Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 25 June 1833
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Source Note
JS, , , and , Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to and Others, , Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833; sent copy; handwriting of and ; signatures of JS, , , , and ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal markings, and docket.Bifolium measuring 11 × 9 inches (28 × 22 cm) when folded. The letter was trifolded in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The letter included two enclosures: a “draft of the City of Zion with explanations” and a “draft of the house to be built immediately in for the .” After being delivered, the letter was refolded for filing, and added a filing notation: “Letter from J. S. S. R. F. G. | W. & M. H | June 1833”. The letter has undergone conservation.This letter, along with other papers belonging to , was in possession of the Partridge family until at least the mid-1880s, sometime after which it came into the possession of the Church Historian’s Office.
Footnotes
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1
See Plat of the City of Zion, ca. Early June–25 June 1833; and Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833.
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2
See Whitney, “Aaronic Priesthood,” 5–6; Partridge, Genealogical Record, 1; and the full bibliographic entry for the Edward Partridge Papers in the CHL catalog.
Whitney, Orson F. “The Aaronic Priesthood.” Contributor, Apr. 1885, 241–250.
Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
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Historical Introduction
In the first six months of 1833, communication characterized by accusations and chastisement between church leaders in and those in transitioned to messages, such as the letter featured here, that aimed at conciliation and developing a spirit of “perfect harmony.” Correspondence from Missouri, including responses to JS’s letters of 21 April 1833 and 2 May 1833, in part prompted this letter, which addressed inquiries on diverse topics, including , the Book of Commandments, new in , Missouri, and the ’s operations and membership. This letter also included warnings against teaching false doctrine and responded to a question as to whether JS had yet obtained any of the lost books of the Bible.The letter was part of a package, with two other documents enclosed with it: “a draft of the City of Zion with explanations, and a draft of the house to be built immediately in for the as well as all purposes of Religion and instruction.” This letter gave directions concerning these two other documents. The “house to be built immediately in Zion,” for instance, was to be similar to the that church leaders had begun constructing in , Ohio. It was one of the twenty-four houses of the Lord, or temples, planned to be built in , according to the explanations given in the two documents that accompanied this letter. This letter also advised church leaders that should they “not understand the explanations,” they should send any questions or concerns to leaders in Kirtland so that they “may have a propper understanding” of the city plat and the architectural plan of the House of the Lord. The drafting and sending of the documents in this package represent a significant moment in the articulation of the church presidency’s vision for the growing church in .This letter and the two enclosed documents were postmarked in on 26 June 1833. By the time church leaders in received the package on 29 July 1833, violent confrontations with antagonistic county residents had already occurred. and immediately replied to this letter to inform the Kirtland leaders of the growing unrest. Such events prevented church leaders from following many of the directions given in this letter.Though in the handwriting of and , the letter is written primarily in the first-person voice of , who was writing on behalf of the . The letter also contains a postscript from JS.
Footnotes
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1
This 25 June letter addresses similar topics to those found in the April and May 1833 letters from Kirtland, Ohio, particularly the introduction of Frederick G. Williams as a member of the United Firm and the law of consecration. The repeated discussion of these topics suggests that, after receiving the two letters in April and May, Missouri church leaders had more questions concerning these matters and that this letter was part of an ongoing conversation. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 21 Apr. 1833; Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833.)
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2
See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95]; see also Minutes, 6 June 1833; and Plan of the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio (Fragments), ca. June 1833.
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3
Plat of the City of Zion, ca. Early June–25 June 1833; Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833.
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1
Cite this page
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Document Information
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Footnotes
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46
The bishopric’s decision is not recorded in the Missouri minute book (Minute Book 2).
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47
Although this may be an accurate number for Kirtland proper, there were also many members in nearby settlements. In contrast, approximately 1,200 church members resided in Missouri at this time. (“The Elders Stationed in Zion to the Churches Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 110–111.)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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Work on the Kirtland temple commenced on 7 June 1833, less than three weeks earlier. (Hyrum Smith, Diary, 7 June 1833, [15]; see also Minutes, 6 June 1833.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary, Nov. 1832–Apr. 1833. Hyrum Smith, Papers, 1832–ca. 1911. BYU.
