CHAPTER SIX
Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ

The date of 6 April 1830 is significant to Latter-day Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized on that day. The organization of the Church climaxed a decade of preparation for the Prophet Joseph Smith, as Elder Gordon B. Hinckley pointed out:

“This day of organization was, in effect, a day of commencement, the graduation for Joseph from ten years of remarkable schooling. It had begun with the incomparable vision in the grove in the spring of 1820, when the Father and the Son appeared to the fourteen-year-old boy. It had continued with the tutoring from Moroni, with both warnings and instructions given on multiple occasions. Then there was the translation of the ancient record, and the inspiration, the knowledge, the revelation that came from that experience. There was the bestowal of divine authority, the ancient priesthood again conferred upon men by those who were its rightful possessors—John the Baptist in the case of the Aaronic Priesthood, and Peter, James, and John in the case of the Melchizedek. There were revelations, a number of them, in which the voice of God was heard again, and the channel of communication opened between man and the Creator. All of these were preliminary to that historic April 6.”¹

A Day to Be Remembered

Shortly after Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from heavenly messengers in 1829, they were shown in revelation “the precise day upon which, according to [God’s] will and commandment, we should proceed to organize his church once again, here upon the earth.”² Peter Whitmer, Sr., offered the use of his home for the organization meeting that was scheduled for Tuesday, 6 April, according to the revelation. At the appointed hour, close to sixty people assembled to witness the formal organization of the Church of Jesus Christ. Approximately twenty of these people had come from Colesville, a distance of approximately one hundred miles, to participate in the events of this sacred occasion.³

The meeting was simple. Joseph Smith, then twenty-four years old, called the group to order and designated five associates—Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Samuel H. Smith, and David Whitmer—to join him to meet New York’s legal requirements for incorporating a religious society.⁴ After kneeling in solemn prayer, Joseph asked those present if they were willing to accept him and Oliver as their teachers and spiritual advisers. Everyone raised their hands in the affirmative. Although they had previously received the Melchizedek Priesthood, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery then ordained each other to the office of elder. They did this to signify that they were elders in the newly organized church. The sacrament of the Lord’s supper was administered next. The prayers used had been received through revelation (see D&C 20:75–79). Joseph and Oliver then confirmed those who had previously been baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ and bestowed upon them the gift of the Holy Ghost.

In a revelation received on this historic day, Joseph was designated “a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ” (D&C 21:1). The Lord instructed members of the infant Church to receive Joseph’s word “as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (D&C 21:5).

The organization of the Church of Jesus Christ was an unforgettable occasion for those present. Joseph reported that “after a happy time spent in witnessing and feeling for ourselves the powers and blessings of the Holy Ghost, through the grace of God bestowed upon us, we dismissed with the pleasing knowledge that we were now individually members of, and acknowledged of God, ‘The Church of Jesus Christ,’ organized in accordance with commandments and revelations given by Him to ourselves in these last days, as well as according to the order of the Church as recorded in the New Testament.”⁵ Joseph also took opportunity to teach the Saints and bear his own testimony. Several individuals were baptized on that eventful day, including Orrin Porter Rockwell, Martin Harris, and Joseph Smith’s parents. It was a time of joy and happiness in the life of the Prophet, who exclaimed, “Praise to my God! that I lived to see my own father baptized into the true Church of Jesus Christ!”⁶

On Sunday, 11 April, Oliver Cowdery delivered the Church’s first public discourse in the Whitmers’ Fayette home. Many people attended, and that day six people were baptized. A week later seven more joined. Joseph Smith also received a revelation answering the question of the necessity of being baptized again when an individual has previously been baptized in another church. The answer was: “Although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the strait gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works” (D&C 22:2). The Lord affirmed that authority was essential to perform a valid baptism. The Church, then as now, provided all sincere believers in Christ and his gospel the organizational structure for receiving the saving ordinances, enjoying fellowship with other believers, being taught more perfectly in the principles of the gospel, and assisting in the saving of others.

The Prophet’s Ministry in Colesville

Later in April, Joseph Smith visited Joseph Knight, Sr., in Colesville. Joseph related, “Mr. Knight and his family . . . were willing to reason with me upon my religious views, and were, as usual, friendly and hospitable. We held several meetings in the neighborhood; we had many friends, and some enemies. Our meetings were well attended, and many began to pray fervently to Almighty God, that He would give them wisdom to understand the truth.”⁷

One of the people who regularly attended the meetings was Newel Knight, a close friend of the Prophet. Newel Knight was afraid to pray, but he finally accepted the persuasive challenge of the Prophet to do so in the next meeting. When the moment arrived, Newel declined, promising that he would pray later in private. The next morning he went into the woods where he tried to pray, but he failed because he felt guilty for refusing to pray publicly. The Prophet said that Newel “began to feel uneasy, and continued to feel worse both in mind and body, until, upon reaching his own house, his appearance was such as to alarm his wife very much. He requested her to go and bring me to him. I went and found him suffering very much in his mind, and his body acted upon in a very strange manner; his visage and limbs distorted and twisted in every shape and appearance possible to imagine; and finally he was caught up off the floor of the apartment [room], and tossed about most fearfully.”⁸

Neighbors and relatives gathered to see what was happening. Joseph finally caught hold of Newel’s hand. Newel said he knew he was possessed of the devil and he also knew that Joseph had the power to cast him out. Acting on Newel’s faith as well as his own, Joseph commanded the devil to depart in the name of Jesus Christ. “Immediately Newel spoke out and said that he saw the devil leave him and vanish from his sight. This was the first miracle which was done in the Church . . . , and it was done not by man, nor by the power of man, but it was done by God, and by the power of godliness.”⁹ Newel Knight’s facial expressions returned to normal, and his body relaxed.

“The Spirit of the Lord descended upon him [Newel], and the visions of eternity were opened to his view.” In his weakened condition he was placed on his bed, but he said he felt himself “attracted upward, and remained for some time enwrapt in contemplation, insomuch that I knew not what was going on in the room.” In this state his body was elevated until he touched the ceiling.¹⁰

Many of the people who saw these events were convinced of the power of God and later joined the Church. Joseph soon returned to Fayette. A few weeks later, Newel Knight came to Fayette and was baptized by David Whitmer.

First Conference of the Church

By June 1830 the Saints in New York were located primarily in Manchester, Fayette, and Colesville. The membership of the Church at this point was about thirty people. Following revealed instructions (see D&C 20:75), the Prophet called them together for the first conference of the Church on 9 June, at Fayette. Many people attended who already believed or were eager to learn. Those assembled partook of the sacrament, and several recent converts were confirmed. Samuel H. Smith was ordained an elder, and Joseph Smith, Sr., and Hyrum were ordained priests. Ten brethren received “licenses,” which were small documents certifying they were authorized to represent the Church (see D&C 20:64–65). Oliver Cowdery kept the minutes of this meeting and was appointed by the conference to keep the official Church records.

