(MORMONS) Goddard James M Letter describing the settlement a

Sale 2486 - Lot 326

Price Realized: $ 1,375

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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

"THE MORMONS . . . ARE SETTLING ANOTHER TOWN ABOUT FORTY MILES ABOVE QUINCY" (MORMONS.) Goddard, James M. Letter describing the settlement at Nauvoo. Autograph Letter Signed to brother Abner Smith Goddard of Lewisburg, PA. 3 pages, 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches, on one folding sheet with address panel postmarked Liberty, MO on verso; minor wear, Nauvoo passage underlined in red ink. Ray County, MO, 28 April 1840

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The main body of the Mormon community was driven out of their temporary settlement at Far West, Missouri in late 1838, began settling in Commerce, IL in early 1839, and renamed their new settlement Nauvoo in 1840. In this letter, a Missouri settler named James Madison Goddard writes from Ray County near Kansas City, just south of the old Far West settlement: "The Mormons (poor miserable beings) are settling another town about forty miles above Quincy, Ill. on the banks of the Mississippi." In the remainder of the letter, Goddard describes conditions in Ray County at length. He had tried his hand at teaching school, but was now farming, and describes the profusion of wild game available, as well as the moral and religious qualities of his fellow settlers: "The majority of the people belong to the Methodist societies . . . there is also Baptist, Presbyterian, Campbellites and Universalists."