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Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 September 1837

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to and the church in , [, Caldwell Co., MO], 4 Sept. 1837. Featured version copied [between 13 and 29 Mar. 1838] in JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, pp. 18–23; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.

Historical Introduction

On 3 September 1837, after months of determined and outspoken opposition against him, JS convened a of the in , Ohio, at which he was sustained as of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Many other church leaders were also supported by the congregation, including , who was unanimously sustained as one of four assistant counselors to JS despite having “been in transgression.” Other church leaders were rejected, including three dissenting and others deemed to be guilty of misbehavior.
The day after the conference, JS sent to and the Saints in the letter featured here, which included a copy of the conference minutes. In directing his letter to Corrill, who had been a member of the Missouri and was the church’s in the West, and to Missouri church members generally, JS bypassed the Missouri , some of whom were in at the time. In sending an open letter to church members in Missouri, JS may have been seeking to encourage them to push for regulation of the church there, much like the reorganization he had overseen in Kirtland the previous day. Following the minutes, JS added a note regarding the wrongdoings of various individuals, including and Missouri president . Though Cowdery had retained his church position, JS advised the church members in Missouri that unless he changed his attitude and more diligently fulfilled his obligations in the presidency, he should be removed from office. JS also warned about Whitmer, , and others who he said “have been in transgression.” JS may have wanted the Missouri church members to have this information prior to the arrival of Whitmer and Cowdery, who soon left Kirtland for .
JS sent the letter to with , who departed for in company with shortly after 4 September 1837. The two men arrived at their destination in October. JS himself arrived in Missouri by early November and presided over meetings to further reorganize church leadership, settle differences within the church, and organize new of in Missouri. At a 7 November 1837 conference held in for the purpose of sustaining church leaders, served as clerk but was not sustained to his former office as JS’s counselor, perhaps because of the unnamed offenses alluded to in this letter.
copied the letter into JS’s journal sometime in mid-March 1838, at the time he copied in a series of document transcripts and summaries pertaining to JS’s efforts to set church leadership in order and replace dissenting leaders.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837. For more information on the opposition to JS, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 23 May 1837; Historical Introduction to Letter from Abel Lamb and Others, ca. 28 May 1837; Historical Introduction to Charges against JS Preferred to Bishop’s Council, 29 May 1837; Revelation, 23 July 1837 [D&C 112]; and Esplin, “Emergence of Brigham Young,” 295–299.

    Esplin, Ronald K. “The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1981. Also available as The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830–1841, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2006).

  2. [2]

    JS was likely not aware that on 1 August 1837, Missouri church leaders voted to replace Corrill in the Missouri bishopric. (Minute Book 2, 1 Aug. 1837.)

  3. [3]

    See Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.

  4. [4]

    See Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; and Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, ca. 10 Sept. 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL.

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, 18; Thomas B. Marsh to Wilford Woodruff, in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 36–37; “T B Marsh,” [2], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

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

  6. [6]

    See Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–B; Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837; and Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837.

  7. [7]

    Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837. It is possible that these unnamed transgressions were discussed at a 6 November 1837 meeting in Far West, Missouri. (See Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837.)

  8. [8]

    See JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838, 18–23.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 September 1837 Journal, March–September 1838 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 22

& should retain his <​their​> office as Prests of the was objected. The Pres then arose and made some remarks concerning the formers Prests of the Seventies, the callings and authorities of their &c. &c. Voted that the old Presidents of the seventies be refered to the of , And also that of if any of the members of the quorum of the seventies should be dissattisfied & would not submit to the Present order, and receive these last Presidents that they Should have power to demand their & they should no longer be concidered members of the
Closed by Prayer by the President
Joseph Smith Jr Prest  Clerk
 Clk Joseph Smith Jr Prest
Dear Brotheren
has been in transgression, but as he is now chosen as one of the I trust that he will yet humble himself & magnify his calling but if he should not, the will soon be under the necessaty of raising their hands against him Therefore pray for him, & others have been in transgression but we hope that they may be humble & ere long make sattisfaction to the Church otherwise they cannot retain their standing, Therefore we say unto you beware of all disaffected Characters for they come not to build up but to destroy & scatter abroad, Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel or introduce [any other?] order of things <​than​> those things which ye have received and are authorized to received from the first Presidency let him be accursed, May God Almighty Bless you all & keep you unto the coming & kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; Yours in the Bonds of the new <​covenent​>— J. Smith, Jr.
over * [p. 22]
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Source Note

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Page 22

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 September 1837
ID #
358
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:426–431
Handwriting on This Page
  • George W. Robinson

Footnotes

  1. [5]

    It is not clear what specific misdeed this refers to. In April 1838 Cowdery was brought before the Missouri high council on a variety of charges and was excommunicated from the church. It is likely that there is a connection between this mention of transgression and at least one of those charges. (See Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren A. Cowdery, 21 Jan. 1838; Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren A. Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 80–86; Fullmer, Autobiography, [1]; and Synopsis of Oliver Cowdery Trial, 12 Apr. 1838.)

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

    Fullmer, Desdemona Wadsworth. Autobiography, 7 June 1868. Desdemona Wadsworth Fullmer, Papers, 1868. CHL. MS 734.

  2. [6]

    David Whitmer’s name is included among the dissenters in a late May 1837 complaint by Abel Lamb and others. According to that complaint, Whitmer and others had pursued a “course for some time past” that had been “injurious to the church of God.” Whitmer, like Oliver Cowdery, was preparing to leave Kirtland to return to Missouri in early September 1837. Whitmer’s standing as president of the church in Missouri was called into question by Thomas B. Marsh on 7 November 1837. Whitmer had been proposed by some to replace JS as church president in February 1837 and was later excommunicated after charges were brought against him for, among other matters, “uniting with and possesing the same spirit of the desenters.” (Letter from Abel Lamb and Others, ca. 28 May 1837; Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837; Woodruff, Journal, 19 Feb. 1837; Synopsis of David Whitmer and Lyman Johnson Trials, 13 Apr. 1838; Minute Book 2, 15 Mar. 1838.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [7]

    Leonard Rich was among the church dissenters who signed Warren Parrish’s inflammatory 5 February 1838 letter to the editor of the Painesville Republican. (Warren Parrish, Kirtland, OH, 5 Feb. 1838, Letter to the Editor, Painesville [OH] Republican, 15 Feb. 1838, [3]; see also “Mormonism,” Zion’s Watchman, 24 Mar. 1838, 46.)

    Painesville Republican. Painesville, OH. 1836–1841.

    Zion's Watchman. New York City. 1836–1838.

  4. [8]

    There was great division within the church in Kirtland throughout 1837, with many accusing JS of poor leadership and improper conduct. According to Wilford Woodruff, the “spirits of murmering, complaining, & of mutiny” had been brewing “untill many & some in high places had risen up against” JS and were “striving to overthrow his influence & cast him down.” (Woodruff, Journal, 28 May 1837; see also Introduction to Part 6: 20 Apr.–14 Sept. 1837; and Historical Introduction to Letter from Abel Lamb and Others, ca. 28 May 1837.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [9]

    Soon after the 3 September 1837 conference, Cowdery and Whitmer left Kirtland. Both arrived in Missouri weeks before JS and Sidney Rigdon, and both were in attendance at the 7 November 1837 conference in Missouri. (Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837.)

  6. [10]

    See Galatians 1:8.

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