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49
For earlier references to the “buffetings of Satan,” see Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:12]; and Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:21]. What specifically prompted disciplinary action against Peterson is unknown. In August 1831, Peterson was chastened and was apparently stripped of his authority as an elder. He then promptly confessed his sins at a special church conference on 4 August, at which time he was forgiven. In October the next year, another disciplinary matter concerning Peterson was discussed before a conference of high priests and elders, which decided that Lyman Wight should reordain Peterson as an elder. (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:60]; Minutes, 4 Aug. 1831; Minute Book 2, 2 Oct. 1832.)
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Signatures of JS, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, Martin Harris, and Orson Hyde.
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50
Martin Harris had been imprisoned in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, and was in the Springville area of Susquehanna County as late as May 1833. Consequently, he had been in Kirtland only a short time when he signed this letter. According to a letter from his brother Emer Harris, Martin had been incarcerated at Montrose, Susquehanna County, for a few days in January 1833 on “a fals charge of slander” until “we got Bail to answer to Cort the Last Monday in Apriel.” The court postponed Harris’s trial date from 30 April to 3 September; though he was not present at the later trial, the court judged in his favor. Apparently neither JS nor any other church member in Kirtland was aware of Harris’s whereabouts or imprisonment. In late March, Sylvester Smith and Harpin Riggs were tasked to “Journey eastward” to find Martin Harris “and make known to him what the Lord is doing in this place.” Emer and Martin were still in the Springville area on 7 May 1833, though they probably left for Kirtland shortly thereafter. Why Martin Harris signed this letter along with the three men who constituted the presidency of the high priesthood is not known. He may have signed it because it discussed matters pertaining to the United Firm, of which Harris was a member, and the publishing activities of the Literary Firm, in which he had an interest. (Emer Harris, Springville, PA, to “Dearly Beloved Brethern,” Brownhelm, OH, 7 May 1833, Harris Family Papers, BYU; Minutes, 23 Mar. 1833–B; Nelson and Harper, “Imprisonment of Martin Harris in 1833,” 113–119.)
Harris Family Papers, 1818–1969. BYU.
Nelson, Mark B., and Steven C. Harper. “The Imprisonment of Martin Harris in 1833.” BYU Studies 45, no. 4 (2006): 113–119.
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51
On 6 June 1833, a conference of high priests nominated and voted to accept Orson Hyde as “a Clerk for the presidency of the High priesthood.” This appears to be the first letter to which Hyde’s name is attached as clerk for the presidency and likely the first time that church leaders in Missouri would have learned of Hyde’s new position. (Minutes, 6 June 1833.)
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52
In January 1833, JS urged Phelps, as the editor of The Evening and the Morning Star, to include more history to help make the Star “more interesting” and warned, “If you do not render it more interesting than at present it will fall.” (Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833.)
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TEXT: “[Hole in paper]lation”.
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The presidency instructed that after the plat of Zion sent with this letter was properly “laid off and supplied,” church members were to then “lay off another in the same way and so fill up the world in these last days and let every man live in the City for this is the City of Zion.” Each additional settlement was to have a bishop to oversee the consecration-based economy. (Plat of the City of Zion, ca. Early June–25 June 1833.)
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55
See Acts 4:32; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 61 [2 Nephi 1:21]; and Old Testament Revision 1, p. 16 [Moses 7:18].
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56
The “olive leaf” refers to a revelation dictated six months earlier and sent to Jackson County church leaders in January 1833. Two letters of rebuke were also sent with the revelation. On 2 May 1833, JS replied to a previous letter of complaint from Partridge, “begging your pardon for not having addressed you, more particularly in letters which I have written to Zion, for I have always felt, as though a letter written to any one in authority in Zion, would be the property of all, & it mattered but little to whom it was directed.” A subsequent letter from Partridge, the one referred to here (and no longer extant), apparently pointed out specific letters from the presidency to church leaders in Jackson County that had not been shown to him. (Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:1–126]; Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833; Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833; Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833.)
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TEXT: “thing[hole in paper]”.
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