Letter from Thomas B. Marsh, 15 February 1838
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Source Note
, Letter, , Caldwell Co., MO, to JS, [, Geauga Co., OH], 15 Feb. 1838, with Minutes, 5–9 and 10 Feb. 1838. Featured version published in “Minutes of the Proceedings of the Committee of the Whole Church in Zion,” Elders’ Journal, July 1838, pp. 44–46. For more complete source information, see the source note for Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.
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Historical Introduction
In early February 1838, , , and —who composed the of the church in —were removed from office and replaced by apostles and as presidents pro tempore. Marsh wrote to JS on 15 February 1838 to inform him of the change and to convey formal statements exculpating JS from an implied accusation of adultery made by . The letter also included copies of minutes from the meetings in which the former presidency was removed and replaced.Problems with the presidency had been developing for over a year. While was in , Ohio, in summer 1836, counselors and presided over the Saints in . In late June, non-Mormon residents in , Missouri, demanded that the Saints leave the county. Consequently, in July the Missouri Saints met in a “general assembly” and appointed Phelps, John Whitmer, and the Zion to find a new area to settle. The Saints also appointed and to collect donations and obtain loans from the Saints in and elsewhere to give to Phelps and Whitmer for resettlement efforts. While Marsh and Groves collected donations, Phelps and Whitmer purchased the land for what would become , Missouri. After Marsh and Groves returned from Kentucky and Tennessee, where they borrowed $1,450 from church members, Phelps and Whitmer used the money to buy more land in the vicinity of Far West. However, they did not consult with the bishopric and the before selecting and purchasing the land, and they appointed a committee to help build a in Far West.The Missouri Saints followed and to , but the high council and bishopric questioned the control Phelps and Whitmer were asserting. On 3 April 1837, the high council met without Phelps and Whitmer and drew up a list of questions for the two men. The council challenged the authority of the two men to unilaterally select and purchase the land for the new settlement, to sell lots in the city plat for their own profit, to designate the , to appoint a committee to help build the temple, and to take other actions. The council resolved to meet again in two days and invited Phelps and Whitmer to answer the questions. The council also invited the bishopric and resident apostles and to the meeting.At the beginning of the council meeting held 5 April 1837, and requested that the bishopric and leave, to which everyone else objected. Phelps insisted that they leave or he would dissolve the high council. declared that if Phelps took such action, Marsh would prefer formal charges against Phelps in a church court held by the . Phelps relented, and the members of the high council proceeded with their questions. Phelps and Whitmer were unable to answer the questions to the council’s satisfaction, which “led the Council & others to strongly rebuke the late improper proceedings of the Presidents.” Patten, who was particularly incensed, stated that their actions “had been iniguitous [iniquitous] & fraudulent in the extreme, in the unrighteously appropriating church funds to their own emolument.” Similarly, Marsh wrote in a letter to that the two presidents had purchased the land in “with Church funds, in their own name, for their own agrandisement.”After further discussion over the next few weeks, church officers approved the plat as planned by and and approved of their authority to supervise the construction of a and appoint the temple building committee. In response, Phelps and Whitmer agreed to turn over ownership of the Far West plat and surrounding property to Bishop and to relinquish control of the pricing and sale of this property to a combined council of the presidency, the bishopric, and other officers. Furthermore, the proceeds would be dedicated to the general building up of in . In spite of these resolutions, the underlying issues persisted.In the following months, the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society and the general state of depression that followed the nationwide financial panic contributed to significant upheaval in . At this time some of JS’s closest associates, including former secretary and several apostles, became disaffected. Discontent and dismay with JS’s financial or religious leadership eventually spread to nearly one-third of the church’s general leadership and over one-tenth of the membership in . Declaring JS a fallen prophet, Parrish and others attempted to establish a church of their own, which they called the Church of Christ—the original name of the church JS had founded. They also attempted to take control of the . Further, some dissidents sought to replace JS with as church president. Even , who had been close to JS since the time they had worked together on translating the Book of Mormon, began criticizing JS about financial issues and leadership concerns.Dissent against JS’s leadership was apparently also fueled by the beginnings of plural marriage. JS’s introduction of the practice of polygamy—following the model of Old Testament patriarchs—was well attested in in the 1840s. A few individuals who knew JS well recounted later that he had received a revelation about the