Letter from James Adams, 17 December 1842
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Source Note
, Letter, , Sangamon Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 17 Dec. 1842; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, dockets, and notation.Single leaf, measuring 11½ × 7½ inches (29 × 19 cm). The leaf was trifolded twice in letter style before it was addressed, and it was later refolded for filing.The document was docketed 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. The document was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. In summer 1845, Richards directed Bullock to include the letter in JS’s history, and it was copied into the 17 December 1842 entry. Presumably, this letter was among the “letters” and other “old Papers” that an 1846 inventory of the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) indicated had been “recorded in the history.” A notation by an unidentified Church Historian’s Office clerk was inscribed presumably in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and notation, its likely inclusion in the 1846 inventory, and its inclusion in the circa 1904 inventory and in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
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
Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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3
Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 17 Dec. 1842, 18; JS History, vol. D-1, 1428; Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
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4
This line of the inventory is crossed out in the original. (“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
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5
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
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6
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 17 December 1842, wrote a letter to JS encouraging him to come to , Illinois, and submit to a hearing on an extradition writ issued by former governor . Adams was a distinguished citizen of the state capital, a respected former brigadier general in the Army, a prominent Freemason, and a probate judge. He was also a Latter-day Saint and presided over a of the church in Springfield. Adams first met JS in 1839 when JS passed through Springfield on his way to . Thereafter Adams served as a trusted confidant of and father figure to JS. In July 1842, shortly after began publishing his accusations against JS and the , the Sangamo Journal noted that Adams was acting as JS’s “agent” in the city by regularly communicating with political allies of —then the Democratic candidate for governor—in an effort to “counteract the effects of the exposures” in Bennett’s allegations. When , , , and several other church leaders traveled to Springfield in December 1842 to attend to legal business that included the ongoing attempt to extradite JS to , Adams was one of the first people they contacted after they arrived in the city on 13 December.Over the next several days, presumably joined the group in petitioning , by now the governor, to rescind the warrant and proclamation calling for JS’s arrest and extradition. Finally, on 17 December 1842, Ford informed the delegation that the Supreme Court believed JS would be released on a writ of if he submitted to the law and came to for a hearing. After obtaining these assurances in writing, the delegation members met with attorney , whom they had hired to attend to JS’s extradition case, and he likewise wrote to JS encouraging him to come to Springfield for a hearing. At this point, the men felt they had accomplished their task and decided to leave Springfield. Sometime after the delegation members’ meetings with Ford and Butterfield but before their departure from the city at eleven o’clock in the morning, Adams wrote a brief letter to JS echoing the counsel in the letters from Ford and Butterfield. JS presumably received these letters in the afternoon of 20 December, when , , , and two other members of the delegation met with him to report on their time in Springfield.
Footnotes
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1
Historical Introduction to Letter of Introduction from James Adams, 9 Nov. 1839.
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2
Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 Nov. 1839, 67; JS, Journal, 4 May 1842; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 May 1842, 11.
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3
News Item, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 15 July 1842, [3].
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
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4
Clayton, Journal, 13 Dec. 1842; Richards, Journal, 13 Dec. 1842.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
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5
For accounts of these activities, see Letter from Thomas Ford, 17 Dec. 1842; and Letter from Justin Butterfield, 17 Dec. 1842.
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6
Clayton, Journal, 17 Dec. 1842.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
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7
Although none of the men on the Springfield trip recorded meeting with Adams on 17 December, when delegation member Willard Richards instructed Thomas Bullock to copy this letter into JS’s history in 1845, Bullock placed it after Ford’s and Butterfield’s letters, which suggests that the meeting with Adams took place after these earlier interviews. (Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 17 Dec. 1842, 18; JS History, vol. D-1, 1428; Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 441.)
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
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8
Clayton, Journal, 17 and 20 Dec. 1842; Richards, Journal, 17 and 20 Dec. 1842; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 20 Dec. 1842, 19; JS History, vol. D-1, 1428.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
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