1. Phebe Crosby Peck to Anna Pratt, Independence, Missouri, August 10, 1832, photocopy, Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.

2. For a few contemporary accounts, see Kenneth Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982); and Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of the Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992). Martha Sonntag Bradley, “‘Seizing Sacred Space’: Women’s Engagement in Early Mormonism,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 (summer 1994): 57–70, specifically explores religious commitment during the first two decades of the Church through an examination of over two hundred female conversion narratives.

3. Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery provide an introduction to prominent women in Kirtland in their article “Sweet Counsel and Seas of Tribulation: The Religious Life of the Women in Kirtland,” BYU Studies 20, no. 2 (1980): 151–62. For an expansive bibliography of published material concerning Mormon women, see James B. Allen, Ronald W. Walker, and David J. Whittaker, eds., Studies in Mormon History, 1830–1997: An Indexed Bibliography (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000), 1018–38.

4. Hepsy Richards to William Richards, Kirtland, January 22, 1838, typescript, Church Archives. Pen, ink, and paper were precious. In letter writing, often every last centimeter of space was utilized. At times this meant writing both horizontally and vertically to maximize writing space. See Carol Cornwall Madsen, In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994), 93–95.

5. Charles Sellers, a prominent Jacksonian historian, argues that unlike other religious movements of the time, Mormonism had more men than women because of a “widespread female reluctance” to accept the faith. According to Sellers, this demographic, in fact, “revers[ed] the usual female preponderance in religious movements.” Sellers’s analysis of Mormonism is not positive. For him, Joseph Smith was a “resourceful trickster” who utilized the church he established for his needs. Sellers’s knowledge of Mormonism appears superficial. He utilized the example of Lucy Harris to demonstrate that women fought vigorously against Smith and his church and averred that women could not be baptized unless related to a male Saint. He asserted, “The writings of the most loyal [Mormon women] convey an undertone of resentment.” Charles Sellers, The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815–1846 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 218–25. Sellers’s sole named source for this analysis of Mormon women is an unpublished paper that cited Elizabeth B. Tanner and Eliza M. Partridge. My cursory reading of writings of both Tanner and Partridge does not discern a tone of resentment. Unlike Sellers’s characterization, many Mormon women were the first in their families to join with Smith and endure harassment for their beliefs. See Janiece Lyn Johnson, “‘Give It All Up and Follow Your Lord’: Mormon Female Religiosity, 1831–1843” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 2001). Expressing views similar to Sellers’s, Susan Juster, a historian at the University of Michigan, essentially likened Joseph Smith to the prophet Matthias, who preached that “woman is the capsheaf of the abomination of desolation—full of all deviltry.” Referring to the “intense misogyny displayed by many of these ‘Old Testament Patriarchs,’” Juster assumed that because an organization was patriarchal it was also misogynistic. Susan Juster, “The Spirit and the Flesh: Gender, Language, and Sexuality in American Protestantism,” in New Directions in American Religious History, ed. Harry S. Stout and D. G. Hart (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 351. In addition, in her book Disorderly Women: Sexual Politics and Evangelism in Revolutionary New England (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994), 132, Juster suggests that the “overt misogyny” of Mormon patriarchs relegated Mormon women to secondary positions at church and in the home. However, evidence has not been produced from the writings of Mormon women that they felt like the object of male derision during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, nor has misogyny been found in the Prophet’s writings. In addition, the teachings of Mormon leaders demonstrate a reverence toward the exalted role of women. Mormon women generally reveal an understanding of, and a deference to, the patriarchal order. See Ileen Ann LeCheminant, “The Status of Women in the Philosophy of Mormonism from 1830 to 1845” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1942); Derr, Cannon, and Beecher, Women of Covenant, 1–20.

6. See, for example, Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, “‘Tryed and Purified as Gold’: Mormon Women’s ‘Lives,’” BYU Studies 34, no. 4 (1994–95): 16–34; and Kristin Hacken South, “Introduction to the Journals of Emma Lorena Barrows Brown,” BYU Studies 34, no. 4 (1994–95): 35–69.

