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Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 April 1831

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Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 April 1831

Source Note

, Letter, , MO, to “My dearly beloved brethren & sisters in the Lord” [ and other church members, including JS], [, OH], 8 Apr. 1831. Featured version copied [between ca. 27 Nov. 1832 and ca. Jan. 1833] in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 10–12; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

This document is the second extant letter wrote to his associates from . Cowdery had been unaware of the pending move of both JS and the church from to Ohio when he wrote an earlier letter to newly members in Ohio in January 1831. At the time he wrote this second letter, however, he knew that the church had relocated and that JS resided in , Ohio. According to the letter presented here, Cowdery had received a letter a few days earlier informing him of the recent events in Ohio.
Though ’s letter opens with a general salutation to the “beloved brethren & sisters in the Lord,” it was evidently addressed to specifically. , one of Cowdery’s missionary companions in , listed Whitney as the recipient when he drafted the table of contents for JS’s Letterbook 1, and the letter itself states the intent to send the missionaries’ letters to “brothren Whitney.” Cowdery’s comment in the letter that the group felt entitled to free postage strongly suggests that their letters were routed through Whitney even though they were intended for a larger audience, including JS. Whitney was the postmaster of , and his franking privilege allowed him to send and receive an unlimited number of letters weighing less than half an ounce without charge. Because postal rates were calculated according to the distance the letter traveled, the missionaries in Missouri would have been charged twenty-five cents for every letter they received from the Kirtland area, a sum roughly equivalent to one-third of the average daily wages of an agricultural laborer.
Since ’s letter of 29 January, the missionaries had encountered difficulties with government officials in their attempts to preach to the American Indians. Federal Indian agent Richard W. Cummins sent a letter on 15 February to his superior, General , who was serving as superintendent of Indian affairs in , alerting him to the presence of the Mormon missionaries. Cummins told Clark that the men “act very strange” and claim “they are sent by God and must preach.” Cummins explained further: “They have a new Revelation with them, as there Guide in teaching the Indians, which they say was shown to one of their Sects in a miraculous way, and that an from Heaven appeared to one of their Men and two others of their Sect. . . . I have refused to let them stay or, go among the Indians unless they first obtain permission from you or, some of the officers of the Genl Government.” Cummins threatened the missionaries with imprisonment if they continued their preaching, according to , a member of the missionary party. In his summary of the confrontation with the Indian agent, Whitmer wrote that after the missionaries had commenced their preaching to the “delewares, and the tribe of Shawneyes . . . to our sorow there came a man whose name was Cumons and told us the he was a man under authorithy he told us that he would aprehend us up to the garoson.”
In an effort to obtain a permit to preach to the Indians, wrote to on 14 February 1831, a letter that presumably took to deliver in person on a journey to the East, which included a stop in . However, Clark was absent from his St. Louis post at the time Pratt arrived, and there is no indication that Clark responded to Cowdery’s letter. Nevertheless, Cowdery’s 8 April letter suggests that the missionaries expected a favorable resolution to their conflict with Cummins through Pratt’s efforts to obtain a permit from Clark.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A copy of Cowdery’s first letter, dated 29 January 1831, is contained in Letter to Hyrum Smith, 3–4 Mar. 1831.

  2. [2]

    Whitney had held the office of postmaster since 29 December 1826. The Kirtland Mills post office was located in his store. (U.S. Post Office Department, Records of Appointment of Postmasters, reel 4, vol. 6, p. 176; List of Post-Offices in the United States, 59; Table of the Post Offices in the United States, 216.)

    U.S. Post Office Department. Records of Appointment of Postmasters, Oct. 1789–1832. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M1131, reel 4. Washington DC: National Archives, 1980.

    List of Post-offices in the United States with the Names of the Post-masters of the Counties and States. . . . Washington DC: Way and Gideon, 1828.

    Table of the Post Offices in the United States, Arranged by States and Counties; as They Were October 1, 1830; with a Supplement, Stating the Offices Established between the 1st October, 1830, and the First of April, 1831. Washington DC: Duff Green, 1831.

  3. [3]

    While postage could be paid by the sender, the payment of postage was often the responsibility of the recipient of a letter, and thus many pieces of mail went unclaimed because the recipient either did not or could not pay the postage. (An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], in Post-Office Laws, Instructions and Forms, pp. 15–16, sec. 27; John, Spreading the News, 121–124.)

    Post-Office Laws, Instructions and Forms, Published for the Regulation of the Post-Office. Washington DC: Way and Gideon, 1828.

    John, Richard R. Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.

