The Papers
DocumentsInterim Content

Letter from Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith, 14 January 1833

except she repent and serve God and obey the new covenant

Generally referred to the “fullness of [the] gospel”—the sum total of the church’s message, geared toward establishing God’s covenant people on the earth; also used to describe individual elements of the gospel, including marriage. According to JS, the everlasting...

View Glossary

with this explanation the 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...

View Glossary

sanctions Bro Joseph letter— Brethren the conference meets again this evening to hear this Letter read and if it meets their minds we have all agreed to kneel down before the Lord and cry unto him with all our hearts that this epistle & Bro Js. and the revelations also may have there desired effect and accomplish the things whereunto they are sent and that they may stimulate you to cleans Zion that she mourn not, Therefore when you get this know ye that a conference of 12 High Priests

An ecclesiastical office. The Book of Mormon used the term high priest to denote one appointed to lead the church. However, the Book of Mormon also discussed an order of high priests who were called to teach the commandments of God and serve as leaders in...

View Glossary

have cried unto the Lord for you and are still crying saying spare thy peopl[e] O! Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach, We now feel that our garments are clean from you, and all men, when we have washed our hand & our feet & hands according to the commandment

Generally, a divine mandate that church members were expected to obey; more specifically, a text dictated by JS in the first-person voice of deity that served to communicate knowledge and instruction to JS and his followers. Occasionally, other inspired texts...

View Glossary

We have written plain at this time but we believe not harsh, Plainly Plainness is what the Lord requires and we should not feel ourselves clean unless we had done so, and if the things we have told you be not attended to you will not long have occasion to say or to think rather that we may be rong in what we have stated Your unworthy brethren are determined to pray unto the Lord for Zion as so long as we can shed a tear the sympathising tear, or feel any spirit of to supplicate a throne of Grace in her behalf, The Sch ool of the Prophets

A term occasionally used to refer to a Protestant seminary; specifically used by JS to refer to a school to prepare elders of the church for their ministry. A December 1832 revelation directed JS and the elders of the church in Kirtland, Ohio, to establish...

View Glossary

will commence if the Lord will in 2 or 3 days, a general time of health with us the cause of God seems to be rapidly advancing in the eastern country countries, the gifts begining to break forth so as to astonish the world, and even believers marvel at the power and goodness of God, Thanks be rendered to his holy name for what he is doing, We are your unworthy brethren in the Lord & may the Lord help us all to do his will that we may at last be saved in his kingdom——

Orson Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio

Hyram Smith

9 Feb. 1800–27 June 1844. Farmer, cooper. Born at Tunbridge, Orange Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Randolph, Orange Co., 1802; to Tunbridge, before May 1803; to Royalton, Windsor Co., Vermont, 1804; to Sharon, Windsor Co., by...

View Full Bio

[p. 24]

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...

View Full Bio

called for a January 1833 conference of 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 ...

More Info

high priests as part of an effort to resolve the disruptive quarrels and petty wrangling that had marred the relationship between church leaders in 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...

More Info

and Ohio for eighteen months. A revelation dictated in late September 1832 containing a brief, pointed chastisement of the Missouri members, and recent contentious letters from William W. Phelps

17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...

View Full Bio

and 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; ...

View Full Bio

in Missouri had brought the matter to a head.

The conference sanctioned JS’s letter of 11 January 1833 to William W. Phelps

View Full Bio

while commissioning Orson Hyde

View Full Bio

and Hyrum Smith

View Full Bio

to draft an epistle—this letter—in answer to the letters received from Phelps and Gilbert

View Full Bio

. This collective response helped put to rest the Missouri

More Info

leaders’ charge that JS sought for monarchal power.

Hyde

View Full Bio

and Hyrum Smith

View Full Bio

wrote this letter from Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

More Info

, Ohio, to the Missouri

More Info

bishop

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...

View Full Bio

, his council, and the inhabitants of Zion, Jackson County

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

More Info

, Missouri. Frederick G. Williams

28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...

View Full Bio

transcribed this letter into Letter Book 1.

Facts

Editorial Title: Letter from Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith, 14 January 1833
ID #: 6832