Joseph Smith read to the congregation the “Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ” (most of sections 20 and 22 of the Doctrine and Covenants), which contain significant instructions pertaining to the order of the Church.¹¹

Joseph Smith wrote, “Much exhortation and instruction was given, and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us in a miraculous manner—many of our number prophesied, whilst others had the heavens opened to their view.” Newel Knight was filled with unspeakable love and peace. He saw a vision of the Savior and learned that he would someday be admitted into the presence of the Lord.

“Such scenes as these were calculated to inspire our hearts with joy unspeakable, and fill us with awe and reverence for that Almighty Being. . . . To find ourselves engaged in the very same order of things as observed by the holy Apostles of old; to realize the importance and solemnity of such proceedings; and to witness and feel with our own natural senses, the like glorious manifestations of the powers of the Priesthood, the gifts and blessings of the Holy Ghost, and the goodness and condescension of a merciful God unto such as obey the everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, combined to create within us sensations of rapturous gratitude, and inspire us with fresh zeal and energy in the cause of truth.”¹²

Shortly after this conference twelve people were baptized in Seneca Lake by David Whitmer. They included Joseph Smith’s sister Katherine and his brothers William and Don Carlos.

Tribulation and Joy in Colesville

Immediately after the conference, Joseph Smith returned to his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania. In the latter part of June 1830, the Prophet, accompanied by his wife, Oliver Cowdery, and John and David Whitmer, visited the Knight family in Colesville, New York. Joseph Knight, Sr., who had read the Book of Mormon and was satisfied it was true, and a number of others in the area desired baptism. On Saturday, 26 June, the brethren dammed a stream to make a pond suitable for baptisms. That night a mob, incited by leaders of some area churches who feared losing members, demolished the dam. On Sunday the brethren proceeded with the meeting. The Prophet related, “Oliver Cowdery preached, and others of us bore testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon, the doctrine of repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”¹³ Some members of the mob attended the meeting and afterward harassed those in attendance.

Early the next day, 28 June, the brethren repaired the dam and held the baptismal service. Thirteen people were baptized, including Emma Smith. Many neighbors mocked them, asking if they “had been washing sheep.”¹⁴ Quietly the Saints returned to Joseph Knight’s residence and then to the home of Newel Knight, but their enemies followed them hurling insults and threatening to harm the new converts. A meeting was to be held that evening to confirm those who had been baptized, but before it could begin, Joseph Smith was arrested and taken to South Bainbridge in Chenango County for trial as a “disorderly person.” Mobs tried to intercept Joseph and the constable, but the officer succeeded in protecting the Prophet.

Joseph Knight, Sr., arranged for two neighbors, James Davidson and John Reid, “men renowned for their integrity,” to defend Joseph Smith in court the next day. The circulation of “scandalous falsehoods” about the Prophet attracted many boisterous spectators to the trial. Nevertheless, the testimonies of Josiah Stowell and two of his daughters were instrumental in achieving Joseph’s acquittal. But the trial was no sooner over than a constable from Broome County arrested him again on the same charge.¹⁵

Joseph reported: “The constable who served this second warrant upon me had no sooner arrested me than he began to abuse and insult me; and so unfeeling was he with me, that although I had been kept all the day in court without anything to eat since the morning, yet he hurried me off to Broome county, a distance of about fifteen miles, before he allowed me any kind of food whatever. He took me to a tavern, and gathered in a number of men, who used every means to abuse, ridicule and insult me. They spit upon me, pointed their fingers at me, saying, ‘Prophesy, prophesy!’ and thus did they imitate those who crucified the Savior of mankind, not knowing what they did.”

In the trial the next morning, many bore false witness against the Prophet, often contradicting themselves. When Newel Knight took the stand, Mr. Seymour, a prosecutor who was anxious to defy Mormonism, questioned Newel about the incident of the devil being cast out of him:

“‘And had not Joe Smith some hand in its being done?’

“‘Yes, sir.’

“‘And did not he cast him out of you?’

“‘No, sir; it was done by the power of God, and Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hands of God, on the occasion. He commanded him to come out of me in the name of Jesus Christ.’

“‘And are you sure that it was the devil?’

“‘Yes, sir.’

“‘Did you see him after he was cast out of you?’

“‘Yes, sir! I saw him.’

“‘Pray, what did he look like?’

“. . . The witness replied:

“‘I believe I need not answer your last question, but I will do it, provided I be allowed to ask you one question first, and you answer me, viz., Do you, Mr. Seymour, understand the things of the spirit?’

“‘No,’ answered Mr. Seymour, ‘I do not pretend to such big things.’

“‘Well, then,’ replied Knight, ‘it would be of no use to tell you what the devil looked like, for it was a spiritual sight, and spiritually discerned; and of course you would not understand it were I to tell you of it.’

“The lawyer dropped his head, whilst the loud laugh of the audience proclaimed his discomfiture. . . .

“. . . These men [James Davidson and John Reid], although not regular lawyers, were upon this occasion able to put to silence their opponents, and convince the court that I was innocent. They spoke like men inspired of God.”¹⁶ The Prophet was again acquitted, but mobs harassed him until he found safety at his wife’s sister’s house and later at his home in Harmony.

A few days later Joseph Smith returned to Colesville with Oliver Cowdery to confirm those who had been baptized; they had just arrived when a mob began to gather. They thought it best to leave, without even taking time to rest. Joseph and Oliver barely escaped the mob that pursued them throughout the night. Joseph said, “Thus were we persecuted on account of our religious faith—in a country the Constitution of which guarantees to every man the indefeasible right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience—and by men, too, who were professors of religion, and who were not backward to maintain the right of religious liberty for themselves, though they could thus wantonly deny it to us.”¹⁷

Meanwhile the Saints in Colesville prayed that Joseph and Oliver would again come to visit them. The Prophet’s return to Colesville in early August involved a miracle. Because hostile feelings persisted, Joseph and Hyrum Smith and John and David Whitmer prayed mightily before their journey, and as Newel Knight declared, “their prayers were not in vain. A little distance from my house they encountered a large company of men at work upon the public road, amongst whom were some of our most bitter enemies who looked earnestly at the brethren but not knowing them, the brethren passed on unmolested.”¹⁸ The confirmations that followed and the partaking of the sacrament together was a joyful interlude between troubles.

