Letter from Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, between 22 and 28 May 1838
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Source Note
and , Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to JS, , Caldwell Co., MO, [between 22 and 28 May 1838]. Featured version copied [between 6 July and ca. late July 1838] in JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 48–49; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.
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Historical Introduction
In late May 1838, and wrote to JS to inform him of their recent return to , Ohio, from their mission in . Kimball and Hyde were members of the and had been appointed as traveling ministers and “special witnesses of the name of Christ, in all the world.” The two apostles started on their mission in June 1837, departing Kirtland with fellow missionaries and and traveling to , where the four men were joined by a few other missionaries. In July the group of missionaries sailed from New York City to , England, to begin what would be the first Mormon mission outside of North America. Over the next nine months, Kimball, Hyde, and others proselytized and organized of the church in and in a number of towns and villages in the Ribble Valley of Lancashire, where they enjoyed great success. By the end of their mission, over fifteen hundred people had joined the church. Kimball and Hyde departed England in April 1838 and arrived in Kirtland on 21 May, only to find Kirtland rife with rumors about and antagonism toward JS. In their letter to JS, they wrote that they had arrived on “monday last,” which indicates they wrote their letter sometime between 22 and 28 May.In the letter, and briefly rehearsed their proselytizing activities in , reported on the caustic atmosphere they encountered upon returning to , and confirmed their steadfast loyalty to JS and the church. They also expressed their desire to move with their families to as soon as they could afford to do so, and they inquired regarding the spiritual well-being and harmony of the Saints in , Missouri. Kimball, the more senior apostle and first signatory, may have inscribed the letter.When copied the letter from and into JS’s journal, Robinson wrote that JS received the letter on 6 July 1838. Robinson likely made the copy by late July; transcripts of this letter and a few other documents appear within a gap in regular journal keeping, with regular entries resuming late that month. The original letter is apparently not extant.
Footnotes
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1
See Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:23].
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2
Thompson, Journal of Heber C. Kimball, 10–14.
Thompson, Robert B. Journal of Heber C. Kimball an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Nauvoo, IL: Robinson and Smith, 1840.
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3
Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 28–53.
Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.
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5
See JS, Journal, 4–8 and 26–31 July 1838.
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1
Document Transcript
| To Prest J, Smith Jr. | |
| We are one |
Footnotes
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1
In an autobiographical sketch, Hyde noted that he and Kimball arrived at Kirtland on 21 May 1838, which was a Monday. (“History of Orson Hyde,” 16, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; see also Fielding, Journal, 1837–1838, 75–76.)
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2
Kimball and Hyde sailed from Liverpool on 20 April 1838 and arrived in New York City on 12 May 1838. (Thompson, Journal of Heber C. Kimball, 41–42.)
Thompson, Robert B. Journal of Heber C. Kimball an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Nauvoo, IL: Robinson and Smith, 1840.
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3
See 1 Timothy 6:12.
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4
See Revelation 22:6.
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5
See James 2:5. Hyde observed that the converts in the Preston area were “mostly manufacturers and some other mechanics” who were “extremely poor, most of them not having a change of clothes decent to be babtized in.” Kimball similarly wrote that the indigent masses of Preston were “the most poor people that I ever saw” and that “it is as much as they can do to live.” (Orson Hyde, Preston, England, to Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, Kirtland, OH, 14 Sept. 1837, in Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 19; Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, to Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, 2–6 Sept. 1837, in Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837, 5.)
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6
See Colossians 3:15; Philippians 4:7; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 242 [Alma 7:27].
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7
Kimball and Hyde faced opposition from ministers in Preston. (Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 36, 41–42.)
Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.
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8
One of JS’s early revelations directed elders to “preach repentance & remission of sins by way of baptism.” (Revelation, 14 June 1831 [D&C 55:2]; see also Articles of the Church of Christ, June 1829.)
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9
See Proverbs 16:7.
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10
Many of those estranged from the church were residing in Kirtland when Hyde and Kimball returned in May 1838. “Sand stone & bogus” may be an allusion to a story about dissenter Warren Parrish, who allegedly traveled to Tinker’s Creek, Ohio, to buy a box of bogus, or counterfeit coin, and discovered upon his return that the box contained only “sand and stones.” Parrish and others organized themselves into a new “Church of Christ,” and JS apparently equated this group or at least some of the estranged church members at Kirtland with the heretical Nicolaitan sect mentioned in the New Testament. (Editorial, Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 58; Backman, Heavens Resound, 327–329; Revelation 2:6, 15; Revelation, 8 July 1838–E [D&C 117:11].)
Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.
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11
See 1 Corinthians 13:13.
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12
Elias Smith, who lived in Kirtland, wrote that some of the discord there resulted from the “extreme poverty” of the Latter-day Saints. (Kirtland Camp, Journal, 12–13.)
Kirtland Camp. Journal, Mar.–Oct. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.
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13
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 118, 173 [2 Nephi 30:17; Mosiah 8:17].
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14
See Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:43].
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15
See 2 Timothy 1:18; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 314 [Alma 32:13].
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16
See Ephesians 1:1.
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17
See Philemon 1:13; and Genesis 17:13.