Travel Account and Questions, November 1837
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Source Note
JS, Travel Account and Questions, , Geauga Co., OH, Nov. 1837. Featured version published in Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints, Nov. 1837, 27–29. For more complete source information, see the source note for Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.
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Historical Introduction
In late September 1837, JS and several other leaders traveled to , Missouri, to reorganize church leadership and to establish “places of for the Saints.” After returning to on 10 December, JS published an account of his travels from , through , and to , as well as a summary of various meetings held in Far West, in the church’s recently inaugurated periodical, Elders’ Journal. In addition, JS included a list of twenty questions concerning his history and the church’s beliefs and practices. The questions and travel account were published in the November issue of the Elders’ Journal, which was likely printed shortly after JS’s return to Kirtland.JS, , , and set out for on 27 September 1837. Traveling southwest from to , Ohio, the men proceeded west along the National Road through central and before arriving at , Indiana, on 12 October; the party later proceeded west through and Carrollton, Missouri, reaching sometime before 6 November. Shortly after his arrival in Far West, JS participated in a series of meetings at which those assembled sustained—or in the case of , did not sustain—church leaders and discussed the gathering of church members to that place. At the meetings, it was determined that there were sufficient resources in the area to support additional members of the church, and they appointed , , , and to find locations for other of in the surrounding region. In the article featured here, JS encouraged church members to “make all possible exertions to gather themselves together” in Missouri; he also informed readers that he and other church leaders would be relocating their families there “as soon as our circumstances will admit.”In addition to summarizing his journey to and the administrative decisions made there, JS enumerated a series of questions that he said were “daily and hourly asked by all classes of people whilst we are traveling.” Though the specific circumstances that prompted such questions are unclear, many of the queries were related to longstanding misconceptions about church doctrine and JS’s past. Avowedly anti-Mormon publications had long influenced how the public viewed JS and the church. ’s Mormonism Unvailed, which had been published three years prior in , Ohio, had shaped some of the public discourse surrounding JS and the church. Although JS stated his intention to answer the questions in the next issue of the Elders’ Journal, JS’s departure from and the seizure and burning of the in January 1838 delayed the publication of these answers until the paper resumed printing in Far West, Missouri, in July 1838.
Footnotes
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1
Historical Introduction to Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.
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2
Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, 19–24 Jan. 1838, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL; Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, to Wilford Woodruff, [ca. Apr. 1838], in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 36–38.
Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.
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3
Minutes, Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 17; Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–B.
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4
Sidney Rigdon, Terre Haute, IN, to Don Carlos Smith, [Kirtland, OH], 13 Oct. 1837, in Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837, 7–8; Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837.
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5
JS’s editorial in the November Elders’ Journal may have included information from more than one meeting in Far West, but it certainly incorporated information from Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837.
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6
Though JS’s report names the members of the committee and indicates when they began their work, the composition of the committee subsequently changed. In minutes of a 7 December 1837 meeting held in Far West, Cowdery, Wight, and David W. Patten are noted as being members of the committee, while Whitmer and Corrill are not mentioned. Frederick G. Williams was added to the committee on that day. (Minute Book 2, 7 Dec. 1837.)
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7
Written to convince the public that JS was an imposter and to warn “those who are yet liable . . . to be enclosed within its [Mormonism’s] fetters,” Howe’s book featured a series of affidavits collected by Doctor Philastus Hurlbut from individuals who claimed to have been acquainted with JS and his family when they lived in New York. Following its publication, JS defended his and his family’s reputations, stating that he had never “been guilty of wronging or injuring any man or society of men” and that he was only guilty of having, in his youth, “a light, and too often, vain mind.” Howe’s book received a favorable review in Alexander Campbell’s Millennial Harbinger and was available for purchase throughout Ohio, western New York, and Pennsylvania. (Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, ix; JS to Oliver Cowdery, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1834, 1:40; “Mormonism Unveiled,” Millennial Harbinger, Jan. 1835, 44–45; “Mormonism Unveiled,” Fredonia [NY] Censor, 25 Mar. 1835, [3]; News Item, Naked Truths about Mormonism [Oakland, CA], Apr. 1888, 4.)
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
Millennial Harbinger. Bethany, VA. Jan. 1830–Dec. 1870.
Fredonia Censor. Fredonia, NY. 1824–1932.
Naked Truths about Mormonism: Also a Journal for Important, Newly Apprehended Truths, and Miscellany. Oakland, CA. Jan. and Apr. 1888.
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8
See Questions and Answers, Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 42–44. In late December 1837 or early January 1838, the Geauga County sheriff seized the printing office, along with its contents, in response to a legal judgment rendered against JS. The office was destroyed by fire on 16 January 1838. (“Sheriff Sale,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 5 Jan. 1838, [3]; Hepzibah Richards, Kirtland, OH, to Willard Richards, Bedford, England, 18–19 Jan. 1838, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; John Smith, Kirtland, OH, to George A. Smith, Shinnston, VA, 15–17 Jan. 1838, George Albert Smith, Papers, CHL.)
