Letters related to George Boosinger

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  Autobiography of George Pectol [microform] : 1858

  Manuscripts

  Microfilm of the autobiography of George Pectol, covering the years from approximately 1846-1858. Portions of the volume are missing, but it opens with George's examination of the Book of Mormon and his decision to travel to Nauvoo, hearing Mormon preachers, and deciding to join the Mormon Church. He also writes of performing baptisms and preaching the gospel around Jackson County, Missouri, of anti-Mormon experiences in Missouri, of his overland travel to Utah, of leaving home in Iron County due to Indian attacks, of moving to Sanpete, and of life in Washington to 1858.

  MSS MFilm 00195 item 01

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  Martin Harris : One of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon

  Manuscripts

  Typescript of a brief biographical account of Martin Harris and his involvement with the translation of the Book of Mormon and organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Describes the arrival of a teenaged Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York, in 1816, and his finding of the tablets later used to write the Book of Mormon; Harris' taking of a transcript of the tablets to Columbia University; his assistance to Smith in translating the tablets; and his inclusion as one of three witnesses (along with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer) who were permitted to view the tablets. Also briefly recounts Harris' involvement with selecting the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church and helping Joseph Smith find holy ground in Missouri, as well as Harris' disillusionment with the Mormon Church following Smith's death. Includes a transcript of a portion of Martin Harris' sworn testimony taken at the time of his death in 1845, in which he describes witnessing the angel Moroni and hearing the voice of God.

  mssHM 72353

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  George R. Taylor letter to John S. Phelps

  Manuscripts

  Handwritten letter by George R. Taylor to Missouri Congressman John S. Phelps, conveying news of the financial challenges facing the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad (later known as the Southwest Pacific Railroad) and the reorganization necessitated by its difficulties. Presumably written in St. Louis, Missouri.

  mssHM 83487

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  George Washington Bean diary

  Manuscripts

  Typescript of Bean's 1855-1856 diary, which details interactions between Mormon missionaries at Las Vegas, New Mexico, and local Indians, including baptisms, trade, and some hostilities. Included are Bean's account of a journey from Las Vegas to California across the Mojave in October-November 1855 (which included stops in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Mission, and El Monte) and of travels between Las Vegas and the "Colorado Muddy" in 1856. Bean also references an encounter with the "murderers" of J.W. Gunnison, an Army captain killed in an Indian massacre in 1853; remarks on the camp visit of explorers Jules Remy and Julius Lucius Brenchley, who published "A Journey to Great Salt Lake City" in 1861; mentions his attendance of a performance of J.H. Martineau's "Missouri Persecutions;" and describes various interactions with Las Vegas Mission President William Bringhurst. The diary concludes with a series of prayers/poems dedicated to "The Wives and Families of the L.V. Missionaries," "The Pioneers of '47," and "Pres. B. Young and His Counselors," as well as the minutes of a meeting held "under the Bowery" at Las Vegas on June 24, 1856 and minutes of a celebration of the Fourth of July at Las Vegas, and a song entitled, "I Got Drunk Again."

  mssHM 72278

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  Reed Peck memoir

  Manuscripts

  The original of the Reed Peck Manuscript, an 1839 memoir criticizing Mormon actions in Missouri during the conflicts of 1838. Peck opens with a prophecy about "redeeming" Zion (Missouri) through armed force, the "interpretation" of which led Joseph Smith to call for volunteers to march to Clay County "under arms" (they were waylaid by a cholera outbreak). Peck goes on to relate alleged financial and power conflicts in Kirtland, Ohio, between, among others, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery, as well as disagreements over where in Missouri to establish a Mormon settlement. He writes that once the Mormons had settled in Caldwell County, the Mormon presidency became a "despotic government" and that it proposed a policy, encouraged by Rigdon, that dissenters from the Church be killed so that "they would not be capable of injuring the church." He goes on to say that the Mormon leadership demanded that all followers consecrate their property to the Church or be turned over to the "terrible brother of Gideon" (Jared Carter) for punishment. Peck continues that he and some others were "ever after ... opposed to the rule of the presidency" because "their word was law in religious, civil and military matters." He writes of the formation of a "secret military organization" (the Danites) by Carter, George W. Robinson, and Sampson Avard "under the instruction of the presidency," and of pretending to join the group, although he avoided taking the official oath and "declared to my trusty friends that I would never act in the office." He also remembers that Carter was later found guilty of criticizing the presidency, and alleges that he heard Joseph Smith say he would have "cut his throat on the spot" if he had been alone. The remainder of the memoir recounts the events of the Mormon War, in which Peck claims that hostilities between Mormons and Gentiles were inflamed by Joseph Smith. He begins with disputes over an election in Daviess County, leading to a "skirmish" which he says was exaggerated into accounts of a "bloody massacre of ... Mormons," leading non-Mormon citizens to fear retaliation and call for the expulsion of the Mormons from Daviess County. He criticizes the Mormons for initiating confrontations, plundering goods, and for attacking the militia under Capt. Bogart at the Battle of Crooked River, but he condemns the attack on Mormons in the Haun's Hill Massacre. He concludes his narrative of events with the arrest and subsequent escape of the Smiths, Rigdon, Wight, Parley Pratt, and others. He closes the manuscript by condemning Smith and the Church ("how can he [Smith] expect to support his character as a man of God when facts are exhibited to the world in their true light," he wrote) and by listing the sources for his narrative, much of which was allegedly based on his own eyewitness accounts. Other individuals mentioned in the memoir include W.W. Phelps, Edward Partridge, John Corrill, and Dimmock Baker Huntington. There appear to be pages missing after page 152.

  mssHM 54458

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  Life sketch of Margaret Miller DeWitt

  Manuscripts

  This typescript covers in brief the life of Margaret Miller DeWitt. It describes her mother and sister's disapproval of her conversion to Mormonism, her emigration to the United States to join her sister Jane, and her activities as a Mormon woman.

  mssHM 66577