Throughout these tribulations, the Lord sustained the Prophet and revealed fundamental truths of Latter-day Saint theology and practice. Among these truths were the “visions of Moses,” comprising chapter 1 of the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, which set forth the nature and extent of God’s work (see Moses 1:33, 39) and exposed Satan as the source of opposition to righteousness. Throughout the summer Joseph studied the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. This study formed the basis for the book of Moses and much of his “inspired translation” of the Bible, which is now known as the Joseph Smith Translation.¹⁹

Other revelations were received during July telling Joseph to be patient in his afflictions and instructing him to continue in prayer and “in writing the things which shall be given thee by the Comforter, and expounding all scriptures unto the church. . . .

“For thou shalt devote all thy service in Zion; and in this thou shalt have strength. . . .

“And in temporal affairs thou shalt not have strength” (D&C 24:5, 7, 9). Joseph’s calling was as a prophet; he was not to be directly concerned about providing for his own temporal needs. This was not an easy sacrifice for him or his family. He was also counseled to let his “time be devoted to the studying of the scriptures [an allusion to his inspired translation of the Bible], and to preaching, and to confirming the church at Colesville, and to performing your labors on the land, such as is required, until after you shall go to the west to hold the next conference; and then it shall be made known what you shall do” (D&C 26:1). This conference would take place in September in Fayette.

In July, Joseph received a revelation for his wife, Emma (see D&C 25). She was designated “an elect lady” (v. 3) and comforted in her afflictions. She was also directed to compile the first hymnbook for the Church. The hymns she compiled, and others written since that time, represent an important expression of faith for the Latter-day Saints. Speaking of the importance of music in our dispensation, the Lord said, “my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads” (v. 12).

When the Prophet returned to Harmony in August, he received an important revelation concerning sacramental emblems. Newel Knight and his wife, Sally, had gone to Harmony to visit Joseph and Emma. Neither of the women had been confirmed members of the Church because of disruption by the mob, so the two couples, together with John Whitmer, decided to attend to this ordinance and to partake of the sacrament. Joseph went to “procure some wine for the occasion, but had gone only a short distance when [he] was met by a heavenly messenger.” The angel told him that it did not matter what was eaten or drunk in the sacrament as long as the ordinance was performed with an eye single to the glory of God. Joseph was also warned not to purchase wine from enemies (see D&C 27:2–4). In obedience to this charge, the small group used “some wine of [their] own making” and held a meeting. They “spent the evening in a glorious manner. The Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon [them].”²⁰

Early Missionary Labors and Conversions

While these events transpired in Colesville and Harmony during the summer of 1830, missionary work was also underway in other parts of New York State. People had shared the gospel with family, friends, and neighbors even before the Church was organized. More than one aspiring missionary had been told through revelation: “Behold, the field is white already to harvest; therefore, whoso desireth to reap, let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God” (D&C 6:3; see also 4:4; 11:3; 12:3; 14:3).

Once printing of the Book of Mormon started, public interest in Joseph Smith and Mormonism increased. Rumors flourished about the gold book being printed in Palmyra. One man who heard the rumors was Thomas B. Marsh of Boston, who later became the first president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. His curiosity led him to Grandin’s print shop; there he met Martin Harris, who gave him proof sheets of the first sixteen printed pages of the Book of Mormon and then accompanied him to the Smith home in Manchester. Oliver Cowdery spent portions of two days telling him about Joseph and the Restoration. Thomas returned to Massachusetts and taught his family about the new work. When he heard the Church had been organized, he moved his family to Palmyra. In September 1830 he was baptized and called on a mission (see D&C 31).

Samuel H. Smith, the Prophet’s younger brother, was ordained an elder at the first conference of the Church on 9 June 1830 and was soon taking summer trips into neighboring counties, alone or with his parents, to sell the Book of Mormon. He was often discouraged because his efforts were for the most part rejected. He did, however, leave one copy of the Book of Mormon with a Reverend John P. Greene, who, although not interested in reading it himself, said he would ask his parishioners whether they would like to buy a copy. Three weeks later Samuel went again to see Reverend Greene, but he had not returned from his circuit tour. His wife, Rhoda, said that the book had not sold but that she had read the book and liked it. Samuel left the book with her, and later her husband read it and was converted.

Phineas Young, a brother of Rhoda Young Greene, had bought a copy of the Book of Mormon from Samuel earlier in April 1830 when he met Samuel returning from Lima, New York, where he had been preaching. He gave the Book of Mormon to Brigham Young, who gave it to his sister, Fanny Young Murray, the mother-in-law of Heber C. Kimball. After intense study these men and their families were baptized into the Church. Brigham Young spent two years in study and comparison before he was baptized in April 1832. Hence, Samuel Smith’s early missionary labors resulted in some of the most influential converts of the early Church. He was a dedicated missionary who labored in New York, New England, Ohio, and Missouri converting scores of people and organizing several branches of the Church.

[click for enlarged version] [Bitmap] [PDF] Asael Smith’s family, showing subsequent leaders of the Church

Joseph Smith, Sr., also thrust his sickle into “ripe fields” that first summer. With his fourteen-year-old son, Don Carlos, he preached to his father’s family in St. Lawrence County, and his message was received with joy. Asael’s son John, brother of Joseph, Sr., also accepted the gospel, as did John’s son George A. Smith, who later became one of the twelve Apostles. Thus, three generations were united in the faith of the Restoration.

Twenty-three-year-old Parley P. Pratt was another New York convert that summer. Parley had settled in the wilderness of northeastern Ohio, and there he joined a group of restorationists (disciples or Campbellites) under Sidney Rigdon’s leadership. In the summer of 1830, as Parley journeyed by canal through New York to visit relatives, the Spirit prompted him to send his wife, Thankful, on ahead so he could stop to preach his religious ideas near Palmyra at the village of Newark. A Baptist deacon told him about the Book of Mormon and let him read it. He eagerly read the title page and the testimony of the witnesses and began to read the text. He recounted the following:

“I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep.

“As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows that he exists. My joy was now full, as it were, and I rejoiced sufficiently to more than pay me for all the sorrows, sacrifices and toils of my life. I soon determined to see the young man who had been the instrument of its discovery and translation.

