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“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” December 1839–October 1840

Installment 1, December 1839 Page 17 Installment 2, January 1840 Page 33 Installment 3, February 1840 Page 49 Installment 4, March 1840 Page 65 Installment 5, April 1840 Page 81 Installment 6, May 1840 Page 97 Installment 7, June 1840 Page 113 Installment 8, July 1840 Page 129 Installment 9, August 1840 Page 145 Installment 10, September 1840 Page 161 Installment 11, October 1840 Page 177

Source Note

“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in ,” in Times and Seasons (Commerce/Nauvoo, IL), vol. 1, nos. 2–12: Dec. 1839, pp. 17–20; Jan. 1840, pp. 33–36; Feb. 1840, pp. 49–51; Mar. 1840, pp. 65–66; Apr. 1840, pp. 81–82; May 1840, pp. 97–99; June 1840, pp. 113–116; July 1840, pp. 129–131; Aug. 1840, pp. 145–150; Sept. 1840, pp. 161–165; Oct. 1840, pp. 177, 184–185; edited by and . The copy used for transcription is currently part of a bound volume held at CHL; includes light marginalia and archival marking.
Each segment in the eleven-part series begins on the first page of its respective number of the Times and Seasons. Each issue comprises eight leaves (sixteen pages) that measure 8⅝ x 5¼ inches (22 x 13 cm). The text on each page is set in two columns. At some point, the editors of the Times and Seasons reset and reprinted the December 1839 and January 1840 issues of the Times and Seasons; based on textual analysis, the version used for transcription appears to be the earlier typesetting of both. It is unknown how long this volume has been in church custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:94–95.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

Historical Introduction

While incarcerated at , Missouri, in March 1839, JS addressed a letter to the Saints, and to “ in particular,” in which he called for the Saints to gather up “a knoledge of all the facts and sufferings and abuses put upon them” in that they might publish the records “to all the world” and “present them to the heads of the government.” Apparently in response to this assignment, Edward Partridge wrote a history that became the first three installments of “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” an eleven-part series published in the church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, between December 1839 and October 1840. This series gave the first extended account of the Missouri period to be printed in the Latter-day Saint press. The editors of the Times and Seasons, and , announced in its first issue that the newspaper would “commence publishing the history of the disturbances in Missouri, in regular series,” and the first installment appeared in the second issue.
“A History, of the Persecution” begins with ’s account of the conflicts in the early 1830s. Partridge was a bishop of the church in Missouri, first in , then in following the Latter-day Saints’ expulsion from Jackson, and finally in after the Saints relocated from Clay. By the time he wrote this account of the Mormons’ experiences in Missouri, the Saints had been exiled from the state and had relocated to . Partridge lived first at Pittsfield, then at . In July 1839 he settled in the area, where he served again as a bishop in the new Mormon community being established there. Partridge’s narrative is based on firsthand observations and may also have relied on other records he kept. The manuscript version of the history begins, “In presenting to our readers a history of the persecutions,” indicating that Partridge wrote it for publication purposes. He may have intended to tell the entire Missouri story himself, but he fell ill shortly after publication of the “History of the Persecution” began, and he died 27 May 1840.
The fourth installment of “History, of the Persecution” provides a brief transition from ’s account, which ends in 1836 as the Saints were settling in what became , to the conflicts in Caldwell and adjoining counties beginning in 1838. Though the source or author of this portion is not known, it may have been written by editors and . Perhaps prompted by Partridge’s illness, the editors sought elsewhere for source materials to continue the series. In April 1840, the fifth installment reprinted passages from ’s History of the Late Persecution Inflicted by the State of Missouri upon the Mormons (Detroit: Dawson and Bates, 1839), and the sixth in May excerpted ’s An Appeal to the American People: Being an Account of the Persecutions of the Church of Latter Day Saints; and of the Barbarities Inflicted on Them by the Inhabitants of the State of Missouri (Cincinnati: Glezan and Shepard, 1840). In June the editors again excerpted Pratt’s History of the Late Persecution, and in the three articles published from July to September they reprinted more of Rigdon’s work. The series concluded in the October 1840 issue with a reprint of the speech that , a major general of the Missouri state militia, made to the Latter-day Saints at , Caldwell County, on 5 November 1838.
The “History, of the Persecution” is representative of the many histories and individual petitions written at the time to document the Saints’ experiences in . Its excerpts from ’s History of the Late Persecution and ’s Appeal to the American People provide a useful sampling of two published histories of the period and demonstrate that documenting these events was a widespread effort. Publication in the church’s periodical lent credibility to the series and ensured that it was the source from which many new Mormon converts learned the details of the church’s history in Missouri. What they read was not the work of neutral historians detached from the events described. When , Pratt, and Rigdon wrote their histories, the persecutions and injustices against them were still fresh in their memories. All three authors suffered personally during the Missouri hardships, and as they and other Saints undertook to write about their experiences, their primary focus was to fulfill JS’s directive—to obtain redress by making known the “nefarious and murderous impositions that have been practiced upon this people.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:1, 6]. An edited and slightly shortened version of the letter was published in two parts in the Times and Seasons, May and July 1840. The instruction to record the Saints’ Missouri history was part of the July installment. (“Copy of a Letter, Written by J. Smith Jr. and Others, While in Prison,” Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:99–104; “An Extract of a Letter Written to Bishop Partridge, and the Saints in General,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:131–134.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  2. [2]