7. At Christ’s Second Coming, the faithful alive on the earth will be “caught up” to meet him (1 Thes. 3:17; 4:17). The Latter-day Saint interpretation of the doctrine includes the return of Christ and his Saints to the newly cleansed earth to reign. This identifies some of the millennialist tendencies of the early Saints (D&C 88:96; 101:31; 109:75).

8. Olive B. Hale to Martha Hale, 1841, New Liberty, Adams County, Illinois, Church Archives. The full text of Olive’s letter can be found in Johnson, “‘Give It All Up and Follow Your Lord,’” 143–50.

9. Christy Lee Best, Guide to Sources for Studies of Mormon Women in the Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976). A substantial amount of material has been added to the collection since this guide was published.

10. See Catherine A. Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrims in America: Female Preaching in America, 1740–1845 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 6–7.

11. Jeremy Mumford maintains that the Mormon attitude regarding gender was no different from that of other Americans but involved a different, more informal concept of evangelism for women. These letters are a prime example of informal warning. See Jeremy Mumford, “The Sexual Dynamics of ‘Warning’: Women, Men and the Mormon World Mission, 1830–1860,” senior essay in history, Yale College, May 13, 1992, Church Archives.

12. Biographical information about Lucy Mack Smith comes from Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984); and Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations (1853; reprint, Orem, Utah: Grandin Book, 1995).

13. Although she convinced the Presbyterian minister in Palmyra to baptize her and three of her children, she specified she did not want to be baptized a member of that church. Bushman, Joseph Smith, 53, n. 32.

14. Bushman, Joseph Smith, 135.

15. Lavina Fielding Anderson, ed., Lucy’s Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001), 529–34.

16. Ronald W. Walker, “Lucy Mack Smith Speaks to the Nauvoo Saints,” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (1992): 276–84.

17. In her letter, Lucy alludes to Book of Mormon ideology and doctrine. Readers will recognize passages from scripture including the Book of Mormon title page; 1 Nephi 10:4, 18; 19:8; 2 Nephi 25:18–19; 26:12; 28:13–16, 30; 29:1–10; Jacob 5:70–72; Mormon 9:22–25; and Moroni 1:1–4, 7, 19.

18. Waterloo, New York, is ten miles northwest of Fayette. This letter coincided with a conference of the Church at the Whitmer home in Fayette. Joseph Smith Jr., History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 2d ed., rev., 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1971), 1:140 (hereafter cited as History of the Church).

19. Solomon Mack (1773–1851) and Ester Hayward (1773–1844). Solomon was the youngest Mack brother, and Lucy the youngest sister. Two years separated them. Lucy was hesitant to include any details of his life in her history, reasoning that he was yet alive and could write his own history. Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 35.

20. Solomon Mack lived in Gilsum, New Hampshire, for most of his adult life. Since Gilsum is 286 miles east of Waterloo, Solomon’s siblings likely did not have much interaction with him. In her history, Lucy published an 1835 letter from her brother Jason to Solomon that also referred to the many years that had passed since they had seen each other. Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 52–53.

21. This period, as Grant Underwood has shown in The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), was a time of ardent millennial expectations for the Saints and Christians in general. Many believed the Second Coming of Christ was imminent or had already occurred. Surely the common usage of different variations of the phrase “I come quickly” throughout the new revelations added to these millennial expectations of the Saints. See Doctrine and Covenants 33:18; 34:12; 35:27; 36:8.

22. See Doctrine and Covenants 20:6–8; and History of the Church, 1:10–12.

23. In Joseph Smith’s 1832, 1838, and 1842 accounts of the First Vision, he focused on the corruption of all churches on the earth at that time. See History of the Church, 1:5–6; and Milton V. Backman Jr., Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Confirming Evidences and Contemporary Accounts, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), 155–69.

