The Lady and the Governor: Emma Hale Smith’s and Thomas Carlin’s 1842 Correspondence

Keywords

church history, Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, governors

Abstract

On the evening of May 6, 1842, an unknown assailant shot Lilburn W. Boggs, former governor of Missouri, as he sat in his home in Independence, Missouri. Eight days later, on May 14, news of the event reached Nauvoo, apparently with the erroneous report that that Boggs had been killed in the attack. On May 21, Sylvester M. Bartlett, editor of the Quincy Whig, speculated in the pages of his paper that Joseph Smith and the Mormons might have had a hand in the affair—a suggestion Joseph quickly, emphatically, and publicly denied. John C. Bennett, however, recently estranged from the Church, kept the issue alive in letters published in the Sangamo Journal on July 15.

Original Publication Citation

Andrew H. Hedges and Alex D. Smith, “The Lady and the Governor: Emma Hale Smith’s and Thomas Carlin’s 1842 Correspondence,” Mormon Historical Studies 9/2 (2008), 139-152.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2008

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6568

Publisher

Mormon Historical Studies

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Church History and Doctrine

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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