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Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 4 August 1835

Source Note

Council of presidencies and others (including JS), Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to , [, York Co., ME], 4 Aug. 1835. Retained copy, [ca. 4 Aug. 1835], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 90–93; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

On 4 August 1835, a council consisting of members of the , the presidency of the , “and others” composed a letter to the , who were holding in the eastern and . In the letter, the council chastised the Twelve for not discussing in their conferences the need for church members to donate funds for the construction of the in , Ohio; for the redemption of church members’ lands in , Missouri; and for the printing of the Doctrine and Covenants. The council also reprimanded and for making disparaging remarks about the Kirtland school that was conducting and then reproved the Twelve for complaining about the conditions of their families and for allegedly setting themselves up in the conferences as “an independant counsel subject to no authority of the church.”
By the time this letter was written, the Twelve, as they had planned in a March 1835 council, had conducted conferences in six locations: , , Lyonstown, and Pillar Point, New York; West Loughborough, Upper Canada; and St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The Twelve’s records of their conferences and other meetings shed little light on what they did to cause church leaders to issue such a strong reprimand. For instance, reports of four of their conferences were published in the May and July 1835 issues of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, but none of these provide information to suggest how the Twelve Apostles might have been acting as “an independant counsel.” The minutes of the Twelve’s meetings also provide little basis for ascertaining whether or to what extent they had acted improperly.
According to this 4 August letter, at least three letters from the eastern prompted the reprimand. In the first letter, , the presiding authority of the , New York, , told church leaders that the Twelve had not instructed church members at a conference in Freedom about the need to donate funds for the construction of the . Leaders were also upset by a letter wrote to his wife, Emeline Miller McLellin, which implied that he and had no confidence in the way was conducting a school in . This school, described by as “a Grammar school,” opened in December 1834, with McLellin and as teachers. While he was teaching there, McLellin promoted the school as teaching “the sciences of penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar and geography” and as “a place where strict attention is paid to good morals as well as to the sciences.” When McLellin left Kirtland with the Twelve, Rigdon apparently began teaching in his place. In June 1835, Hyde made a brief trip to Kirtland and then gave a disparaging report to McLellin about the school, prompting McLellin to comment about it in the letter to his wife. His comment caused the members of the council to withdraw their fellowship from McLellin and Hyde. Finally, , one of the Twelve Apostles, sent a letter that to church leaders gave undue credit to McLellin and for their “able preaching.”
In late August 1835, the Twelve received this 4 August letter while conducting conferences in . The minutes for those meetings specify that the Twelve talked on “the redemption [of ], the Building of the in , and the printing of the word of God to the nations”—the three subjects that the 4 August letter chastised them for not discussing. In response to the letter, the Twelve agreed to finish their work in the eastern and meet in , New York, on 24 September 1835. From there, they planned to travel together to Kirtland. Immediately after reaching Kirtland on 26 September 1835, the Twelve met with JS, , , , , , and to discuss the charges in the letter. and “frankly confessed” their errors “and were forgiven,” and the Twelve convinced JS and others that the complaints against them “originated in the minds of persons whose minds were dark[e]ned in consequence of covetousness or some other cause other than the spirit of truth.”
The Twelve also “prefered a charge” against “for his unchristian conduct,” presumably in making accusations against them. On 5 March 1836, Warren Cowdery “confessed his mistake” in a meeting with the Twelve, JS, , and and stated his willingness to publish a statement that the Twelve had “delivered those instructions which he supposed they had not.” This statement appeared in the Messenger and Advocate, declaring that although Cowdery was “actuated by the purest motives at the time he wrote,” he had since become convinced that the Twelve had delivered the necessary instructions.
The original version of this 4 August 1835 letter is not extant. served as clerk of the council and presumably served as scribe for the letter; JS signed it as moderator and also added a postscript to his brother . copied the letter into JS’s letterbook, likely before the letter was sent.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes, 12 Mar. 1835; Record of the Twelve, 17–19 July 1835.

  2. [2]

    Minutes, LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1835, 1:115–116; Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, 1:153.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  3. [3]

    Record of the Twelve, 4–9, 10–11, and 22–23 May 1835; 19–22 and 29 June 1835; 17–19 July 1835.

  4. [4]

    Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 51; McLellin, Journal, 22 Dec. 1834.

    Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, July 1834–Apr. 1835. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 4. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  5. [5]

    William E. McLellin, Notice, 27 Feb. 1835, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, 1:80.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  6. [6]

    Record of the Twelve, 5 June 1835.

  7. [7]

    Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, 1:153, underlining in original.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  8. [8]

    JS, Journal, 16 Jan. 1836; Record of the Twelve, 21–23 and 28 Aug. 1835.

  9. [9]

    Record of the Twelve, 21 Aug. 1835.

  10. [10]

    Esplin and Nielsen, “Record of the Twelve,” 48.

