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This item is reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
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Letter to J. G. Fosdick, 3 February 1834

Source Note

JS and , Letter, , Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to [J. G.] Fosdick, [Pontiac, Oakland Co., Michigan Territory], 3 Feb. 1834. Featured version copied [ca. 3 Feb. 1834] in Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, 23–24; handwriting of ; Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Transcription from digital color image obtained from the Huntington Library in 2011.
Oliver Cowdery, Letterbook, [ca. 30 Oct. 1833–ca. 24 Feb. 1838]; handwriting of , James M. Carrel, and ; ninety-six pages; Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
This letterbook is unbound and consists of four gatherings of twelve leaves each plus an additional three leaves. The paper is horizontally ruled with thirty-five blue lines. All of the leaves together measure 12½ × 7⅞ × ¼ inches (32 × 20 × 1 cm). The first gathering is completely disbound, but all twenty-four pages (twelve leaves) are accounted for. There are clearly matching cut marks on these first twelve leaves, indicating that they were cut at the same time. The first and last leaves of the second and third gatherings are no longer conjugate, but the remainder are. There are five holes for binding. The first and last leaves of the fourth gathering are also disconnected. The third leaf of the fourth gathering is missing; it likely contained writing, as there is a fragment of writing on the cut conjugate page. The fifth and sixth leaves are blank. The three additional leaves appear to have been torn (not cut) from a larger volume. The pages through page 76 (just before the missing leaf) seem to have been numbered as the book was being compiled. Pagination on the remaining leaves was added later in blue ink.
The Huntington Library purchased the letterbook from Carl C. Curtis on 21 November 1931. Curtis was the nephew of , the last scribe in the letterbook; he was living in Pasadena, California, in 1931.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Letterbook, Docket, and Correspondence of Oliver Cowdery, 1833–1894, in the Huntington Library catalog; 1930 U.S. Census, Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., CA, 102; and 1940 U.S. Census, Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., CA, 8775.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

Historical Introduction

This letter was written in response to a 10 January 1834 letter from J. G. Fosdick regarding Joseph Wood, who had evidently been accused of serious misconduct while laboring as a missionary in the area of Pontiac, Michigan Territory. Fosdick’s letter has not been located and therefore its contents are unknown, but a cover letter penned by to Fosdick on 11 January 1834 refers to Wood spending time “in idleness or pretended study” and as one “who will dishonor the holy cause and bring a [re]proach upon the , and wound the pure in heart.” A March 1834 letter from Cowdery to Fosdick and others indicated that Wood had committed adultery and that by 16 February 1834 he was also questioning the “honesty and righteousness” of church leaders in , Ohio.
In his 10 January 1834 letter, Fosdick evidently inquired about church governance and the extent of authority held by in the of the church. JS’s response in the letter featured here emphasized the authority of local branches over that of individual high priests in disciplinary proceedings and was intended to be a precursor to a fuller treatment on authority to be published later.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Possibly Jabez G. Fosdick, who purchased land in 1833 in Oakland County, Michigan Territory, where Pontiac is located. A “Jabes Fosdick”—probably the same person—baptized Edward Stevenson in the Pontiac area in December 1833. (Oakland Co., MI, Deed Records, 1821–1926, vol. 9, pp. 277–278, 13 Oct. 1833, microfilm 975,564, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Stevenson, Journal, 23 Dec. 1867 and 27 May 1883.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.

  2. [2]

    According to Edward Stevenson, Wood was preaching in the Pontiac area with Jared Carter by May 1833. Wood may have arrived in the area with Carter as early as January 1833. Sometime before 7 January 1834, Samuel Bent wrote to Oliver Cowdery indicating that Wood was still in Pontiac. (Stevenson, Journal, 23 Dec. 1867 and 27 May 1883; Stevenson, Autobiography, 1, 14; Samuel Bent, Pontiac, Michigan Territory, to “Dear Sir,” 16 Feb. 1833, The Evening and the Morning Star, Apr. 1833, [8].)

    Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.

    Stevenson, Edward. Autobiography, ca. 1891–1893. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, box 5, fd. 1.

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

  3. [3]

    Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to J. G. Fosdick, Pontiac, Michigan Territory, 4 Feb. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 25.

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

  4. [4]

    Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to J. G. Fosdick et al., Pontiac, Michigan Territory, 7 Mar. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 28.

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

Page 24

and come into the again if he desire so to do. The instructions which you desire relative to church gov. &c. the extent of the power of a over any of the church, are subjects which will be investigated in the next no. of the Star. Time will not allow us to write the subjects at full length now; suffice it, therefore, to say that there is no office in this Church which can be placed upon the head of any man that will place him beyond the power & control of any branch of the church where he may be guilty of transgression, even if there is not another member in the church, let the church appoint some brother to preside and let them do as one church did in ancient days “try them who say they are and are not, but are liars,” then let them demand their , raise their hands against them and thus they are expelled from the communion of the church. It requires all the members of the church to constitute the body of Christ. One man is not the body, nor are the children of <​the​> Kingdom to be tantalized by men who may hold licenses and have authority to preach the gospel; such have the more need to be discreet and humble. Should the individual, after being thus dealt with be dissatisfied with the decission of the church he can appeal to a , and should he there be judged guilty, he can yet appeal to a court of and this is an end of all disputes and controversies in the Church of God on earth.
Brethren in the , Farewell.
SignedJoseph Smith Jr. (Moderator
(Clerk of Coun[cil]
Copied by direction of the , by [p. 24]
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Page 24

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to J. G. Fosdick, 3 February 1834
ID #
200
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:422–425
Handwriting on This Page
  • Thomas Burdick

Footnotes

  1. [7]

    No such instructions appeared in The Evening and the Morning Star, though it is clear from other sources that church leaders fully intended to publish them at some point. For example, in the postscript to his 7 March 1834 letter to Fosdick, Samuel Bent, and Elijah Fordham, Cowdery wrote that there had not been enough room in the church newspaper to include the instructions concerning church governance, but that they would “probably be in the next” number of the paper. Similarly, the March 1834 issue of the Star ended with a note saying that “some instruction upon the regulation of the church” would be given later. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to J. G. Fosdick et al., Pontiac, Michigan Territory, 7 Mar. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 29; Letter to the Church, ca. Mar. 1834.)

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

  2. [8]

    See Revelation 2:2.

  3. [9]

    JS’s instructions given here reflected the contents of an 11 November 1831 revelation that said a bishop had authority to “sit in Judgement upon transgressors . . . by the assistance of his councillors” and that one could appeal a bishop’s decision to the presidency of the high priesthood, which had the power to call twelve other high priests to assist. After the court of the presidency of the high priesthood ruled on a case, “it shall be had in remembrance no more before the Lord,” the revelation read, “for this is the highest court of the church of God & a final desision upon controvers[i]es.” (Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–B [D&C 107:72, 78–80].)

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