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Letter to Edward Partridge, 5 December 1833

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to , , Clay Co., MO, 5 Dec. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 5 Dec. 1833], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 65–70; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

JS wrote this 5 December 1833 letter in response to the heartrending and sometimes conflicting reports he received about the violence against church members in , Missouri, that took place in early November 1833. The inconsistent reports were only the latest frustration for JS, who continued to agonize over the fate of friends and followers in , whose efforts to build a “” had stalled in the summer of 1833 because of persecution.
Following armed conflict on 4 November 1833, antagonistic residents and militia of forced members of the to vacate their properties and flee to , Missouri, and elsewhere over the next few weeks. In the midst of the violence, and left , Missouri, for , Ohio, on 6 November 1833 to report to JS on recent hostilities. While traveling from Independence to Boonville, Missouri, on the on board the steamboat Charleston, Hyde wrote at least two letters to newspaper editors in informing them of the violent events in : on 8 November he wrote to the editor of the Boonville Herald, and the following day he wrote to the editor of the Missouri Republican. Upon arriving in on 25 November, Hyde and Gould informed JS of “the melencholly intelegen [intelligence] of the riot in .”
On 6 November 1833, the same day that and left , began writing a letter to JS to inform him of the recent events in . The next day he completed his letter and reported that mobs had begun to force church members to leave their homes in Jackson County—information that Hyde and Gould may not have known. Although Phelps’s original letter no longer exists, according to the letter featured here, Phelps’s missive arrived in before 5 December 1833. The most complete known version of Phelps’s letter was published by in the December 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star. The letter from JS featured here discusses information that appears to have been conveyed only through Phelps’s original letter—information that Cowdery, perhaps waiting for confirmation of the Mormon evacuation from Jackson County, did not include in the published version.
Some of the information conveyed in ’s letter apparently conflicted with the report sent to the editor of the Missouri Republican, to which JS by this time had access. Perhaps because the information he received was inconsistent, and possibly in an effort to document the violence against his followers, JS wrote this 5 December letter urging church leaders in to “collect every particular concerning the Mob from the begining and send us a correct statement of fact as they transpired.” Until then, he wrote, “it is difficult for us to advise.” Even without clarification, JS told the church leaders that if they had not yet been driven out they should fight to stay on their lands as long as they could: “You should maintain the ground as Long as there is a man Left. . . . it was right in the sight of God that you contend for it to the last.”
copied this 5 December letter into JS’s letterbook and concluded by inscribing “” on the final line, indicating that the original letter was most likely addressed to Edward Partridge. It is clear, however, that this letter was intended for church leaders in generally. Unfortunately, the original letter is no longer extant, and it is unknown if Partridge or any other church leader in Missouri ever received this correspondence.
Even though JS’s letter requested clarification and accurate information from church leaders in , , who was then in , was able to quickly respond to some of JS’s concerns. Hyde wrote another letter to , the editor of The Evening and the Morning Star, which corrected parts of his earlier missive to the editors of the Boonville Herald. Oliver Cowdery published Hyde’s second letter in the same December issue of the Star that published ’s 6–7 November letter and an extract of Hyde’s letter to the Boonville Herald. It is not known precisely when or why Hyde wrote his corrective letter, though he may have done so at the behest of JS or to alleviate JS’s concerns, expressed in the letter featured here, about the inconsistent information he had heard about events in Missouri. By 10 December 1833, JS received correspondence from Missouri that provided more information about the persecution and expulsion of church members in that place. Given that Hyde arrived in Kirtland in late November and that the first Kirtland issue of the Star was prepared for printing no sooner than 18 December, Hyde would have had sufficient time to consult these letters from Missouri that arrived in Kirtland by 10 December, consider his previous statements, and prepare an amended account for publication in the Star.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833; Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.

  2. [2]

    See Letter from William W. Phelps, 6–7 Nov. 1833.

  3. [3]

    “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 118.

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

  4. [4]

    It is unknown whether a complete copy of Hyde’s published letter to the editor of the Boonville Herald still exists. However, Oliver Cowdery included at least a partial copy of the letter in The Evening and the Morning Star. (“The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 118; see also “Civil War in Jackson County!,” Missouri Republican [St. Louis], 12 Nov. 1833, [3].)

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

    Missouri Republican. St. Louis. 1822–1919.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 25 Nov. 1833; see also “More Trouble in the Mormon Camp,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 29 Nov. 1833, [3].

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

  6. [6]

    Letter from William W. Phelps, 6–7 Nov. 1833.

  7. [7]

    JS had earlier instructed church members in an 18 August 1833 letter to not sell their land in Jackson County. (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.)

  8. [8]

    Orson Hyde, Letter to the Editor, The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 120.

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

  9. [9]

    JS, Journal, 25 Nov. and 18 Dec. 1833.

  10. [10]

    See Letter from William W. Phelps, 6–7 Nov. 1833; Letter from William W. Phelps, 14 Nov. 1833; Letter from Edward Partridge, between 14 and 19 Nov. 1833; Letter from John Corrill, 17 Nov. 1833; and Letter to Edward Partridge et al., 10 Dec. 1833.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Edward Partridge, 5 December 1833 Letterbook 1 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 70

contend for it to the last, you will recollect that the Lord has said that should not be moved out of her place therefore the land should not be sold but held by the brethren until the Lord of in his wisdom opens a way for your return and until that time if you can purchase a tract of Land in for present imergenes it is right you should do so if you can do it and not sell your Land in it is not safe for us to send you a writen revelation on the subject but what is writen above is according to wisdom, I haste to a close to give room for and remain yours in the bonds of the
Joseph Smith J
[p. 70]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 70

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Edward Partridge, 5 December 1833
ID #
191
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:366–374
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [43]

    Revelation, 8 Mar. 1833 [D&C 90:37]; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–A [D&C 97:19]. Less than two weeks later JS dictated another revelation that reiterated this point: “Zion shall not be moved out of her place notwithstanding her children are scattered.” (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:17].)

  2. [44]

    Edward Partridge had purchased about 2,100 acres of land in Jackson County for the church; a number of individual members of the Church of Christ had also purchased lots in Independence. Deed books show that between 1834 and 1837, at least fourteen church members purchased land in Clay County, totaling approximately 990 acres. Combined with Partridge’s land, church members owned nearly 3,100 acres in Missouri. (See Clay Co., MO, Deed Records, 1822–1890, vol. D, pp. 23–25, 75–78, 197–198, 225–226, 246–247, 256–257, microfilm 955,264; vol. E, pp. 21–22, 42–43, 46–47, 118, 242–243, 399, microfilm 955,265; vol. F, pp. 28–29, microfilm 955,265, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  3. [45]

    Eleven days later, JS dictated a revelation that directly addressed the issue of church-owned lands in Jackson County: “Therefore it is my will that my people should claim and hold claim upon that which I have appointed unto them though they should not be permited to dwell thereon.” (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:99].)

  4. [46]

    If Oliver Cowdery wrote a postscript to the original letter, it was not copied into the letterbook version featured here.

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