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Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 18 August 1833

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to , , , , , and , , Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833; sent copy; handwriting and signature of JS; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal markings, docket, and redactions.
Bifolium measuring 11 × 8⅞ inches (28 × 23 cm). The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. The letter was later refolded for filing. A docket in the handwriting of reads: “Letter from | J. Smith Jun | Aug. 1833”. The second leaf has two holes in the paper and is therefore missing text. The letter has undergone conservation at the folds, which has distorted some of the text.
This letter, along with other papers that belonged to , was in the Partridge family’s possession until at least the mid-1880s, sometime after which it came into the possession of the Church Historian’s Office.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Partridge, Genealogical Record, 1, 18–22; see also Whitney, “Aaronic Priesthood,” 5–6; and the full bibliographic entry for the Edward Partridge Papers in the CHL catalog.

    Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.

    Whitney, Orson F. “The Aaronic Priesthood.” Contributor, Apr. 1885, 241–250.

Historical Introduction

In early August, JS dictated two revelations concerning church members in . The first of these, dated 2 August 1833, that a be built in . The second revelation, which JS dictated on 6 August, instructed the entire church that in the event that “men will smite you or your familles,” members were to “bear it patiently.” When arrived in , Ohio, on 9 August 1833, he gave JS a firsthand account of the hostilities against church members in , Missouri. Nine days later, on 18 August, JS personally wrote this lengthy letter of comfort and encouragement to his beleaguered brethren in Missouri. After learning of the violence in Jackson County from Cowdery, JS wrote in the 18 August letter that “we have had the word of the Lord” and then provided information that was not included in his prior revelations: “You shall [be] deliverd from you[r] dainger and shall again flurish in spite of hell.” Perhaps thinking of a revelation dictated over two years earlier that commanded to establish a press in , JS also wrote in the letter that though the mob in Independence had razed the , another “must be built.” JS added, “We shall get a press immediately in this place and print th[e] Star,” referring to the early Mormon newspaper, “until you can obtain deliverence and git up again.” Not only the printing office but also the legally purchased land and ’s in Jackson County remained vital: “It is the will of the Lord that the Store shud [should] be kept and that not one foot of land perchased should be given to the enimies of God.” JS again consoled the members of the church in Missouri by telling them that “the harder the persicution the greater the gifts of God upon his chirch.”
Following the July violence in , word of the events spread quickly through local and regional newspapers. On 2 August 1833, the Western Monitor in Fayette, Missouri, published the 20 July minutes kept by the Jackson County citizens and their selected committee who on 20 July destroyed ’s and tarred and feathered and . A newspaper, the Missouri Republican, published a similar piece seven days later, applauding the Jackson County residents’ initiative. The article in the Republican spread rapidly throughout the nation; it was republished in as early as 21 August. Within eight days of ’s arrival in on 9 August, at least two local newspapers, the Painesville Telegraph and the Chardon Spectator, published reports of the events in Missouri. JS wrote in the following letter that “since the inteligence of the Calamity of has reached the ears of the wicked,” he and the rest of the church members in Kirtland were under the necessity of watching their homes by night “to keep off the Mob[b]ers.”
JS further explained, “We are no safer here in then you are in .” He referred, for instance, to threats from the activities of . During the months following his June 1833 excommunication, Hurlbut delivered anti-Mormon lectures near Kirtland, as well as in , Pennsylvania, where he had previously proselytized for the church. Soon thereafter Hurlbut began soliciting funds to finance a trip east to gather information concerning a manuscript that he said JS had plagiarized to write the Book of Mormon, 1830. JS wrote in the letter featured here that because of Hurlbut, “we are suffering great persicution . . . to spite us he is lieing in a wonderful manner and the peapl [people] are running after him and giveing him mony to b[r]ake down mormanism.”
Shortly after writing this 18 August missive, JS sent and to with the letter and other important documents, including the revised plat of the . The two men left no later than 4 September and arrived in Independence during the latter part of that month. In the letter featured here, JS directed church members in to “make a show as if to” prepare to leave and “wait patiently until the Lord come[s] and resto[res] unto us all things.” He also offered hope in this letter by noting that church leaders in would “w[a]it the Comand of God to do whatever he ple[a]se and if he shall say go up to and defend thy Brotheren by the sword we fly.” In late October 1833, church leaders in “declared publicly . . . that we as a people should defend our lands and houses.” On 21 October, “the mob, or at least some of the leaders began to move.” Violence soon began again, and by mid-November most church members had fled north from Jackson County into .