“I accordingly visited the village of Palmyra, and inquired for the residence of Mr. Joseph Smith. I found it some two or three miles from the village. As I approached the house at the close of the day I overtook a man who was driving some cows. . . . It was Hyrum Smith. I informed him of the interest I felt in the Book of Mormon, and of my desire to learn more about it. He welcomed me to his house. . . . We conversed most of the night, during which I unfolded to him much of my experience in my search after truth, and my success so far; together with that which I felt was lacking, viz. a commissioned priesthood, or apostleship to minister in the ordinances of God.”²¹

Hyrum continued to teach Parley, and they soon journeyed to Fayette to meet the Whitmers and other members of the growing branch of the Church. Parley was baptized and ordained an elder by Oliver Cowdery in September 1830. Invested with authority, Parley traveled to his boyhood home in Columbia County, New York, where he addressed large audiences each day, but only his brother Orson accepted the message. Orson was baptized on his nineteenth birthday and left within two weeks to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith in Fayette.

The Prophet’s Move to Fayette

Meanwhile in Harmony, Joseph Smith, assisted by John Whitmer, began to arrange and copy the revelations Joseph had received. While engaged in this project, Joseph received a letter from Oliver Cowdery that grieved him. Oliver said he had discovered the following error of language in one of the revelations: “and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins” (D&C 20:37). Believing that his position as the second elder in the Church authorized him to do so, Oliver wrote to Joseph. Joseph reported:

“The . . . quotation, he said, was erroneous, and added: ‘I command you in the name of God to erase those words, that no priestcraft be amongst us!’

“I immediately wrote to him in reply, in which I asked him by what authority he took upon him to command me to alter or erase, to add to or diminish from, a revelation or commandment from Almighty God.”

About this time a Methodist minister convinced Isaac Hale of many falsehoods about his son-in-law. As a result, life became unbearable for Joseph and his family in Harmony. Therefore, Joseph began to make preparations to permanently move to Fayette where he had been invited to live with Peter Whitmer, Sr., again. In late August, Newel Knight took his team and wagon to Harmony to move Joseph and his family to Fayette. Upon arriving there, Joseph discovered that the Whitmers agreed with Oliver Cowdery about the supposed error in the revelation. Joseph noted, “It was not without both labor and perseverance that I could prevail with any of them to reason calmly on the subject. However, Christian Whitmer at length became convinced that the sentence was reasonable, and according to Scripture; and finally, with his assistance, I succeeded in bringing, not only the Whitmer family, but also Oliver Cowdery to acknowledge that they had been in error, and that the sentence in dispute was in accordance with the rest of the commandment.”²²

In Fayette Joseph encountered another serious problem regarding revelation. Hiram Page, one of the Eight Witnesses and a brother-in-law to the Whitmers, possessed a stone through which he received what he called “revelations” about the building of Zion and the order of the Church. Joseph insisted that these claims “were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, as laid down in the New Testament, as well as in our late revelations.”²³ Since a conference was scheduled for 26 September, the Prophet decided not to do more than talk with the brethren about the subject until the conference met. Many people, especially Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmers, believed in the claims of Hiram Page.

The Prophet turned to the Lord in prayer and received a revelation directed to Oliver Cowdery in which he was charged not to command Joseph Smith, the leader of the Church. The Lord made it clear that only the President of the Church has the right to receive revelations for the Church (see D&C 28:2). He also was told that the location of the city of Zion had not yet been revealed, but would be in due time (see v. 9). Furthermore, Oliver was instructed to go to Hiram Page and convince him that the stone and the purported revelations came from Satan (see v. 11). At the scheduled September conference, Hiram Page’s stone was discussed; those present, including Hiram, renounced it and the “revelations” received through it as false. The conference also voted that Joseph Smith was to “receive and write Revelations & Commandments for this Church.”²⁴ In all, the conference lasted three days. Joseph testified that “much of the power of God manifested amongst us; the Holy Ghost came upon us, and filled us with joy unspeakable; and peace, and faith, and hope, and charity abounded in our midst.”²⁵

Endnotes

1. “150-Year Drama: A Personal View of Our History,” Ensign, Apr. 1980, pp. 11–12.

2. “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1842, pp. 928–29.

3. See letter from Edward Stevenson to F. D. Richards, 10 Jan. 1887, cited in Journal of Edward Stevenson, 1886, vol. 3, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City.

4. See Larry C. Porter, “A Study of the Origins of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, 1816–1831,” Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1971, pp. 374–86.

5. History of the Church, 1:79.

6. In Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, ed. Preston Nibley (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), p. 168; see also History of the Church, 1:79.

7. History of the Church, 1:81.

8. History of the Church, 1:82.

9. History of the Church, 1:81–83.

10. History of the Church, 1:83–84.

11. See Donald Q. Cannon and Lyndon W. Cook, eds., Far West Record: Minutes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1844 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983), pp. 1–3.

12. History of the Church, 1:84–86.

13. History of the Church, 1:86.

14. Joseph Knight, Jr., “Joseph Knight’s Incidents of History from 1827 to 1844,” comp. Thomas Bullock, from loose sheets in Joseph Knight’s possession, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 2; see also History of the Church, 1:87–88.

15. History of the Church, 1:88–89.

16. History of the Church, 1:91–94.

17. History of the Church, 1:97.

18. Newel Knight’s Journal, typescript, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 11; see also Larry C. Porter, “The Joseph Knight Family,” Ensign, Oct. 1978, p. 42.

19. See Robert J. Matthews, “A Plainer Translation,” Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible: A History and Commentary (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1975), pp. 25–26.

20. See History of the Church, 1:108.

21. Parley P. Pratt, ed., Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Classics in Mormon Literature series (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), pp. 20–22.

22. History of the Church, 1:105.

23. History of the Church, 1:110.

24. In Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, p. 3; see also Doctrine and Covenants 21.

25. History of the Church, 1:115.

CHAPTER SEVEN
The Infant Church Expands

Since early 1830 the Latter-day Saints have acknowledged the American Indian as a remnant of the house of Israel, who great promises have been extended to. Referring to these people as “Lamanites,” a Book of Mormon prophet declared, “At some period of time they will be brought to believe in his [God’s] word, and to know of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers; and many of them will be saved” (Alma 9:17). The 1830 Saints believed these promises and were moved since the early days of the Church to bring to pass their fulfillment.

Call to Teach the Lamanites

The Church was barely six months old when Oliver Cowdery was called by revelation to go to the Lamanites and preach the gospel (see D&C 28:8). Subsequently Peter Whitmer, Jr., Ziba Peterson, and Parley P. Pratt were called to assist him (see D&C 30:5; 32:1–3). The destination of the missionaries was “the borders by the Lamanites” (D&C 28:9). This phrase was understood to refer to the line between Missouri and the Indian territory to the west. For more than twenty years many Americans had agitated for the removal of Indians from the Eastern States to a permanent Indian frontier in the plains beyond. As a result of this agitation, less than four months before the call of the missionaries, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the “Indian Removal Act.” The Shawnee and Delaware Indians from Ohio, anticipating these developments, made the move on their own as early as 1828–29. Both tribes settled near the Kansas River just west of the Missouri border.