24. See Mark 16:17–18.

25. See Acts 2:37–38.

26. Parley P. Pratt noted that “the churches in Ohio had increased to more than a thousand members, and those in New York to several hundred.” Parley P. Pratt Jr., ed., The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, 5th ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1961), 61.

27. Lucy would lead a group of eighty to Kirtland in February or March of the same year. Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 172–84.

28. Keene, New Hampshire, is nine miles south of Gilsum.

29. Seneca Falls is five miles east of Waterloo.

30. In her 1853 history (written in 1845–46), Lucy mentions that Solomon was known as Captain “for at least twenty years.” Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 35.

31. Mobs tore down the dam built by the Colesville Saints for baptisms. The baptisms had to be postponed until the following day when the dam could be rebuilt. The confirmations planned for that same evening also had to be postponed until later. The majority of information about Phebe given here comes from William G. Hartley, “They Are My Friends”: A History of the Joseph Knight Family, 1825–1850 (Provo, Utah: Grandin Book, 1986), 51–53; Larry C. Porter, “A Study of the Origins of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, 1816–1831” (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1971; Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 2000), 202–301; and International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Publishers Press, 1998), 3:2549.

32. Hezekiah (1820–1859), Samantha (1821–1839), Henry (1823–died young), Henrietta (1823–1896), and Sarah Jane (1825–1893) were their children. Henry and Henrietta were twins.

33. Benjamin Peck’s two brothers, Hezekiah Peck (1782–1850) and Ezekiel Peck (1785–1850), and their families also joined with the Saints at Colesville. They were all baptized on June 29, 1830. Benjamin’s sister, Polly Peck Knight (1774–1831), had married Joseph Knight Sr., and the Pecks had become acquainted with Joseph Smith through Joseph Knight, who Joseph Smith called “a faithful old man.” “Records of Early Church Families,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 26 (July 1935): 108–9.

34. Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, 3:2549.

35. In his journal, Newel Knight described their union in this way: “My Father had married again after my Mothers death a widow Peck my Mothers Brothers widow with four small children he was now getting old & it seemed a hard struggle for him to get along.” Newel Knight, Autobiography and Journal, [51], Church Archives. In 1845, Phebe was to be sealed to Joseph Knight Sr. in the Nauvoo Temple, but she initially refused. She said that she cared for him but “did not love and honor him as her head and bosom companion.” They were separated for a season, but after some discussion with a Church leader, Phebe showed up at the temple the day of the scheduled sealing. Though there seemed to be no major difficulties between Phebe and her husband, tension seemed continually present between Phebe and Joseph’s older children. Newel Knight, Autobiography, [40, 111], Church Archives.

36. They were married at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on March 30, 1847. There is no record of them living together. See, for example, “Records of Early Church Families,” 109.

37. The exact date of Phebe’s death is unknown. On May 6, 1849, from Andrew County, Missouri, Martha Long Peck, Phebe’s sister-in-law, wrote a letter to her son Reed in Corlandville, New York, telling him of Aunt Phebe’s death. She also mentioned the deaths of Joseph Knight Sr. and Newel Knight, both of whom had died two years previously. Martha Long Peck to Reed Peck, Church Archives. To further complicate the matter, Newel’s widow, Lydia Knight, wrote to Brigham Young from Pottawattomie County, Iowa, on May 28, 1849, explaining that she would not be heading west that season as “Mother Knight” claimed that the wagons and cattle, which were rightly Lydia’s, were given to the Riches (two of Phebe’s daughters married Rich brothers, Charles and Thomas). After Lydia’s inquiry into the matter, the property was given to her but not in time for her to go west that season. Brigham Young, Papers, Incoming Correspondence, Church Archives. Though Lydia’s letter was written after Martha’s, Lydia may have been writing about a past event that would lead one to believe that Phebe must have died by May 1849, since she is absent from any records farther west than Winter Quarters.

38. Phebe was most likely living in nearby Kaw Township at the time, though return letters would have to be directed to Independence. Hartley, Joseph Knight Family, 77; History of the Church, 1:196–206.