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A [D&C 97:10].

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:23].

  3. [3]

    Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833.

  4. [4]

    Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:11].

  5. [5]

    “Mormonism,” United States Telegraph (Washington DC), 21 Aug. 1833, [2]; JS History, vol. A-1, 330.

    United States Telegraph. Washington DC. 1826–1837.

  6. [6]

    “‘Regulating’ the Mormonites,” Missouri Republican (St. Louis), 9 Aug. 1833, [3].

    Daily Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1869.

  7. [7]

    “Mormonites in Missouri,” Daily National Intelligencer (Washington DC), 21 Aug. 1833, [2].

    Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.

  8. [8]

    Report, Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 16 Aug. 1833, [3]; “Mormonites,” Chardon (OH) Spectator and Geauga Gazette, 17 Aug. 1833, [3]; see also Historical Introduction to Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833.

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

    Chardon Spectator and Geauga Gazette. Chardon, OH. 1833–1835.

  9. [9]

    Appeal and Minutes, 21 June 1833; Minutes, 23 June 1833; JS, Journal, 28 Jan. 1834.

  10. [10]

    Winchester, Plain Facts, 5–9; “W. R. Hine’s Statement,” Naked Truths about Mormonism (Oakland, CA), Jan. 1888, 2.

    Winchester, Benjamin. Plain Facts, Shewing the Origin of the Spaulding Story, concerning the Manuscript Found, and Its Being Transformed into the Book of Mormon; with a Short History of Dr. P. Hulbert, the Author of the Said Story . . . Re-published by George J. Adams, Minister of the Gospel, Bedford, England. To Which Is Added, a Letter from Elder S. Rigdon, Also, One from Elder O. Hyde, on the Above Subject. Bedford, England: C. B. Merry, 1841.

    Naked Truths about Mormonism: Also a Journal for Important, Newly Apprehended Truths, and Miscellany. Oakland, CA. Jan. and Apr. 1888.

  11. [11]

    Winchester, Plain Facts, 8–11; see also Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, chap. 19.

    Winchester, Benjamin. Plain Facts, Shewing the Origin of the Spaulding Story, concerning the Manuscript Found, and Its Being Transformed into the Book of Mormon; with a Short History of Dr. P. Hulbert, the Author of the Said Story . . . Re-published by George J. Adams, Minister of the Gospel, Bedford, England. To Which Is Added, a Letter from Elder S. Rigdon, Also, One from Elder O. Hyde, on the Above Subject. Bedford, England: C. B. Merry, 1841.

    Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

  12. [12]

    Revised Plat of the City of Zion, ca. Early Aug. 1833.

  13. [13]

    See Letter to Vienna Jaques, 4 Sept. 1833; Knight, History, 439; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to John Whitmer, Missouri, 1 Jan. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 14–17; and “History of Orson Hyde,” 12, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.

    Knight, Newel. History. Private possession. Copy in CHL. MS 19156.

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

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

  14. [14]

    Letter, 30 Oct. 1833.

Page [2]

