No one puts a volume like this one together without the help of many other people. My debt to several people is significant. First, I am grateful to Paul C. Richards for his article in BYU Studies that drew my attention to the fact that a large group of petitions existed in the National Archives. Next I am grateful to James L. Kimball of the LDS Historical Department for showing me the important petitions held in the Church Archives.

I also express gratitude to the following for their help: the librarians of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Newberry Library of Chicago, the Illinois State Archives, the Chicago Historical Society, the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library, and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I especially appreciate the county officers and clerks and the county genealogical and historical societies in Adams, Calhoun, Hancock, Jersey, Madison, McDonough, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, and Scott Counties in Illinois, and Lee and Van Buren Counties in Iowa for opening their archives to me.

The individuals who have offered suggestions, typed, and read manuscripts are many, but among them, I need to mention the following: Peggy Wahlquist Stout, Terry Wahlquist, Sabrina Vanderhoff, Ann Reed, Kaylene Porter Harding, Linda Haslam, Gladys Noyce, Brent Hall, Paul Damron, Richard Draper, Florian Thayne, James L. Kimball, Donald T. Schmidt, Leonard J. Arrington, Larry C. Porter, James B. Allen, Thomas G. Alexander, Ronald W. Walker, Cynthia Gardner, Rebecca H. Christensen, Charlotte Pollard, and Charles D. Tate, Jr.

I owe special recognition to Suzanne J. Woods and Stephanie S. Eliason of the BYU Religious Studies Center Publications Office. These two editors made major contributions to this book in checking my transcriptions of the petitions, organizing the manuscript, and preparing it for typesetting.

Finally, my special thanks go to my wife, Cheryl. Without her help and encouragement this work would have ground to a halt years ago.