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This item is reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
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Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 30 March 1834

Source Note

JS, Letter with postscript by , , Geauga Co., OH, to , , and other members of the , [, MO], 30 Mar. 1834. Featured version copied [ca. 30 Mar. 1834] in Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, 30–38; handwriting of ; Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Transcription from digital color image obtained from the Huntington Library in 2011. For more complete source information on Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, see the source note for Letter to J. G. Fosdick, 3 Feb. 1834.

Historical Introduction

From the end of February to the end of March 1834, JS traveled to recruit individuals for the expedition to . On 28 March, he returned to , Ohio, and found that he had received several letters from Missouri church leaders, some of which were from members of the . Those letters, though no longer extant, seem to have discussed, among other things, the business of the firm, including its losses. The letters from Missouri must have also criticized JS and other Kirtland church leaders; according to JS, the letters contained “sharp, piercing, & cutting reproofs,” partly because of misspellings and grammatical errors that appeared in a published broadside of a December 1833 revelation and partly because of the lack of financial support from Kirtland for Missouri church members. Earlier missives from Missouri were similarly critical of Kirtland church leaders, and Missouri members had been consequently rebuked for being contentious. A December 1833 revelation even declared that church members had been driven from , Missouri, in part because of the “jar[r]ings and contentions envyings and strifes and lustful and covetous desires among them.” Although acknowledged that “it was right that we should be driven out of the land of ,” the letters that JS received in March 1834 apparently exhibited at least a measure of the same critical spirit found in earlier correspondence.
After spending the preceding day with his family and in the midst of attending to ecclesiastical affairs, JS penned a reply to the leaders on 30 March 1834. The letter, featured here, offers a glimpse into how the hardships of late 1833 and early 1834 affected JS and how he handled criticism. This letter exhibited JS’s frustration over their complaints but also evinced his desire to forgive past transgressions for the sake of unity. In the letter, JS also offered more information on the matters with which and others had found fault, bemoaned the persecution the church was experiencing in both Missouri and , and reported on the expected expedition of “able brethren” to Missouri. Specifically, he noted church members’ lack of support (in terms of both financial donations and individual volunteers) for the contemplated expedition to . JS also suggested that though he intended to be part of the expedition, he had other matters to resolve before departing. In fact, it was not until 9 April 1834, after the legal proceedings against (who had been charged with threatening to kill JS) had successfully concluded, that JS finally determined to “go to Zion.”
The letter further provided information on the advantage of employing attorney general Robert W. Wells in the Mormons’ legal suits, on debts and finances in , on the recent purchase of a printing press by in , and on the selling of property. Though some church leaders in Missouri wrote letters to Kirtland in the months following this letter, they did not specifically address this letter or its contents. Therefore, it is not clear if the men of the in Missouri received this letter.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Minutes, 24 Feb. 1834; Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834 [D&C 103]; and JS, Journal, 26 Feb.–28 Mar. 1834.

  2. [2]

    See Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:6].

  4. [4]

    Letter from William W. Phelps, 15 Dec. 1833.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 9–10 Apr. 1834. This 9 April notation in JS’s journal is the first known documentary evidence that JS had decided to go with the Camp of Israel.

  6. [6]

    See, for example, “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 160; and “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1834, 168.

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

Page 30

To , , and others of the .
, March 30, 1834.
Dear Brethren:
We have received several communications from you of late; but the most of us being absent, laid them over till council could be had; and I now seat myself to dictate to answer them all in one. Since brothers, & , arrived I have written a few lines with my own hand in letters which have already gone: one from this place, and one from N.Y. but was not able to write the more weighty matters, and did not think to say anything more than to comfort your hearts if possible, and keep you from fainting, while God, in his wisdom, and in the order of his Providence, is preparing all things before his face for the . We rejoic greatly on learning that you and the brethren, so many of them, are yet spared in the midst of those who wear the form of human beings, but are less merciful than the prowling beast of the wilderness. We would inform you that with very few exceptions the in this place are all well; and every man, woman & child, that belongs to the Church, as far as I have any knowledge of the matter, are crying day & night to God for the deliverance and prosperity of ; and many are preparing with all zeal to do all that lies in their power to accomplish the great work, and it will be seen in due time, that the saints in this region are not slack towards you considering their circumstances, & their great poverty, & afflictions & persecutions with which they are called to suffer in this part as well as you in that region; for the more we [p. 30]
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Page 30

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 30 March 1834
ID #
210
Total Pages
9
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:488–498
Handwriting on This Page
  • Thomas Burdick

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The letters referenced here have not been located. It is possible that the 27 February 1834 letter from William W. Phelps had arrived and was one of the “several communications” that JS had recently received, though he does not respond to that letter here. (See Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 Feb. 1834.)

  2. [2]

    Cowdery was apparently unwilling to answer these letters in JS’s absence. JS and Cowdery likely conferred on the letters’ contents before JS made this reply.

  3. [3]

    Parley P. Pratt and Lyman Wight arrived in Kirtland in February 1834 to report on the condition of church members in Missouri to the Kirtland high council. (Minutes, 24 Feb. 1834.)

  4. [4]

    These letters have not been located.

  5. [5]

    For a discussion on the “afflictions & persecutions” of the Mormons in Kirtland around the time this letter was written, see Historical Introduction to Prayer, 11 Jan. 1834.

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