Following the second conference of the Church, preparations for the missionary journey began in earnest. Emma Smith and several other sisters made arrangements to furnish the missionaries with necessary clothing. Even though Emma was not well, she spent many hours sewing suitable clothing for each missionary. Saints in the Fayette, New York, area generously furnished food, and Martin Harris supplied copies of the Book of Mormon for distribution. Before departing, the missionaries bound themselves in writing to give “heed unto all [the] words and advice” of Oliver Cowdery. They pledged to proclaim the “fulness of the Gospel” to their brethren, the Lamanites.¹ On 18 October they began their fifteen-hundred-mile westward trek.

Early Success on the Western Reserve

The missionaries visited a friendly tribe of Seneca Indians on the Cattaraugus Reservation near Buffalo, New York, where they paused just long enough to introduce the Book of Mormon as a record of their forgotten ancestors. “We were kindly received, and much interest was manifested by them on hearing this news,” Parley reported.² Leaving two copies of the book, the missionaries journeyed onward. So far as is known, these were the first American Indians to hear the message of the Restoration in this dispensation.

When the elders arrived in northeastern Ohio, they reached an area popularly known as the Western Reserve because in colonial times it was allotted to Connecticut as a “western reserve.” Parley P. Pratt was familiar with this country, having lived at Amherst, fifty miles west of Kirtland, for about four years before his conversion to the Church. Parley had studied under Sidney Rigdon, a prominent minister in the area who presided over a group of seekers (people seeking a return to New Testament Christianity). At one time Sidney merged his interests with those of another seeker, Alexander Campbell, and helped found the church called the Disciples of Christ, also known as the Campbellites. But Rigdon disagreed with Campbell on certain doctrinal practices and formed his own group, the Reformed Baptist Society. Because of his former close associations with Rigdon, Elder Pratt convinced his companions to visit Sidney in Mentor, Ohio, where he testified to his former teacher that the Restoration had occurred, including the restoration of divine authority. Oliver Cowdery, an eyewitness to the restoration of the priesthood, bore firsthand testimony of that event.

Although Sidney treated the missionaries cordially and with respect, his was no instantaneous conversion. He told the elders, “I will read your book, and see what claims it has upon my faith.” The elders then asked to present their message in Rigdon’s church. Consent was given, “the appointment was accordingly published, and a large and respectable congregation assembled.” At the end of the meeting, Rigdon, with commendable open-mindedness, told his listeners that the message they had just heard “was of an extraordinary character, and certainly demanded their most serious consideration.” He reminded the congregation of the Apostle Paul’s advice to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).³

Meanwhile, the elders were not idle. Less than five miles from Rigdon’s home in Mentor was the village of Kirtland, where numerous members of Sidney’s congregation lived. The missionaries preached from house to house, likewise receiving respectful attention. Soon some residents were convinced that no one among them possessed the divine authority necessary to administer gospel ordinances and that they had not been authoritatively baptized themselves. After much study and prayer, many people, including Sidney Rigdon, requested baptism at the hands of the missionaries. News of their teachings spread rapidly. Parley reported, “The people thronged us night and day, insomuch that we had no time for rest and retirement. Meetings were convened in different neighborhoods, and multitudes came together soliciting our attendance; while thousands flocked about us daily; some to be taught, some for curiosity, some to obey the gospel, and some to dispute or resist it.”⁴

Within three weeks of the missionaries’ arrival, 127 persons were baptized. Prominent among the number were Isaac Morley, Levi Hancock, Lyman Wight, and John Murdock, well-known residents of the area who were destined to play an important role in future Church affairs. In reminiscing later about his own baptism and its effect upon him, John Murdock wrote that “the Spirit of the Lord sensibly attended the ministration, and I came out of the water rejoicing and singing praises to God, and the Lamb.”⁵

Another early Ohio convert, Philo Dibble, who lived about five miles east of Kirtland, was told of a “golden Bible.” Curious, he sought out the missionaries and, after hearing Oliver Cowdery speak, believed and presented himself for baptism. His description of the spiritual power attending his reception of the Holy Ghost may be a clue to why so many early Saints found joy in the Restoration:

“When I came out of the water, I knew that I had been born of water and of the spirit, for my mind was illuminated with the Holy Ghost.

“. . . While in bed that night I felt what appeared to be a hand upon my left shoulder and a sensation like fibers of fire immediately enveloped my body. . . . I was enveloped in a heavenly influence, and could not sleep for joy.”⁶

The brief stopover the missionaries made in the Western Reserve that November bore immediate and lasting fruits. These Ohio conversions more than doubled Church membership in only three weeks. It was as the Lord had promised the Saints by revelation: “For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul” (D&C 4:4; see also 11:3; 12:3). The missionaries ordained Sidney Rigdon and a few others and left them in charge of the ministry. In company with Frederick G. Williams, who had practiced medicine in Kirtland prior to his conversion, they continued their westward journey toward the “border of the Lamanites.”

A Visit to the Prophet in New York

Shortly after the missionaries left Kirtland, Sidney Rigdon and a close associate, Edward Partridge, decided to go to New York “to inquire further” into the origins of the restored gospel that had just been introduced to them. Lydia Partridge wrote, “My husband partly believed, but he had to take a journey to New York State and see the Prophet” before he could be satisfied.⁷ According to Philo Dibble, Partridge also went in behalf of others. He was told by a neighbor, “We have sent a man down to York State to find out the truth of this work, and he is a man who will not lie.”⁸

Arriving in Manchester, New York, in December 1830, Sidney and Edward learned that Joseph was living with the Whitmers in Fayette township, twenty miles away. Upon inquiring among the neighbors concerning the Smith family, they found that their reputation had been impeccable until Joseph had made known his discovery of the Book of Mormon. They also noted the “good order and industry” of the family farm. Edward and Sidney found the Prophet at his parents’ place in Waterloo, where Edward asked Joseph Smith to baptize him. Four days later Edward was ordained an elder by Sidney Rigdon, his friend and traveling companion.⁹

Joseph Smith was impressed with Sidney and Edward from the first. He referred to the latter as “a pattern of piety, and one of the Lord’s great men.”¹⁰ Shortly after Edward’s baptism, the Prophet received revelations setting forth the duties and callings of both men. Because of his influence upon his followers, the Lord compared Sidney to John the Baptist, who had prepared the way for Jesus Christ. Sidney’s new assignment was to serve as scribe for Joseph Smith (see D&C 35:4, 20). Edward was called to preach the gospel “as with the voice of a trump” (D&C 36:1). Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were admonished to strengthen the Church wherever it was found, but “more especially in Colesville; for, behold, they pray unto me in much faith” (D&C 37:2).

