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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 164

This, could have proven if he could have introduced his witnesses. For this, he was bound over to appear at the county Court, in the sum of one thousand dollars. Another, by the name of [Andrew] Job, whose mother had gone to the house of , and swore a feather bed which was in his house was her’s: After she got away, she said she never had a bed since she lived in ; but she wanted one of “old ’s” beds. Her son came to the court, to swear against for stealing; and accordingly swore that his mother’s bed was found in his house. The question was asked, how he knew it was his mother’s bed? He said he had slept upon it and he felt the stripes with his feet. His mother’s bed, had a striped tick, and the stripes went two ways, and he felt them with his feet, while lying in the bed. He was then asked if there was not a sheet on the bed under him? He said there was, but still he felt the stripes in the tick, through the sheet, so distinctly that he knew that they went two ways, and that it was his mother’s bed, and that was the way they found out, his mother’s bed was there. proved, in the mean time, that, that same bed had been in his house for many years. We give these as specimens of men’s swearing. We might multiply them to a great number, but it would swell this narrative beyond the limits allowed it. Let so much suffice.
The court at last closed, on the 29th of November, after a session of two weeks, and three days, and during most of the time we were closely confined in chains. At the close of the court, and some few days before it closed, there were a considerable number of those who had been arrested by released. Out of that number was , Esq. who was one of the seven, who had been carried to , and from thence to . They were either all released, or admitted to bail, except , , , , Joseph Smith, Jr. and ; who were sent to , Clay co. to jail, to stand their trial for treason and murder. The treason, for having whipped the mob out of and taking their cannon from them; and the murder, for the man killed in the battle. Also , Morris Phelps, , , and Norman Shearer; who were put into jail, to stand their trial, for the same crimes. At this time the Legislature had commenced its session, and a Memorial was presented to the senate and house of Representatives, to obtain a committee to investigate the whole affair pertaining to the ’s order, the operations of the mob, and the conduct and operations of the Militia, while at .
After much legislation, disputation, and controversy, and angry speechifying; as the papers of , published at the time, abundantly testify, the petition and memorial, were laid on the table, until the July following; thus utterly refusing to grant the memorialists, their request; thereby refusing to investigate the subject; and thus it stands until this day, uninvestigated by any legal authority.
After we were cast into prison, we heard nothing but threatenings, that if any Judge or Jury, or court of any kind, should clear any of us, that we should never get out of the alive. This soon determined our course; and that was, to escape out of their hands as soon as we could; and by any means we could. After we had been some length of time in prison, we demanded a writ of of , one of the Judges; which with some considerable reluctance, was granted. Great threatenings were made at this time by the mob, that if any of us were liberated we should never get out of the alive. After the investigation one of our number was released from prison by the decision of the Judge; the remainder were committed to jail. He also returned with them until a favorable opportunity offered which through the friendship of the Sheriff, Mr. Samuel Hadley, and the Jailor, Mr. Samuel Tillery, he was let out of the jail secretly, in the night, and being solemnly warned by them to be out of the with as little delay as possible, he made his escape.— Being pursued by a body of armed men, it was through the direction of a kind providence that he escaped out of their hands and safely arrived in [p. 164]
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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. [250]

    Andrew Job testified he found his stepmother’s feather bed and a set of her knives and forks at the home of Wight. Job said he slept on the feather bed at another house in Adam-ondi-Ahman while he was a prisoner of the Mormons. (Andrew Job, Testimony, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

    Missouri, State of. “Evidence.” Hearing Record, Richmond, MO, 12–29 Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Joseph Smith et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838). Eugene Morrow Violette Collection, 1806–1921, Western Historical Manuscript Collection. University of Missouri and State Historical Society of Missouri, Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia.

  2. [251]

    Admitted to bail were Thomas Beck, Samuel Bent, Jonathan Dunham, Daniel Garn, Jacob Gates, George Grant, Clark Hallett, James M. Henderson, Francis Higbee, John S. Higbee, Jesse D. Hunter, George Kimble, Joel S. Miles, Ebenezer Page, Edward Partridge, David Pettegrew, James H. Rollins, Alanson Ripley, Ebenezer Robinson, George W. Robinson, Sidney Turner, Washington Voorhees, and Joseph W. Younger. The men were charged with arson, burglary, robbery, and larceny in Daviess County and were to be tried in that county 28 March 1839. (Document Containing the Correspondence, 150; Madsen, “Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry,” 126–127.)

    Document Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &c., in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons; and the Evidence Given before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-House in Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12, 1838, on the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others, for High Treason and Other Crimes against the State. Fayette, MO: Boon’s Lick Democrat, 1841.

    Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith and the Missouri Court of Inquiry: Austin A. King’s Quest for Hostages.” BYU Studies 43, no. 4 (2004): 93–136.

