Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 30 March 1834
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Source Note
JS, Letter with postscript by , , Geauga Co., OH, to , , and other members of the , [, MO], 30 Mar. 1834. Featured version copied [ca. 30 Mar. 1834] in Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, 30–38; handwriting of ; Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Transcription from digital color image obtained from the Huntington Library in 2011. For more complete source information on Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, see the source note for Letter to J. G. Fosdick, 3 Feb. 1834.
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Historical Introduction
From the end of February to the end of March 1834, JS traveled to recruit individuals for the expedition to . On 28 March, he returned to , Ohio, and found that he had received several letters from Missouri church leaders, some of which were from members of the . Those letters, though no longer extant, seem to have discussed, among other things, the business of the firm, including its losses. The letters from Missouri must have also criticized JS and other Kirtland church leaders; according to JS, the letters contained “sharp, piercing, & cutting reproofs,” partly because of misspellings and grammatical errors that appeared in a published broadside of a December 1833 revelation and partly because of the lack of financial support from Kirtland for Missouri church members. Earlier missives from Missouri were similarly critical of Kirtland church leaders, and Missouri members had been consequently rebuked for being contentious. A December 1833 revelation even declared that church members had been driven from , Missouri, in part because of the “jar[r]ings and contentions envyings and strifes and lustful and covetous desires among them.” Although acknowledged that “it was right that we should be driven out of the land of ,” the letters that JS received in March 1834 apparently exhibited at least a measure of the same critical spirit found in earlier correspondence.After spending the preceding day with his family and in the midst of attending to ecclesiastical affairs, JS penned a reply to the leaders on 30 March 1834. The letter, featured here, offers a glimpse into how the hardships of late 1833 and early 1834 affected JS and how he handled criticism. This letter exhibited JS’s frustration over their complaints but also evinced his desire to forgive past transgressions for the sake of unity. In the letter, JS also offered more information on the matters with which and others had found fault, bemoaned the persecution the church was experiencing in both Missouri and , and reported on the expected expedition of “able brethren” to Missouri. Specifically, he noted church members’ lack of support (in terms of both financial donations and individual volunteers) for the contemplated expedition to . JS also suggested that though he intended to be part of the expedition, he had other matters to resolve before departing. In fact, it was not until 9 April 1834, after the legal proceedings against (who had been charged with threatening to kill JS) had successfully concluded, that JS finally determined to “go to Zion.”The letter further provided information on the advantage of employing attorney general Robert W. Wells in the Mormons’ legal suits, on debts and finances in , on the recent purchase of a printing press by in , and on the selling of property. Though some church leaders in Missouri wrote letters to Kirtland in the months following this letter, they did not specifically address this letter or its contents. Therefore, it is not clear if the men of the in Missouri received this letter.
Footnotes
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1
See Minutes, 24 Feb. 1834; Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834 [D&C 103]; and JS, Journal, 26 Feb.–28 Mar. 1834.
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3
Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:6].
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5
JS, Journal, 9–10 Apr. 1834. This 9 April notation in JS’s journal is the first known documentary evidence that JS had decided to go with the Camp of Israel.
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6
See, for example, “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 160; and “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1834, 168.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
The letters referenced here have not been located. It is possible that the 27 February 1834 letter from William W. Phelps had arrived and was one of the “several communications” that JS had recently received, though he does not respond to that letter here. (See Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 Feb. 1834.)
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2
Cowdery was apparently unwilling to answer these letters in JS’s absence. JS and Cowdery likely conferred on the letters’ contents before JS made this reply.
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3
Parley P. Pratt and Lyman Wight arrived in Kirtland in February 1834 to report on the condition of church members in Missouri to the Kirtland high council. (Minutes, 24 Feb. 1834.)
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4
These letters have not been located.
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5
For a discussion on the “afflictions & persecutions” of the Mormons in Kirtland around the time this letter was written, see Historical Introduction to Prayer, 11 Jan. 1834.
