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
Document Transcript
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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4
This passage includes several phrases that are not found in the Bible but appear in the Book of Mormon. The phrase “conditions of repentance” appears in the Book of Mormon multiple times and was also included in a revelation addressed to Cowdery the previous June.a The phrase “great and last sacrifice” occurs three times in the Book of Mormon—all on the same page of the 1830 edition. This same page includes the phrase “infinite atonement.”b According to Cowdery’s postscript at the end of the letter, he had only recently transcribed this passage in his creation of the printer’s manuscript. The phrase “eternal Father of Heaven and of Earth” appears twice in the Book of Mormon.c)
(aBook of Mormon, 1830 ed., 270, 338, 418, 446 [Alma 17:15; 42:13; Helaman 5:11; 14:11, 18]; Revelation, June 1829–B [D&C 18:12].bBook of Mormon, 1830 ed., 319 [Alma 34:10–14].cBook of Mormon, 1830 ed., 186, 253 [Mosiah 15:4; Alma 11:39].) -
5
See Romans 6:4. A number of JS’s friends and supporters in the vicinity of Palmyra and Fayette townships in New York had already been baptized. (See “Articles of the Church of Christ,” June 1829.)
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6
See 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
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7
See 1 Timothy 3:16.
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8
A reference to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where JS and Emma Smith were living.
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9
JS commented in his 22 October 1829 letter that he had purchased a horse from Josiah Stowell and wanted “some one to come after it.” (Letter to Oliver Cowdery, 22 Oct. 1829.)
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10
Cowdery was likely referring to a compositor or typesetter, whose ill health would have certainly delayed the process. Founding—that is, cutting and casting—type was a highly specialized skill, and none of those assisting with the printing of the Book of Mormon is known to have been a type founder. It is possible that JS made a transcription error when he copied this letter into the letterbook.
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11
The printing of the Book of Mormon was completed in March 1830, and the volume was first advertised for sale in the Wayne Sentinel, a newspaper also published in Grandin’s shop. (John H. Gilbert, Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892, photocopy, CHL; “The Book of Mormon,” Wayne Sentinel [Palmyra, NY], 26 Mar. 1830, [3].)
Gilbert, John H. Memorandum, 8 Sept. 1892. Photocopy. CHL. MS 9223.
Wayne Sentinel. Palmyra, NY. 1823–1852, 1860–1861.
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12
Although Marsh’s letter is not extant, in a later history he wrote that after becoming familiar with the Book of Mormon during its printing, he “corresponded with Oliver Cowdery & Jos Smith.” During a trip from his home in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to New York in late summer or early fall 1829, Marsh visited Harris at Grandin’s printing office and obtained from him a proof sheet of the first sixteen pages of the Book of Mormon. He took the pages home to show members of his family, and he and his wife, Elizabeth, became early believers in JS’s work. (“T B Marsh,” [1], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL; see also Thomas B. Marsh and Elizabeth Godkin Marsh to Lewis Abbott and Ann Marsh Abbott, [ca. 11 Apr. 1831], Abbott Family Collection, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
Abbott Family Collection, 1831–2000. CHL. MS 23457.
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13
See Job 3:17.
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This designation, meant to indicate the fifth letter copied into JS Letterbook 1, was written by Frederick G. Williams, who mistook Cowdery’s postscript for a separate letter.
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14
The prophet Alma addresses his three sons—Helaman, Shiblon, and Corianton—in Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 323–340 [Alma 36–42]. Cowdery by this point had created 261 pages of the printer’s manuscript, which ultimately numbered 464 pages.
The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, NY: E. B. Grandin, 1830.
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15
Oliver Cowdery’s father, William Cowdery Jr., born in 1765, recovered from his ill health and lived nearly twenty more years. (Mehling, Cowdrey-Cowdery-Cowdray Genealogy, 95.)
Mehling, Mary Bryant Alverson. Cowdrey-Cowdery-Cowdray Genealogy: William Cowdery of Lynn, Massachusetts, 1630, and His Descendants. New York: Frank Allaben Genealogical Co., 1911.