39. Anna Jones Pratt (ca. 1813–?), wife of Stephen B. Pratt (ca. 1810–?), was a relative of Phebe. Larry C. Porter, “‘Ye Shall Go to the Ohio’: Exodus of the New York Saints to Ohio, 1831,” in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Ohio, ed. Milton V. Backman Jr. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, Department of Church History and Doctrine, 1990), 8–9. It is possible that Anna was Phebe’s sister, but because of a lack of information about the family of Elisha and Susan Crosby, the familial connection remains in question. Anna and Stephen B. are found in the 1840 and 1850 census for New York State, living in Bainbridge, Chenango County.

40. The location of the January 22 letter is unknown.

41. Census records show there were Pratts and Pecks in Chenango County, New York, throughout most of the nineteenth century.

42. Phebe’s language depicts a very intimate relationship. Whether or not they were sisters, as relatives living in the same town, Anna and Phebe most likely had much interaction. Phebe was baptized on June 28, 1830, by Oliver Cowdery. There is no record of Anna being baptized, though she knew Joseph Smith in Bainbridge, New York, and originally planned to leave with the Colesville members. She “ran away” to get married to Stephen and did not go with the Saints. Harriet E. Shay statement, cited in Porter, “New York Saints to Ohio,” 8–9.

43. At the January 1831 conference in Fayette, New York, attended by Newel Knight and possibly others from Colesville, Joseph introduced the concept of gathering. Doctrine and Covenants sections 37 and 38 were given coincident with the conference and include the command to gather. After the conference, the Colesville Saints began to pack and attempted to sell their property in order to gather to Missouri. They left Thompson on June 28 and arrived in Jackson County on July 26. Hartley, They Are My Friends, 64, 66–68, 73, 74.

44. This closely relates to the revelation included in Doctrine and Covenants 6:7 and 42:61.

45. Hezekiah, Samantha, and Henrietta Peck were 12, 10, and 9 years old respectively. Sarah Jane, her youngest, was 6 years old at the time of the letter.

46. Hezekiah was named after his uncle Hezekiah Peck. Though the commandment to “take up your cross, in the which you must pray vocally” (D&C 23:6) was specifically directed at Joseph Knight Sr., Phebe demonstrates that its relevance to all Saints was established early on. See also Doctrine and Covenants 1:2, “the voice of the Lord is unto all men.”

47. As Phebe seems concerned that her children are growing up in truth and light, it is interesting that just prior to this letter the Lord specifically mentioned in revelation that the children of Zion were growing up in wickedness (D&C 68).

48. Minerva Pollard (ca. 1797–?) is listed as living with the Pratts in the 1850 census. Her relationship to the family is unknown.

49. The Patty mentioned here may be Hezekiah Peck’s wife, Martha Long Peck, who was known as Patty. However, she was in Independence, Missouri, with Phebe at the time of the letter’s creation. As with Anna, Phebe demonstrates an intimate relationship with Patty.

50. Phebe had lived in Chenango County, New York, most of her life. Though the assurance that she was doing right in leaving with the Saints consoled her, it did not eliminate the difficulty of parting with friends and family. When she left in 1831, she did not know when she would again see them.

51. See Alma 28:12.

52. Before 1832, when the Church first attempted to print the revelations, Church members learned of the revelations as they were written down and passed around. Certain revelations were more popular and circulated more widely than others. Phebe refers to a number of the early revelations in her letter, demonstrating her desire to learn every new thing that had been revealed by the Lord. Daniel Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1978), 1:31; Robert J. Woodford, “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants, Volumes I–III” (Ph.D. dissertation, Brigham Young University, 1974; reprinted on CD, Provo, Utah: The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History and BYU Studies, 2001), 14; Milton V. Backman Jr., The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983), 89, 92.

53. When this letter was written, the revelation we now know as Doctrine and Covenants section 76 had been published as “A Vision,” Evening and Morning Star, July 1832, 10–11.

54. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon visited Jackson County, Missouri, in April 1832. Present-day sections 82 and 83 of the Doctrine and Covenants were received during their stay. The decision to print the revelations in the original Book of Commandments as commanded by the Lord was made during the April conference, as recorded in section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

55. Though there are no sisters listed, Foster and Archibald Crosby were the brothers of Phebe, according to “Records of Early Church Families,” 108. There is a Foster Crosby in the New York 1830 census living in southeast Putnam County, New York (close to New York City). Archibald is not listed in that census.

56. South Bainbridge (present-day Afton) is approximately fifteen miles northeast of Colesville (present-day Ninevah, New York).

57. Isaac Swain (1759–1838) and Elizabeth Hall Swain (1755–1813). Most biographical information about Rebecca Swain used here comes from Lucy Ellen Williams Godfrey, Biographical Information on Rebecca S. Williams, ca. 1930 and 1935, Church Archives; and Nancy Clement Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, Second Counselor to the Prophet Joseph Smith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and His Wife Rebecca Swain Williams, Pioneer of 1849: Read Their True Story in the First Introduction—after 100 Years (Independence, Mo.: Zion’s Printing and Publishing, 1951).

58. They were married in Wyandotte, Wayne County, Michigan. Frederick G. Williams, “Frederick Granger Williams of the First Presidency of the Church,” BYU Studies 12, no. 3 (1972): 244.

59. Their children were Lovina Susan (1816–1847); Joseph Swain (1819–1838), an invalid and a major source of concern for Rebecca; Lucy Eliza (1821–?); and Ezra Granger (1823–1905). Frederick’s medical services were a needed service on the Ohio frontier. He became very successful through much study and was soon visited by doctors from other parts of the country who wanted to learn from him.

60. There is some discrepancy as to their baptismal dates. There was either one day or several weeks between their baptisms. Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 55. Godfrey, Biographical Information.

61. Even her letters to her brother John, to whom Rebecca was particularly close, were returned unopened. On the back of one of the returned letters, John wrote, “Father forbids me reading your letter or to write to you. Goodbye and Bless you always, your brother, John.” Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 63. Despite her father’s actions, Rebecca’s eldest sister, Sarah Swain Clark, joined the Church in Michigan in 1832. Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 63, 72.

62. As cited in Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 89.

63. Andrew Jenson, 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, 1901–36), 1:52.

64. Cited in Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 197. Rebecca was not aware of this event. One hundred years later, the descendants of Rebecca recovered an unsent letter written to Rebecca by her half brother George relaying the episode. Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 197. The letter is currently housed in Church Archives.

65. Kimball did not provide food or shelter for Rebecca. She remained with her son Ezra’s family until her death. Kate B. Carter, Heber C. Kimball: His Wives and Family (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing, 1967), 7; and Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, 4:3394–95.

66. The location of the May 23 letter is unknown, though its existence demonstrates that Isaac’s threat to cut off Rebecca completely was not fully carried out.

67. It is probable that this is a reference to the nine letters of Ezra Booth that were published in the Ohio Star in 1831 and later in E. D. Howe’s Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio: By the author, 1834), 175–221. Although it is unknown how Rebecca’s father and brothers obtained the letters, several New York newspapers had reprinted the articles.

68. In his third letter, Booth refutes the testimony of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon—Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris. In Booth’s testimony, he tells of a commandment (revelation) that he read while on a mission in Missouri. The commandment told the witnesses to “see and hear those things by faith, and then they should testify to the world, as though they had seen and heard, as I see a man, and hear his voice.” The argument became whether the witnesses saw and heard what they testified to or if it was their imagination. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 186–87.

69. Moroni prophesied of the Three Witnesses in Ether 2.

70. Joseph Smith, his family, and the Three Witnesses testified to the veracity of Smith’s account throughout their lives.

