[Mormons] [Mormon Frontier Migration]. Jonathan C. Wright. "Harris's Grove Branch Pottaivattamie [sic] County Iowa "Bishop" Bo...

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[Mormons] [Mormon Frontier Migration]. Jonathan C. Wright. "Harris's Grove Branch Pottaivattamie [sic] County Iowa "Bishop" Book - By Jonathan C. Wright Bishop, in said branch Appointed July 1848". Potawattamie County, Iowa, 1848-1851. A rare manuscript "Bishop's" book, a detailed record of Mormon pioneers as they migrated to the Salt Lake valley. Small quarto (7.25 x 6 inches; 184 x 150 mm.). 134 manuscript pages on 73 leaves, most leaves with text on recto and verso. Written in various hands. Bound in contemporary quarter brown calf over marbled boards. Binding worn, with a later paper label with an ink number ("201") affixed to spine. Hinges cracked, several gutters cracking or overopened. Text generally worn and soiled, with some chipping and occasional smudging of the ink. Three leaves are missing large portions of paper, two leaves have either small holes, or small portions excised. Eight leaves in the rear appear to have been added a bit later, and the final four leaves are a bit loose. The endleaves have contemporary mathematical notes, and the rear pastedown has "J. C. Wright was born New York November 29th AD 1808". Rear free endpaper lacking. Of course, most of this damage is to be expected from a working "Bishop's" book during the Mormon's pioneer days. An excellent, very good example of a very rare record of Mormon frontier life.

More Information: These pages have manuscript records of what various members of the Mormon community in Potawattamie County donated (or tithed) to the Bishop and the local Mormon church. Most early pages have the member's name at the top of both open facing pages, and a detailed record is kept of what was donated. Some pages have long passages of donations, some are very short, with only a few donations, or perhaps only the member's name at top (perhaps that member left Potawattamie at that time?). Later pages seem to be organized by date, rather than by the member's name. Several leaves have brief accounts of happenings in the community (including one brief record of a dispute over a bull) or other notes (two pages seem to be notes from a play or novel).

Most donations seem to be in goods (butter, vegetables, honey, etc.), however there are a few mentions of cash donations. There are records of distributions of goods on the final few leaves, including a mention of wheat, potatoes and corn distributed to Orson Pratt (1811-1881), an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (it is unlikely that Pratt was a permanent member of that community, but was most likely on his various travels at the time).