, Letter, , Adams Co., IL, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 13–15 June 1839. Featured version copied [between 27 June and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 68–69; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
Historical Introduction
wrote a letter to JS on 13–15 June 1839, responding to a letter from JS. In the response, Partridge noted that several church members were in need of assistance and that he was unable to help them because he had minimal funds and no prospects of earning money. JS likely received this letter on 26 June, when he returned to , Illinois, after an eleven-day trip to visit his brothers in other areas of the state. The letter was possibly delivered by , who arrived in Commerce from , Illinois, on 17 June. As a bishop in the church, Knight was aware of church members’ financial needs and may have traveled to Commerce to seek assistance for the Quincy Saints. The original letter is not extant, but copied the letter into Letterbook 2 between 27 June and 30 October 1839.
Mulholland copied this letter into JS Letterbook 2 after a letter dated 27 June 1839, making that the earliest likely copying date for this letter from Partridge.
be apt to tear it to pieces, You percieve that I have not means to get you twine at present therefore I presume that you will not blame me for not doing it.
15th—— Were I well I would go up to with And settle with the Committee & and see what is best to do—probably may come next week.
If could sell one yoke of cattle and let me have the avails of them I should be glad, and I think it best to let two yoke that are up there go to father Myers, As to team to move up some of the poor, do as you think best
In a letter to JS on 5 March 1839, Partridge noted that Isaac Higbee Sr. and his son John Higbee moved two miles from Quincy to fish for the spring. At the time of Partridge’s 13 June letter, it appears that two of Isaac Sr.’s sons—Isaac Jr. and John—were engaged in the fishing endeavor. (Letter from Edward Partridge, 5 Mar. 1839; Higbee, Journal and Reminiscences, [14]–[15].)
Higbee, John S. Journal and Reminiscences, 1845–1849. John S. Higbee, Reminiscences and Diaries, 1845–1866. CHL. MS 1742, fd. 1.
The committee Partridge mentioned may be the committee assigned to oversee the sale of land in Jackson County, Missouri. (See Minutes, 24 Apr. 1839; and Far West Committee, Minutes, 17 Mar. 1839.)
Far West Committee. Minutes, Jan.–Apr. 1839. CHL. MS 2564.
No records indicate whether Partridge made the proposed visit to Commerce, but he and his family apparently moved there in early July 1839. (Partridge, History, ca. 1839.)
Partridge, Edward. History, ca. 1839. In History of Joseph Smith (Coray copy), ca. 1841. CHL. MS 22506.