Little, Jesse Carter.  Circular.  Epistle to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in the eastern states, sent greetings:  J.C. Little, President of the Eastern Churches. Peterborough, N.H., Nov. 12th, 1846. [Peterborough? 1846?]
8 pp. 22 cm.

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At the end of January 1846, Brigham Young called Jesse C. Little to preside over the church in the eastern states, to replace Sam Brannan, who was about to sail for San Francisco.  Two months later, on the anniversary of the founding of the Church, Little issues his first circular to the eastern branches.  His Circular the Second (see this digital collection ), was issued on May 15th, 1846, and on November 12th, 1846, Jesse C. Little issued his third and last circular to the eastern Saints.  In it he announces that the plan to sail to San Francisco, had been abandoned because of the expense, that the Saints should prepare to move to the west by land next spring, and that he plans to lead a company “over the mountains,” to start in March so they will reach Council Bluffs by the first of May. 

The running parts of the wagons, he advises, can be gotten in St. Louis, shipped to Council Bluffs, and assembled there, for a cost of $50 to $60, plus shipping costs of $4 to $5.  He then inserts “Bills of Particulars for Emigrants leaving this Government next Spring,” which is a modification of the outfit for a family of five recommended to the Council of Fifty in October 1845 in the New–Messenger Extra of Saturday December 13, 1845.  The Twelve, Little continues, will furnish teams for the eastern Saints once they reach Council Bluffs.

Three days after Little drafted his circular, Brigham Young and the Twelve wrote to him to come to the Iowa camps early in the spring and join the pioneer company which would make the overland trip to the Rocky Mountains, and they suggested that he call W.I. Appleby to replace him as the presiding elder in the East.  Two months later Little called Appleby to succeed him, and on April 19, 1847, he reached Winter Quarters, in time to join the pioneer trek to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Excerpted and edited from Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church.  Volume One, 1830-1847. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center, [1997]).  Item 313, p. 351-52.

Used by permission of the author and the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.