Letter to Oliver Cowdery, December 1834
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Source Note
JS, Letter, [, Geauga Co., OH], to , [, Geauga Co., OH], Dec. 1834. Featured version published in Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1834, 40.Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate (, Geauga Co., OH), vol. 1, nos. 1–8, Oct. 1834–May 1835, and nos. 9–12, June–Sept. 1835; nos. 1–8 edited by (in ) and nos. 9–12 edited by (in ); vol. 2, nos. 1–6, Oct. 1835–Mar. 1836, and nos. 7–12, Apr.–Sept. 1836; nos. 1–6 edited by (in ) and nos. 7–12 edited by (in ); vol. 3, nos. 1–4, Oct. 1836–Feb. 1837, and nos. 5–12, Mar.–Sept. 1837; nos. 1–4 edited by (in ) and nos. 5–12 edited by (in ).Each monthly issue featured sixteen octavo pages that measured 8½ × 57/16 inches (22 × 14 cm). Each page was printed in two columns. The copy used for transcription is currently bound in a volume at the Church History Library.
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Historical Introduction
The December 1834 issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, a monthly periodical of the Church of the Latter Day Saints published in , Ohio, contains this letter from JS to , the newspaper’s editor, discussing the early years of JS’s life. In October 1834, Cowdery had announced that he hoped to provide “a full history of the rise of the church of the Latter Day Saints, and the most interesting parts of its progress, to the present time” in the Messenger and Advocate. JS was to assist with the project, particularly with the “many items connected with the fore part” of the church’s history. Sometime in summer 1832, JS had composed a brief history of his life up to the time that he met Cowdery in 1829; had also provided a brief account of the beginnings of the church in The Evening and the Morning Star in April 1833. Cowdery’s history promised to be a fuller account, and JS’s letter was apparently intended to help Cowdery fill in details about JS’s early life.In addition to writing about his early life, JS responded to recent accusations against his character. , editor of the Painesville Telegraph, had recently published Mormonism Unvailed, a work intended to expose JS as an impostor and “break the spell” that Mormonism had cast over its followers. The publication included several “depositions,” or statements, from individuals living in and and , New York, who claimed to be familiar with JS and his family. These affidavits and other statements painted the Smiths and JS in an unflattering light, claiming that when they lived in Pennsylvania and , family members had not been gainfully employed and had wasted their time in treasure seeking and drinking. Accusing JS of being “entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits,” the statements attacked JS’s honesty and reputation. JS was probably familiar with the contents of the statements well before their publication in Mormonism Unvailed, but this letter to Cowdery appears to be his first public response to them. The letter emphasizes that although JS had been subject to the foibles of youth, he had never engaged in “wronging or injuring any man or society of men.”The original manuscript of JS’s letter to has not been located. Cowdery published the letter in the December 1834 issue of the Messenger and Advocate, commenting in a separate letter that it provided information on “the life and character of our esteemed friend and brother, J. Smith Jr.”
Footnotes
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1
Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:13; see also JS History, 1834–1836, 46–102.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
JS History, 1834–1836 / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1834–1836. In Joseph Smith et al., History, 1838–1856, vol. A-1, back of book (earliest numbering), 9–20, 46–187. Historian's Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, box 1, vol. 1.
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2
JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 1–6; “Rise and Progress of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Apr. 1833, [4].
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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3
Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, vii–ix. The 28 November 1834 issue of the Painesville Telegraph contained an advertisement for Mormonism Unvailed, saying it was “just published in this Town.” (“Mormonism Unvailed,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 28 Nov. 1834, [3].)
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.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
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4
Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 231–232, 247–249, 261–262, italics in original.
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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5
Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, a former member of the church, had been hired by a Kirtland committee to collect such statements; he “exhibeted them to numerous congregations in Chagrin Kirtland Mentor and Painesville” sometime before 22 January 1834. Oliver Cowdery responded to Hurlbut’s general efforts to discredit JS and the church in an April 1834 editorial in The Evening and the Morning Star. Other statements against JS from Pennsylvania were published first in the Susquehanna Register in May 1834 and then republished in a fall issue of the Baptist Register. Cowdery briefly responded to these statements in a letter to his brother Warren Cowdery, which was published in the September 1834 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star. (Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834; [Oliver Cowdery], Editorial, The Evening and the Morning Star, Apr. 1834, 150; “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; “Answer,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 190.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.
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6
“Letter III,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1834, 1:42.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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