  4. [4]

    An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], in Post-Office Laws, Instructions and Forms, pp. 8–9, sec. 12; Wright, Industrial Evolution of the United States, 217; Margo, Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 67, table 3A.5.

    Post-Office Laws, Instructions and Forms, Published for the Regulation of the Post-Office. Washington DC: Way and Gideon, 1828.

    Wright, Carroll D. The Industrial Evolution of the United States. Meadville, PA: Flood and Vincent, Chautauqua-Century Press, 1895.

    Margo, Robert A. Wages and Labor Markets in the United States,1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

  5. [5]

    Richard W. Cummins, Delaware and Shawnee Agency, to William Clark, [St. Louis, MO], 15 Feb. 1831, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency, Records, vol. 6, pp. 113–114.

    U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency. Records, 1807–1855. Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Also available at kansasmemory.org.

  6. [6]

    Whitmer, Journal, Dec. 1831, [1].

    Whitmer, Peter, Jr. Journal, Dec. 1831. CHL. MS 5873.

  7. [7]

    Oliver Cowdery, Independence, MO, to William Clark, [St. Louis, MO], 14 Feb. 1831, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency, Records, vol. 6, p. 103. At the time Pratt left, he was still unaware of the church’s move to Ohio. Pratt later described his journey: “Elders Cowdery, Whitmer, Peterson, myself, and F. G. Williams, who accompanied us from Kirtland, now assembled in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, and came to the conclusion that one of our number had better return to the church in Ohio, and perhaps to head quarters in New York, in order to communicate with the Presidency, report ourselves, pay a visit to the numerous churches we had organized on our outward journey, and also to procure more books. For this laborious enterprise I was selected by the voice of my four brethren.” (Pratt, Autobiography, 61.)

    U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency. Records, 1807–1855. Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Also available at kansasmemory.org.

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

  8. [8]

    See John Ruland, [St. Louis, MO], to John Henry Eaton, [Washington DC], 9 Jan. 1831, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency, Records, vol. 4, p. 198; and William Clark, St. Louis, MO, to John Henry Eaton, [Washington DC], 31 Mar. 1831, U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency, Records, vol. 4, p. 207.

    U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Central Superintendency. Records, 1807–1855. Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Also available at kansasmemory.org.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. * Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 April 1831 Letterbook 1
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stranger or foreigner to go among them to teach or preach We are about Eleven miles from where we send our letters mailed & also to receive letters and we thought that we shall write evry week to our brothren and on your receiving this we want you to do the same by us for we think that if any people are entitled of <​to​> the benefits of free postage it [should be?] us wants to write the principle names of those brethren who have been baptized <​of​> his neighbours since he left wishes <​to​> inform his wife that he is sure that the Lord called him to come to this country and consequently he shall not return untill he calls him back again he also informs her that respecting that suit at Law that there can be nothing done on there part more till August term, I wish <​my​> brother would write me the procedings of the several as they were held, the number of & & members as he will at each house an oppertunity of knowing and as you write to me weekly (which I hope you will not fail to do) you would write general occurrances through each week, Finely Brethren farewell the Lord God of peace be with you & keep you firm unto his coming & kingdom Amen—
[p. 12]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 April 1831
ID #
3878
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:288–294
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [15]

    A 6 June 1831 revelation possibly responded to this portion of Cowdery’s letter: “again let my Servent Joseph & Sidney [Rigdon] & Edward [Partridge] take with them a recomend from the Church & let there be one obtained for my Servent Oliver.” (Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:41].)

  2. [16]

    Frederick G. Williams’s request gives an indication that the 1 March letter to the missionaries from the Kirtland area converts probably explained that more people had been baptized since the departure of the missionaries in November. Williams, the only member of the missionary party who was from Ohio, inquired about the specific names of the new converts.

  3. [17]

    It is uncertain what “suit at Law” Williams referred to. Philo Dibble’s later account explained that Williams owed $400 on the farm on which JS’s father was then residing and that the payment of the debt was due in order to save the farm. It is possible that the mentioned suit concerns this impending foreclosure. A revelation dictated a month later in Kirtland specifically addressed matters related to Williams’s farm, even though Williams was still in Missouri. The receipt of this letter in Kirtland may have prompted a greater inquiry about the situation and led to that May revelation. Dibble eventually sold part of his land holdings in early 1832 in order to pay the debt on Williams’s farm. (Dibble, Reminiscences, [4]; Revelation, 15 May 1831.)

    Dibble, Philo. Reminiscences, no date. Typescript. CHL. MS 15447.

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