Letter from Robert D. and Sarah Phinney Foster, circa 16 August 1842
Source Note
Sarah Phinney Foster and , Letter, , Madison Co., NY, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, ca. 16 Aug. 1842; handwriting of ; two pages, JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal stamps, postal notation, and dockets.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 8 inches (32 × 20 cm). The letter was written in blue ink on the verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf. It was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, sealed with a red adhesive wafer, and stamped for postage. Opening the letter tore a hole in the second leaf.
The letter was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. It was later refolded for filing and docketed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Deparment) in Salt Lake City from 1853 to 1859, then docketed again by an unknown scribe in graphite. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the letter had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, inclusion in the circa 1904 inventory, and inclusion in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Sometime in the summer of 1842, wrote a letter on behalf of his wife, Sarah Phinney Foster, and himself from , New York, to JS in , Illinois. He updated JS on his arrival in , where Sarah was apparently visiting friends, and denounced , who was in New York giving public lectures against JS and the . In a postscript, Foster also informed JS of church members who were moving to Nauvoo, including the family of Joseph and Sally Stacy Murdock, whom Foster had encountered on his journey. Foster explained that while Joseph Murdock wanted to donate money to support the construction of the Nauvoo , his wife would likely oppose giving their money to the church. Foster asked JS to watch for their arrival and consider meeting with Joseph Murdock.
dated the letter 16 July 1842, but that likely was a mistake. According to the letter, it took Foster twenty days to travel from to , where he wrote the letter. On 1 July 1842, Foster had transferred a portion of land in , Illinois, to JS, indicating that he was in Hancock County at that time. Further, JS’s journal states that on 19 July JS accompanied Foster and Henry Kearns to investigate land in the Nauvoo area. Given the amount of time it took to get to DeRuyter, it would have been impossible for Foster to have left Nauvoo after 1 July and reached DeRuyter by 16 July, and it would also have been impossible for him to have written a letter in DeRuyter on 16 July and then be back in Nauvoo by 19 July. Because the letter is postmarked 17 August, and because the Fosters reached on 30 August, it is likely that Foster mistakenly wrote down the previous month when dating the letter and that it was actually written on 16 August. No reply from JS has been located.