Historical Context | ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ ๐ป
In 1855, missionary Haden Wells Church wrote from Tennessee to LDS apostle John Taylor, then in New York City directing publication of the periodical The Mormon. The letter alludes to matters of personal concern for John Taylor, including discreet references to a woman with whom Taylor may have had a romantic connection. Church archivists suggest this was perhaps Caroline Gilliam, identified in some sources as a plural wife of Taylor. Church not only avoids naming the woman in question but even switches conspicuously to the Deseret to render the pronouns ๐๐จ (โsheโ) and ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ (โherโ).
The letter also mentions the plural marriage of Abraham O. Smoot to eighteen-year-old Diana Tanner Eldridge, a disclosure Church pens exclusively in the Deseret. The Church letter offers a rare glimpse into how the Deseret Alphabet was used early on to conceal sensitive information, occasionally related to the Latter-day Saint practice of plural marriage. As a general principle, polygamy had been discussed openly by church leaders since 1852. Despite this, the details were still evidently regarded as a confidential matter.
