JS, Letter, , Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to , , Brantford Township, Wentworth Co., Gore District, Upper Canada, 19 Nov. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 19 Nov. 1833], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 62–65; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.
Historical Introduction
Between 4 October and 4 November 1833, JS and traveled to southwest and to preach to ’s family and friends. Their destination in Upper Canada was , the home of Nickerson’s two sons and , who had immigrated to Mount Pleasant and there opened a store together. After arriving in Mount Pleasant, JS and Rigdon found the Nickersons, who were in their late twenties at the time, and others in the area receptive to their message. According to Moses’s later autobiography, after listening to JS and Rigdon’s preaching for “some days,” he investigated “the doctrine advanced by them” and “became much interested; and, finally convinced of its truthfulness.” JS and Rigdon eventually fourteen people, including Eleazer Freeman and Moses. Before they left , JS and Rigdon Eleazer Freeman an and apparently designated him to preside over the small congregation in Mount Pleasant. Nevertheless, JS directed the letter featured here to Moses, apparently because Rigdon had promised to write to Moses but had been unable to do so. In this 19 November 1833 letter, JS informed Moses about matters in , Ohio; expressed his love and concern for the new Canadian members of the ; and attempted to bolster their faith.
received the letter, and by late December he wrote a response to rather than to JS. After acknowledging that he had received JS’s letter, Moses wrote that Rigdon and JS’s labors while in had been “the beginning of a good work: there are 34 members attached to the church at ,” all of whom remained “much engaged” in the Church of Christ. Moses expressed gratitude “for what I have received: the scriptures have been opened to my view beyond account,” and he informed Rigdon that “your friends in Canada often speak of you and brother Joseph.” He asked Rigdon and JS to send more preachers to Mount Pleasant to relieve and noted that “the work requires competent workmen; for the harvest is truly great.” Other missionaries were eventually sent to Mount Pleasant, and by summer 1834, missionary reported that he had “baptized two persons at Mount Pleasant, which increased the church in that place to 43.” Later in 1834, preached to many “attentive congregations” in Mount Pleasant and informed church leaders in “that the church in that place are prospering in the way of the Lord.”
Moses Nickerson, Wendhom, Canada, to [Sidney Rigdon], 29 Dec. 1833, in The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1834, 134. “Wendhom” is most likely Windham Township, Norfolk County, Ontario, about nine miles south-southwest of Mount Pleasant.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
JS appears to have mistakenly written “ult.” instead of “instant.” “Ultimo” would indicate that he arrived in Kirtland sometime the previous month. He and Rigdon, however, arrived in Kirtland on 4 November 1833. (See JS, Journal, 1–4 Nov. 1833.)