Letter from Caroline Youngs Adams, circa 15 January 1843
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Source Note
, Letter, , New York Co., NY, to and JS, , Hancock Co., IL, [ca. 15 Jan. 1843]; handwriting of ; eight pages (four pages extant); JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes address, postal stamps, and postal notations.Bifolium measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). The bifolium appears to have been manufactured specially for letter writing; the recto of the first leaf is ruled with twenty-six lines printed in blue ink with header space, the verso of the first leaf and recto of the second are ruled with twenty-eight printed lines with no header space, and the verso of the second leaf was left blank for addressing. The first four pages are not extant; the last four pages are numbered 5–8, suggesting the letter originally consisted of two bifolia. The letter was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with wax. Wear at intersecting folds has created holes in pages, resulting in a loss of text.The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984, staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name and subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992. This group of records was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, and its cataloging was finalized in 2017.
Footnotes
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See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.
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Historical Introduction
On 15 January 1843, mailed a letter from to JS in , Illinois, informing him of her suspicion that her husband, , was guilty of adultery. Caroline likely joined the in New York City in February 1840, around the same time as her husband. In the intervening years, George spent most of his time as a missionary in and , leaving Caroline alone for long periods of time. In summer and fall 1842, George left the eastern for a lengthy stay in and around Nauvoo, where he met and visited with JS. During one of those interviews, JS apparently confronted him with accusations of adultery, and he subsequently confessed to the charge. It is unclear when Adams left Nauvoo, but he apparently arrived back in New York City by January 1843.Because the affair apparently took place while he was a missionary in , was likely not aware that Mary Connor—the twenty-three-year-old daughter of Henry Connor, an early convert in —was pregnant with their child. In early January 1843, Mary Connor arrived at the Adams home with an infant, whom she identified as Adams’s son. Connor’s arrival with the child shocked , who had no prior knowledge of her husband’s infidelity. George denied the child was his and soon thereafter left to preach in . In his absence, Caroline apparently took responsibility for the care of her husband’s child and possibly for Connor as well. According to her letter to JS, Caroline contemplated adopting the child in order to quiet rumors of the affair. Later documents suggest she followed through on this plan, naming him George Oscar and raising him as her own.About two weeks after learning of the child, wrote this letter to JS to inform him of the situation and to ask him to use his prophetic gift to discern whether her husband was guilty of adultery. She requested that if JS determined that her husband was guilty, JS quietly call him to to deal with the transgression privately. Adams was so concerned with privacy that she addressed the letter to , believing that sending the letter to her would lessen the chances of others seizing or reading it. Moreover, she requested that JS not let anyone else read it. JS appears to have received the letter by 10 February 1843, when he instructed the to silence and have him return to Nauvoo with his family for church discipline. It is unclear whether JS responded to Caroline. At some point after JS received the letter, its first four pages were separated from the remainder of the document, and they are no longer extant.
Footnotes
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George J. Adams, 7 Oct. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1840, 2:220–221.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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Letter from George J. Adams, 21 Apr. 1842; “Latter Day Saints, or Mormons,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1842, 3:835–836.
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Adams later claimed he stayed in Nauvoo for around three weeks, but he actually spent more time in the region. Extant records show that he was in and out of the city for over a month between September and October. Regardless of when he left Nauvoo, by mid-December 1842 he had traveled as far east as Philadelphia, where he preached and met with a branch of the church. (George J. Adams, Deposition, 3 May 1847, Cobb v. Cobb [Mass. Sup. Ct. 1847], Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, Massachusetts State Archives, Boston; Historical Introduction to Letter from George J. Adams and David Rogers, 11 Oct. 1842; “Religious Notice,” Public Ledger [Philadelphia], 17 Dec. 1842, [2]; Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 21 Dec. 1842.)
Cobb v. Cobb / Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Henry Cobb v. Augusta Adams Cobb, 1847. Boston, Suffolk Co., MA, Divorce Libels, case no. 477. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, Massachusetts State Archives, Boston.
Public Ledger. Philadelphia. 1836–1925.
Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854. CCLA.
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Although Caroline Youngs Adams did not identify Connor in her letter to JS, her identity can be pieced together from other sources. Little is known about Connor or her relationship with George J. Adams. It is unclear when Connor arrived in the United States or where she lived prior to her appearance at the Adams home. (London Conference, Minutes, bk. A, 26 Oct. 1842, 25; Adams’ New Drama [no publisher, 1850], copy at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Woodruff, Journal, 30–31 Aug. 1840; Church of England, St. Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England, Parish Registers, 1558–1901, Baptisms, 1816–1821, vol. 22, p. 207, entry no. 1656, microfilm 396,234, British Isles Record Collection, FHL.)
London Conference. Minutes, 1841–1877. CHL.
Adams’ New Drama / Traveling Theatre Royal, Late from Beaver Island. Adams’ New Drama. No publisher, 1850. Copy at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Uni- versity, New Haven, CT.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
British Isles Record Collection. FHL.
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According to Caroline Youngs Adams’s letter, George J. Adams left New York City prior to 15 January 1843. He arrived in Boston and was actively preaching by 19 January 1843. (“Review of the Mormon Lectures,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1843, 4:126.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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Although sources are vague, later rumors surrounding George J. Adams’s affair suggest that both Caroline Youngs Adams and Connor were living in the Adams household after they relocated to Nauvoo. Some of these rumors identified Connor as George’s plural wife. In an August 1844 letter to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, George requested that Young “see My beloved wife give My love to her and to Mary,” which suggests that Adams may have married Connor as well. (Charlotte Haven, Nauvoo, IL, to “My Dear Friends at Home,” 8 Sept. 1843, in “Girl’s Letters from Nauvoo,” 635; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 1 Sept. 1843, 15–16; John Smith to George A. Smith, 3 Sept. 1843, in Bathsheba Bigler Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to George A. Smith, Boston, MA, 2 Sept. 1843, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL; George J. Adams, New Bedford, MA, to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, Aug. 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL, underlining in original.)
Haven, Charlotte. “A Girl’s Letters from Nauvoo.” Overland Monthly 16, no. 96 (Dec. 1890): 616–638.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
Smith, George Albert. Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
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Adams’ New Drama [no publisher, 1850], copy at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Adams’ New Drama / Traveling Theatre Royal, Late from Beaver Island. Adams’ New Drama. No publisher, 1850. Copy at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Uni- versity, New Haven, CT.
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George J. Adams indicated that just such a revelatory process occurred in September or October 1842. In his 11 October 1842 letter to JS, Adams referred to his adultery as something “that the lord revealed” to JS. (Letter from George J. Adams and David Rogers, 11 Oct. 1842.)
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When George J. Adams returned to Nauvoo in spring 1843, JS dealt with him privately, temporarily revoking his priesthood office of elder and having him act in the lower office of priest. JS then instructed the Twelve and others familiar with Adams’s indiscretions to “hold ther tongues and only say that Elder Adams has started anew.” (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 27 May 1843; see also Woodruff, Journal, 27 May 1843.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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