Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 10 August 1833
Source Note
, Letter with postscript by JS, , Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to , , , , , and , , Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833; recipient’s copy, [ca. Sept. 1833]; handwriting of ; two pages; CHL. Includes docket.
Two leaves measuring 7⅞ × 6¼ inches (20 × 16 cm). used the second leaf as a wrapper and inscribed a docket on the wrapper: “Copy of a letter from & J. Smith Jr.” The document was folded multiple times. Edward Partridge Lyman, a great-grandson of , donated this document to the Church Historian’s Office in 1972.
Historical Introduction
The day before he wrote this letter, had arrived in , Ohio, with firsthand news of hostility against church members in and of an agreement to leave that church leaders there had signed under duress. Cowdery and apparently went into hiding during the hostility. McLellin later remembered that, when a mob could not find them, a bounty of eighty dollars was offered for their retrieval. Cowdery left , Missouri, likely between 23 and 25 July 1833, to report the events to JS and other church leaders in Kirtland. As stated in this letter, Cowdery was delayed for three days during his journey from Independence to Kirtland, where he arrived on 9 August 1833, completing his hurried trip in approximately two weeks.
In this letter, recommended that members in “look out another place to locate on,” and he praised his associates for “the agreement to remove” the church out of the county. Conversely, Cowdery also chastised some members of the church in . “This great tribulation,” he wrote, “would not have come upon had it not been for rebelion.” Here, Cowdery likely referred to the far-reaching “rebellion” of Missouri church leaders against JS and the leadership in 1832 and early 1833.
’s letter demonstrates particular concern for the loss of the that had operated. He directed Phelps to send him an account of the circumstances that prevented publication of The Evening and the Morning Star and a list of the newspaper’s subscribers so that Cowdery could print an extra edition of the Star in and mail it to regular readers. referred to these requests in a letter he wrote to church leaders two months later: “Oliver has writen to you for the names and residence of the subscriber[s] for the Star and if you have not sent them we wish you to send them immediately that there may be no delay in the papers going to subscribers as soon as they can be printed.” Because of continued turmoil in , Phelps was unable to send a list of the subscribers until 3 December 1833. The list did, however, arrive in time for the mailing of the first issue of the renewed periodical published in Kirtland in December. In February 1834, Cowdery finally published an extra that contained “a circular recently received from our friends in the West, which corroborates many items heretofore laid before the public,” and also an account of the “wicked and wanton manner, in which the printing office of the type, and books then publishing, the dwelling-house of said Phelps, and some furniture, were destroyed.”
rushed to complete this letter in order to post it on 10 August. In a postscript, JS added his own words of counsel, expressed sorrow and concern, and advised the recipients to be willing to “forsake all for Christ[’s] sake.” After this letter arrived in , made a copy of it, including the postscript from JS. It is unknown when Partridge made his copy, though it was probably made soon after the original letter, which has not been located, was received in September 1833.
A notice printed in The Evening and the Morning Star indicated that Cowdery had received W. W. Phelps & Co.’s mail book with the list of newspaper subscribers. Cowdery forwarded the December issue of the paper to those whose names were current in that book. (Notice, The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 128.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
“From Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]; Parley P. Pratt et al., “‘The Mormons’ So Called,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Page [1]
Ohio Aug. 10th 1833
Dear brethren , , , , , & , & all others who are willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ our Lord Jesus Christ: I need not relate to you at this time the fatigues of my journey, nor the lonesome hours which I experienced while journeying, a stranger in a strange land, surrounded on the right & on the left by the destroying angels who were executing the will of the Lord in the consumation of the wicked, I have not doubted for a moment but that your prayers <were> ascending in my behalf; & so it is I am preserved. I did not arrive as soon as I had hoped, in consequence of being hindered three days since I left in waiting for a conveyance, I arrived yesterday afternoon. I will now proceed to give you some advice concerning your business & the advice may be relied upon. It is wisdom that you look out another place to locate on; be wise in your selection, & commence in the best situation you can find, is not the land before you? & an other place of beginning will be no injury to in the end, & though you may be wearied, yet count it joy, for the Lord will reward you more than a hundred fold for all your sufferings in righteousness,— Make out your bill of damages immediately, if you have not, & get the pay; do not remove any faster to your new home than you bound yourselves to, but pray for the Lord to deliver, for this is his will that you should, & fear not for his arm will be revealed, & it will fall upon the wicked & they cannot escape.