The faith of the Colesville Saints was rewarded with a visit from the Prophet and his new associate, Sidney Rigdon. Here Sidney’s oratorical gifts were first evidenced in the Church as he obeyed the command he had received by revelation to “preach my gospel and call on the holy prophets to prove his words” (D&C 35:23). He delivered an effective and powerful sermon.

The New York Saints were also blessed by important doctrinal revelations given to Joseph Smith. Between June and October 1830 he worked on an inspired revision of the book of Genesis. Joseph said that at the time “much conjecture and conversation frequently occurred among the Saints, concerning the books mentioned, and referred to, in various places in the Old and New Testaments, which were now nowhere to be found. The common remark was, ‘They are lost books;’ but it seems the Apostolic Church had some of these writings, as Jude mentions or quotes the Prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam.”¹¹ To the joy of the Church, which now numbered about seventy in New York, the Lord revealed a portion of the ancient book of Enoch, which included a lengthy prophecy about the future. Through this account, now found in Moses 7 in the Pearl of Great Price, the Lord “encouraged and strengthened the faith of His little flock . . . by giving some more extended information upon the Scriptures” than was previously known.¹²

Journey to Missouri

Meanwhile, the five missionaries to the Indians continued to preach to all people as they proceeded westward. Parley P. Pratt wrote, “Some wished to learn and obey the fulness of the gospel. . . . Others were filled with envy, rage and lying.”¹³

Fifty miles west of Kirtland, in Amherst, Ohio, Parley was arrested on a frivolous charge, tried, found guilty, and ordered to pay a fine. Because he could not pay, Parley spent the night locked in a public inn. The next morning, he was visited briefly by his companions and urged them to move ahead on their journey, promising to soon rejoin them. Parley reported: “After sitting awhile by the fire in charge of the officer, I requested to step out. I walked out into the public square accompanied by him. Said I, ‘Mr. Peabody, are you good at a race?’ ‘No,’ said he, ‘but my big bull dog is, and he has been trained to assist me in my office these several years; he will take any man down at my bidding.’ ‘Well, Mr. Peabody, you compelled me to go a mile, I have gone with you two miles. You have given me an opportunity to preach, sing, and have also entertained me with lodging and breakfast. I must now go on my journey; if you are good at a race you can accompany me. I thank you for all your kindness—good day, sir.’

“I then started on my journey, while he stood amazed and not able to step one foot before the other. . . . He did not awake from his astonishment sufficiently to start in pursuit till I had gained, perhaps, two hundred yards. . . . He now came hallooing after me, and shouting to his dog to seize me. The dog, being one of the largest I ever saw, came close on my footsteps with all his fury; the officer behind still in pursuit, clapping his hands and hallooing, ‘stu-boy, stu-boy—take him—watch—lay hold of him, I say—down with him,’ and pointing his finger in the direction I was running. The dog was fast overtaking me, and in the act of leaping upon me, when, quick as lightning, the thought struck me, to assist the officer, in sending the dog with all fury to the forest a little distance before me. I pointed my finger in that direction, clapped my hands, and shouted in imitation of the officer. The dog hastened past me with redoubled speed towards the forest; being urged by the officer and myself, and both of us running in the same direction.”

[click for enlarged version] [Bitmap] [PDF] The missionaries traveled approximately fifteen hundred miles during the fall and winter of 1830–31 to bring the gospel to the Lamanites who had been relocated west of Missouri. The trip was made on foot, except for a steamboat ride between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cairo, Illinois.

Having eluded both the dog and the officer, Elder Pratt rejoined his companions via an alternate route. Parley later learned that Simeon Carter, who he had left a Book of Mormon with, along with about sixty others in that area had joined the Church and formed a branch.¹⁴

The missionaries had not forgotten their charge to teach the gospel to Native Americans. At Sandusky, Ohio, they stopped for several days among the Wyandot Indians. Parley wrote, “They rejoiced in the tidings, bid us God speed, and desired us to write to them in relation to our success among the tribes further west.”¹⁵

It was winter when the intrepid missionaries left Sandusky for Cincinnati, and they walked all the way. The winter of 1830–31 is known in midwest annals as the winter of the deep snow. The latter part of December 1830 was “bitter cold, a blinding, swirling blur of snow, and leaden, lowering skies, combined to make this storm a thing to paralyze that prairie country. It seems to have continued for days, unabated—a wonder, at first, then a terror, a benumbing horror as it became a menace to [the] life of men and animals.”¹⁶ In Cincinnati, Ohio, five days before Christmas, the elders boarded a steamboat bound for St. Louis. Ice floes, however, choked the Ohio River, compelling them to disembark in Cairo, Illinois, and continue on foot. “Twenty miles from St. Louis, . . . a dreadful storm of rain and snow” forced a week’s delay and left snow “in some places near three feet deep.”

Slowly they pressed westward, trudging through the knee-deep snow for entire days “without a house or fire,” the “bleak northwest wind always blowing in our faces with a keenness which would almost take the skin off,” wrote Parley. “The cold [was] so intense that the snow did not melt on the south side of the houses, even in the mid-day sun, for nearly six weeks.” For three hundred miles they carried their clothes, books, and food in knapsacks on their backs. All they had to eat was frozen corn bread and raw pork. Parley said the bread was “so frozen that we could not bite or penetrate any part of it but the outside crust.” For a month and a half they endured exhaustion and hardship as they traveled from Kirtland to Independence. On 13 January 1831 the missionaries arrived in Independence, Missouri, the western frontier of the United States.¹⁷

Teaching the Gospel

Nearing their destination, the missionaries took up residence in the home of Colonel Robert Patterson on the western boundary of Missouri while waiting for the weather to moderate. About 1 February, Peter Whitmer and Ziba Peterson set up a tailor shop in Independence to earn needed funds while Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and Frederick G. Williams entered Indian lands to preach and introduce the Book of Mormon.¹⁸

They found a listener in William Anderson, the aged chief of the Delawares, son of a Scandinavian father and an Indian mother. The chief had been unwilling to listen to other Christians, but he was finally persuaded to hear the missionaries. With about forty tribal leaders comfortably seated in the chief’s lodge, Oliver Cowdery was invited to speak. He quickly gained their confidence as he recounted the long and difficult trip from the East to bring news of the Book of Mormon to them. He acknowledged the Indians’ present plight: once they were many, now they were few; once their possessions were great, now they were small. Skillfully he wove the Book of Mormon story into his narrative: “Thousands of moons ago, when the red men’s forefathers dwelt in peace and possessed this whole land, the Great Spirit talked with them, and revealed His law and His will, and much knowledge to their wise men and prophets.” Oliver told them that this, their history, and prophecies of the “things which should befall their children in the latter days” were written in a book. He promised that if they would receive and follow this book, their “Great Father” would make them prosperous again and return them to their former greatness. He explained that he and his companions had come to bring them copies of the book, which held the key to their future success. Chief Anderson expressed his gratitude for the white men’s kindness:

“‘It makes us glad in here’—placing his hand on his heart.

