Manuscripts
Wilford Heath Hudson -- Lest We Forget
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List and abstract of four title deeds related to the manor of Trent and other lands in the county of Somerset, England
Manuscripts
An autograph document listing title deeds related to the manor of Trent and other lands in Somerset, England. The endorsement page is stamped "CLAYTON MSS;" at some time the document was probably part of a larger English family archive. Also enclosed is a photocopy of a document concerning the prices of various goods in Bath, England, in 1752; possibly related to the sale or rent of the goods from Ralph Stennett.
mssHM 83784
John T. Hudson logbook, 1807-1808
Manuscripts
This logbook, kept by John T. Hudson, includes accounts of journeys from the Sandwich [Hawaiian] Islands to Canton and Canton to Boston. The log is in two main sections. The first section comprises 9 pages and is headed: "Remarks on board ship Mercury. Wm. H. Davis, from Sandwich Islands towards Canton." The first entry is dated 15th October, 1806 [actually 1807]. It concludes November 29, 1807. Davis was the father of William Heath Davis, Jr. an early Californian and important San Diego pioneer. Entries mention the Hawaiian royal family, cargo including bananas and taro, and ports along the way. He mentions taking leave of his ship Tamana. The second section comprises 42 pages and is headed, "Ship O'Cain from Canton to Boston." The first entry is February 14, 1808 and concludes on June 15, 1808. His notes include lists and prices of skins purchased, lists of items such as sewing silks, India cotton, china and glassware, lace, liquors, tobacco, paper & ink, powder & shot, knives, axes, etc. Several shorter sections occur towards the end of the volume, including one headed: "The purchase of sea otter skins at San Blas." Much of the volume is blank. The very last pages of entries include only a few lines: "Don Luis Munoz de Gusman. Captain General of Chile." "Don Manuel Rodriguez, Comd. of the Port of St. Diego." and a list of several names including: Capt. James Rowen, William H. Davis, Samuel C. Blodget, Clifford, and Boyd. Several loose pages of writing containing notes and navigational calculations are laid in volume.
mssHM 83408
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[Plan of the town of Esperanza situated on the west bank of the North River opposite Hudson]
Rare Books
Plan of the ideal city Esperanza, designed by architect Pierre Pharoux for Edward Livingston, Brockholst Livingston, and John R. Livingston. With manuscript ink notations marking numerous plots "B" or "BL" (i.e., Brockholst Livingston) and "JRL" (i.e., John R. Livingston). The city was envisioned as the main port on the west side of the Hudson River for goods coming from western New York and beyond. The project was a speculative venture by the Livingston family, powerful New York landowners of the time. The area is now the modern village of Athens, New York. Drafted by Pierre Pharoux and engraved by Charles Balthazar Julie Fevret de Saint Mémin.
653033
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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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Mary Haskin Parker Richards diary
Manuscripts
Typescript of a diary kept by Mary Haskin Parker Richards while her husband Samuel Richards was on his mission to Great Britain from 1846-1848. The diary begins on July 22, 1846 (the first four pages are missing), while Mary was traveling with Samuel's parents in a covered wagon through Iowa. Despite the hardships of travel and living much of the time in tents, Mary writes of enjoying her sewing, cooking, and caring for ill family members. She writes of attending a council between the Twelve and "the Natives," which included "10 Indians [and] two Chiefs" in December 1846. In February 1847 Mary ventured across the frozen Missouri River and stayed in an Indian village. She recounts seeing Mormons and Indians living side-by-side although not always peacefully. She happily recounts moving into a house in April 1847 for the first time since leaving Nauvoo in May 1846. "I rejoiced to think that after...living in a tent, and wandering from house to house to keep from perishing with the Cold, [and] suffering...every inconvenience...I had once more a place I could call my home," she wrote on April 29. Much of the diary is taken up with notes on Mary's domestic activities and her attendance of lectures and apparently fiery sermons by Mormon leaders. The final entry was made on May 14, 1848. There is a gap in the diary from August to November 1846.
mssHM 27970
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Wandle Mace autobiography
Manuscripts
Manuscript of Wandle Mace's autobiography, a vivid and thorough firsthand account of the early days of the Mormon Church. Mace writes of the "extermination" of Mormons in Missouri, the order from Joseph Smith to purchase land in Illinois, the election of Brigham Young as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the arrests and trials of various Mormon leaders, the founding of Nauvoo, Smith's trips to Washington, the story of the seeing stones Urim and Thummin, a variety of Church conferences (including notes on charters, the organization of the Church, and doctrinal debates), Smith's death, a speech by Lucy Mack Smith to Mormons in Nauvoo after her son's death, the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846, the death of Parley Pratt, discord between Church members and Brigham Young, the arrival of Thomas B. Marsh in 1857, and many theological thoughts and quotations. Mace also recounts events in his personal life, including his early years as an apprentice, his invention of a portable mill and other mechanical devices, his observance of a meteor shower on November 8, 1833, his doubts about organized religion and impromptu preaching to the poor, his introduction to and acceptance of Mormonism, the deaths of his wife and nine of his children, and moves throughout New York, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah. The end of the volume includes handwritten copies of various essays, including Celestial Family Organization by Parley Pratt (1845); a funeral sermon preached by Joseph Smith on the death of Elder King Follett (1844); One Hundred Years Hence, 1845-1995: A Vision (published in the Millennial Star, 1845); Two Minutes in Jail, an account of the death of Joseph Smith by Willard Richards (published in the Nauvoo Neighbor); a discourse on priesthood by Joseph Smith (1839); The Origin, Object, and Destiny of Women by John Taylor (1857); and another discourse by Joseph Smith dated 1844. The final pages include genealogical notes on the Mace family that appear to have been added at a later date. The manuscript is in the handwriting of Mace's wife, Rebecca E. Howell Mace.
mssHM 26318