Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 21 April 1833
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Source Note
JS, Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to “Brethren in Zion,” [, MO], 21 Apr. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 21 Apr. 1833], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 32–36; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.
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Historical Introduction
Beginning in the summer of 1831, when a JS revelation placed the location of in , tensions arose between church leaders in Missouri and those approximately one thousand miles to the northeast, in , Ohio. The process of establishing Zion, which included actions ranging from deciding matters of ecclesiastical governance to resolving temporal concerns about the allocation of land and money, occasionally resulted in conflict among leaders in the two areas.In the spring of 1832, JS visited with , , and “to comfort the Saints and Setle som[e] little dificulties, and regulate the church and affairs concerning it.” According to , the Missouri members “had a pleasant visit with them and they returned again in peace.” However, if the relationship between church leaders in and those in Missouri seemed peaceful at the time of parting, it soon deteriorated once again. A series of letters exchanged by Kirtland and Missouri leaders between June 1832 and March 1833 reveal the discord: After JS returned to Kirtland in June 1832, he received a letter from , a counselor to Missouri . JS described the letter as an indictment of him for purportedly seeking after “Monarchal power and authority.” JS stated that Corrill’s letter demonstrated “that the devel had set to work” among the church leaders in Missouri “by stirring up [their] hearts . . . by raking up evry fault, which those eyes that are filled with beams could see in looking for motes.” , the church’s agent in Missouri, penned another missive on 10 December 1832, which, according to Kirtland church leaders, also charged JS with seeking “Kingly power.” A January 1833 found these accusations to be “low, dark, & blind,” and the conference directed and to write a response to the Missouri leaders. In their letter, Hyde and Smith encouraged Gilbert to “do his business in the spirit of the Lord,” to repent, and to do the work of him. Kirtland church leaders sent the letter in mid-January 1833 along with a letter from JS to and a copy of a recent revelation known as the “olive leaf.” According to the letter featured below, these materials produced the “desired effect.”, , and had been embroiled off and on in tensions with JS and church leaders for more than a year and a half when, on 26 February 1833, they called a “special council of ” in to resolve the conflict. The previous December, Partridge had “appointed a in all the , which was to be held as a day of confession, and repentance.” Partridge and other leaders “went from branch to branch exorting, until he had gone through them all.” At this February 1833 session of high priests, Partridge “laid before the council the effect of the proceedings of the Solemn assemblies as held throughout Zion.” Satisfied with the results of those solemn assemblies and in order “to effect a perfect harmony between” them and their “brethren in ,” the Missouri high priests appointed a committee, which comprised , , and John Corrill, to write an epistle reporting the widespread repentance in Missouri and confessing their previous error of challenging and criticizing JS and other Ohio leaders. The three men wrote the letter, asking for forgiveness and seeking unity with the church in Kirtland, that same day. The council accepted it, and the letter was dispatched immediately to church leaders in Ohio. In the letter featured here, written on behalf of the Kirtland leadership, JS accepted the sentiments expressed in that February missive.Aside from acknowledging the resolution of conflict among church leaders, the document is typical of many letters that JS sent to church leaders in . It responds to specific questions, communicates the contents of a recently dictated revelation, describes developments in , and offers general counsel. In this and subsequent letters, JS continued to advise and implore church leaders and members in Missouri to repent and to be obedient and humble. How the Missouri leaders reacted to this letter is unknown; the only extant record that mentions the letter, briefly and without commentary, is the June 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star.
Footnotes
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1
For more information on the establishment of Missouri as Zion, see Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57].
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4
Neither this letter nor the aforementioned 2 June 1832 letter from John Corrill is extant. (See Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833.)
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5
Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833; Minutes, 13–14 Jan. 1833.
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6
Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833. A 20 July 1831 revelation instructed Gilbert to serve as an agent for the church and to “establish a store” to obtain money for the “good of the Saints.” (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:6, 8].)
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7
Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833. In his January 1833 letter to Phelps, JS stated, “Let me say to you, seek to purefy yourselves, & also all the inhabitants of Zion lest the Lords anger be kindled to fierceness, repent, repent, is the voice of God, to Zion.” JS called the revelation that accompanied the January letter to Phelps the “Olieve leaf which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise” and “the Lords message of peace to us” because he saw it as a way to heal ongoing difficulties with Missouri church leaders. (Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:1–126].)
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8
Pettegrew, “History,” 15.