doctrine of plural marriage as early as 1831, possibly in connection with his work on the revision, or new “translation,” of the Bible. Several Latter-day Saints who lived in in the 1830s later reported that JS married , a young Latter-day Saint who worked in the Smith household. These reports, some of which were from members of Alger’s family, include statements that a wedding “ceremony” or “sealing” had taken place or that Alger and her parents agreed to the marriage beforehand. Little is known of JS’s marriage to Alger, which was largely kept confidential and which ended in separation before JS’s move to . Other Kirtland Mormons, including , viewed the relationship as immoral. recounted that in summer 1837, Cowdery insinuated that JS was guilty of “committing adultery with a certain girl,” an allegation that Cowdery repeated in a letter to one of his brothers in January 1838. On 12 April 1838, Cowdery faced a church trial over a variety of issues. At the trial, JS stated that as Cowdery had been his bosom friend, therefore he entrusted him with many things, and JS then “gave a history respecting the girl buisness.” After his separation from Alger and the controversy arising from Cowdery’s accusations, JS set aside the practice of plural marriage for several years.In autumn 1837, JS began to reassert his authority as church president. On 3 September, he convened a conference in , during which he was sustained as president and several dissenting church leaders were rejected. This conference was considered a “re-organization of the Church in Kirtland.” The following day, JS wrote a letter to the Saints in , informing them of the “difficulties in Kirtland which are now about being settled.” He included a copy of the conference minutes and referred the Missouri Saints to his brother and , who were traveling to Missouri, for further information about the reorganization in Kirtland so they would know “how to proceed to set in order & regulate the affairs of the Church in zion.” The letter also warned them of , , and others who were or would soon be in Missouri and whose support JS questioned. JS indicated that Cowdery had been in transgression and that if he did not humble himself and magnify his calling, the Saints would “soon be under the necessaty of raising their hands against him.” The letter also stated that Whitmer had transgressed and that he had been warned that if he did not “make sattisfaction to the Church,” he would lose his standing.On the same day JS wrote this letter, 4 September, he dictated a revelation declaring that and must repent of their offenses or they would be removed from office. JS sent the letter, and presumably the revelation, to with , who had likely informed JS of the Missouri leadership issues. Together, these documents raised questions about and the entire presidency, all of whom were in Missouri by the time JS and other leaders arrived there to hold a reorganization conference similar to the one they had held in .JS arrived in in late October or early November 1837. On 6 November, JS, , , and other leaders from met with , , , and other church leaders living in to further resolve problems. After those at the council meeting discussed the recent land purchases, the Far West plat, and related issues, “all difficulties were satisfactorily settled except a matter between J. Smith jr. and T. B. Marsh, which was refered to themselves with the agreement that their settlement of the affair should be sufficient for the Council.” This unresolved matter was apparently Cowdery’s contention that JS was guilty of adultery. The three met to discuss the issue later that evening or sometime before JS returned to Kirtland.At the 7 November reorganization conference, which was also called a “general assembly,” served as the moderator. JS was sustained as president of the entire church, and was sustained as a counselor in the First Presidency. Marsh and others objected to the other counselor, , who was consequently rejected by the general assembly and replaced by . When the names of and were presented for reappointment to the presidency, Marsh and others objected. However, apostle “made satisfaction” on behalf of David Whitmer, and John Whitmer offered words of confession, after which the two men were retained in office. When ’s name was presented, he also offered a confession and was reappointed to the Zion presidency. In another meeting, held 10 November, the problems with John Whitmer and Phelps were further resolved and the authority of the bishopric to oversee land issues was reaffirmed.Having addressed the problems in , JS and his party from departed for home. Although the church had been reorganized in Kirtland, JS returned only to face continued efforts by dissidents to undermine his leadership. ’s 15 February 1838 letter suggests that rumors of JS committing adultery were circulating in Kirtland or that Marsh understood that to be the case based on a letter he had recently received from JS.Such rumors and the spirit of dissent were also spreading in . As tensions involving and the presidency resurfaced, it became evident that the dissension required further attention. In a letter JS wrote to in Missouri on 7 January 1838, JS included a revelation warning the Saints to “be aware of dissensions among them lest the enemy have power over them” and commanding church leaders to warn the members, “for behold the wolf cometh to destroy them!” JS apparently sent a similar letter to around the same time. Marsh presumably received the letter by 20 