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Letter to the Church in Clay County, Missouri, 22 January 1834

Source Note

JS, , and , Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to “brethren in Christ Jesus scattered abroad,” , MO, 22 Jan. 1834. Retained copy, [ca. 22 Jan. 1834], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 79–81; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

JS, , and wrote this 22 January 1834 letter in response to a 15 December 1833 letter that wrote from , Missouri, to church leaders in , Ohio, requesting advice on what church members in should do after being driven from their homes in . Phelps and other church leaders in Missouri had already petitioned Missouri governor to help restore church members to their property in Jackson County, to protect them from further violence until they were able to protect themselves, and to commence a court of inquiry into the violence against the Mormons, but they were disappointed by the governor’s response. According to Phelps’s letter, Dunklin had ordered part of the militia to stand prepared to “guard a court martial, and court of Enquiry” and had expressed his willingness to help restore the church members to their lands; however, Dunklin had also indicated that he did not have the authority to keep a military force in Jackson County to protect the Mormons from possible attacks in the future. “I do not write this letter to entertain you with news, or for to wake you up to our dreadful condition,” Phelps wrote to the leaders in Kirtland, “but that you may timely give us some advice what is best to do in our tarry till Zion is redeemed!”
JS and other church leaders in answered ’s question both in the letter featured here and by sending a revelation that JS had dictated on 16–17 December 1833 explaining why church members had been driven out of and instructing them how to obtain redress for their losses. Pursuant to the instructions contained in the letter and revelation, church leaders in petitioned president Andrew Jackson to help restore displaced church members to their homes and property in Jackson County, Missouri. They also wrote to Dunklin, asking him to write to Jackson in support of the church leaders’ petition. Both Jackson and declined their requests. The letter featured here also indicates that JS and church leaders in Kirtland had similarly sent a petition to Dunklin and were also planning to send a petition to Jackson. These petitions have not been located.
In addition to discussing the situation in , the 22 January 1834 letter addressed other issues, including the making of printing type and the activities of , who had been ordered to keep the peace and to appear before the court of common pleas for threatening JS’s life. Hurlbut had recently returned from a journey through , , and , where he had been looking for evidence to support his claim that the Book of Mormon was based on an unpublished work of fiction written by Solomon Spalding and also “to examine the validity of Joseph Smith’s claims to the character of a Prophet.” Although Hurlbut obtained some of Spalding’s papers, both he and were never able to produce a manuscript that bore any relation to the Book of Mormon. However, Hurlbut did collect several purported signatures and statements from people in New York claiming that the Spalding manuscript was the basis for the Book of Mormon and attesting to the poor character of JS and his family. Nevertheless, the letter featured here informed the members that because of the judgment against Hurlbut, “his influence was pritty much distroyed.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    William W. Phelps et al., Petition to Daniel Dunklin, 6 Dec. 1833, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  2. [2]

    “The Governor is willing to restore us,” Phelps wrote, “but as the constitution gives him no power to guard us, when back, we are not willing to go.” Dunklin’s official response to the petition is dated 4 February 1834; thus Phelps probably received this information about Dunklin’s position from Alexander Doniphan and David R. Atchison, who had been hired as legal counsel to the church and who had been in communication with Missouri attorney general Robert W. Wells. (Letter from William W. Phelps, 15 Dec. 1833; Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., 4 Feb. 1834, copy; Robert W. Wells, Jefferson City, MO, to Alexander Doniphan and David R. Atchison, 21 Nov. 1833, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.)

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  3. [3]

    Letter from William W. Phelps, 15 Dec. 1833, italics in original.

