Home >
Places >
Jackson County, Missouri

Interim Content

Jackson County, Missouri

Summary

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808.

Campbell, Gazetteer of Missouri, 265.

Campbell, R. A., ed. Campbell’s Gazetteer of Missouri: From Articles Contributed by Prominent Gentlemen in Each County of the State. . . . St. Louis: By the author, 1874.

County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826.

An Act Defining the Limits of the Several Counties in This State [16 Feb. 1825], Laws of the State of Missouri [1825], vol. 1, p. 242, sec. 30; Campbell, Gazetteer of Missouri, 266.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Laws of the State of Missouri; Revised and Digested by Authority of the General Assembly. 2 vols. St. Louis: E. Charless, 1825.

Campbell, R. A., ed. Campbell’s Gazetteer of Missouri: From Articles Contributed by Prominent Gentlemen in Each County of the State. . . . St. Louis: By the author, 1874.

Named after U.S. president Andrew Jackson.

Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:7.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area.

Campbell, Gazetteer of Missouri, 265, 267; Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:8–9.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Campbell, R. A., ed. Campbell’s Gazetteer of Missouri: From Articles Contributed by Prominent Gentlemen in Each County of the State. . . . St. Louis: By the author, 1874.

Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

Area of county reduced considerably in 1833 by creation of Van Buren and Bates counties from southern portion.

Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:7.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

Population in 1830 about 2,800; in 1836 about 4,500; and in 1840 about 7,600.

Campbell, Gazetteer of Missouri, 265; Wetmore, Gazetteer of the State of Missouri, 267; Chapin, Complete Reference Gazetteer of the United States, 139.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Campbell, R. A., ed. Campbell’s Gazetteer of Missouri: From Articles Contributed by Prominent Gentlemen in Each County of the State. . . . St. Louis: By the author, 1874.

Wetmore, Alphonso, comp. Gazetteer of the State of Missouri. With a Map of the State, from the Office of the Surveyor-General, Including the Latest Additions and Surveys . . . . St. Louis: C. Keemle, 1837.

Chapin, William. A Complete Reference Gazetteer of the United States of North America; Containing a General View of the United States. . . . New York: W. Chapin and J. B. Taylor, 1839.

JS appointed missionaries to proselytize among American Indians west of Independence, fall 1830.

Revelation, October 1830–A [D&C 32]; JS History, vol. A-1, 60–61; Pratt, Autobiography, 49; Brown et al., Historical Atlas, 34–35.

Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

Brown, S. Kent, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard H. Jackson, eds. Historical Atlas of Mormonism. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Saints began settling in county, July 1831.

Oliver Cowdery, Missionary covenant, 17 Oct. 1831, in Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—Nos. VIII–IX ,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 8 Dec. 1831, [1]; Knight, Autobiographical sketch, [3].

Comprehensive Works Cited

Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.

Knight, Joseph, Jr. Autobiographical Sketch, 1862. CHL. MS 286.

JS revelation, dated 20 July 1831, designated area near Independence as “city of Zion” for gathering of Saints and building of temple.

Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–3].

Saints were instructed to buy land from temple site to western border of county.

Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–5]

Saints began settling in Independence and Kaw Township.

Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:8–11.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

Latter-day Saint population by 1832 about 850.

“The Gathering,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Nov. 1832, [5]; Historian’s Office, “A List of the Persons Driven from Jackson County, Missouri,” ca. 27 Aug. 1864, CHL; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 31; Whitmer, History, 40.

Comprehensive Works Cited

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

Historian’s Office. “A List of the Persons Driven from Jackson County, Missouri,” ca. 27 Aug. 1864. Information concerning Persons Driven from Jackson County, Missouri, in 1833, 1863-1868. CHL. MS 6019, fd. 1.

Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.

Whitmer, History / Whitmer, John. “The Book of John Whitmer Kept by Commandment,” ca. 1838–1847. CHL. Available at josephsmithpapers.org.

Latter-day Saint population by summer 1833 about 1,000.

Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 31–32; Pratt, Autobiography, 93.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.

As increasing numbers of Saints entered Missouri, mob violence by earlier settlers erupted, July 1833.

“A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:17–20; Corrill, Brief History, 19; “LDS Communities in Jackson and Clay Counties,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 2:924.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Corrill, John. A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons;) Including an Account of Their Doctrine and Discipline; with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church. St. Louis: By the author, 1839.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1992.

Saints expelled from county into Clay and other counties, Nov. 1833.

Corrill, Brief History, 20; Brown et al., Historical Atlas, 34.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Brown, S. Kent, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard H. Jackson, eds. Historical Atlas of Mormonism. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Efforts to seek justice through courts were unsuccessful.

Letter from William W. Phelps, 27 February 1834; “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 2:49–51; “LDS Communities in Jackson and Clay Counties,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 2:924.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1992.

JS led Camp of Israel expedition to western Missouri in failed effort to recover Latter-day Saint lands in Jackson Co., summer 1834.

JS History, vol. A-1, 477–478; “LDS Communities in Jackson and Clay Counties,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 2:924.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1992.

JS and other Latter-day Saint prisoners taken temporarily to county, Nov. 1838.

Letter to Emma Smith, 4 Nov. 1838.

Jackson County, Missouri

Summary

Links

Request for Documents