Letter from Don Carlos Smith, circa Late May 1838
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Source Note
, Letter, near , Vigo Co., IN, to JS, [, Caldwell Co., MO], [ca. late May 1838]. Featured version copied [ca. July 1838] in JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 50–51; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes use marks. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.
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Historical Introduction
While the extended Smith family was moving from to in mid-1838, wrote to his brother JS regarding the journey. The move was in response to a revelation that JS had dictated in January, directing the members of the and their families to leave “as soon as it is praticable” and for their “faithfull friends” to “arise with their families also and get out of this place and gather themselves together unto .” JS left Kirtland, Ohio, that night and was joined by his and children a few days later in , Ohio. From there, they made their way to , Missouri. , JS’s brother and a counselor in the First Presidency, departed Kirtland with his family in late March and arrived at Far West in late May. Before leaving, he arranged for the Smiths still in Ohio to receive financial assistance for their move to Missouri. These arrangements, however, fell through, and the twenty-eight travelers, consisting of the extended Smith family and a few others, were underfunded when they departed Norton on 7 May 1838. Before the group was halfway to , they had spent over one hundred dollars and had only twenty-five dollars for the remainder of the journey. While the group was traveling through the vicinity of , Indiana, one of the horses became lame and the group stopped to care for it, providing an opportunity for Don Carlos Smith to write to JS.Although the letter is undated, the timing of the letter can be estimated by correlating the group’s month-long journey between and the (as referenced in the reminiscences of and in the featured letter) with contemporaneous accounts of other Latter-day Saints traveling the same or nearly the same route. The well-documented travels of the 1834 expedition (later known as Zion’s Camp) and of the 1838 “Kirtland Camp” migration suggest that the Smiths’ group was likely in the vicinity of sometime between 24 and 28 May. At the end of the letter, wrote, “It is now dark and I close,” suggesting that he wrote the letter in the twilight.In the letter, recounted the difficulty the Smith family experienced trying to fund their migration, and he also mentioned some of the problems the party encountered en route. Because of these challenges, he requested that JS or send money to help the travelers complete their journey. It is uncertain when JS received the letter. It should have reached from near in about one to two weeks. JS’s scribe, , copied the letter into JS’s journal after a letter that JS received from and on 6 July and before a journal entry for 8 July 1838, suggesting JS received the letter sometime between 6 and 8 July. These entries fall within a large gap in regular journal keeping, and Robinson apparently did not resume making regular entries until late July, which indicates that he may not have copied the letter from Don Carlos Smith before that time. The original letter is apparently not extant.JS may have responded to the letter by sending the requested financial assistance, just as the Saints in had sent him financial assistance to complete his journey. The Smith party may have received such assistance when they arrived in , Missouri. later recounted that upon arriving there, they rested in a home for a while and arranged for a buggy to transport her daughter , who was ill and lagging behind. Lucy further recounted that when the group moved on from Huntsville, they were able to pursue their journey “without any further difficulty.”
Footnotes
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3
Hyrum Smith, Commerce, IL, to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Dec. 1839, in Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:21; O’Driscoll, Hyrum Smith, 167–170.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
O'Driscoll, Jeffrey S. Hyrum Smith: A Life of Integrity. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003.
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4
See, for example, JS History, vol. A-1, 477–479, addenda, 6–12; Travel Account and Questions, Nov. 1837; Hyrum Smith, Commerce, IL, to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Dec. 1839, in Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:21; George A. Smith, Autobiography, 14–36; and Kirtland Camp, Journal, 6 July–2 Oct. 1838; see also Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 15, [3]–[6]; and Plewe et al., Mapping Mormonism, 38–39.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
Kirtland Camp. Journal, Mar.–Oct. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.
Plewe, Brandon S., S. Kent Brown, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard H. Jackson, eds. Mapping Mormonism: An Atlas of Latter-day Saint History. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2012.
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5
The Camp of Israel traveled nearly the same route, crossing the Wabash River about fifteen miles north of Terre Haute; the Kirtland Camp traveled through Terre Haute. It took the Camp of Israel seventeen days to travel from Norton Township to the Wabash River, while it took the Kirtland Camp twenty-eight days to travel from Norton to Terre Haute—not counting the days the camp members stopped to work for wages along the way.a The Camp of Israel spent eleven days traveling from the Wabash River to the Mississippi River, while the Kirtland Camp spent thirteen days traveling from Terre Haute to the Mississippi River.b Lucy Mack Smith recollected that her daughter Katharine Smith Salisbury gave birth after they crossed the Mississippi River; additional sources recall the birth as occurring 7 June.c This collection of information suggests that the Smith party—departing from Norton on 7 May and arriving at the Mississippi River by 7 June—would have reached Terre Haute before 25 May and would have left by 27 May. The letter was written “Nine Miles from Terre Haute”—either to the east or the west—adding approximately one day on either side.
(aJS History, vol. A-1, 478–479, addenda 8n4; “Camp of Israel Route, May–June 1834”; Kirtland Camp, Journal, 11 July–7 Sept. 1838. bJS History, vol. A-1, 483, addenda 8n4; Kirtland Camp, Journal, 7–20 Sept. 1838. cLucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 15, [4]; Solomon J. Salisbury, “Reminiscences of an Octogenarian,” Journal of History, Jan. 1922, 18; “Records of Early Church Families,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Oct. 1935, 152.)Kirtland Camp. Journal, Mar.–Oct. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.
Journal of History. Lamoni, IA, 1908–1920; Independence, MO, 1921–1925.
“Records of Early Church Families.” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 26 (Oct. 1935): 145–192.
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6
Mail between Kirtland and western Missouri generally required three to four weeks of travel time. (Hartley, “Letters and Mail between Kirtland and Independence,” 176.)
Hartley, William G. “Letters and Mail between Kirtland and Independence: A Mormon Postal History, 1831–33.” Journal of Mormon History 35, no. 3 (Summer 2009): 163–189.
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7
Years later, the Latter-day Saints working on the history JS initiated in 1838 implied that both letters were received the same day. This assumption was likely based on the placement of the letters in JS’s journal, not knowledge of when the letters arrived in Far West. However, both letters may well have arrived in the same delivery of mail. (JS History, vol. B-1, 801.)
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JS was met in Huntsville, Missouri, by John Barnard, who had been sent from Caldwell County with money to assist JS and those with him in completing their journey. (See Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 17; and JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, p. 16.)
Historian’s Office. Brigham Young History Drafts, 1856–1858. CHL. CR 100 475, box 1, fd. 5.
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10
Don Carlos Smith, who went ahead of the main group, arrived in Far West by 8 July 1838, as did his wife, Agnes Coolbrith Smith, and possibly other members of the party. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 15, [5]–[6]; Deed to Samuel F. Whitney, 8 July 1838.)
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