, Letter, , Orleans Parish, LA, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, ca. April 1841. Featured version published in “New Orleans,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1841, vol. 2, no. 14, 415–416. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Historical Introduction
Around April 1841, wrote a letter reporting his proselytizing efforts in Louisiana to JS in , Illinois. Sagers joined the in in January 1833 and quickly became a zealous missionary for his new faith. After serving several proselytizing missions to the eastern between 1833 and 1839 and moving to in 1840, Sagers was dispatched to , becoming the first Latter-day Saint missionary sent to Louisiana. His call came in response to a letter sent to JS from church members and Elam Luddington, who were living in Louisiana at the time. In January 1841, Terrill and Luddington petitioned JS to “send help to this city before the people perish, for it is a time of great excitement here, send us a Peter, or an apostle to preach unto us Jesus.” Sagers arrived in New Orleans on 28 March 1841. He immediately met with Terrill and Luddington, and together they rented a house for preaching and began proselytizing throughout the area.
Shortly after his arrival, wrote to JS about some of his proselytizing in and about prospects for future work in the area. JS presumably received the letter and then transmitted it to the editors of the church newspaper. Though Sagers’s original letter is apparently not extant, an excerpted version of it was published without a date in the 15 May 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons.
Swanson, Ella Sagers. The Sagers Clan: William Henry Harrison Sagers and His Descendants, with Shields, Smith, Martin and Other Related Lines. Tucson, AZ: By the author, 1980.
Benjamin Winchester, Payson, IL, to Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, Commerce, IL, 18 June 1839, in Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:11; 1840 U.S. Census, Hancock Co., IL, 175.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
Terrill was serving as an agent for the Times and Seasons in New Orleans. Luddington spent his winters in New Orleans and summers in Nauvoo for several years. (“List of Agents,” Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1841, 2:310; Goodman, “Elam Luddington,” 242–243.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Goodman, Michael A. “Elam Luddington: First Latter-day Saint Missionary to Thailand.” In Go Ye into All the World: The Growth and Development of Mormon Missionary Work, edited by Reid L. Neilson and Fred E. Woods, 241–259. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012.
“News from the South,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:445–447.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Page 416
dreds here who will receive the truth; for the people here have not got so much religion but what there is room for more. Bro. Stickney, who has recently joined the , has just come down from a place three miles above here, bringing intelligence that the Mayor and Judges of the place have offered their assistance to procure a house for preaching. We are getting up quite an excitement here.” [p. 416]
A month later, Sagers wrote that there were few converts in New Orleans and that he had encountered a great deal of persecution, including mobs throwing eggs at him as he preached, an attempt to tar and feather him, and vandalism in his rented meetinghouse. (“News from the South,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:445–447.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Sagers eventually relocated to the municipality of Lafayette, “immediately above Orleans,” and held meetings in a rented house there, which was apparently sanctioned by the mayor. At the time, Lafayette was one of three municipalities that were located just adjacent to New Orleans and were later incorporated into the city. Although Lafayette had its own president and board of council, William Freret served as mayor of New Orleans from 1840 to 1842, and his authority extended over all three municipalities, including Lafayette. (“News from the South,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:445; Huber, New Orleans, 7, 52; An Act to Incorporate the City of Lafayette [1 Apr. 1833], New Digest of the Statute Laws of the State of Louisiana, pp. 136, 137, secs. 7, 12; Fraiser, Garden District of New Orleans, 30.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Huber, Leonard Victor. New Orleans: A Pictorial History, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. 1st Pelican ed. New York: Pelican, 1991.
A New Digest of the Statute Laws of the State of Louisiana, from the Change of Government to the Year 1841, Inclusive. New Orleans: E. Johns, 1842.
Fraiser, Jim. The Garden District of New Orleans. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012.