  3. [252]

    According to the court records, JS, Hyrum Smith, Wight, McRae, and Baldwin were ordered to be tried in Daviess County 7 March 1839 for treason in Daviess County and Rigdon was to be tried in Caldwell County 1 April 1839 for treason in Caldwell County. None of these defendants was to be tried for murder. No record exists of the specific charges on which Judge Austin A. King’s “probable cause” ruling was based. The Latter-day Saint offensive in Daviess County in October 1838 was a major focus of the testimony given at the court of inquiry, and one or more aspects of that campaign must have been the basis for the charge of treason, for which bail could not be posted. There is even less evidence in the record to suggest the specific basis for the charge that Rigdon committed treason in Caldwell County. He did not participate in the raids in Daviess County. (Austin A. King, Ruling, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

    Missouri, State of. “Evidence.” Hearing Record, Richmond, MO, 12–29 Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Joseph Smith et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838). Eugene Morrow Violette Collection, 1806–1921, Western Historical Manuscript Collection. University of Missouri and State Historical Society of Missouri, Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia.

  4. [253]

    These five were to be tried in Ray County 11 March 1839 for the murder of Moses Rowland in that county. Rowland was killed in the battle at Crooked River. (Austin A. King, Ruling, Richmond, MO, Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. JS et al. for Treason and Other Crimes [Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838], in State of Missouri, “Evidence.”)

    Missouri, State of. “Evidence.” Hearing Record, Richmond, MO, 12–29 Nov. 1838, State of Missouri v. Joseph Smith et al. for Treason and Other Crimes (Mo. 5th Cir. Ct. 1838). Eugene Morrow Violette Collection, 1806–1921, Western Historical Manuscript Collection. University of Missouri and State Historical Society of Missouri, Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia.

  5. [254]

    After Governor Lilburn W. Boggs delivered brief remarks about the compaign against the Mormons in his 20 November 1838 address to the Missouri legislature, the Missouri House of Representatives adopted a resolution on 22 November to refer Boggs’s remarks about the Mormon conflict to a select committee made up of House and Senate members to investigate the “causes of said disturbances and the conduct of military operations in suppressing them.”a There is no indication whether any memorial prompted the resolution. On 19 December John Corrill, representative from Caldwell County, introduced in the House two memorials from Latter-day Saints: In the first, the Saints in Daviess County asked to be released from their agreement to leave the state; in the second, Caldwell County Saints outlined the injustices against them and asked for the restoration of their property and the reversal of Boggs’s order for their expulsion from the state. Corrill read both memorials and moved to refer them to the joint committee assigned to investigate the recent “Mormon difficulties.”b The joint committee reported 17 December 1838, recommending that in view of the impending trials of Latter-day Saints for crimes allegedly committed in the conflict, it was not expedient to pursue the inquiry further at that time or to publish the documents gathered thus far. It also recommended that a new joint committee be empowered to conduct on-site investigations after the adjournment of the current session of the legislature.c A resolution to establish the new committee was tabled in the House on 4 February 1839, and an 8 February resolution in the House calling for a new joint committee to investigate starting in May was defeated.d

    (aJournal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, 22 Nov. 1838, 24; “Letters from the Editor,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 28 Nov. 1838, [2]. bJournal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, 19 Dec. 1838, 128; “Letter from the Editor,” Missouri Republican, 24 Dec. 1838, [2]; Edward Partridge et al., “Copy of a Memorial to the Legislature of Missouri,” in Greene, Facts Relative to the Expulsion, 10–16; see also Corrill, Brief History, 44. cJournal, of the Senate, of the State of Missouri, 18 Dec. 1838, 123–125. d“Letter from the Editor,” Missouri Republican, 8 Feb. 1839, [3]; Journal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, 8 Feb. 1839, 405–406.))

    Journal, of the House of Representatives, of the State of Missouri, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, on Monday, the Nineteenth Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight. Jefferson City, MO: Calvin Gunn, 1839.

    Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.

    Greene, John P. Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order.” By John P. Greene, an Authorized Representative of the Mormons. Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839.

    Corrill, John. A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons;) Including an Account of Their Doctrine and Discipline; with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church. St. Louis: By the author, 1839.

    Journal, of the Senate, of the State of Missouri, at the First Session of the Tenth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, On Monday, the Nineteenth Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight. Jefferson City, MO: Calvin Gunn, 1839.

  6. [255]

    Sidney Rigdon was released from jail after Turnham found there was insufficient evidence against him in the record of the November 1838 court of inquiry at Richmond. (Burnett, Recollections and Opinions, 53–55.)

    Burnett, Peter H. Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer. New York: D. Appleton, 1880.

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