Letter from Don Carlos Smith, 3 June 1841
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Source Note
, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 3 June 1841; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets.Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7⅞ inches (25 × 20 cm) ruled with thirty horizontal blue lines that are now faded. The letter was written on the recto and verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red wafer. The first leaf was torn, likely when the letter was opened.The document was docketed by , who served in a clerical capacity for JS from 1841 to 1842. A later docket was added by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859. The letter was listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. The dockets and inventory suggest continuous institutional custody of this letter from the time it was received.
Footnotes
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1
See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.
Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.
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2
“Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
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3
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, 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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Historical Introduction
wrote a letter to his brother JS on 3 June 1841 before departing , Illinois, on a business trip to . As indicated in his letter, Don Carlos hoped JS could help him with several business transactions, including exchanging property in for property in , settling debts in Ohio, and selling land in Illinois. Although the brothers both lived in Nauvoo, Don Carlos explained in this letter that he had written instead of visiting because JS was busy and unavailable.At the time this letter was written, was working as an editor of the Times and Seasons and was “strugling in poverty to sustain the press.” He also had outstanding financial obligations in and hoped he could settle these debts with the aid of JS’s , who was in the area. Both JS and Don Carlos had written to Granger concerning these matters, yet neither appears to have received a response. With this letter, Don Carlos attempted to deal directly with JS in order to move the business forward. Unfortunately, Don Carlos passed away on 7 August. JS apparently received the letter and, near the end of August, attempted again to contact Granger and commission him to have Don Carlos’s property in Kirtland deeded to , Don Carlos’s widow.
Footnotes
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1
Don Carlos was going to Cincinnati with Ebenezer Robinson to “settle with Mr. Shepherd, and also to lay in a stock of paper and other printing material,” as Robinson later recalled. Don Carlos and Robinson had been coeditors of the Times and Seasons and had also printed a new edition of the Book of Mormon in 1840. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], June 1890, 287.)
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
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2
Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 14 Feb. 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL.
Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.
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3
“Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons, 16 Aug. 1841, 2:503.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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4
Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841; Letter to Oliver Granger, 30 Aug. 1841. Kirtland lot 8 in block 113 was bonded to Granger’s son Gilbert Granger from Daniel Carter in September 1841, and the bond was transferred to Agnes Coolbrith Smith in March 1842. (Daniel Carter to Gilbert Granger, Bond, Kirtland, OH, 16 Sept. 1841, JS Office Papers, CHL.)
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Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
A hayrack is a feeder for livestock and a traditional feature in equestrian stables. The amount of hay in the rack fluctuated with times of famine or plenty. An 1811 guide for farriers illuminates Don Carlos Smith’s metaphoric use: “The way to get a horse into condition, is not by continually filling his rack with hay . . . but by observing regularity in giving him his food.” In other words, hay should be dispensed in frequent intervals and appropriate amounts, in the same way Don Carlos hoped money would be dispensed for himself and JS; Don Carlos pledged his loyalty despite fluctuations and uncertainty. (Wilson, Gentleman’s Modern System of Farriery, 23.)
Wilson, Yorick. The Gentleman’s Modern System of Farriery; or, Stable Directory; a Concise Treatise on the Various Diseases of Horses, Their Symptoms, and Most Humane Methods of Cure. Trenton, NJ: James Oram, 1811.
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2
TEXT: Likely “was”.
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3
Don Carlos still owed money on several accounts in Ohio, including two notes for forty dollars each to “Van Boskirk & Ring of Painesville,” as well as a note for sixty dollars with approximately forty dollars of interest accrued. (Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 14 Feb. 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL.)
Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.
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4
The year of 1839 was particularly difficult for many members of the church who had recently settled in Commerce (later Nauvoo), Illinois. High temperatures and proximity to the marshy land lining the Mississippi River led to rampant illness. Don Carlos Smith and his coeditor, Ebenezer Robinson, along with their families, became ill in July 1839. Robinson later recalled that as they were in the early stages of printing the first issue of the Times and Seasons, they both “were taken down with the chills and fever, and what added to our affliction, both our families were taken down with the same disease.” According to Robinson, they were sick for about ten months. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], May 1890, 257, italics in original.)
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
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5
Annual payments on the Nauvoo city properties purchased from Horace Hotchkiss, John Gillet, and Smith Tuttle were due at this time, and JS was actively seeking methods of making those payments. (See Authorization for Hyrum Smith and Isaac Galland, 15 Feb. 1841; and Report of Agents, ca. 30 Jan. 1841.)
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6
In June 1839 the First Presidency of the church decided to let Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson “have the printing press and type” that had been salvaged from Missouri. The two men were commissioned to print a periodical for the church but were allowed to function independently. This arrangement gave them any profits made from the enterprise. (Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return [Davis City, IA], May 1890, 257.)
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
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7
In July, Don Carlos wrote to Granger, “I understand that you are the owner of the house and lot that used to be mine,” and offered to give money or Nauvoo property to reimburse Granger for what he had paid for the property. In fact, JS had already commissioned Granger a month earlier to deed Don Carlos’s former house and land in Kirtland to Don Carlos’s wife, Agnes Coolbrith Smith. (Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, 11 July 1841, Don Carlos Smith, Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841, CHL; Letter to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841.)
Smith, Don Carlos. Letters to Oliver Granger, 1841. CHL.
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8
The store referred to is JS’s red brick store in Nauvoo, which JS was preparing to open for business. (Floor Plan for Joseph Smith’s Store, between Feb. and Dec. 1841, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; Leonard, Nauvoo, 145.)
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
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9
Don Carlos, along with his coeditor, Ebenezer Robinson, announced a plan to publish a weekly, general-interest newspaper in June 1840. By December they had abandoned the project because of a lack of subscribers. (“Proposals,” Times and Seasons, Apr. 1840, 1:96; Notice, Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1840, 2:234; see also Tanner, “Mormon Press in Nauvoo,” 97–98.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Tanner, Terrence A. “The Mormon Press in Nauvoo, 1839–46.” In Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History, edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas, 94–118. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996.