and bear with patience the Great affliction that is falling upon us on all side[s] for we <​are​> no safer here in then you are in the cloud is gethering arou[nd] us with great fury and all pharohs host or in other words all hell and the com[bined] pow[e]rs of Earth are Marsheling their forces to overthrow us and we like the chilldrn [children] of Issarel [Israel] with the red Sea before us them and the Egyptions ready to fall upon them to distroy them and no arm could deliver but the arm of God and this is the case with us we must wait on God to be gratious and call on him with out ceaseing to make bare his arm for our defence for naught but the arm of the almighty can Save us we are all well here as can be expected yea altogether so with the exception of some little ailments feavers &c.——
is now Sitting before me and is faithful and true and his heart bleeds as it were for yea never did the hart pant for the cooling streem as doth the heart of thy Brothe[r] for thy salvation yea and I may may say this is the Case with the whole and all the faithful will or aught rather to stay with me or in this land until I am permitted to Come with him for I know that if God shall spare my life that he will permit me to settle on an on the land of <​in due time​> but when I do not know but this I do know that I have been keept from going <​up​> as yet for your sa[k]es and the day will come that Zion will be keept for our sakes therefore be of good cheer and the cloud shall pass over and the sun shall shine as clear and as fair as heaven itself and the Event shall be Glorious can stay here to good advantage and have his come to him and he can be instrumental of doing great good in this pla[ce] and god will <​give​> more help and Grace to stand as and ensign to the people for it must be lifted up— and cursed sha[ll] every man be that lifts his arm to <​hinder​> this great work and god is my witness of this truth it shall be done and let all the saints say amen——
Dear Brotheren we must wait patiently until the Lord come[s] and resto[res] unto us all things and build the waist places again for he will do it in his time and now what shall I say to cumfort your hearts well I will tell you that you have my whole confidence yea there is not one doubt in <​my heart​> not one place in me but what is filld with perfect confidence and love for you and this affliction is sent upon us not for your sins but for the sins of the chirch and that all the ends of the Earth may know that you are not speculiting [speculating] with the◊◊ for Lucre but you are willing to die for the cause you have espoused you know that the chirch have tre[a]ted lightly the of the Lord and for this cause they are not worthy to receive them yet god has suffered it not for your sins but that he might preprare you for a grateer [greater] work that you might be prepared for the from on high we cast no reflections upon you we are of one heart and one mind on this subject which I speak in the name of the chirch all seem to wax strong as th[e]y see the day <​of​> tribulation approcing [approaching] and if our kingdom were of this world then we would fight but our weapons are not carnal yet mighty and <​will​> bind satan ere long under our feet we shall get a press immediately in this place and print th[e] Star until you can obtain deliverence and git up again if god permit and we believe he will we think it would be wise in yo[u] to try to git influence by offering to print a paper in favor of the goverment as you know we are all friends to the Constitution yea true friends to that Country we hea for which our fathers bled in the mean time god will send Embasadors to the authorities of the government and sue for protection and redress that they may be left with out excuse that a ritious [righteous] Judgement might be upon them [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 18 August 1833
ID #
179
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:258–269
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.

Footnotes

  1. [22]

    TEXT: “side[page torn]”.

  2. [23]

    TEXT: “arou[page torn]”.

  3. [24]

    See Exodus 14:4.

  4. [25]

    TEXT: “com[page torn]”.

  5. [26]

    See Exodus chap. 14.

  6. [27]

    See 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Acts 12:5; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 211, 495 [Mosiah 26:39; 3 Nephi 19:30].

  7. [28]

    See Isaiah 52:10; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 57 [1 Nephi 22:10].

  8. [29]

    See Psalm 42:1. A hart is “a stag or male deer.” (“Hart,” in American Dictionary.)

    An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.

  9. [30]

    TEXT: “sa[hole in paper]es”. It appears church members living in Independence had requested JS live among them in Jackson County. However, on 14 January 1833, Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith wrote, “Bro Joseph will not settle in Zion except she repent and serve God and obey the new covenant.” (Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833.)

  10. [31]

    Oliver Cowdery’s wife, Elizabeth Ann Whitmer Cowdery, still had not arrived in Kirtland by spring 1834. In a letter to her on 4 May 1834, Oliver registered his disappointment and told her that “Brother Joseph will bring you down, and provide every thing for your comfort. . . . Should anything transpire to hinder brother Joseph from bringing you, he and brother Frederick [G. Williams] will arrange that you may come with some one else, who will see that you are treated with kindness. So I shall expect you the latter part of the summer or fall.” It is unknown how or when Elizabeth Ann finally traveled to Kirtland. She likely arrived before the year’s end since she gave birth to their first child, Maria, on 21 August 1835 in Kirtland. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to Elizabeth Ann Whitmer Cowdery, 4 May 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 44–45; JS History, 1834–1836, 11.)

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

  11. [32]

    TEXT: “pla[page torn]”.

  12. [33]

    See Isaiah 11:10; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 98 [2 Nephi 21:10]; and Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:42].