71. As early as 1830, members were teaching their family members and friends in Upper Canada (Ontario). The Canadian Mission opened in 1832. Since the Swains lived on the southern side of Lake Ontario, it would be uncomplicated for a missionary heading to Canada to stop off in Youngstown. Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 1:251.

72. Doctrine and Covenants 1:30–31, 33. In 1834, the revelation we know as section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants had been published as “Revelation Given Hiram, Ohio, November 1, 1831,” Evening and Morning Star, March 1833, 78.

73. William and George Swain, to whom the letter is addressed, were stepbrothers to Rebecca. Their mother was Patience Dune, Rebecca’s father’s second wife. Her older brother John was particularly close to Rebecca as a child. See Godfrey, Biographical Information; and Williams, Meet Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, 12.

74. Isaac Swain lived another four years.

75. Kirtland was also called Kirtland Mills prior to, and throughout the stay of, the Saints. See Backman, Heavens Resound, 37.

76. Youngstown is thirteen miles north of Niagara Falls and thirty-one miles north of Buffalo, New York. Niagara County, New York, is bordered on the north by Lake Ontario.

77. Information about Nathaniel and Mary’s family is incomplete. The Ancestral File in the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, identifies a daughter, Margaret (1799–?) and another of unknown name (1801–?). It does not include William as a son.

78. Biographical information about the Dodge family is found in Augustus Erastus Dodge, Mormon Biographical Sketches Collection, Church Archives; Augustus Erastus Dodge, Reminiscences, Church Archives; and Jenson, Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:742.

79. Lyndon W. Cook, comp., Nauvoo Deaths and Marriages, 1839–1845 (Orem, Utah: Grandin Book, 1994), 21.

80. Joseph Smith Jr., Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams, 1835), 58–62.

81. This letter is found in William T. Morgan, Correspondence, Church Archives. Morgan is listed as living in Henderson, New York, in the 1830 and 1840 censuses. Information is not available as to the identity of his wife.

82. The Dodges lived near Far West from spring 1835 until late 1838. Adams County, Illinois, just south of Hancock County, was a place of refuge for many of the Saints after the expulsion from Missouri. Many used Adams County as a place of preparation before moving on to Nauvoo. See Susan E. Black and Richard E. Bennett, eds., A City of Refuge: Quincy, Illinois (Salt Lake City: Millennial, 2000.) With a branch of the Church at nearby Freedom, the Dodges were in the company of many fellow Saints. Stanley B. Kimball, “Nauvoo West: The Mormons of the Iowa Shore,” BYU Studies 18, no. 2 (1978): 132–42.

83. Seth George Dodge (1821–1882), Melissa’s oldest living son, was eighteen at the time the letter was written. Seth and Sally worked away from home.

84. Sally Morgan Dodge (1826–1877), Melissa’s oldest daughter, was thirteen at this time.

85. With Sally and Seth gone, Melissa had five children to care for at home. By the time she wrote this letter, she had buried six children.

86. See Doctrine and Covenants 43:29.

87. See Doctrine and Covenants 112:25.

88. The Lord repeatedly warned the Saints through revelation that “if thou art not aware, thou wilt fall” (see D&C 3:9). With ten to fifteen percent of members leaving the Church after the trials in Kirtland and with continuing problems with apostasy through the events in Missouri, the Saints were accustomed to apostasy by the time they reached Illinois. Backman, Heavens Resound, 462.

89. See Mark 4:16.

90. See Doctrine and Covenants 78:15.

91. See Doctrine and Covenants 35:14.

92. Though Melissa’s handwriting and spelling are particularly crude in comparison to that of the other letters introduced in the article, Melissa’s style is the most poetic.

93. There were at least three generations of Morgans who lived in Jefferson County. There is little information available on the Dodge family.

94. Nathaniel Morgan (1772–) died sometime in the 1830s. He was in Henderson in 1830 for the New York state census.

95. Revelation 14:13. See also Doctrine and Covenants 29:13.

96. Payson is located thirteen miles southeast of Quincy, Illinois.

Janiece L. Johnson

BYU Studies Publications