For the comfort of those who offered their lives & made the compromise to remove, I just say that the Lord was well pleased with that act, that is, the agreement to remove, & there was no other way to save the lives of all the in , or the most: and any who are dissatisfied with that move, are not right & have cause to repent, & call upon the Lord for grace to support them in the moment of tribulation. This great tribulation would not have come upon Zion had it not been for rebelion: Firstly there were rebelions against the one to whom were intrusted the , & from thence it has spread down to the lowest & least member! not this alone, but those who were void of understanding were continually telling that which was not true, & putting false coloring to the things of God! I mean those whose mouths are continually open, & whose tongues cannot be stayed from tatling! & the church will never have peace while such remain in her, therefore, brethren purge them out, & have no confidence in any except such as will lay down their lives for this sacred cause for none others are worthy of it. It was necessary that these things should come upon us: not only justice demands it, but there was no other way to cleanse the church. Fear not, brethren, the Lord is yet for you & though the heavens & the earth pass away, yet the elect [p. [1]]
These six men, along with Oliver Cowdery, served as leaders of the church in Missouri. According to JS’s history, their authority over church affairs in Missouri was confirmed during a council meeting held on 26 March 1833 in Jackson County. (JS History, vol. A-1, 282–283; see also Minute Book 2, 26 Mar. 1833.)
On 23 July 1833, Jackson County vigilantes threatened to physically harm all followers of JS then living in the county. As a result, Phelps, Whitmer, Partridge, Morley, Corrill, and Gilbert “offered themselves a ransom for the church, willing to be scourged or die, if that would appease their anger toward the church.” Partridge later remembered that “some few of the leading elders offered their lives, provided that would satisfy them, so as to let the rest of the society live, where they then lived, in peace; they would not agree to this, but said that every one should die for themselves, or leave the county.” (“To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114; [Edward Partridge], “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:18.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
This sentence likely refers to the contemporary cholera epidemic, which Cowdery would have witnessed on his journey to Kirtland. In a 29 July 1833 letter to Cowdery, John Whitmer mentioned reports from nearby Lexington, Missouri, of two deaths and several cases of cholera and later remarked, “It is a time of great anxiety to behold the cleansing of . . . the land from wickedness & abominations.” (Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.)
Despite Cowdery’s frustration with the time it took to journey from Independence to Kirtland, he actually cut the normal travel time by nearly a week. For example, a 4 June 1833 letter from William W. Phelps in Independence took twenty-one days to arrive in Kirtland; a package sent from JS and others in Kirtland on 26 June 1833 reached Independence in thirty-three days; and a 9 July 1833 letter from Independence arrived in Kirtland in twenty-eight days. In late summer 1831, JS and a group of ten other church members traveled from Independence to Kirtland in eighteen days. A year later JS traveled from Hiram, Ohio, to Independence in twenty-two days. Cowdery traveled from Independence to Kirtland in no more than seventeen days, including a delay of at least three days. Therefore, a trip that normally took approximately three weeks took him no more than fourteen days to complete, possibly fewer. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833; Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833; JS History, vol. A-1, 142, 146, 209–210.)
A week after this letter was sent, JS modified this advice by directing church leaders in Missouri to create the impression that they were preparing to move from Jackson County in the hope that their evacuation would not actually be required: “Let those who are bound to leave the land make a show as if to do untill the Lord delivr.” He also stated “that not one foot of land perchased should be given to the enimies of God.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.)
See James 1:2; and Matthew 19:29. Frederick G. Williams offered similar advice concerning the calamity in Jackson County: “Remember that this is only for the trial of your faith and he that overcomes and endures to the end will be rewarded a hundred fold in this world and in the world to come eternal life.” (Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear Brethren,” 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 57.)
Frederick G. Williams reported that “immediately after the arrival of bro Oliver we sat in council to know what should be done, the decission of the council was that measurs should be immediately taken to seek redress by the Laws of our country for your grievences.” (Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear Brethren,” 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 56.)
According to the signed agreement of 23 July 1833, the Mormons were to leave the county “as soon as possible,” with at least half gone by January 1834, and the rest by April 1834. (Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.)
TEXT: Two vertical lines, possibly meant to be a pilcrow, indicate a paragraph break here, though this and the previous line are run together in the original letter.
In the 1830s, to “tattle” meant “to talk idly; to use many words with little meaning” and “to tell tales; to communicate secrets.” (“Tattle,” in American Dictionary; see also 1 Timothy 5:13.)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
Although it is unknown exactly what the “false coloring” or “tatling” refers to, Cowdery may have been discussing instances when members of the church antagonized other citizens of Jackson County by talking about plans to establish Zion there. Reverend Benton Pixley, a resident of Jackson County, wrote in November 1833 that members of the church in Missouri maintained “that they inhabit ‘the Mount Zion spoken of in Scripture;’ that the present inhabitants would be driven off unless they sold to the Mormons and went off peaceably.” In 1881, a Kansas City newspaper reporter quoted David Whitmer saying that in summer 1833, “difficulties arose between the church and the citizens of the county. What first occasioned these difficulties I am unable to say, except that the church was composed principally of Eastern and Northern people who were opposed to slavery, and that there were among us a few ignorant and simple-minded persons who were continually making boasts to the Jackson county people that they intended to possess the entire county, erect a temple; etc. This of course occasioned hard feelings and excited the bitter jealousy of the other religious denominations.” (“Civil War in Missouri,” Cincinnati Journal, 20 Dec. 1833, 203; “Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, 1; see also Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:42]; and “The Elders Stationed in Zion to the Churches Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 110–111.)
Cincinnati Journal. Cincinnati, OH. 1833–1836.
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.