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Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 10 August 1833

Source Note

, Letter with postscript by JS, , Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to , , , , , and , , Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833; recipient’s copy, [ca. Sept. 1833]; handwriting of ; two pages; CHL. Includes docket.
Two leaves measuring 7⅞ × 6¼ inches (20 × 16 cm). used the second leaf as a wrapper and inscribed a docket on the wrapper: “Copy of a letter from & J. Smith Jr.” The document was folded multiple times. Edward Partridge Lyman, a great-grandson of , donated this document to the Church Historian’s Office in 1972.

Historical Introduction

The day before he wrote this letter, had arrived in , Ohio, with firsthand news of hostility against church members in and of an agreement to leave that church leaders there had signed under duress. Cowdery and apparently went into hiding during the hostility. McLellin later remembered that, when a mob could not find them, a bounty of eighty dollars was offered for their retrieval. Cowdery left , Missouri, likely between 23 and 25 July 1833, to report the events to JS and other church leaders in Kirtland. As stated in this letter, Cowdery was delayed for three days during his journey from Independence to Kirtland, where he arrived on 9 August 1833, completing his hurried trip in approximately two weeks.
In this letter, recommended that members in “look out another place to locate on,” and he praised his associates for “the agreement to remove” the church out of the county. Conversely, Cowdery also chastised some members of the church in . “This great tribulation,” he wrote, “would not have come upon had it not been for rebelion.” Here, Cowdery likely referred to the far-reaching “rebellion” of Missouri church leaders against JS and the leadership in 1832 and early 1833.
’s letter demonstrates particular concern for the loss of the that had operated. He directed Phelps to send him an account of the circumstances that prevented publication of The Evening and the Morning Star and a list of the newspaper’s subscribers so that Cowdery could print an extra edition of the Star in and mail it to regular readers. referred to these requests in a letter he wrote to church leaders two months later: “Oliver has writen to you for the names and residence of the subscriber[s] for the Star and if you have not sent them we wish you to send them immediately that there may be no delay in the papers going to subscribers as soon as they can be printed.” Because of continued turmoil in , Phelps was unable to send a list of the subscribers until 3 December 1833. The list did, however, arrive in time for the mailing of the first issue of the renewed periodical published in Kirtland in December. In February 1834, Cowdery finally published an extra that contained “a circular recently received from our friends in the West, which corroborates many items heretofore laid before the public,” and also an account of the “wicked and wanton manner, in which the printing office of the type, and books then publishing, the dwelling-house of said Phelps, and some furniture, were destroyed.”
rushed to complete this letter in order to post it on 10 August. In a postscript, JS added his own words of counsel, expressed sorrow and concern, and advised the recipients to be willing to “forsake all for Christ[’s] sake.” After this letter arrived in , made a copy of it, including the postscript from JS. It is unknown when Partridge made his copy, though it was probably made soon after the original letter, which has not been located, was received in September 1833.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 60–62; Schaefer, William E. McLellin’s Lost Manuscript, 166.

    Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.

    Schaefer, Mitchell K., ed. William E. McLellin’s Lost Manuscript. Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2012.

  2. [2]

    For more information on Cowdery’s departure from Missouri, see the Historical Introduction to Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.

  3. [3]

    Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear Brethren,” 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 58.

  4. [4]

    Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to John Whitmer, Missouri, 1 Jan. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 14–17.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

  5. [5]

    A notice printed in The Evening and the Morning Star indicated that Cowdery had received W. W. Phelps & Co.’s mail book with the list of newspaper subscribers. Cowdery forwarded the December issue of the paper to those whose names were current in that book. (Notice, The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 128.)

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

  6. [6]

    “From Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]; Parley P. Pratt et al., “‘The Mormons’ So Called,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1].