    “A Word to the Saints,” Times and Seasons, July 1839, 1:12. After the first copies of the first number were printed in July, publication of the Times and Seasons halted for several months because both editors fell ill amidst a malaria outbreak in the Commerce, Illinois, area. The first number was reissued under the date November 1839.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    Edward Partridge, Miscellaneous papers, CHL. This collection of Partridge papers includes other autobiographical writings about Missouri events.

    Partridge, Edward. Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1839–May 1840. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Partridge, History, manuscript, Edward Partridge, Miscellaneous Papers, CHL. Significant differences between the first three installments of “History, of the Persecution” and the Partridge manuscript are described in footnotes herein.

    Partridge, Edward. Miscellaneous Papers, ca. 1839–May 1840. CHL.

  5. [5]

    No manuscript is known to exist for Pratt’s published pamphlet. Rigdon is not named as the author on the title page of Appeal to the American People, but he is credited as such in the “History, of the Persecution” series and in advertisements for the pamphlet in the Times and Seasons. A manuscript version of Rigdon’s Appeal to the American People, titled “To the Publick” and inscribed by George W. Robinson, is found in the JS Collection at the Church History Library. Many textual differences exist between the manuscript and Appeal to the American People, and the editors of the Times and Seasons clearly used the published pamphlet, not the manuscript, as their source. (“History, of the Persecution,” May 1840, 1:99; Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:272.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [6]

    Earlier published accounts of the Jackson County conflicts from Latter-day Saints include the broadside “The Mormons,” So Called, dated 12 December 1833, and its reprint in The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]–[2]; a series titled “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” published in The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833–Mar. 1834 and May–June 1834; John P. Greene’s pamphlet Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order” (Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839); and John Taylor’s eight-page work, A Short Account of the Murders, Roberies, Burnings, Thefts, and Other Outrages Committed by the Mob and Militia of the State of Missouri, Upon the Latter Day Saints (Springfield, IL: By the author, 1839).

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  7. [7]

    JS et al., Liberty, MO, to the church members and Edward Partridge, Quincy, IL, 20 Mar. 1839, in Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 123:5].

