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Charges against Missouri Conference preferred to JS, circa March 1832

We the undersigned having received and examined the minutes of the last general conference

A meeting where ecclesiastical officers and other church members could conduct church business. The “Articles and Covenants” of the church directed the elders to hold conferences to perform “Church business.” The first of these conferences was held on 9 June...

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held in the land of Zion on the January 28–9–30th—1832 and from mature reflection and examination, and by comparing them with the revelations which we have received from our heavenly <father> to regu late his church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

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in these last days, do find that they are illegal, and the proceedings of said confrence not according to the laws and regulations

Principles given to the church and its members in February 1831 revelations. In January 1831, a revelation promised the saints in New York that the law would be given after they gathered in Ohio. Once in Ohio, on 9 and 23 February 1831, JS dictated two revelations...

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which we have received by revelation from our common redeemer and as such we do not consider them as binding on his church, neither do we feel ourselves authorized to acknowledge them as being <of> God nor yet according [ to] the mind of the holy spirit. We therefore prefer the following charges against that conference to the president

Organized body of leaders over priesthood quorums and various groups of Latter-day Saints. A November 1831 revelation underscored the importance of a president over the high priesthood and the church as a whole. By 1832, JS and two counselors constituted ...

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of the high Priesthood

The authority and power held by certain officers in the church. The Book of Mormon referred to the high priesthood as God’s “holy order, which was after the order of his Son,” and indicated that Melchizedek, a biblical figure, was a high priest “after this...

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our beloved brother Joseph who has been ordained

The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...

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unto this office

25 Jan. 1832

JS appointed president of the high priesthood, Amherst Township, Ohio.

by a conference held in Amherst

Located in northeastern Ohio on southern shore of Lake Erie. Area settled, ca. 1810. County organized, 1824. Formed from Black River Township, Dec. 1829. Population in 1830 about 600. Population in 1840 about 1,200. Parley P. Pratt settled in township, Dec...

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Lorain county ohio on the 25 of January 1832

First we charge this conference with insulting the Bishop in Zion our beloved brother Edward

27 Aug. 1793–27 May 1840. Hatter. Born at Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of William Partridge and Jemima Bidwell. Moved to Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio. Married Lydia Clisbee, 22 Aug. 1819, at Painesville. Initially a Universal Restorationist...

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, by saying [illegible] in their minutes “appointed brother Edward Partridge

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moderator” when he has been previously appointed moderator of the conferences in Zion by commandment, and also modrator by virtue of his office as Bishop of the church in so doing assuming an authority as a conference to which they had no right for when God appoints authorities in his church let no conference take it upon them to reappoint these authorities for in so doing the[y] claim a right which is not granted to them

First we charge deem if [it] of primary importance that every order & regulation in the church of Christ, established in wisdom, for its government should be preserved inviolate, & as the proceeding[s] of this conference reported in its minutes relative to the appointment of a moderator are illegal at as that office, by revelation was confered upon an individual, namely our beloved Brother Edward [Partridge]

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, Bishop

An ecclesiastical and priesthood office. JS appointed Edward Partridge as the first bishop in February 1831. Following this appointment, he functioned as the local leader of the church in Missouri. Later revelations described a bishop’s duties as receiving...

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of the Church. We therefore charge the conference <in this act of appointment> with assuming a power with which it has not been invested.

Secondly), In said minutes we find find the name <of> Oliver Cowd[e]ry

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

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associated with breatheren [Sidney] Gilbert

28 Dec. 1789–29 June 1834. Merchant. Born at New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Eli Gilbert and Lydia Hemingway. Moved to Huntington, Fairfield Co., Connecticut; to Monroe, Monroe Co., Michigan, by Sept. 1818; to Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio; ...

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and Partridge

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in writing a letter to the agent in in ohio

French explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...

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on business [p. [1]]

Church conferences were held in Kaw Township

Settlement by whites commenced after treaty with Osage Indians, 1825. One of three original townships organized in Jackson Co., 22 May 1827. Bordered by Missouri River on north side and Big Blue River on east and south sides; western boundary was state line...

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, Jackson County, Missouri, on 23–24 and 27 January 1832. Oliver Cowdery

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, serving as conference clerk, on 28 January 1832 sent a summary of the proceedings to JS in Ohio

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. Soon after JS received that document, Sidney Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

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and other Ohio leaders submitted a written objection to the report. They indicated that the minutes showed that the conference proceedings were “illegal” because the correct procedures had not been followed and Bishop Edward Partridge

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’s prerogatives had been usurped. See Revelation, 20 July 1831 and Revelation, 1 August 1831 for Partridge’s role and authority. Records do not show how the Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...

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leaders answered these charges.

Sidney Rigdon

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prepared this document on behalf of several church leaders, probably between 29 February and 1 April 1832.

Facts

Editorial Title: Charges against Missouri Conference preferred to JS, circa March 1832
ID #: 6771