TO BARBARA MATILDA NEFF
1844 MAY

ADS. Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois, to Barbara Matilda Neff, Nauvoo, May 1844, Autograph book in Barbara Matilda Neff Moses Papers, LDS Church Archives.

John Neff, born in 1794 in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was a man of wealth and influence with extensive land, livestock, and other business holdings. In 1821 he married Mary Barr, also of Lancaster County, and the couple subsequently raised a family of ten children. In 1842 the Neffs joined the Church, and two years later they traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith.667 During this visit, while staying in the Mansion House between 8 and 13 May 1844, 22-year-old Barbara Matilda, the Neff's eldest daughter, collected autographs from prominent Nauvoo citizens. Among those who wrote in her book were William W. Phelps and Joseph Smith.668 William W. Phelps wrote:

To Miss Barbara Matilda Neff

Two things will beautify a youth

That is: Let virtue decorate the truth

and so you know; every little helps

yours W. W. Phelps

Continuing his clerk's train of thought, Joseph Smith added these lines.

The truth and virtue both are good
When rightly understood
But Charity is better Miss
That takes us home to bliss
and so forthwith
remember Joseph Smith