January, when he held a meeting at his house to initiate an effort to remove the Zion presidency. Marsh was a member of the , which held jurisdiction over only the and missionary work outside of Zion and its stakes. However, on 5 February 1838, when Marsh held a meeting to remove the Zion presidency, he stated that he was following special instructions from JS, which were apparently included in a letter from JS. , who was also at the meeting, stated that he likewise knew about the instructions from JS to Marsh.In the “social meeting” hosted on 20 January, he met with fellow apostle and several members of the high council. After considering grievances against the Whitmer brothers, , and , those at the meeting appointed a committee to present their concerns to “the Presidents” and Cowdery, who was serving as the Zion presidency’s clerk, and then report back to the larger group. The chief concern, apparently, was that Phelps, , and Cowdery had recently sold land in . The committee also challenged the men regarding their adherence to the “,” the church’s dietary code. In general, the men insisted on their individual rights to sell or otherwise control their land and to interpret and observe the dietary revelation as they saw fit. In short, they “would not be controlled by any ecclesiastical power or revelation whatever in their temporal concerns.” When the committee reported this response in a council meeting on 26 January, the council members resolved to reject the presidency and to hold “general assembly” meetings to lay the case before church officers in and in some surrounding settlements. The council members planned the general assembly meetings and resolved that Marsh would inform the Zion presidency and Cowdery of the decisions made at the council meeting.On 30 January, the presidency met with and other dissenters, during which the group declared their opposition to JS for “endeavoring to unite ecclesiastical with civil authority and force men under the pretence of incurring the displeasure of heaven to use their earthly substance contrary to their own interest and privilege.” Cowdery copied the meeting minutes into a 4 February 1838 letter to his brothers regarding recent events in . He also explained that the high council had decided not to try him and that the Zion presidency had decided not to attend a meeting to be held in Far West the following day. Also on 4 February, followed through on a request from JS to send Marsh’s and ’s accounts of a meeting with Cowdery in which he discussed .The general assembly meetings began in on 5 February 1838. served as the moderator, as he had in the general assembly held on 7 November 1837. He began by rehearsing the recent reorganization meetings in and Far West and also some of the problems with the presidency. The members of the committee appointed to visit the presidency also spoke. , one of his counselors, and his financial agent argued that the proceedings of the general assembly were hasty and improper, while Partridge’s other counselor pleaded for mercy for and . Two members of the high council were sympathetic, but most were against the presidency. Similarly, Marsh, , and high council member vigorously opposed the presidency. After hearing from the various leaders, the men holding priesthood offices in Far West voted to remove the presidency from office.Over the next four days, sessions of the general assembly were held in four of the smaller outlying settlements, all with the same result. On 10 February a council meeting was held, probably in , in which , , and were removed from their appointments to license church officers and were replaced by and . At the same time, Marsh and Patten were appointed presidents pro tempore for the church in . Five days later, on 15 February, wrote a statement regarding a conversation with Cowdery about ; Hinkle apparently gave his statement to Marsh that day.After receiving ’s statement, wrote to JS. Marsh began with copies of the minutes of the general assembly held 5–9 February and of the council meeting held 10 February. Marsh then explained that the high council had acted in order to avoid a widespread rebellion among the general church membership, which strongly opposed the ongoing actions of the presidency. Marsh was probably writing to report on the fulfillment of JS’s earlier instructions. He also wrote to follow through on JS’s request for statements regarding and his insinuations that JS was guilty of adultery. Marsh included new versions of his and ’s statements and also included the statement from Hinkle.may have written the letter at his home in . He expressed some concern in his letter that the letter he had sent in the mail on 4 February might be intercepted by enemies before it reached JS, so Marsh may have sent his 15 February letter in the hands of a Latter-day Saint he trusted. As Marsh’s letter indicates, he was not yet aware that JS had already departed and was en route to Far West. Because JS had left already, he would not be able to use the statements collected by Marsh to stop the rumors of adultery in Kirtland, but the statements may have been of some use to him after arriving in Far West. If the letter was sent by a Mormon courier rather than through the mail, JS may have received the letter en route and become apprised of the recent developments in Far West prior to his arrival. In any case, he most likely received the original letter or read a retained copy of it before it was published in the July issue of the Elders’ Journal, which he was the editor of.