Pettegrew, David. “An History of David Pettegrew,” not after 1858. Pettigrew Collection, 1837–1858, 1881–1892, 1908–1930. CHL.
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9
Minute Book 2, 26 Feb. 1833.
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10
This letter is no longer extant.
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11
The Evening and the Morning Star mentioned the letter only to refer to Sidney Rigdon’s proselytizing efforts in Medina County, Ohio, which are discussed near the end of the missive. ([William W. Phelps], “The Progress of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1833, 100.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
This letter has not been located.
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2
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 157 [Mosiah 2:21].
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3
The men in the “special council of High Priests,” which prepared the letter containing “the conffescion of our brethren” from Missouri leaders to JS in Kirtland, were Wheeler Baldwin, Calvin Beebe, Simeon Carter, John Corrill, Oliver Cowdery, Peter Dustin, Sidney Gilbert, Solomon Hancock, Levi Jackman, Newel Knight, Thomas B. Marsh, Isaac Morley, Edward Partridge, William W. Phelps, Daniel Stanton, Harvey Whitlock, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., and Lyman Wight. (Minute Book 2, 26 Feb. 1833.)
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4
A revelation dictated in September 1832 called for church members to “repent of ther former evil works” and for church leaders in Missouri to repent specifically “for there rebellion” against JS. By this time, JS had also sent several letters to Missouri calling the leaders to repentance. For instance, in his January letter to William W. Phelps, JS wrote, “Repent, repent, is the voice of God, to Zion . . . hear the warning. voice of God lest Zion fall.” He added, “The Brethren in Kirtland pray for you unceasingly, for knowing the terrors of the Lord, they greatly fear for you.” (Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:76]; Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832; Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832; Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833.)
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5
Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:1–126].
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6
JS repeated this sentiment in a letter to Bishop Edward Partridge approximately ten days later: “Be assured that we all feel thankful, that the brethren in Zion are beginning to humble themselves, & trying to keep the commandments of the Lord.” (Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833.)
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7
Revelation, 15 Mar. 1833 [D&C 92]. Half of the members of the United Firm resided in Missouri. Because of their location, they would not have yet known about this decision, made in Kirtland, to appoint Williams a member of the United Firm.
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8
This letter has not been located.
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9
In two subsequent letters, JS similarly urged that letters sent from Ohio to Missouri be circulated among all the church members. (Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833.)
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10
See Ephesians 4:2; and Titus 3:2.
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11
Neither letter mentioned here has been located. The 24 February letter was written by Sidney Gilbert two days before the high priests’ council in Independence, Missouri, that sent the reconciliatory epistle to church leaders in Ohio. (See Minute Book 2, 26 Feb. 1833.)
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12
A letter from Kirtland written three months earlier expressed similar sentiments concerning Sidney Gilbert: “We are aware that Bro Gs is doing much, and a multitude of business on hand but let him purge out all the old leaven and do his business in the spirit of the Lord. and then the Lord will bless him otherwise the frown of the Lord will remain upon him— There is ma[n]ifestly an uneassness in Bro G, and a fearfulness that God will not provide for his saints in their last days and these fears lead him on to covitousness, This ought not so to be, but let him do just as the Lord has commanded him and then the Lord will open his coffers, and his wants will be liberally supplied.” In a revelation dictated by JS just a month earlier, Gilbert was exhorted to repent of “many things.” (Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833; Revelation, 8 Mar. 1833 [D&C 90:35].)
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13
See Matthew 5:8; 1 Timothy 1:5; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 234 [Alma 5:19].
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14
Editor William W. Phelps had routinely printed excerpts of revelations and even some passages from the Book of Mormon and JS’s translation of the Old Testament in the monthly periodical The Evening and the Morning Star. (See, for example, “Extract from the Prophecy of Enoch,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1832, [2]–[3] [Moses chap. 7]; “The Book of Jacob,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1832, [2]–[4] [Jacob chap. 5]; and Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B, in “Revelation Given, Hiram, Ohio, November 1, 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Mar. 1833, [6] [D&C 1].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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15
Oliver Cowdery’s letter has not been located. Legal problems arose in Missouri over what to deed and what kind of deed to give to a person who received a stewardship in return for his or her consecrations. Though JS had “nothing further to say on the subject” in this letter, two weeks later he sent Bishop Edward Partridge a letter giving details on his “views, concerning consecration, property, and giving inheritances.” The “commandments of the Lord” likely refer to earlier revelations containing guidelines for consecration, which include Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30–39, 54–55]; and Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]. (Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833; see also De Pillis, “Development of Mormon Communitarianism,” 189–204.)
