Mormon History
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Dead Letters Notice - 1816
The Commonwealth
Pittsburgh – July 9, 1816
LIST
OF LETTERS
Remaining in the Post Office, at Pittsburgh, June 30, 1816.
NOT ADVERTISED BEFORE.
|
R |
S |
Note: The same letter list was
republished in The Commomwealth on July 16 and July 23, 1816, and again
contained the names of Solomon Spalding and Sidney Rigdon. Solomon Spalding died
at Amity, Washington Co., Pennsylvania on Oct. 20, 1816 (apparently of
dysentery) after suffering an illness of "six or eight weeks." It is possible
that as late as the mid-summer of 1816 he was still calling for his letters at
the Pittsburgh Post Office. Given Spalding's poor health in his later years, it
is also probable that while living at Amity, he generally depended upon friends
and neighbors to retrieve his mail from Pittsburgh. - Dale Broadhurst
The first appearance of Spalding's name in the Commomwealth's letter
lists was on
May 5, 1813. His name appeared again
on
Nov. 10, 1813 and
Sep. 7, 1814. A list published on Nov. 30, 1814 shows a "Tolomon"
Spalding; a list published in Feb. 1815 has a "Solm. Spalding, and one published
in Sept. 1815 shows a "Sol." Spalding. His full name reappears on the July 9,
1816 notice and the two subsequent reprintings, with the July 16th version
showing his name as "Spaldin." Sidney Rigdon's name first appears on the July 9,
1816 list. - Dale Broadhurst
The importance of this material cannot be overstated, for not only does it provide incontrovertible proof of Sidney Rigdon's presence in Pittsburgh well before 1821, but it places him there during the very time Solomon Spalding is known to have been involved with the Patterson brothers seeking publication of A Manuscript Found. At the same time, any question of Mrs. Eichbaum's credibility is effectively laid aside by the fact that these new revelations firmly support her 1879 statement in two extremely critical areas. - Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon?, page 137.