“‘It is now winter, we are new settlers in this place; the snow is deep, our cattle and horses are dying, our wigwams are poor; we have much to do in the spring—to build houses, and fence and make farms; but we will build a council house, and meet together, and you shall read to us and teach us more concerning the Book of our fathers and the will of the Great Spirit.’”

The elders “continued for several days to instruct the old chief and many of his tribe.” Their hosts’ desire to learn more about the Book of Mormon grew each day, and the elders, finding several people who could read, distributed copies among them, and the readers helped spread the word.¹⁹

Government Indian agents were in control of the area, and unfortunately the missionaries had not obtained the required permit to enter Indian lands and teach the gospel. The local Indian agent immediately informed them that they were in violation of the law and ordered them to desist until they had secured permission from General William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in St. Louis.²⁰ Parley P. Pratt stated, however, that when news of the missionaries’ success reached the frontier settlements of Missouri it “stirred up the jealousy and envy of the Indian agents and sectarian missionaries to that degree that we were soon ordered out of the Indian country as disturbers of the peace; and even threatened with the military in case of non-compliance.”²¹

In a letter dated 14 February 1831, Oliver Cowdery wrote to General Clark explaining that he represented a religious society centered in New York State and wished to establish “schools for the instruction of [the Indian] children and also teaching [their elders] the Christian religion.” This they would do, he said, “without intruding or interfering with any other Mission now established.”²² It is not known if Clark ever responded to their request or granted permission. The missionaries settled in Independence and preached the gospel to interested settlers there.

Meanwhile Parley P. Pratt was selected to return to the East and report the mission and to obtain more copies of the Book of Mormon. After he left, the other missionaries’ interest in the Indians increased as they learned of the existence of the Navajos, a large, industrious tribe living about three hundred miles west of Santa Fe.²³ Circumstances forced the missionaries to abandon any further attempts to take the gospel to any other Indian tribes.

Assessment of the Missionary Journey

Although the “Lamanite mission” was not very successful in proselyting native Americans, it did have a significant impact on the subsequent history of the Church. It not only introduced the gospel for the first time to this remnant of the house of Israel, but it created an awareness of how important these people were in the eyes of the Lord.

In terms of conversions and immediate impact, the mission was most successful among the white settlers in the Western Reserve. Many people who would have a significant impact on the growing Church were drawn into the gospel net in Ohio. Within months there were more members in Ohio than in New York, so when conditions in New York required a move, Ohio was designated by the Lord as the gathering place and headquarters of the Church.

In another sense the mission demonstrated the motivating power of the Book of Mormon as a means of conversion and as a test of the strength conversion brought. This book of scripture was the means of redirecting the course of many lives.

The Lamanite mission also paved the way for future revelation respecting the land of Zion, although it was not so recognized right away. The precise location of the center of Zion was not yet revealed, although the Lord had already indicated to the Saints that Zion would be “on the borders by the Lamanites” (D&C 28:9). Five stalwart members of the Church now had experience in that area and could witness that this was a goodly land.

Endnotes

1. Letter dated 17 Oct. 1830, in Ohio Star, 8 Dec. 1831, p. 1.

2. Parley P. Pratt, ed., Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Classics in Mormon Literature series (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), p. 35.

3. History of the Church, 1:124; “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1843, pp. 289–90.

4. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 35–36.

5. John Murdock, “An Abridged Record of the Life of John Murdock Taken from His Journals by Himself,” LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 16.

6. Philo Dibble, “Philo Dibble’s Narrative,” Early Scenes in Church History (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882), pp. 75–76.

7. Account of Lydia Partridge, cited in Edward Partridge genealogical record, 1878, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 5.

8. Dibble, “Philo Dibble’s Narrative,” p. 77.

9. See Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, ed. Preston Nibley (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), pp. 191–92.

10. History of the Church, 1:128.

11. History of the Church, 1:132; punctuation standardized.

12. History of the Church, 1:131–33.

13. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. 36.

14. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 36, 38–39.

15. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. 39.

16. Eleanor Atkinson, “The Winter of the Deep Snow,” Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1909, p. 49.

17. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. 40.

18. See Warren A. Jennings, “Zion Is Fled: The Expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri,” Ph.D. diss., University of Florida, 1962, pp. 6–7; interview of A. W. Doniphan, in Kansas City Journal, 24 June 1881, cited in Saint’s Herald, 1 Aug. 1881.

19. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 42–44.

20. See letter from Major Richard Cummins to General William Clark, 13 Feb. 1831, William Clark Letter Book (Topeka, Kans.: Kansas State Historical Society, n.d.) roll 2, vol. 6, pp. 113–14.

21. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. 44.

22. Letter from Oliver Cowdery to General William Clark, 14 Feb. 1831, William Clark Letter Book, p. 103.

23. See Oliver Cowdery, in History of the Church, 1:182.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Gathering to Ohio

When the year 1831 arrived, most members of the Church were thinking of gathering to Ohio. Sometime in December of 1830 the Lord commanded his people to move to Ohio (see D&C 37:3). Because of this Joseph and his scribe, Sidney Rigdon, temporarily stopped the translation of the scriptures. On New Year’s Day the Prophet and his associates in Fayette completed preparations for the third general conference of the Church, which was scheduled to consider the move to Ohio.

The Saints Instructed to Gather

On 2 January 1831 the Saints from the various branches throughout New York met in the home of Peter Whitmer, Sr. After transacting some Church business, Joseph Smith “addressed the congregation and exhorted them to stand fast, looking forward considering the end of their salvation.” Following his remarks, several Church members inquired about the commandment to move to Ohio. In the “presence of the congregation,”¹ Joseph Smith prayed to the Lord and received a revelation (see D&C 38). It promised the Latter-day Saints “greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh;

“And I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts” (D&C 38:18–19). The precise location of Zion, however, was not revealed. For the present, the Saints were to go to Ohio, where the Lord promised to reveal to them his “law,” endow them with power, and give further instructions pertaining to the growth of the Church (see D&C 38:32–33).