De Pillis, Mario S. “The Development of Mormon Communitarianism, 1826–1846.” PhD diss., Yale University, 1960.
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16
A later Missouri state law required that any transfers of registered land be recorded by the county assessor. (An Act to Provide for Levying, Assessing, and Collecting the Revenue [14 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], 533.)
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
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17
Deed records indicate that David Elliott did not purchase land in Geauga County, in which Chagrin (later Willoughby) was located, until 1836, when he received a deed for a parcel of land sold to him by JS. Elliott, however, resided in Chagrin as early as 22 January 1834, suggesting that he may have begun the process of purchasing the land much earlier than 1836. About two weeks before this letter was written, Elliott and his wife, Mary Cahoon, initiated a land sale to Luther Snow for a piece of property in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for $500. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 23, p. 422, 15 Oct. 1836, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Cuyahoga Co., OH, Deeds and Mortgages, 1815–1866, vol. N, pp. 191–192, 9 Apr. 1833, microfilm 1,994,223, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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18
In 1828 the United States government publicly announced that it would begin selling federal lands in Missouri. Such lands were sold at auction for $1.25 per acre in tracts of at least eighty acres. Purchasers paid the surveyors’ fees up front, filed the necessary paperwork, and were required to complete payment within two or three years in order to obtain title to the land. In 1831 the federal government offered for sale the lands it had reserved to benefit public education, including the “Seminary Lands,” which had been set aside to fund higher education in Missouri and included much of the land in Jackson County. The seminary land was initially offered for sale at $2 per acre. (An Act to Provide for the Sale of Seminary Lands [31 Dec. 1830], Laws . . . of the State of Missouri, vol. 2, chap. 155, pp. 209–213.)
Laws of a Public and General Nature of the State of Missouri, Passed between the Years 1824 and 1836, Not Published in the Digest of 1825, Nor in the Digest of 1835. Vol. 2. Jefferson City, MO: W. Lusk and Son, 1842.
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19
The 20 July 1831 revelation, which designated Independence as the center place of Zion and identified the exact location for the temple in Independence, also instructed members of the church to purchase the temple site and “also every tract lying westward even unto” the Missouri border so that they would own land “in all the regions round about.” By January 1832, Edward Partridge, Sidney Gilbert, and other church leaders had purchased 1,200 acres for the Saints in an ongoing effort to obtain land. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:3–6]; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832.)
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20
The Evening and the Morning Star mentioned this 21 April letter from JS only in regards to this information about Rigdon. Apparently, the editors of the Star in Missouri received a subsequent letter dated 2 May 1833, reporting that Rigdon had recently returned to Kirtland and that during his brief mission to Medina County he had baptized sixteen people. ([William W. Phelps], “The Progress of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1833, 100.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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21
It is unclear who died and if a particular illness or event caused these deaths.
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22
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 192 [Mosiah 18:9].
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23
See Acts 20:32; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 566, 585 [Ether 12:41; Moroni 9:22].
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24
See 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 1:8; Psalm 12:7; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 345 [Alma 44:4].
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25
John Corrill was a counselor to Bishop Edward Partridge. Corrill’s confession may have been an apology for writing an accusatory letter to JS in the summer of 1832. Though the letter has not survived, JS described it as stirring up matters that he thought had been settled and forgiven and said that it made “absolutely false” charges, including allegations that JS sought after “Monarchal power.” In short, JS wrote, “I do not fellowship the letter which was writen to me by Bro. John & neither the spirit thereof.” An epistle sent from Kirtland to church leaders in Missouri in mid-January 1833 also addressed Corrill’s charge that JS had been “seeking after Monarchal power and authority,” declaring that “we are sensable that this is not the thing Bro J is seeking after.” The high council instead declared that JS was only trying to “magnify the high office and calling whereunto he has been called and appointed by the command of God.” (Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832; Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833; see also Winn, “‘Such Republicanism as This’: John Corrill’s Rejection of Prophetic Rule,” 46–50.)
Winn, Kenneth H. “‘Such Republicanism as This’: John Corrill’s Rejection of Prophetic Rule.” In Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History, edited by Roger D. Launius and Linda Thatcher, 45–75. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.