Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 July 1836
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Source Note
, JS, , , and , Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to , Peter Rogers, Andrew Robertson, James Thompson, , Woodson Moss, James Hughs, , and , , MO, 25 July 1836. Featured version published in “Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:355–359. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Oliver Cowdery, Dec. 1834.
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Historical Introduction
After disbanding the in , Missouri, in 1834, JS encouraged to emigrate there. The revelation calling for the discontinuance of the camp directed the Saints “to gather up the strength of my house” into the county, and a letter JS wrote the following August instructed church leaders in to “prevail on the churches to gather to those regions and situate themselves to be in readiness” to return to by the fall of 1836.By summer 1836, more than 100 Latter-day Saint families joined the 250 families already residing in , many of whom had been forced out of in 1833. With this immigration, unrest grew among the non-Mormon citizens of the county. The factors that gave rise to the tension in Clay County had marked similarities to the causes of earlier violence in Jackson County. In late 1833 and early 1834, Clay County residents who were sympathetic to the Mormon exiles had agreed to give them temporary asylum after their troubles in Jackson County. By mid-1836, however, because of the rapid and increasing immigration of church members to the county and their extensive land purchases, non-Mormon Clay County residents feared that their county was becoming the new , or permanent church center. They also accused Mormons of opposing slavery and causing problems for slaveholders, as well as having unauthorized communications with American Indians in the area to turn them against non-Mormon whites.By late June 1836, violence broke out between the communities. Anderson Wilson, a citizen who organized forces against the Saints, wrote, “There were Several outrages Committed on the night of the 28 [June 1836]. Six of our party went to a mormon town. Several mormons Cocked their guns & Swore they would Shoot them. After Some Scrimiging two white men took a mormon out of Company & give him 100 lashes & it is thought he will Die of this Beating.” Latter-day Saint remembered that in late spring 1836, “it appeared that war was even at our doors.” Believing that the Mormons’ increased immigration, efforts to redeem Zion, and apparent sympathy for slaves and Indians would lead to bloodshed and “civil war” in Clay County, local citizens and community leaders met in to devise a resolution to the impending conflict.At the meeting, held 29 June 1836 at the courthouse, citizens organized a “Committee of nine.” This body was composed of community leaders and included , a Democrat and former judge in who served as the committee chair, and three attorneys previously employed by the Saints during their efforts to obtain redress and justice for their expulsion from —, , and . The committee wrote a preamble and resolutions to present to the Saints. The preamble expressed residents’ belief that a crisis had arrived and that if it was not resolved, harmony, good order, and peace would no longer exist in the county. The committee listed what they believed were the county residents’ collective complaints against the Saints and requested as a solution that church members stop immigrating to the county and completely withdraw from it. The resolutions detailed how they would negotiate the departure of the Latter-day Saints from the county.While the committee did not intend to include JS as part of these negotiations, , assistant church president in , forwarded to him the committee’s preamble and resolutions, which had been published in a local newspaper. The letter featured here is the response JS and other members of the church in wrote directly to the committee led by . The letter from the Kirtland leaders countered rumors about the Missouri Saints and explained their defensive actions, addressing issues that had spurred tensions leading to the request for them to vacate the county. This letter was sent along with another letter JS and the other church leaders wrote to Phelps and the Missouri church leaders on the same date. Wording in the Phelps letter indicates that it was written after the letter featured here. Both letters were apparently sent to Phelps, with the intent that he pass on the letter addressed to Thornton and the rest of the committee. Both letters were printed in the August issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate; the printed copies are the only known extant versions.
Footnotes
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1
See “Joseph Smith Documents from April 1834 through September 1835.”
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2
JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1836; Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:24, 27–31]; Letter to Lyman Wight and Others, 16 Aug. 1834; Minutes, 2 Apr. 1836.
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3
Murdock, Journal, 27 July 1836; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 269, 318–319.
Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.
Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.
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4
Lewis, “Mormon Land Ownership,” 25–28; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 318–319; Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:162–190.
Lewis, Wayne J. “Mormon Land Ownership as a Factor in Evaluating the Extent of Mormon Settlements and Influence in Missouri, 1831–1841.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1981.
Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.
Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.
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5
“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:359–360; “Another Mormon Invasion,” Daily Missouri Republican, 17 May 1836, [2]; see also “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1833 through March 1834.”
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.
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6
Anderson Wilson and Emelia Wilson, Clay Co., MO, to Samuel Turrentine, Orange Co., NC, 4 July 1836, Wilson Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; see also Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 242–279.
Wilson Family Papers, 1835–1849. Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.
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7
Holbrook, Reminiscences, 41.
Holbrook, Joseph. Reminiscences, not before 1871. Photocopy. CHL. MS 5004. Original in private possession.
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8
“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 353–355; “Public Meeting,” Far West (Liberty, MO), 30 June 1836; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to John Thornton and Others, 25 June 1834.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
The Far West. Liberty, MO. 1836.
