On 2 February 1842 resident wrote a letter to JS in which he extolled the preaching of in that city and requested that JS further explain the requirements of membership. Savary was a scholar, inventor, and nail maker, and his letter to JS is replete with allusions to Enlightenment ideas of reason and science. While intimating that he did not previously believe in the divinity of the Bible, he informed JS that he was “almost persuaded to be a Christian” by Page’s cogent preaching. Page arrived in Pittsburgh on 26 December 1841, where he preached alongside . Noting that Page “delivered about five Lectuers a week” in a hall “filled sometimes over flowing,” four members reported to the that congregations in Pittsburgh were “taken up with Brother pages preaching and they are all anxious that he should stay here.”
’s original letter is apparently not extant, but a copy was published in the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. In addition to detailing how influenced Savary’s understanding of God and the Bible, the correspondence requests that JS explain the laws and regulations of the church. After receiving the letter in , JS responded to Savary’s inquiries in the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. Savary later joined the church, becoming a over the branch.
Savary, Genealogical and Biographical Record of the Savery Families, 62; Savary, Savery and Severy Genealogy, 18; Patent for Richard Savary, “Machine for Making Wrought Spikes and Nails,” 2 Apr. 1838, patent no. 664; Patent for Richard Savary, “Improved Process of Uniting Iron and Steel with Copper, Brass, &c.,” 11 Aug. 1863, patent no. 39,531, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Full-Text and Image Database, U.S. Department of Commerce; John E. Page, Pittsburgh, PA, to Edward Hunter, 3 June 1842, Edward Hunter, Collection, 1816–1884, CHL. Savary’s references to Enlightenment ideas and the irrationality of religious passions and his skepticism regarding the divinity of the Bible are consistent with the tenets of a deist religious philosophy. Most deists believed in a god who created the universe and set it in motion but no longer maintained an active presence in human affairs. Deists dismissed notions of providence, miracles, or revelation and therefore rejected the divinity of Jesus and the Bible as a manifestation of God’s will. For many deists, reason—not supernatural or biblical revelation—was the principal source of knowledge. (Schlereth, Age of Infidels, 4–5, 8; McBride, Pulpit and Nation, 135–137; Porterfield, Conceived in Doubt, 26, 97.)
Savary, A. W. A Genealogical and Biographical Record of the Savery Families (Savory and Savary) and of the Severy Family (Severit, Savery, Savory, and Savary). . . . Boston: Collins Press, 1893.
Savary, A. W. Savery and Severy Genealogy (Savory and Savary): A Supplement to the Genealogical and Biographical Record Published in 1893, Comprising Families Omitted in That Work, and Other Notes, Additions, and Corrections; Being a Continuation of the Notes, Additions, and Corrections in the Original Work from Page XX. Boston: Fort Hill Press, 1905.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent Full-Text and Image Database, 1790–. U.S. Department of Commerce. Accessed 8 May 2017. http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/ PTO/index.html.
Hunter, Edward. Collection, ca. 1798–1965. Photocopy and typescript. CHL.
Schlereth, Eric R. An Age of Infidels: The Politics of Religious Controversy in the Early United States. Early American Studies Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.
McBride, Spencer W. Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017.
Porterfield, Amanda. Conceived in Doubt: Religion and Politics in the New American Nation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
Letter from Levick Sturges et al., 30 Jan. 1842; see also Petition from Richard Savary et al., ca. 2 Feb. 1842. Likely referring to Page and Gee, a local newspaper noted, “A number of preachers of this sect have lately been holding forth in our city, and on Sunday afternoon last baptised the results of their labors—four converts, one of them a journeyman baker on Wood street, the remainder young ladies. These were all taken to the Allegheny river, at the foot of Wayne street, and introduced to the church of Latter Day Saints, by being pitched head foremost into the muddy waters, amid the cheers of some thousands of our citizens!” (“The Mormons,” Iron City, and Pittsburgh Weekly Chronicle, 12 Feb. 1842, [4], italics in original.)
Iron City, and Pittsburgh Weekly Chronicle. Pittsburgh. 1841–1845.
Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:732. It is possible that JS responded to Savary in a separate, nonextant letter and that the printed response in the Times and Seasons was merely excerpted from that correspondence.
Savary, Savery and Severy Genealogy, 18; Entry for Samuel Fields, in Sloan and Richards, “Record of the Names of the Members . . . and Date of Certificate,” 1841–1845, [9].
Savary, A. W. Savery and Severy Genealogy (Savory and Savary): A Supplement to the Genealogical and Biographical Record Published in 1893, Comprising Families Omitted in That Work, and Other Notes, Additions, and Corrections; Being a Continuation of the Notes, Additions, and Corrections in the Original Work from Page XX. Boston: Fort Hill Press, 1905.
Sloan, James, and Willard Richards. “A Record of the Names of the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Who Have Handed In Certificates, with the Names of the Persons, and Their Office, Who Gave Same, Also the Branch from Which They Came, and Date of Certificate.” Oct. 1841–Jan. 1846. In Far West and Nauvoo Elders’ Certificates, 1837–1838, 1840–1846, 1862. CHL.
Mr. Joseph Smith, Sir,—Though a stranger to you personally, yet the knowledge of your character (given me by others) makes it unnecessary for me to offer any apology for thus troubling you. And I entreat you to believe me, when I say, that it is with a sincere desire to arrive at the truth of things that to me and all others are of the most vital importance.
I am pleased to inform you that , has convinced me of my errors, relative to the divinity of the Bible; not in appealing to my passions or a mere flare up of the imagination, which constitutes the religion of three fourths of its votaries, but my judgment, and understanding, were alone consulted, and the result is, I am almost persuaded to be a Christian, on the principles contained in the Book.
I now concede, God to be a God, of mercy, justice, and truth, instead of a tyranical, lying and treacherous being, that I was forced to consider him, by the character he got by the various sects and theologians of the day, and their interpretations of his word.
I have wished to know the truth and considered myself bound to receive it, come from whence it may, and inasmuch as your explanation of the Bible appears reasonable to me, and showing me at the same time, the science thereof, makes it I might say obligatory in me to know all things (so far as I can appreciate them,) that has any connection therewith.
I feel to thank God (though I am yet a sinner,) that crossed my path. He is giving the sectarian world the heart-burn in this and the more they cry delusion, humbug and fanatacism the more the people wont believe it, but go and hear for themselves, and the result is that rational men consider him a rational man and the success of his mission in this is indeed flattering.
I now wish to know through you the laws and regulations of your —what is required of its members—how much (if a man of property,) must he [p. 731]
Reporting on the baptism of several individuals by Latter-day Saint elders, the Iron City, and Pittsburgh Weekly Chronicle stated, “Rev. Alick Stevenson being called upon, addressed the assembly in opposition to the Mormons, from a neighboring board-pile, his discourse being interrupted by numerous cheers, and an occasional yell (from those who had unfortunately taken their station upon rotten sheds, several of which were levelled to the ground) and finally put a stop to by his honor, the Mayor, shoving him from his romantic pulpit. After Alick’s expulsion, another gentleman took up the cudgels, and succeeded in out-speaking the Mormons, who left the ground in disgust.” (“The Mormons,” Iron City, and Pittsburgh Weekly Chronicle, 12 Feb. 1842, [4].)
Iron City, and Pittsburgh Weekly Chronicle. Pittsburgh. 1841–1845.