  13. [34]

    On 20 July 1831, JS dictated a revelation that commanded William W. Phelps to settle in Independence and establish a printing press there for the church. However, a Jackson County mob destroyed Phelps’s home and printing shop on 20 July 1833, scattering the type and damaging the press. Cowdery had been assisting Phelps in the Missouri printing office prior to Cowdery’s departure for Kirtland. Cowdery later helped establish a replacement printing office in Kirtland. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:11]; Corrill, Brief History, 19; Whitmer, History, 43; Phelps, “Short History,” [3]; Minutes, 11 Sept. 1833.)

    Phelps, William W. “A Short History of W. W. Phelps’ Stay in Missouri,” 1864. Information concerning Persons Driven from Jackson County, Missouri in 1833, 1863–1868. CHL. MS 6019, fd. 7.

  14. [35]

    TEXT: “sha[page torn]”.

  15. [36]

    See James 5:7–8.

  16. [37]

    See Acts 3:21; and Revelation, 6 Dec. 1832 [D&C 86:10].

  17. [38]

    In September 1832, JS dictated a revelation that chastised church members: “This condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion even all, and thay shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant even the book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them.” A few months later, in January 1833, a conference of high priests held in Kirtland appointed Hyrum Smith and Orson Hyde to write a letter to the members of the church in Missouri to call them to repent and to remember “the new covenant even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which the Lord had given them.” David Pettegrew remembered that just after he arrived in Missouri in early 1833, church members were chastised by leaders in Kirtland “for treating lightly the book of Mormon and the former revalations.” As a result Bishop Edward Partridge held several solemn assemblies throughout the branches of the church in Missouri. A revelation JS dictated on 6 August 1833 likewise chastised the members of the church living in Ohio. (Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:56–57]; Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 14 Jan. 1833; Pettegrew, “History,” 15; Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:19–21].)

    Pettegrew, David. “An History of David Pettegrew,” not after 1858. Pettigrew Collection, 1837–1858, 1881–1892, 1908–1930. CHL.

  18. [39]

    Even before they left New York in 1831, church members had been promised they would be “endowed with power from on high” in Ohio. In recent months, JS revelations had linked this endowment to the temple the Saints had been commanded to build. (Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:32]; Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95:8].)

  19. [40]

    Nearly two weeks before JS wrote this letter, he dictated a revelation that directed members of the church to “renounce war and proclaim peace.” (Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:16]; see also John 18:36; 2 Corinthians 10:4; Revelation 20:1–3; and Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:100].)

  20. [41]

    This letter makes it clear that JS and others hoped to eventually reestablish a press in Jackson County. But under current circumstances—with the shop destroyed and editor William W. Phelps having agreed to leave Jackson County by January 1834, and with the prevailing hostility toward Mormon publication in that county—the only realistic possibility for a church press for the time being was in Ohio. Less than a month later, on 11 September 1833, members of the United Firm living in Kirtland decided to procure and establish a new press under the firm of F. G. Williams & Co. (See Minutes, 11 Sept. 1833.)

  21. [42]

    TEXT: “yo[page torn]”.

  22. [43]

    It is unclear from this statement whether JS knew that the press itself in Independence was still salvageable for printing purposes but that the type, having been scattered in the street, was not. Oliver Cowdery likely witnessed the destruction of the printing office, but he may not have been able to assess the extent of the damage to the printing equipment before departing for Kirtland. The church’s printing press was later sold by members of the mob to Robert Kelly and William Davis, who published the Upper Missouri Enquirer in Liberty, Clay County. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, Clay Co., MO, 21 Jan. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 22; JS History, vol. A-1, 412; Masthead, Upper Missouri Enquirer, 11 Jan 1834, [1].)

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

    Upper Missouri Enquirer. Liberty, MO. 1834–ca. 1840.

  23. [44]

    About two weeks before writing this letter, JS dictated a revelation that expressed support for the United States Constitution. (Revelation, 6 Aug. 1833 [D&C 98:4–8].)

  24. [45]

    The Missouri members of the church proceeded to take legal action and made efforts to obtain redress soon after receiving this letter. (See “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115; [Edward Partridge], “A History, of the Persecution,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:19; and Orson Hyde, Jefferson City, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, 7 Oct. 1833, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.)

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

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

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