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Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 September 1837

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to and the church in , [, Caldwell Co., MO], 4 Sept. 1837. Featured version copied [between 13 and 29 Mar. 1838] in JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 18–23; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.

Historical Introduction

On 3 September 1837, after months of determined and outspoken opposition against him, JS convened a of the in , Ohio, at which he was sustained as of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Many other church leaders were also supported by the congregation, including , who was unanimously sustained as one of four assistant counselors to JS despite having “been in transgression.” Other church leaders were rejected, including three dissenting and others deemed to be guilty of misbehavior.
The day after the conference, JS sent to and the Saints in the letter featured here, which included a copy of the conference minutes. In directing his letter to Corrill, who had been a member of the Missouri and was the church’s in the West, and to Missouri church members generally, JS bypassed the Missouri , some of whom were in at the time. In sending an open letter to church members in Missouri, JS may have been seeking to encourage them to push for regulation of the church there, much like the reorganization he had overseen in Kirtland the previous day. Following the minutes, JS added a note regarding the wrongdoings of various individuals, including and Missouri president . Though Cowdery had retained his church position, JS advised the church members in Missouri that unless he changed his attitude and more diligently fulfilled his obligations in the presidency, he should be removed from office. JS also warned about Whitmer, , and others who he said “have been in transgression.” JS may have wanted the Missouri church members to have this information prior to the arrival of Whitmer and Cowdery, who soon left Kirtland for .
JS sent the letter to with , who departed for in company with shortly after 4 September 1837. The two men arrived at their destination in October. JS himself arrived in Missouri by early November and presided over meetings to further reorganize church leadership, settle differences within the church, and organize new of in Missouri. At a 7 November 1837 conference held in for the purpose of sustaining church leaders, served as clerk but was not sustained to his former office as JS’s counselor, perhaps because of the unnamed offenses alluded to in this letter.
copied the letter into JS’s journal sometime in mid-March 1838, at the time he copied in a series of document transcripts and summaries pertaining to JS’s efforts to set church leadership in order and replace dissenting leaders.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837. For more information on the opposition to JS, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 23 May 1837; Historical Introduction to Letter from Abel Lamb and Others, ca. 28 May 1837; Historical Introduction to Charges against JS Preferred to Bishop’s Council, 29 May 1837; Revelation, 23 July 1837 [D&C 112]; and Esplin, “Emergence of Brigham Young,” 295–299.

    Esplin, Ronald K. “The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1981. Also available as The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2006).

  2. [2]

    JS was likely not aware that on 1 August 1837, Missouri church leaders voted to replace Corrill in the Missouri bishopric. (Minute Book 2, 1 Aug. 1837.)

  3. [3]

    See Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.

  4. [4]

    See Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; and Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, ca. 10 Sept. 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL.

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, 18; Thomas B. Marsh to Wilford Woodruff, in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 36–37; “T B Marsh,” [2], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

  6. [6]

    See Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–B; Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837; and Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837.

  7. [7]

    Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837. It is possible that these unnamed transgressions were discussed at a 6 November 1837 meeting in Far West, Missouri. (See Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837.)

  8. [8]

    See JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, 18–23.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 September 1837
Journal, March–September 1838 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 18

Sept 4th A.D. 1837
Geauga Co. Ohio
Joseph Smith Jr. of the in all the world
To & the whole Church in [p. 18]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 18

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 September 1837
ID #
358
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:426–431
Handwriting on This Page
  • George W. Robinson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The title of president of the church “in all the world” emphasized JS’s authority over the church in Missouri and its presidency. George W. Robinson copied this letter into JS’s journal in mid-March 1838, after a 7 November 1837 conference held in Far West, Missouri, upheld JS as “the first President of the whole Church, to preside over the Same,” in essence repeating the action that Kirtland church members took in unanimously sustaining JS as the “presiding officer of the church” at the 3 September 1837 conference. (JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, 18–23; Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837; Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.)

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