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

Page 34

where his brethren had fled to. They also threatened women and children.— In this manner they spent their time for about an hour, when about sundown a company, of thirty brethren, marched up, and as soon as they came near enough, the mob fired upon them, and they immediately fired back; after a round or two, the mob retreated and left the ground; they were followed a short distance, but not far.
Two of the mob, and a number of horses were killed, and some five or six wounded. The mob were so frightened, that they left their dead on the ground over night. The saints had four or five wounded, one by the name of [Andrew] Barber mortally, who died the next day. was wounded, in the bowels by the first gun fired.
The same day at , , , and were taken for assault and battery, and false imprisonment by , whom they had taken the Friday night previous. And although they could not get a warrant for him, for breaking the , yet he had obtained one for them, for catching him at it.
They were prisoners in the , on trial, when news of the battle reached town. It was stated, that the Mormons had killed twenty of the mob, and had gone to s and shot his son. In a moment as it were, all was confusion in the house. The majority were for massacreing the prisoners forthwith; but a few, more human[e] than the rest, were not willing to see prisoners murdered, while in open court, they advised them to go to jail to save their lives; this they did, and were hurried, but with difficulty protected by those few friends, to the jail; where they felt happy to be locked in. They were visited by some influencial men, who told them that the mob had now become desperate, and that the whole had become enraged, and nothing would stop them from massacreing the whole society, but to leave the forthwith. About midnight the sheriff, with two other men, went with , and to visit their brethren who were collected near town. A short consultation was held with some of them, when it was agreed that they would leave the immediately, and use their influence with their brethren, to have them go also. These were times which tried men’s souls; to stay where they were was death, and to undertake to remove so large a body at once, there being about ten or twelve hundred of them, looked like destruction of much property, if not of lives. It seemed, however to be the only alternative; and property at that time was no object. If they could but obtain sufficient to live upon, they chose rather to wander off into some lonely wilderness, or even descent [desert] where they could enjoy peace, than to stay where they were, even if they could, and be continually harrassed as they had been for a few months past. But to return to the thread of our story, the party in returning back to jail, were met at the jail, by a company of mobbers who were disposed to kill the prisoners in spite of the sheriff and his assistants; and seeing their danger, broke and run, but were fired at; had two guns snapped at him, one of which flashed in the pan; he was then knocked down, but not injured so but that with the help of the sheriff and his assistants he soon got into the jail, where he felt himself measurably safe. Early next morning the prisoners were discharged. It was afterwards acknowledged by the enemy that they had intended to have taken the leading men for some pretended crime, a few at a time until they got them all, and shut them up in prison; and then to have fallen upon the rest and drove them out of the and then sent the leaders after them.
The saints were such abominable characters, doing so many wicked things which the law could not reach, that they had become very obnoxious, to the good people of , who were so pious, so moral and so loyal to the constitution and laws of our , that they would not live with them, but must thrust them out: Whereas, if any, even the the most abandoned amongst the saints would leave the church, deny the faith take a good dram of whiskey, swear and blaspheme the name of God roundly, they could be permitted to stay, they were hail fellows well met. They made the offer themselves, that if any would deny the faith and leave the [p. 34]
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Editorial Title
“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” December 1839–October 1840
ID #
6553
Total Pages
39
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Footnotes

  1. [46]

    The two Missourians killed were Thomas Linville and Hugh Breazeale. (JS History, vol. A-1, 369–370; “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 118.)

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  2. [47]

    Dibble later reported that doctors who examined him “pronounced [him] mortally wou[n]ded.” (Philo Dibble, Affidavit, Adams Co., IL, 13 May 1839, Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845, CHL.)

    Mormon Redress Petitions, 1839–1845. CHL. MS 2703.

  3. [48]

    The store owned by Sidney Gilbert and Newel K. Whitney. (See “History, of the Persecution,” Dec. 1839, 1:20.)

  4. [49]

    Correction based on Partridge manuscript.

  5. [50]

    The phrase “were not willing to see prisoners murdered, while in open court” does not appear in the Partridge manuscript.

  6. [51]

    This advice apparently came from Samuel C. Owens, clerk of the Jackson County circuit court. (History of Jackson County, Missouri, 256.)

    The History of Jackson County, Missouri: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc. Kansas City, MO: Union Historical, 1881.

  7. [52]

    Jacob Gregg. (History of Jackson County, Missouri, 316.)

    The History of Jackson County, Missouri: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc. Kansas City, MO: Union Historical, 1881.

  8. [53]

    “And use their influence with their brethren, to have them go also” does not appear in the Partridge manuscript.

  9. [54]

    Correction based on Partridge manuscript.

  10. [55]

    The Partridge manuscript does not mention “help of the sheriff and his assistants.” From this point, the remainder of this paragraph and the following paragraph do not appear in the manuscript.

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