Letter to John and Sarah Kingsley Cleveland, 24 May 1839
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Source Note
JS and , Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to and , , Adams Co., IL, 24 May 1839. Featured version copied [between 25 May and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, p. 12; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 24 May 1839, JS and his wife wrote a letter to and , inviting them to move from , Illinois, to , Illinois. The Clevelands had generously lodged Emma and the Smith children when they arrived in Quincy in mid-February 1839. In late April, after JS escaped custody in , he joined his family in the Cleveland home, where the Smiths lived until moving to Commerce on 9–10 May.In the 24 May letter to the Clevelands, JS and mentioned they had selected lots of land in for the Clevelands to purchase, with one of the lots located across the street from the Smiths’ lot. The previous month, the had purchased land in the Commerce area; by mid-May, JS was apparently selecting lots for his friends and their families. JS likely chose the specific lots for the Clevelands to show appreciation for the Clevelands’ hospitality and friendship. Extant records indicate that the Clevelands purchased the recommended plots of land by 1841; it is unclear whether the family moved to Commerce before that time.The original letter to the Clevelands, which both JS and apparently signed, is not extant. inscribed a copy in JS Letterbook 2 between 25 May and 30 October 1839.
Footnotes
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1
Letter from Emma Smith, 7 Mar. 1839; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 6–7 and 15 Feb. 1839; Letter from Edward Partridge, 5 Mar. 1839. Emma Smith wrote in a 7 March 1839 letter to JS that she and their children were living at the Clevelands’ home but that she was not sure how long they would stay there. In his memoirs, Joseph Smith III recalled that the Clevelands housed and cared for the Smith family.a Sarah Cleveland joined the church by 1836; John Cleveland was never baptized but was sympathetic to the church’s doctrine and was generous to church members.b The Clevelands were also kind to other Latter-day Saints; while housing Emma Smith and her children, the Clevelands also provided lodging for Phebe Brooks Rigdon (wife of Sidney Rigdon), her children, and Dimick B. Huntington. The Clevelands also helped the rest of Huntington’s family move to Illinois.c
(a“The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith,” Saints’ Herald, 6 Nov. 1934, 1416. bCompton, In Sacred Loneliness, 275–277; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 144. c“The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith,” Saints’ Herald, 6 Nov. 1934, 1416; Dimick Huntington, Reminiscences and Journal, [20]–[21]; Oliver Huntington, “History of Oliver Boardman Huntington,” 44–45.)Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.
Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, MO: Sun Publishing Company, 1882.
Huntington, Dimick B. Reminiscences and Journal, 1845–1847. Dimick B. Huntington, Journal, 1845–1859. CHL. MS 1419, fd. 1.
Huntington, Oliver B. “History of Oliver Boardman Huntington,” 1845–1846. BYU.
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2
JS, Journal, 22 Apr.–10 May 1839; Woodruff, Journal, 3 May 1839.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
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3
Woodruff, Journal, 18 May 1839; Alanson Ripley, Statements, ca. Jan. 1845, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, 1839–1860, CHL.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
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4
The same day as writing this letter, JS addressed letters to close associates George W. Harris and Newel K. Whitney. In those letters, he likewise encouraged the men and their families to relocate near the Smiths in Commerce. (See Letter to George W. Harris, 24 May 1839; Letter to Newel K. Whitney, 24 May 1839; Trustees Land Book A, White Purchase Index, block [147], lot 2; and Trustees Land Book B, 250.)
Trustees Land Books / Trustee-in-Trust, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Land Books, 1839–1845. 2 vols. CHL. MS 3437.
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5
Cleveland and Cleveland, Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families, 1:754; Trustees Land Book A, White Purchase Index, block [147], lot 2; Trustees Land Book B, 250, 265.
Cleveland, Edmund Janes and Horace Gillette Cleveland, comps. The Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families. 3 vols. Hartford, CT: By the authors, 1899.
Trustees Land Books / Trustee-in-Trust, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Land Books, 1839–1845. 2 vols. CHL. MS 3437.
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6
Mulholland copied this letter into JS Letterbook 2 after a letter dated 25 May 1839, making that the earliest likely copying date for this letter to the Clevelands.
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