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9
“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:353–355.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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10
For the response of the Saints in Clay County, see Historical Introduction to Letter to William W. Phelps and Others, 25 July 1836.
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
Church leaders at Kirtland read the report of the proceedings of the 29 June 1836 meeting in Liberty as printed in the newspaper Far West, which they received from Phelps. The proceedings were reprinted alongside the letters to Phelps and Thornton in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:353–361.
The Far West. Liberty, MO. 1836.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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2
See “Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:353–354; and “Public Meeting,” Far West (Liberty, MO), 30 June 1836.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
The Far West. Liberty, MO. 1836.
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3
The resolutions of the committee expressed the fear that “the horrors and desolations of a civil war” would befall Clay County if Mormons did not stop migrating to the county. (“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:354.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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4
Speaking of the “excited state” of the Clay County community, Latter-day Saint Drusilla Hendricks, who relocated from Simpson County, Kentucky, in spring 1836, recalled, “Our wagons, some five or six in number, had stirred up the mob spirit for fear the Mormons would come and take away their place and nation.” On 4 July 1836, Clay County citizen Anderson Wilson described the unrest in a letter, stating that the Saints “have been flocking in here faster than ever and making great talk what they would do. . . . We are to Submit to a mormon government or trample under foot the laws of our Co[u]ntry. To go away was to Just give up all for if emigration once Begun none would buy our land but mormons and they would have it at their own price So we were resolved . . . [to] fight by each others Side & die like Ishmael.” (Hendricks, Reminiscences, 17; Anderson Wilson and Emelia Wilson, Clay Co., MO, to Samuel Turrentine, Orange Co., NC, 4 July 1836, Wilson Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.)
Hendricks, Drusilla. Reminiscences, ca. 1877. CHL.
Wilson Family Papers, 1835–1849. Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
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5
Joseph Thorp, a Clay County resident who was sometimes a friendly employer of the Saints, said, “The poor, deluded mortals, with all their experience in Jackson, began to tell the citizens of Clay the same old tale; that this country was theirs by gift of the Lord, and it was folly for them to improve their lands, they would not enjoy the fruits of their labor; that it would finally fall into the hands of the saints. . . . This kind of talk, with their insolence and impudent behavior, so enraged the citizens that they began to consult about the best course to take to rid themselves of a set of religious fanatics, for they found that their faith was so strong that not only the land was theirs, but the goods and chattels of the ungodly Gentiles was theirs.” This was similar to explanations given for some of the animosity against the Saints in Jackson County. David Whitmer remembered that “there were among us a few ignorant and simple-minded persons who were continually making boasts to the Jackson county people that they intended to possess the entire county.” Similarly, Isaac McCoy, who rode with the mobs in Jackson County, remembered of the earlier conflict, “[The Mormons] grew bolder as they grew stronger, and daily proclaimed to the older settlers that the Lord had given them the whole land of Missouri.” They “had not so much violated law,” said McCoy, as become “arrogant and unbearable.” A JS revelation in 1834 had counseled the Saints to be prudent in the words they used with their Clay County neighbors. (Thorp, Early Days in the West, 79–80; “Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, 1; History of Jackson County, Missouri, 253, 257; Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:23–25]; Letter to Lyman Wight and Others, 16 Aug. 1834; see also “The Other Side,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 24 Apr. 1881, 9.)
Thorp, Joseph. Early Days in the West: Along the Missouri One Hundred Years Ago. Liberty, MO: Irving Gilmer, 1924.
Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.
The History of Jackson County, Missouri: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc. Kansas City, MO: Union Historical, 1881.
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6
For JS revelations to this effect, see, for example, Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:4–5, 34–35]; Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:77–80]; and Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:38–40].
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The response of William W. Phelps and the other Missouri Saints to the citizens’ committee similarly stated, “That we (the Mormons so called,) are grateful for the kindness which has been shown to us by the citizens of Clay, since we have resided with them, and being desirous for peace and wishing the good rather than the ill-will of mankind, will use all honorable means to allay the excitement, and so far as we can, remove any foundation for jealousies against us as a people.” (“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:359–360.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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8
The April 1836 Messenger and Advocate included several articles arguing against abolition, including Letter to Oliver Cowdery, ca. 9 Apr. 1836. On 1 July, William W. Phelps stated, “We have taken no part for or against slavery, but are opposed to the abolitionists, and consider that men have a right to hold slaves or not according to law.” In earlier statements, the church had declared itself as “opposed to abolition,” stating that it disturbed “the peace and harmony of our Constitution and country.” Jackson County residents also considered Mormon views on slavery to be a threat to society in Missouri. (“Public Notice,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:360; “Abolition,” Northern Times, 9 Oct. 1835, 2; Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Northern Times. Kirtland, OH. 1835–[1836?].