  4. [4]

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

  5. [5]

    Edward Partridge et al., Petition to Andrew Jackson, 10 Apr. 1834, copy; Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, to Andrew Jackson, 10 Apr. 1834, copy; William W. Phelps et al., Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, 10 Apr. 1834; Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., Liberty, MO, 20 Apr. 1834; Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., Kirtland, OH, 22 Jan. 1836; Lewis Cass, Washington DC, to Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, 2 May 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  6. [6]

    Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, 1807–1904, Final Record Book P, pp. 431–432, microfilm 20,278, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  7. [7]

    Winchester, Plain Facts, 9–11; “To the Public,” Painesville (OH) Telegraph, 31 Jan. 1834, [3]; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, chaps. 17, 19.

    Winchester, Benjamin. Plain Facts, Shewing the Origin of the Spaulding Story, concerning the Manuscript Found, and Its Being Transformed into the Book of Mormon; with a Short History of Dr. P. Hulbert, the Author of the Said Story . . . Re-published by George J. Adams, Minister of the Gospel, Bedford, England. To Which Is Added, a Letter from Elder S. Rigdon, Also, One from Elder O. Hyde, on the Above Subject. Bedford, England: C. B. Merry, 1841.

    Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

    Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to the Church in Clay County, Missouri, 22 January 1834
Letterbook 1 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 79

To the brethren in Christ Jesus scattered abroad from the Land of their Greeting
We your companions in tribulation embrace the present oppertunity of sending you this token of our love and good will assuring you that our bowels are filled with compassion and that our prayers are dailey assending to God in the name of Jesus Christ in your behalf
We have just received inteligence from you through the medium of [of] [Ohio,] making inquiries concerning the course which you are to persue. In addition to the knowledge contained in the above upon this subject; we say if it is not the duty of the to call out and keep a standing force in to protect you on your Lands, which it appears must be done, as we understand that the mob are determined to massecree you if the take you back upon your lands and leave you unprotected. It will become your duty to petition the to petition the President to send a force of men there to protect you are reinstated. The proposes to take you back to your lands whenever you are ready to go (if we understand correctly) but cannot keep up and army to guard you; and while the hostile feelings of the people of remain unabated probably you dare not go back to be left unguarded. Therefore, in your petition to the set all these things forth in there proper light, and pray him to notify the President of your situation and also petition the President yourselves according to the direction of the Lord We have petitioned in your behalf and enclosed in it a printed revelation, the source of this which we now send to you. The petition was signed by something like sixty brethren and mailed to go to one week ago, and he will probably received it two weeks [p. 79]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 79

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to the Church in Clay County, Missouri, 22 January 1834
ID #
198
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:407–412
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    In JS Letterbook 1, this letter is preceded by a notation that identifies the recipients as “Brethren scattered from Zion.” (JS Letterbook 1, p. 79.)

  2. [2]

    To ensure that adversaries did not intercept letters addressed to church leaders in Kirtland, Frederick G. Williams directed church members in Missouri on 10 October 1833 to send letters to Elliott, who would then forward them to church leaders. (Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear Brethren,” 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 56–60.)

  3. [3]

    A probable reference to the letter just received from Elliott in Chagrin, Ohio.

  4. [4]

    Phelps told the leaders in Kirtland, “The mob sware, if we come we shall die!” (Letter from William W. Phelps, 15 Dec. 1833, italics in original.)

  5. [5]

    Dunklin officially informed church leaders in Missouri on 4 February 1834 that maintaining militia troops in Jackson County “would transcend the powers” he possessed as governor of Missouri. (Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, to William W. Phelps et al., 4 Feb. 1834, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.)

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  6. [6]

    The 16–17 December 1833 revelation commanded the church members in Missouri to “importune at the feet of the President.” Church leaders in Missouri wrote to United States president Andrew Jackson and Missouri governor Daniel Dunklin the following April. (Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:88]; Edward Partridge et al., Petition to Andrew Jackson, 10 Apr. 1834; Sidney Gilbert et al., Liberty, MO, to Andrew Jackson, 10 Apr. 1834, copy; William W. Phelps et al., Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, 10 Apr. 1834, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL.)

    Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.

  7. [7]

    The petition to Governor Dunklin has not been located.

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