Letter from Emma Smith, 16 August 1842
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Source Note
, Letter, [, Hancock Co., IL], to JS, [near , Hancock Co., IL], [16 August 1842]. Featured version copied [between 21 and 23 Aug. 1842] in JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842, in Book of the Law of the Lord, p. 175; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124].
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Historical Introduction
On 16 August 1842, in response to a letter of the same date, wrote to JS, who was hiding at the home of , and indicated she was willing to leave with him, as he requested. In his letter to Emma, written the morning of 16 August, JS had suggested that it might be best for their family to travel to and stay there for a time to avoid his enemies. JS apparently expected Emma to receive his letter later that morning, as he instructed her to report back to him on “the appearance of things this morning.”’s response to her husband was most likely written the same day. In the letter, she stated that she would prepare to leave, but she also expressed confidence that JS could safely remain in if they took certain precautions. Emma, who had been involved in prior land transactions, also notified JS of ’s terms and conditions for a proposed land transaction. When left with JS’s letter to Emma on 16 August, he was “expected back soon,” and he probably returned to Sayers’s house with Emma’s reply later that same day.The next night, on 17 August, visited JS at ’s house and informed him that “rumors were afloat in the , intimating that president Smiths retreat had been discovered, and that it was no longer safe for him to remain at brother Sayers.” JS and Emma immediately went to the home of , a friend who was not a member of the and who lived “on the North East part of the city.” Two days later JS returned home; he moved to his the following day, where he hid until he returned home again on 23 August., who appears to have been at ’s farm on 16 August, either retained the original letter or copied it onto a loose leaf of paper; neither the original nor a copy is extant. He copied the contents of the letter into JS’s journal between 21 and 23 August, as suggested by the letter’s location in the Book of the Law of the Lord and by changes in ink color.
Footnotes
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1
Letter to Emma Smith, 16 Aug. 1842. JS had also written Wilson Law on 16 August, asking for advice on whether he should flee. (Letter to Wilson Law, 16 Aug. 1842.)
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3
See, for example, Deed to Emma Smith, 13 June 1842.
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7
See entries and ink changes in JS, Journal, Copied Correspondence, 30 June–17 Aug. 1842; and Book of the Law of the Lord, 170–181.
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Page 175
Dear husband,
I am ready to go with you if you are obliged to leave; and says he will go with me. I shall make the best arrangements I can and be as well prepared as possible. But still I feel good confidence that you can be protected without leaving this country. There is more ways than one to take care of you, and I believe that you can still direct in your business concerns if we are all of us prudent in the matter. If it was pleasant weather I should contrive to see you this evening, but I dare not run to much of a risk on account of so many going to see you. sends the propositions concerning his land, two dollars an acre, payments as follows, Assumption of Mortgage say about fourteen hundred, interest included. Taxes due, supposed about thirty dollars. Town property one thousand dollars. Balance, Money, payable in one, two, three and four years. will tell you all the information we have on hand. I think we we will have news from as soon as tomorrow.
Yours affectionately forever
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Joseph Smith.— [p. 175]
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