, Letter, Macoupin Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 9 Apr. 1842; handwriting of ; two pages; CHL. Includes address, postal notations, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 12 × 7½ inches (30 × 19 cm). The recto of the first leaf is blank. The text of the letter is inscribed on the verso of the first leaf and the recto of the second leaf. The bifolium was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and postmarked.
There is marked damage along the folds, resulting in some loss of text. The document has undergone conservation, with the separation along the entire fold between the two leaves repaired and the front and back of both leaves covered with silk crepeline.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as Nauvoo temple recorder from 1842 to 1846. After this, the early provenance of the letter is unknown. At some point the letter came into the possession of collector Floyd E. Risvold. The letter was offered for sale in 2010 by Spink Shreves Galleries as part of lot 584 of the Floyd E. Risvold collection. The Church History Department acquired the letter the same year.
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.
Floyd E. Risvold Collection: American Expansion and the Journey West, 2:113.
The Floyd E. Risvold Collection: American Expansion and the Journey West. 3 vols. 2009. Catalog of the 27–29 January 2010 auction of the Floyd E. Risvold estate at New York City by the Spink Shreves Galleries and Spink Smythe of Dallas, TX.
Historical Introduction
On 9 April 1842 wrote from Macoupin County, Illinois, to JS in , Illinois, regarding financial donations that Boosinger and other Latter-day Saints in his area submitted to the . This was the third in a series of letters between Boosinger and JS regarding the donations. Boosinger wrote to JS in January 1842 requesting that $305 of a debt owed him be applied as a donation for construction of the in Nauvoo rather than having JS send payment directly. In May 1836 Boosinger lent JS and other church leaders at least $935, for which he sought repayment in the intervening years, including by suing JS, , , and in 1839. In his January 1842 letter, Boosinger suggested that he be credited personally for $150 in tithing and that he collect another $155 from five other church members, who would in turn receive credit on their individual tithing accounts in the amounts they paid to Boosinger. On 24 February, JS replied to Boosinger’s letter, agreeing to the terms of the arrangement provided that Boosinger supply a list of names of those who had paid him, the amounts they gave, and a statement acknowledging that he received the payment.
In the featured letter of 9 April, listed the names and amounts that JS requested and indicated that he received satisfactory payment from the parties involved. Boosinger then reported on proselytizing efforts in the area and the condition of the local congregation. His letter was postmarked 16 April and likely took close to a week to arrive from Macoupin County, which is in southwestern .
Despite ’s concluding request that JS acknowledge receipt of this letter through either a letter of reply or a notice in the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, no response from JS has been located and no receipt was printed in the paper. However, temple recorder inscribed the donations reported in Boosinger’s letter into the Book of the Law of the Lord on 16 May 1842.