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

Page [2]

will be saved, & will be the joy of all saints & they will possess her forever & ever; & though the atmosphere looks dark yet the Son of righteousness will soon appear with healing in his wings, & he will spare his people as a man spareth his own Son who serveth him. Our brethren here have sent you three revelations concerning two of them dated the second of Aug. & the other the sixth. Read them carefully & keep them from false brethren & tatlers, & all things concerning Zion will come to pass in the due time of the Lord.— They also sent you a draft for the , & a plan of the city. I mention this that you may know that such things have been sent should any accident happen that you do not obtain them,
I want to write a circular for an “Extra Star” & send the manuscript immediately to me that I may go to some one of the printing offices here & publish it. Set forth the circumstances why the star is stopped &c. & I will assist all I can when your manuscript arrives, write close on a large sheet, you will have to write me the names of our former subscribers, their places of residence &c. so that I can mail them each an “extra” This you can do in a fine plain hand. Although it will be troublesome yet it looks to be necessary. I expect you have written me as many as two letters ere this. & when I receive the first I shall write again, Don’t fail to write once a week for you know my anxiety, tell me who apostatizes when you write, The br[ethre]n here are lifting up their voices in your behalf continually. Don’t be discouraged but be patient.— you may be under the necessity to sell some of our lands, but be wise, hold on to the sacred places.
I am in great haste to get this into the mail to day therefore must be short: I shall write again as I said, I am truly your br. in the
PS Brethren if I were with you I should take an active part in your sufferings & although nature shrinks yet my spirit would not let me forsake you unto death God helping me Oh be of good cheer for our redemption draweth near Oh God save my Brethren in Zion Oh brethren give up all to God forsake all for Christ sake
J— S— [p. [2]]
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Source Note

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Page [2]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 10 August 1833
ID #
177
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:238–243
Handwriting on This Page
  • Edward Partridge

Footnotes

  1. [17]

    See Malachi 4:2; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 505 [3 Nephi 25:2].

  2. [18]

    See Malachi 3:17; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 504 [3 Nephi 24:17].

  3. [19]

    The three revelations—Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A [D&C 97]; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B [D&C 94]; and Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98]—were the primary contents of a letter sent to Missouri just three days prior to Cowdery’s arrival. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833.)

  4. [20]

    Two of the three revelations—Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A [D&C 97]; and Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98]—had content that would have been inflammatory to already alienated Missourians. The first revelation urged the construction of a House of the Lord in Jackson County and portrayed a potentially glorious future for Zion and destruction for the ungodly. The 6 August revelation directed the church members to sue for peace at the hands of their enemies but also authorized them to take up arms in self-defense should repeated attempts at peaceful negotiations fail. (Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A [D&C 97]; Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98].)

  5. [21]

    JS and other church leaders sent the plan of the House of the Lord and the explanation of the city of Zion plat to members of the church in Missouri on 26 June 1833. The documents arrived in Independence on 29 July 1833. (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; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833; Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.)

  6. [22]

    TEXT: Two vertical lines, possibly meant to be a pilcrow, indicate a paragraph break here, though this and the previous line are run together in the original letter..)

  7. [23]

    Cowdery had earlier expressed eagerness to receive regular correspondence from his associates when he was part of a party proselytizing to Indians in Missouri in early 1831. (Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 Apr. 1831; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 7 May 1831.)

  8. [24]

    In a letter then en route, John Whitmer reported that “there are but very few that have denied the faith in consequence of this transaction.” (Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.)

  9. [25]

    A week later, JS revised this instruction to forbid the sale of Jackson County land to anyone outside the church: “it is the will of the Lord that . . . not one foot of land perchased should be given to the enimies of God or sold to them but if any is sold let it be sold to the chirch.” The following summer in an appeal to “the people and constituted authorities of this nation,” church leaders declared that to sell their land in Jackson County “would amount to a denial of our faith, as that land is the place where the Zion of God shall stand, according to our faith and belief in the revelations of God.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833; “An Appeal,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1834, 183.)

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

  10. [26]

    TEXT: Two vertical lines, possibly meant to be a pilcrow, indicate a paragraph break here, though this and the previous line are run together in the actual letter.

  11. [27]

    See John 16:33.

  12. [28]

    See Luke 21:28; and Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830 [D&C 35:26].

  13. [29]

    For examples of similar sentiments, see Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.

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