, Letter, , Lancashire, England, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 4 Dec. 1841; handwriting of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, dockets, and notation.
Bifolium measuring 8⅞ × 7¼ inches (23 × 18 cm). All four pages are inscribed, although space was left in the middle of the fourth page for addressing. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with two small red adhesive wafers. The second leaf was torn when the letter was opened, and the recto of the first leaf and verso of the second leaf contain wafer residue. The document was later refolded for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as recorder from 1842 to 1846. Another docket was inscribed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. The notation “copied by A.J.” was apparently added by a clerk or secretary for Andrew Jenson, who served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. 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 as well as its inclusion in the circa 1904 inventory and in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 4 December 1841 wrote JS from , England, seeking counsel and updating JS on the progress and struggles of the in . Pratt had been in England fulfilling a mission with other members of the intermittently since 6 April 1840. By summer 1841 his fellow apostles had departed England, with heading for the Netherlands and , , , , , , and sailing to the . Parley Pratt remained in England to supervise the mission work and other aspects of the church there, including its publishing efforts.
also assisted with the emigration of British Saints to the . In a letter to the apostles dated 15 December 1840, JS encouraged wealthy converts to come to , Illinois, ahead of the poor Saints so that the wealthy could establish businesses and factories to employ the poor who would follow. The apostles promoted this plan in a proclamation they issued in April 1841, warning that wealthy converts should not “expend all their means in helping others to emigrate, and thus all arrive in a new country empty handed.” By December 1841 Pratt had decided that JS’s plan was not feasible because of ’s widespread poverty and the generally destitute condition of the church’s members there. In his 4 December 1841 letter, featured here, Pratt informed JS that the Saints in England could not follow his plan but that, in alignment with the apostles’ proclamation, he could increase the flow of emigration “by humbling the rich and exalting the poor”—that is, by pooling the limited funds of the Saints in England.
Funding the British Saints’ emigration was not the only financial issue facing the church. A 15 January 1841 proclamation and a 19 January 1841 revelation urged the faithful to contribute financially and through other means to the construction of a in . The July 1841 issue of the church periodical Times and Seasons suggested that “if the saints abroad, with their wealth,” would contribute as much as the impoverished Saints in Nauvoo did, a year would not pass before the temple was completed. In response, on 24 October 1841 wrote a letter assuring JS of the British Saints’ desire to support the temple. Pratt explained that he had arranged for approximately $60 donated by church members to be sent to the , and he pledged with , a church member in , to send $1,000 over the course of the year. In the 4 December letter, Pratt referred to the British Saints’ continued poverty but assured JS that he and Fielding would continue to send money when able. Pratt also asked six questions—on topics such as emigration, missionary work outside of England, and the redemption of —and requested that JS answer them swiftly.
The lack of postal markings suggests that this letter was hand delivered rather than mailed. JS apparently received the letter in . JS responded to on 12 June 1842 but did not answer Pratt’s questions.
Letter from Heber C. Kimball, 9 July 1840. With his mission in England extended and having learned that his family was ill, in mid-1840 Pratt sailed to New York and escorted his wife, children, and sister-in-law across the Atlantic to be with him during the remainder of his mission. (Pratt, Autobiography, 342–343; Woodruff, Journal, 7 July 1840.)
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
I take this oppertunity to comunicate with you, and would say that myself and family are all Well. and We wish health and peace and favour to rest abundantly upon you and your family and all the household of faith. We Rejoice greatly in the continual good news Which We hear from the Land of , and in the Spirit of faith, union, confidence, enterprise and industry Which seems to prevail and increase in your midst. We Rejoice in the Building of the and feel great desire to push it forward. you will doubtless get the Letter I sent last and you will there see What my mind has been on that subject for some time and I find that it is in perfect accordance with the Spirit of the Lord in . viz. to push the ahead with all posible Speed. and I hope it will be enclosed by next fall. and myself will continue to forward according to our ability, and will endeavour to influence others so to do. But O! Br, Joseph Millions of Labourers are out of employ, and are starving in this , and among others hundreds of the most faithful saints. and hundreds more are laboring like slaves on about half what they can eat. This pains my heart, and I sometimes feel as if I could take them all on my shoulders and upon my arms and carry them to Zion; but allass, the means is Wanting. yet we are enabled to work the deliverance of many by humbling the rich and exalting the poor, But Dear Br, the saints in this are nearly all poor and there is no Capital among them as it were; therefore they cannot fulfil your epistle in Regard to men of Capital coming first to prepare the way[,] for the Rich will not hear nor obey the gospel. and the poor must flea or perish. and if they perish they had rather perish Where provisions cost about one sixth part what they cost here. Yea, most gladly would they sell them selves for slaves to their Brethern in for the sake of a being on the earth, but no one will buy them. (that is hire them, and advance them money to go with.)
Dear Br be so kind as to write me a few lines in answer to this letter, and give me a word of encouragement, and [p. [1]]
At the time, Parley P. Pratt’s household included his wife, Mary Ann Frost Pratt; his wife’s sister, Olive Frost; his stepdaughter, Mary Ann Stearns, age eight; his two sons, Parley Parker Pratt Jr. and Nathan Pratt, ages four and three, respectively; and his daughter, Olivia Pratt, age six months. (Pratt, Autobiography, 343; “Records of Early Church Families,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1936, 106, 109.)
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
The June 1841 issue of the Millennial Star, the Saints’ newspaper in England, published the minutes of a 6 April 1841 celebration during which the cornerstones of the Nauvootemple were laid. During the celebration, Sidney Rigdon optimistically said that the Saints would be “soon completing the edifice,” which may have led Pratt to believe that the temple’s construction was further along than it was. (“Latest from America,” Millennial Star, June 1841, 2:26.)
Pratt wrote a letter to JS on 24 October 1841 encouraging the building of the temple. Addressing the temple building committee, he stated, “Let not your hands be slack, nor your hearts be fe[e]ble; but drive the temple ahead in the name of the Lord god of Israel; for thus the Spirit whispers in my heart, they shall not lack, nor be left in embarasment.” In another letter, Pratt relayed to church leaders that although the English Saints were “extremely anxious to do something for the temple,” their money was “swallowed up in emigration.” (Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 24 Oct. 1841; Parley P. Pratt, Manchester, England, to “the Authorities and Members of the Church,” Nauvoo, IL, 12 Aug. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:625.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Missionaries commonly commented on the ongoing economic depression in England. For example, Heber C. Kimball explained that in Liverpool he encountered “the rich attired in the most costly dresses, and the next moment was saluted with the cries of the poor without covering sufficient to screne them from the weather; such a distinction I never saw before.” (Thompson, Journal of Heber C. Kimball, 15; see also Letter from Brigham Young and Willard Richards, 5 Sept. 1840.)
Thompson, Robert B. Journal of Heber C. Kimball an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Nauvoo, IL: Robinson and Smith, 1840.
On 16 April 1840 the Quorum of Twelve resolved “that we recommend no one to go to America that has money with out assisting the poor according to our council from time to time.” (Woodruff, Journal, 16 Apr. 1840.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
On 15 December 1840 JS wrote a letter to the Quorum of Twelve in which he included details on the prices of goods in Nauvoo. JS noted that “provisions are much lower than when you left. Flour is worth about four dollars per barrel, corn 20 cents per bushel; Pottatoes about 20 cents. and other things in about the same proportion.” (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.)