Richards family correspondence

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  Biographical sketch of Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner

  Manuscripts

  This is a typescript copy of a biographical sketch of Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner written by her granddaughter Elsie E. Barrett. Barrett covers her grandmother's life from her early childhood to her settlement in Minersville, Utah in 1863. It describes Lightner's early conversion to Mormonism, which in 1830 came at an early stage in the development of the religion. The subjects covered include persecutions, frontier and pioneer life, and the Haun's Mill Massacre (Mo.), 1838. People discussed in the typescript include Joseph Smith (1805-1844) and Heber Chase Kimball (1801-1868)

  mssHM 66419

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  Upson family correspondence

  Manuscripts

  The majority of these letters deal with the Upson family's mining and business interests in California and Montana; life in Sterling, Montana, and Sacramento and San Francisco, California; and the settlement of the estate of Gad Ely Upson after his death in 1866. There is one letter by James Upson written in Panama while on his voyage to California onboard the ship Falcon. There is also one letter written by Hiram D. Upham, Deputy Agent for the Blackfeet Indians. The originals of these letters are in the Upson Family Papers at Yale University Library.

  mssHM 68204-68214

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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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  Family Correspondence

  Manuscripts

  The Diaries series contains 22 diary transcripts of daily diary entries by Charlotte Close Knapp Dole, George H. Dole and Clara Rowell Dole (covering 1850-1884). Charlotte Dole's diary talks about her husband's work as a missionary, other missionaries, church meetings, the Punahou School, and Hawaiian royalty. George H. Dole's diaries include a trip to the United States in 18640-1865, as well as details about his work on several sugar and rice plantations including crop numbers, Chinese workers, effects of weather, etc., and events taking place in Hawaii. The Family Correspondence series contains 128 pieces of correspondence, the majority of which are written by Clara Rowell Dole to her husband, George, her sons, Walter and Herbert, and brother-in-law, Sanford B. Dole. Most of these letters were written from her home in Kapaa, Kauai, while her husband was away and her children were attending Oahu College (Punahou School). She talks about her daily activities, the school, her children, an outbreak of measles, the Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese workers, and some about Hawaiian royalty and government. There are five letters written by Sanford B. Dole, three to his brother George and two to his nephew Walter, and he is the addressee of nine letters. The rest of the correspondence includes letters by Clara and George's children and family and friends. The majority of these letters written by their eldest son, Walter, are from his time at Cornell University. Details about ship arrivals and departures are included in both the diaries and correspondence series.

  mssHM 76328-76510

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  Richard Walton Tully scrapbook of correspondence

  Manuscripts

  This extremely fragile scrapbook contains correspondence from stage managers, actors, playwrights, writers, producers, and agents in response to plays sent out by Richard Walton Tully. The majority of the letters are contained in the original envelopes. There are also 25 loose letters, envelopes, and telegrams that are housed in separate sleeves.

  mssHM 80466

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  Steele Family Correspondence

  Manuscripts

  The collection contains thirty letters chiefly from the Steele family of Ann Arbor, Michigan, between 1856 and the 1870s, to Ellen Steele Sturges (1837-1930). All but one of which are addressed to Ellen (or Ellen and David) Sturges from her immediate family (and one friend, identified only as "Rebecca"). The aberrant letter was written in 1856 to David B. Sturges from Ellen (it is unclear if they were already married at this point). The correspondence contains detailed descriptions of the failing health and treatment of Julia and Valentine Steele in the months leading up to their deaths. There are occasional references to cultural and religious life in Ann Arbor in the letters of the 1866-1876 period, especially regarding the growth of the Methodist Church and the public speeches of Erastus Otis Haven (1863-1869), the second president of the University of Michigan and pastor of the First United Methodist Church. Though politics and national affairs are rarely discussed, HM 73855 includes Phebe Steele's thoughts on President Ulysses S. Grant's unsuccessful bid for a third term. Ebenezer and Phebe Steele express deep anxiety throughout the 1866 correspondence as to their daughter's safety from Indians in Montana, though no specific events are referenced. In addition to the correspondence, there is a family record, believed to be in the hand of Phebe Steele, detailing the birth and death dates of the siblings and parents of Ebenezer Steele, as well as a folder containing seven empty envelopes.

  mssHM 73830-73862