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
Meeting minutes indicate that the conference was actually held on 17 September 1837. (Minutes, Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 17; Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–B.)
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2
Likely the city of Carrollton, Carroll County, Missouri.
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3
This statement likely refers to a number of difficulties discussed in meetings held on 6 November 1837. (Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837.)
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4
See Revelation 6:4; and Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B [D&C 1:35].
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5
See Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:58].
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6
See Malachi 3:10–12.
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7
It is unknown precisely when JS intended to relocate his family to Missouri. On 12 January 1838, JS dictated a revelation that instructed the presidency to “take their families as soon as it is practicable . . . and move on to the west”; the revelation also encouraged faithful members to “arise with their families also and get out of this place [Kirtland, Ohio] and gather themselves together unto Zion.” (Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–C.)
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8
Some of the questions posed to JS appear to be rhetorical (“Does not Jo Smith pretend to be Jesus Christ?”), while others are broader doctrinal questions (“Wherein do you differ from other denominations?”). Where a question is sufficiently narrow, annotation provides specific historical sources or contexts that likely informed the question. JS answered the questions in the July 1838 issue of the Elders’ Journal. (Questions and Answers, Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 42–44.)
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9
This question likely arose from the church’s early practice of “consecration.” In February 1831, a JS revelation outlined the “Laws of the Church of Christ,” which included the principle of consecration, or donation, of personal and real property to the church. Latter-day Saints who consecrated their property were to receive in turn a “stewardship” over property that was deeded to them by the church to meet their needs. This program was practiced irregularly among church members in the 1830s. Although Latter-day Saints maintained that this system did not constitute a “common stock” arrangement, where property was owned jointly, allegations persisted in the 1830s that the church members held “all things ‘in common.’” While there were common properties held in the name of the church, “stewardships” or inheritances were deeded to individuals and held in their private names. (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:1–72]; Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:4–5]; JS, Journal, 30 Oct. 1835; JS History, vol. A-1, 93; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 120–121, 125–126.)
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
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10
According to a circa August 1835 “Statement on Marriage,” the church had been accused of “the crime of fornication, and polygamy,” though the specific source of the allegations is unknown. (Statement on Marriage, ca. Aug. 1835.)
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11
In an 1893 reminiscent account, prominent Missouri resident Alexander Majors wrote that church members in Jackson County “claimed they could raise the dead.” (Ingraham, Seventy Years on the Frontier, 44.)
Ingraham, Prentiss, ed. Seventy Years on the Frontier: Alexander Majors’ Memoirs of a Lifetime on the Border. Denver: Western Miner and Financier Publishers, 1893.
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12
JS’s reputation as a treasure seer, or someone who used a seer stone to locate gold or other valuable objects buried in the earth, likely prompted this question. (Historical Introduction to Agreement of Josiah Stowell and Others, 1 Nov. 1825; Isaac Hale, Affidavit, Harmony, PA, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 234.)
Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
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13
This query may have arisen from statements made by Emma Smith’s father, Isaac Hale, as well as an affidavit published in Mormonism Unvailed. Twenty-two-year-old Emma Hale married JS in January 1827. Isaac Hale opposed the union and alleged in 1834 that JS had “carried off my daughter” and married her “without my approbation or consent.” (Isaac Hale, Affidavit, Harmony, PA, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 234.)
Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
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14
On this issue, see Historical Introduction to Letter to Oliver Cowdery, ca. 9 Apr. 1836.
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15
This question may have been informed by allegations that, as early as 1831, Latter-day Saint missionaries were seeking to convert American Indians and incite them to attack non-Mormons. These claims were based on interpretations of Book of Mormon prophecies stating that converted Indians would be—echoing language from the biblical book of Micah—“as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.”a In 1832, fearing that non-Mormons would believe that the Latter-day Saints were “putting up the Indians to slay” whites—thereby endangering “the lives of the Saints evry where”—JS cautioned church members against discussing these prophecies.b Fears that the Saints were “tampering” with American Indians contributed to opposition of Mormon settlements in Jackson County in 1833 and Clay County in 1836, leading church leaders to deny having any connection with the Indians and to state that the Saints feared “the barbarous cruelty of rude savages” like other frontier whites.c Similar allegations were made in Eber D. Howe’s 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed.d
(a“Mormonism—No. VI,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 17 Nov. 1831, [3]; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 496–497, 500 [3 Nephi 20:15–16; 21:11–12]; Micah 5:8.bLetter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832.cIsaac McCoy, “The Disturbances in Jackson County,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 20 Dec. 1833, [2]–[3]; “Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:359–360; Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 July 1836.dHowe, Mormonism Unvailed, 145–146, 196–197.)Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
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16
JS had previously defended the idea of modern-day revelation in an 1833 letter to his uncle Silas Smith and in a circa March 1834 letter to the church. The latter was published in The Evening and the Morning Star in March 1834. (Historical Introduction to Letter to Silas Smith, 26 Sept. 1833; Letter to the Church, ca. Mar. 1824.)