Footnotes
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2
“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:353–355; Stokes, “Wilson Letters,” 504–509.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Stokes, Durward T., ed. “The Wilson Letters, 1835–1849.” Missouri Historical Review 60, no. 4 (July 1966): 495–517.
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4
Letter to Wilford Woodruff, ca. 18 June 1838; see also “T. B. Marsh,” [2], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
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9
Minute Book 2, 5–7 Apr. 1837, pp. 68–69, 73; Edward Partridge, Bonds, Far West, MO, to William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, 17 May 1837, John Whitmer Family Papers, CHL.
John Whitmer Family Papers, 1837–1912. CHL.
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10
Introduction to Part 7: 17 Sept. 1837–21 Jan. 1838; Backman, Heavens Resound, 323–329; Esplin, “Emergence of Brigham Young,” chap. 6.
Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.
Esplin, Ronald K. “The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1981. Also available as The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2006).
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11
Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 14.
Historian’s Office. Brigham Young History Drafts, 1856–1858. CHL. CR 100 475, box 1, fd. 5.
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12
Bachman, “Ohio Origins of the Revelation on Eternal Marriage,” 24–26; Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 1:85–91.
Bachman, Danel W. “New Light on an Old Hypothesis: The Ohio Origins of the Revelation on Eternal Marriage.” Journal of Mormon History 5 (1978): 19–32.
Hales, Brian C. Joseph Smith’s Polygamy. 3 vols. SLC: Greg Kofford Books, 2013.
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13
See, for example, Andrew Jenson, Research Notes, Andrew Jenson Collection, CHL; Benjamin F. Johnson, [Mesa, Arizona Territory], to George F. Gibbs, Salt Lake City, UT, ca. Apr.–ca. Oct. 1903, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, CHL; Hancock, “Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock,” 50, 61–65; Young, Wife No. 19, 66–67; and Eliza Jane Churchill Webb, Lockport, NY, to Mary Bond, 24 Apr. 1876; Eliza Jane Churchill Webb, Lockport, NY, to Mary Bond, 4 May 1876, Myron H. Bond Folder, Biographical Folder Collection, CCLA; see also Bradley, “Relationship of Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger,” 14–58.
Jenson, Andrew. Collection, ca. 1841–1942. CHL. MS 17956, box 7, fd. 105.
Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289, box 2, fd. 1.
Hancock, Mosiah Lyman. "Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock," ca. 1896. CHL. MS 570.
Young, Ann Eliza. Wife No. 19; or, The Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Exposé of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy. Hartford, CT: Dustin, Gilman, 1876.
Myron H. Bond Folder. Biographical Folder Collection (P21, fd. 11). CCLA.
Bradley, Don. “Mormon Polygamy before Nauvoo? The Relationship of Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger.” In Persistence of Polygamy: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy, edited by Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster, 14–58. Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2010.
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14
Minutes, 12 Apr. 1838; Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery, 21 Jan. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 80–83. The timing of the conversation between Cowdery and Patten was clarified in a subsequent remark by Marsh. (Minutes, 12 Apr. 1838.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
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18
Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837.
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21
Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837; Minutes, 10 Nov. 1837; JS History, vol. B-1, 775–778; Esplin, “Emergence of Brigham Young,” chaps. 6–7.
Esplin, Ronald K. “The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1981. Also available as The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2006).
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23
As Marsh noted in his 15 February letter to JS, Marsh had sent a letter to JS on 4 February in response to JS’s request for statements from Marsh and George W. Harris regarding what Oliver Cowdery said about Fanny Alger. This 4 February missive to JS may have been a response to the same letter in which JS instructed Marsh to take action against Cowdery and the Missouri presidency.
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Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 83–86.
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
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26
The letter from Marsh refers to the minutes as if they were part of the letter. In the Elders’ Journal, the minutes and the letter were printed together as one text.
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27
In June 1837, the high council determined to give Marsh “a lot in the Town of Far West.” Marsh later recounted that he “immediately procured a lot built a house & moved into it.” The minutes for the 20 January meeting designate Far West as the location of the meeting and further specifiy that the meeting was “held at the house of Thos B. Marsh,” affirming that Marsh had moved to Far West by this time. (Minute Book 2, 11 June 1837 and 20 Jan. 1838; “T. B. Marsh,” [2], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
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28
Information regarding JS’s departure arrived in a letter to Phelps by 24 February, when it was read in a council meeting. (Minute Book 2, 24 Feb. 1838.)
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