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6
In a letter to church members “scattered abroad” in Missouri written on 22 January 1834, the presidency of the high priesthood included a broadside of the 16–17 December 1833 revelation printed by Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland printing office. The errors in the revelation referred to here included minor misspellings and grammatical mistakes. (Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834; see also Verily, I Say unto You, concerning Your Brethren Who Have Been Afflicted [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at CHL [D&C 101].)
Verily, I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at CHL.
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7
JS here used “orthography” to mean spelling and grammar.
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8
See Luke 2:7.
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9
According to the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, published in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Democritus, a Greek philosopher who lived from 460–357 BC, was known as the “laughing philosopher” because he “viewed with supreme contempt the feeble powers of man.” A more contemporary periodical article likewise called Democritus the “laughing philosopher.” The phrase “laughing philosophers” was also used more generally to connote jest, sarcasm, or humor. (Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 733; “Humble Station No Obstacle to the Acquisition of Knowledge,” Friend, 28 Aug. 1830, 361; see also, for example, The Galaxy of Wit: or Laughing Philosopher Being a Collection of Choice Anecdotes . . . , 2 vols. [Boston: J. Reed, 1830].)
Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Giving the Derivation, Source, or Origin of Common Phrases, Allusions, and Words That Have a Tale to Tell. Rev. ed. 2 vols. London: Cassell, 1895.
Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal. Philadelphia. 1827–1955.
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10
Oliver Cowdery traveled to New York in October 1833 to purchase new printing equipment. He informed Ambrose Palmer on 30 October that “I purchased a Press & Types, all of which had arrived at Buffalo when I left that place: when they will arrive here is uncertain to us, as that depends upon the providences of our Heavenly Father. If however his providences are favorable, they will arrive in a few days undoubtedly.” Cowdery paid $190.60 for the printing press and $360.21 for type. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Ambrose Palmer, New Portage, OH, 30 Oct. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 8; F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 1.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.
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11
See Historical Introduction to Prayer, 11 Jan. 1834.
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12
By mid-January 1834, the printing office in Kirtland had printed the 16–17 December 1833 revelation, which explained why the Mormons had been expelled from Jackson County and relayed a parable indicating how Zion was to be redeemed. The church intended to send copies of the revelation to the governor of Missouri and to the president of the United States. The church also distributed copies among its branches, presumably to help recruit people and raise money for the expedition to Missouri. The Painesville Telegraph stated that the revelation was “privately circulated among the deluded followers of the impostor, Smith,” while Mormonism Unvailed declared that it “was taken up by all their priests and carried to all their congregations.” (“A Scrap of Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 24 Jan. 1834, [1]; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 155.)
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
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13
See Exodus chap. 32.
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14
Here, JS may have been referring to a revelation that was leaked to the Painesville Telegraph. The paper published the revelation on 24 January 1834. In August 1833, Oliver Cowdery warned the Church of Christ leaders in Missouri against “tatling” and admonished them to keep revelations “from false brethren & tatlers.” (See “A Scrap of Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 24 Jan. 1834, [1]; Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101]; and Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833.)
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
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15
The 16–17 December 1833 revelation accompanied a petition sent in January 1834 on behalf of the Mormons to Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin. Church leaders also planned to send the revelation with a petition to U.S. president Andrew Jackson. (Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834; see also Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:77–89].)
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16
See 1 Chronicles 13:9–10.
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17
In a letter written in late February 1834, Phelps mentioned a visit from Missouri attorney general Robert W. Wells, though Phelps said nothing specific in that letter about employing Wells’s services. In a letter sent to Wells in January 1835, Phelps indicated that Wells had been working on at least one legal case for him but that he could not pay Wells the required fee. In January 1836, Wells informed Phelps that if he could pay fifty dollars by 1 March, he would consider that payment sufficient remuneration and would then “be excused from attending to the suits or acting as atty or counsel.” (Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 Feb. 1834; William W. Phelps, Liberty, MO, to Robert W. Wells, Jefferson City, MO, 5 Jan. 1835; Robert W. Wells, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps, Liberty, MO, 4 Jan. 1836, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.)
Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.
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18
The New York debt likely refers to recent purchases made by church leaders in New York. Newel K. Whitney had purchased new goods to stock the store in Kirtland and to give to the destitute church members in Missouri. (See Minutes, 20 Feb. 1834; Minutes, 17 Mar. 1834; and F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 1; see also Prayer, 11 Jan. 1834; and JS, Journal, 7–9 Apr. 1834.)
F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.
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19
The funds referred to here were from subscriptions to the Church of Christ’s periodical, The Evening and the Morning Star.
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20
JS expressed a similar sentiment to church leaders in Missouri nearly a year earlier. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 21 Apr. 1833; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833.)
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21
For JS’s earlier counsel on selling lands in Jackson County, see Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.
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22
See JS, Journal, 1–2, 15, and 17 Mar. 1834.
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23
Pratt continued to serve as a recruiter for the Missouri expedition, even when the camp was marching from Kirtland to Missouri. By 21 April 1834, Wight had returned to and again left Kirtland, this time with Hyrum Smith, to recruit additional people in Michigan Territory. This group from Michigan joined the main expedition on 8 June. (Pratt, Autobiography, 122–123; Manscill, “Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,” 167, 174.)
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
Manscill, Craig K. “‘Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac, . . . 1834’: Hyrum Smith’s Division of Zion’s Camp.” BYU Studies 39, no. 1 (2000): 167–188.
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24
Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:28–29]; see also Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:23–29].
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25
In the midst of this exigent persecution, JS gave the direction to not publish revelations so that they could not be used to further enflame prejudices against church members. On 10 August 1833, Oliver Cowdery wrote a letter to church leaders in Independence, telling them that the mob attacked the Mormons in part because some church members’ “mouths” were “continually open.” Cowdery thus told church members to carefully read the revelations but to “keep them from false brethren & tatlers.” Although JS may have made the statement here out of a desire to prevent those who would misuse the revelations from obtaining them, he also may have made the statement because the church did not have the financial means at this time to publish many of the revelations. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833.)
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26
TEXT: “We” is underlined three times.
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27
All members of the United Firm were to be equal, and all purchases and products of the firm were to be used for the benefit of the church. As part of the United Firm, the Literary Firm was organized by JS to finance the church’s publication endeavors. JS also included Phelps as a member of that firm. After the destruction of the printing office in Independence, the church shifted its printing operations to Ohio under the management of F. G. Williams & Co., which was established by the United Firm. Less than two weeks later, on 10 April 1834, leaders in Kirtland decided that the United Firm “should be desolvd and each one have their stewardship set off to them.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 21 Apr. 1833; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833; Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70]; Minutes, 11 Sept. 1833; JS, Journal, 10 Apr. 1834; see also Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 98, 1835 ed. [D&C 104].)
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28
A quad is a block of type without a raised letter. Quads were used to add spaces between words or sentences.
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29
In a 22 January 1834 letter to the church in Clay County, Missouri, Orson Hyde, on behalf of the presidency of the high priesthood, asked Thomas B. Marsh for the “entire secret of mixing or compounding lead and Antimo[n]y so as to make type mettle.” (See Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834.)
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30
On 14 November 1833, Phelps wrote to church leaders in Kirtland of the need for clothing for dispossessed church members who had fled to Liberty, Missouri. (See Letter from William W. Phelps, 14 Nov. 1833.)
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31
Martin Harris provided financial assistance for the church’s printing endeavors in 1834. (See F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 7.)
F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.
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32
On 6 December 1833 Phelps and other church leaders in Missouri sent a letter to Governor Daniel Dunklin. Cowdery published a letter from Dunklin dated 19 October 1833 in the December 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star. (William W. Phelps et al., Clay Co., MO, to Daniel Dunklin, 6 Dec. 1833, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL; “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 115.)
Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
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33
Probably Solomon Wilbur Denton. (See F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 4.)
F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.