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9
Similar charges of objectionable interaction between Latter-day Saints and American Indians had been made during the conflict in Jackson County. Shortly after the Mormons’ expulsion from Jackson County in 1833, Isaac McCoy, a Baptist missionary who preached among the American Indians in Independence and present-day eastern Kansas in the early 1830s, accused the Mormons of seeking aid from the Indians west of the Missouri River during the Jackson County struggles, of violating federal Indian law, and of possibly tampering with Indians and attempting to ally with them against non-Mormon whites. McCoy explained that he and his white neighbors “strongly suspected” that the Mormons were “secretly tampering with the neighboring Indians, to induce them to aid in the event of open hostility; for myself, I could not resist the belief that they had sought aid from the Indians though I have not ascertained that legal evidence of the fact could be obtained.” (Isaac McCoy, “The Disturbances in Jackson County,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 20 Dec. 1833, [2]–[3]; Jennings, “Isaac McCoy and the Mormons,” 62–82.)
Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.
Jennings, Warren A. “Isaac McCoy and the Mormons,” Missouri Historical Review 61, no. 1 (Oct. 1966): 62–82.
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10
These letters have not been located.
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William W. Phelps and a committee of Saints also responded to this accusation: “We deny holding any communications with the Indians, & mean to hold ourselves as ready to defend our country against their barbarous ravages as any other people.” (“Public Meeting,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 2:360.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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12
Preliminary studies identify more than 3,600 acres purchased by the Saints in Clay County, usually in 40- or 80-acre parcels. Of the approximately 250 Latter-day Saint families that resided in the county through 1836, about a third of them owned land. The rest rented, squatted on government land, or lived on the land of other Saints. Most of the land owned by the Saints was located within three miles of the main east-west road that passed through the southern part of the county. Examples are Newel Knight’s forty acres, the holdings of the Colesville branch at the southwest corner of the county, Edward Partridge’s rented land two miles south of Liberty, Lyman Wight’s 130 acres near the Fishing River in the eastern part of the county, and John Cooper’s eighty acres on the eastern edge of the county. (Lewis, “Mormon Land Ownership,” 25–28; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 318–319; Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:161–190; Clay Co., MO, Deed Records, 1822–1890, vol. D, pp. 197, 256, microfilm 955,264; vol. E, pp. 170, 399, microfilm 955,265, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Eliza Partridge Lyman, Journal, 10; Young, “What I Remember,” 13.)
Lewis, Wayne J. “Mormon Land Ownership as a Factor in Evaluating the Extent of Mormon Settlements and Influence in Missouri, 1831–1841.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1981.
Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.
Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Lyman, Eliza Maria Partridge. Journal, 1846–1885. CHL. MS 1527.
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “What I Remember,” 1884. Typescript. CHL. MS 5718.
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13
Church leaders continued to encourage Saints to gather to Missouri until their numbers were sufficient to reclaim their lands in Jackson County. Though considered a temporary home, Clay County had become the main Missouri gathering place for the Saints. Following the endowment in the Kirtland House of the Lord, church leaders set in motion greater proselytizing and fund-raising efforts to purchase lands in Missouri as part of their greater focus on redeeming Zion. (Minutes, 30 Mar. 1836; Minutes, 2 Apr. 1836; JS, Journal, 2 Apr. 1836.)
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14
Of the Saints in Clay County, Joseph Thorp wrote, “The Mormons, in the main, were industrious, good workers, and gave general satisfaction to their employers, and could live on less than any people I ever knew. . . . They had the knack of economizing in the larder, which was a great help to the men, as they had mostly to earn their bread and butter by day’s work.” (Thorp, Early Days in the West, 76.)
Thorp, Joseph. Early Days in the West: Along the Missouri One Hundred Years Ago. Liberty, MO: Irving Gilmer, 1924.
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15
An August 1833 revelation counseled the Saints to bear repeated offenses from their enemies. (Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:39–45].)
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16
On instructions to the Saints regarding self-defense, see Letter to William W. Phelps and Others, 25 July 1836; and Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:23–31].
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The United States Congress passed an act establishing Wisconsin Territory on 20 April 1836, which took effect on 4 July 1836. The Clay County citizens’ committee recommended that the Saints investigate and remove to Wisconsin, “which is peculiarly suited to their conditions and their wants.” The Clay County committee further said of Wisconsin, “It is almost entirely unsettled; they [the Mormons] can there procure large bodies of land together, where there are no settlements, and none to interfere with them. . . . We therefore, in a spirit of frank and friendly kindness, do advise them to seek a home where they may obtain large and separate bodies of land, and have a community of their own.” A short time later, a resident of Wisconsin Territory wrote, “Gentleman Mormons, we pray you to be assured, that your ‘promised land’ is not in Wisconsin.” (“Public Notice,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1836, 354; An Act Establishing the Territorial Government of Wisconsin [20 Apr. 1836], Public Statutes at Large, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 54, p. 10; “The Mormons—Unparallelled Impudence,” Far West [Liberty, MO], 18 Aug. 1836, 1.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
The Far West. Liberty, MO. 1836.