    Esplin, Ronald K., and Sharon E. Nielsen. “The Record of the Twelve, 1835: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles’ Call and 1835 Mission.” BYU Studies 51, no. 1 (2012): 4–52.

  11. [11]

    JS, Journal, 26 Sept. 1835; Minutes, 26 Sept. 1835.

  12. [12]

    Minutes, 26 Sept. 1835.

  13. [13]

    JS, Journal, 16 Jan. 1836.

  14. [14]

    Cowdery, Diary, 5 Mar. 1836.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.

  15. [15]

    “Notice,” 7 Mar. 1836, in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1836, 2:263.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 4 August 1835 Letterbook 1 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 91

From this short letter we discover— that [the ] failed in out set, to fill their great and important mission, as they know that God has commanded us to build a in which to receive an , previous to to the red[e]mption of , and that Zion could not be redeemed until this takes place: knowing that the committee were to journey for the express purpose of soliciting donations, they have failed to hold them up, and set forth this first important thing, and in consequence God has not blessed them as he otherwise would. We remind you of these things, in the name of the Lord, and refer you to the book of covenants, 2nd. Section, 2nd. part, and 12, paragraph, and ask, did we not instruct you to remember first the , secondly the cause of Zion, and then the publishing the word of [illegible] to the Nations? The other is an extract from Elder ’s letter to his wife, as follows:
“You say, that it will not be in your power to go to school this summer— I am glad that it is not, since has returned and given, me a description of the manner in which it is conducted. though we do not wish to cast any reflections.”
This, the consider to be a libel upon the face of it: says, “We do not wish to cast any reflections.” When the highest insult and reflections are cast by it upon the , the , and those who are held in much higher estimation in the sight of God and this church than themselves. It is necessary to add further the vote of the counsel— We hereby inform and that we withdraw our fellowship from them until they return and make satisfaction face to face.
We further inform the , that as far as we can learn from the churches through which you have traveled, that you have set yourselves up as an independant counsel subject to no authority of the church— a kind of out laws. This impression is wrong, and [p. 91]
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Source Note

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Page 91

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 4 August 1835
ID #
1621
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:371–378
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Whitmer

Footnotes

  1. [8]

    A copy of this letter in a later JS history inserts “the elders” here. (JS History, vol. B-1, 598.)

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  2. [9]

    See Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:9–11]; and Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95:8].

  3. [10]

    Other records suggest that the Twelve were not as amiss in outlining the need for contributions as the letter indicates. In nearly every conference they had held up to this point, the Twelve counseled church members to gather up money and send “wise men” to Missouri to purchase land there, thereby aiding the redemption of Zion. Orson Hyde also indicated in December 1835 that he, along with the Twelve, had “traveled thro the Middle and Eastern states” soliciting donations for the House of the Lord. (Record of the Twelve, 10–11 and 22–23 May 1835; 19–22 June 1835; 17–19 July 1835; JS, Journal, 17 Dec. 1835.)

  4. [11]

    The second section in the second part of the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants contains the church’s “Articles and Covenants,” in which the twelfth paragraph discusses the ordination of elders, priests, teachers, and deacons. It is likely that this letter meant to say the third section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was the “Instruction on Priesthood” and outlined the various responsibilities of priesthood offices. The twelfth paragraph of this section states, “The twelve are a travelling, presiding high council, to officiate in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the presidency of the church, agreeably to the institution of heaven.” Since this letter is referencing the published version of the Doctrine and Covenants, it appears the Twelve had an advance copy of that publication, or at least of the first six signatures, which was possibly obtained by William Smith, Orson Hyde, or Brigham Young when they were in Kirtland at the end of June. (Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:33]; Record of the Twelve, 5 June 1835.)

  5. [12]

    Extant sources do not contain such specific instructions. The minutes for a 26 April 1835 meeting, for example, state that the Twelve met “to receive our charge and instructions from President Joseph Smith Jun relative to our mission and duties,” but the minutes do not delineate those instructions. Likewise, minutes of a 2 May 1835 council where JS spoke on the Twelve’s duties give no specific direction as to what they were to address on their missions. (Minutes, 26 Apr. 1835; Minutes and Discourse, 2 May 1835.)

  6. [13]

    The letter to Emeline Miller McLellin has not been located. It is not clear how the council obtained a copy of what appears to be a private letter. McLellin noted in his journal that on 4 July 1835 he wrote “letters to my wife and to the office” and sent them to Kirtland by an “Elder Wood.” (McLellin, Journal, 4 July 1835.)

    McLellin, William E. Journal, July 1834–Apr. 1835. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 4. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  7. [14]

    The meaning of this is unclear. Before the Twelve left on their mission in May 1835, JS specifically told them that it was “their duty to go abroad and regulate all matters relative to the different branches of the Church” and that when they were acting as a quorum, they had “authority to act independently and make decisions.” (Minutes and Discourse, 2 May 1835; see also Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:23–24, 27–29].)

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