that occurred over the coming months. Instead, it seems to have functioned more as a general term to describe opposition to dissenters in Nauvoo in spring 1845. For example, in April 1845 the Nauvoo Fifth Ward high priests quorum, to which several members of the Council of Fifty belonged, discussed certain merchants who “ought to be delivered over to Aunt Peggy” if they did not “reform.” However, the decision of the quorum was to encourage a boycott of the store rather than vigilante activity. (High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Strangite], Minutes, 6 Apr. 1846, 5; Nauvoo Fifth Ward High Priests Quorum, Minutes, 26 Apr. 1845.)  

High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite). Minutes, 6 Apr. 1846. James Jesse Strang Collection, 1835–1920, Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Nauvoo Fifth Ward High Priests Quorum. Minutes, Dec. 1844–Apr. 1845. CHL. LR 3278 21.

On 27 February 1845 Washington Peck, a supporter of William Marks living at the Nauvoo Mansion, was beaten with a club and had “stinking filth and ink” thrown upon him by an unknown assailant. William Clayton, who recorded that “some person or persons took Washington Peck and bedaubed him all over with privy dirt,” identified Peck as “one of those mean traitors who lurks about continually in our midst communicating with our enemies & seeking to have the twelve destroyed.” Oliver B. Huntington stated that Peck “was rather a suspicious character” and noted that he was heavily armed at the time of the attack. Under the headline “Deacon Reports,” the 7 May edition of the Nauvoo Neighbor reported that “good order prevails in all parts of the city. But one person has been introduced to ‘Queen Peggy’s privy cabinet,’ and so every man minds his own business.” In 1846 Jehiel Savage stated that Peck had been “annointed” by “Aunt Peggy.” (Allen Stout, Reminiscences and Journal, 23; Huntington, History, 96–97; Clayton, Journal, 28 Feb. 1845; “Deacon Reports,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 7 May 1845, [2]; High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Strangite], Minutes, 6 Apr. 1846, 5.)  

Stout, Allen J. Reminiscences and Journal, 1863–1889. CHL.

Huntington, Oliver B. History, 1845–1846. Oliver Boardman Huntington, Papers, 1843– 1932. BYU.

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite). Minutes, 6 Apr. 1846. James Jesse Strang Collection, 1835–1920, Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.