Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 6 November 1829
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Source Note
, Letter, , Ontario Co., NY, to JS, [, Susquehanna Co., PA], 6 Nov. 1829. Featured version copied [between ca. 27 Nov. 1832 and ca. Jan. 1833] in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 6–8; handwriting of JS; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.
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Historical Introduction
composed this letter in response to JS’s letter two weeks earlier. By this time Cowdery had been involved with the printing of the Book of Mormon for several weeks, and here he provided JS with a brief update of that work. He also informed JS of the estimated date of completion and explained that illness had delayed the work. In the postscript, Cowdery noted his progress copying the original Book of Mormon manuscript. Pages of the resulting “printer’s manuscript” were then delivered to the printer, , ensuring that if the copy were damaged, either through mischief or carelessness, the original would still be preserved. The sentiments and language of Cowdery’s expressions of faith in the letter reveal his familiarity with passages from the manuscript.
Footnotes
Letter 4 November the 6th. 1829
Brother Joseph Smith Jr.
I received your leter yesterday bearing date Oct. 22d I had long time expectted to hear from you and had often enquired at the post office for a letter and of course it was gladly received by us all. we rejoice to hear that you are well and we also rejoice to hear that you have a prospect of obtaining Some mony and we further rejoice that you are at rest from your percecutors and we rejoice [p. 6]
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Document Information
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Footnotes
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This scribal notation, in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams, indicates that this was the fourth letter copied into JS Letterbook 1.
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1
At the time he wrote this letter, Cowdery was likely at the Hyrum Smith residence in Palmyra. If this is the case, the letter was written in Palmyra, not in Manchester.
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2
More than a month had passed since JS’s departure from Manchester. (See Letter to Oliver Cowdery, 22 Oct. 1829.)
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3
Cowdery referred here to JS’s report of Josiah Stowell’s willingness to invest “five or six hundred dollars” in the publication of the Book of Mormon. (Letter to Oliver Cowdery, 22 Oct. 1829.)
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