Not everyone at the conference was in harmony with this revelation. A few people claimed that Joseph Smith invented it to deceive the people and to enrich himself. John Whitmer wrote in his history that this claim arose because the hearts of the Saints “were not right in the sight of the Lord, for they wanted to serve [both] God and man.” In addition, some people were reluctant “to leave prosperous farms and comfortable circumstances for the uncertainties” of the Western Reserve in Ohio.² There was the prospect that many would lose money and some might even be unable to sell their property (see D&C 38:37). Most of the New York Saints, however, reconciled themselves to the commandment and made preparations to leave.

Following the conference, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon went to Colesville to strengthen the members of the Colesville branch and to preach for the last time to nonmembers in the vicinity. Threats on their lives prevented them from extended proselyting. Upon their return to Fayette, the Prophet sent John Whitmer to Ohio with copies of several of the revelations to comfort and strengthen the Saints. Brother Whitmer was also assigned to be their presiding elder until the arrival of the Prophet. By the time he arrived in Kirtland, the membership of the Church in Geauga and Cuyahoga counties in Ohio had swelled to about three hundred, more than twice the number reported only two months earlier.³ Since the departure of the missionaries to the Lamanites, proselyting in the area had continued unabated. One of the most successful missionaries was the former restorationist preacher, John Murdock. Between November 1830 and March 1831, he baptized over seventy settlers living in Cuyahoga County.⁴ Other missionaries fared equally well in their labors in Ohio.

Gathering to Ohio Begins

Moving to Ohio was advantageous to the young Church. By leaving New York the Saints hoped to leave behind religious persecution, particularly in the Colesville area. In addition, there were more Church members in Ohio than anywhere else, and gathering in one place enabled everyone to receive instructions from the Prophet, thus maintaining doctrinal and organizational uniformity. Ohio’s available waterways also provided a gateway to the rest of the country for missionary work. But, most important, the move to Ohio was a step closer to “the borders by the Lamanites,” where Zion would be established (D&C 28:9). In Ohio many principles pertaining to the building of Zion could be implemented.

Joseph Smith was eager to meet with the Saints in Ohio, and John Whitmer wrote urging him to come right away. Joseph sought the Lord’s will and was told to leave immediately, but the prospect of moving seemed grim to Emma. She had moved seven times in the first four years of marriage and was just recovering from a month-long illness in addition to being six months pregnant. Under such conditions the three-hundred mile trip to Ohio in the dead of winter was arduous at best. Joseph Knight graciously provided a sleigh to make traveling less strenuous for her. At the end of January 1831, Joseph and Emma Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Edward Partridge set out for Kirtland.

About the first of February the sleigh pulled up in front of Newel K. Whitney’s store in Kirtland. Joseph sprang from the sleigh and entered the store. “‘Newel K. Whitney! Thou art the man.’ he exclaimed, extending his hand cordially, as if to an old and familiar acquaintance. ‘You have the advantage of me,’ replied the merchant, . . . ‘I could not call you by name as you have me.’ ‘I am Joseph the Prophet,’ said the stranger smiling. ‘You’ve prayed me here, now what do you want of me?’” Joseph explained to the amazed merchant that back in New York he had seen Newel in a vision praying for him to come to Kirtland.⁵ The Whitneys received Joseph and Emma Smith with kindness and invited them to live temporarily with them. During the next several weeks the Smiths “received every kindness and attention which could be expected, and especially from Sister Whitney.”⁶

Between the end of January and the middle of May 1831, most of the New York Saints sold their possessions, packed their most precious material goods, and migrated to Kirtland and the adjacent areas. Joseph Smith and a few others went early and were followed by three separate companies—the Colesville Saints, members from Fayette and surrounding locations in Seneca County, and those from Palmyra-Manchester. A few others came later in the year.

The Colesville branch was the first group to leave. They arrived in Buffalo on 1 May to find that bitter lake winds had blown ice into the Buffalo harbor, which delayed them for eleven dreary days. They finally arrived in Fairport, Ohio, on 14 May. Over two hundred people went to Ohio, some by sleigh and stage coach, but most by canal barges to Buffalo and then by steamboats and schooners on Lake Erie.

Meanwhile Church members in the Fayette vicinity also prepared for migration. With her older sons and husband already gone, Lucy Smith, a natural leader in her own right, organized a party of about fifty people (twenty adults and thirty children) to occupy a barge on the Cayuga and Seneca Canal. Another group of about thirty, organized by Thomas B. Marsh, took passage on an accompanying barge, and together the two boats traveled to Buffalo.

En route, Lucy “called the brethren and sisters together, and reminded them that we were traveling by the commandment of the Lord, as much as Father Lehi was, when he left Jerusalem; and, if faithful, we had the same reasons to expect the blessings of God.”⁷ Although they suffered from hunger because some had brought clothing rather than food, they sang and prayed as they journeyed and left a favorable impression on the captain. Lucy took charge of the situation and prevented greater suffering.

When they arrived in Buffalo, they met the icebound Colesville Saints. After several anxious days in Buffalo, a number of the children had become sick, and many of the group were hungry and discouraged. They took deck passage on a boat, put their things on board, and obtained temporary shelter for the women and children until early the next morning. When they were back on board, Lucy persuaded the still murmuring group to ask the Lord to break the twenty-foot clogs of ice that jammed the harbor. She explained, “A noise was heard, like bursting thunder. The captain cried, ‘Every man to his post.’ The ice parted, leaving barely a passage for the boat, and so narrow that as the boat passed through the buckets of the waterwheel were torn off with a crash. . . . We had barely passed through the avenue when the ice closed together again.” The Colesville group followed a few days later.⁸

As these New York Saints were arriving in Ohio, a third party of about fifty people left Palmyra, New York, under the direction of Martin Harris. With their arrival in Ohio, the first phase of the westward movement of the Latter-day Saints ended. In contrast to many Americans who migrated westward at the same time seeking free or inexpensive land, adventure, or escape from creditors, these humble people moved in response to a commandment of God.⁹

Early Challenges in Ohio

During the three months Joseph Smith was in Kirtland before the Saints from New York began to arrive, he faced many challenges arising from the rapid growth of the Church there. The first problem was the manifestation of “strange notions and false spirits” among the members of the branch.¹⁰ Because they lacked the guidance of Church authorities in northern Ohio, some new members entertained “wild enthusiastic notions” about the effects of the Holy Spirit upon the converted. John Corrill, an early Ohio convert, was disturbed by the bizarre actions of some of the young people who claimed they saw visions: “They conducted themselves in a strange manner, sometimes imitating Indians in their maneuvers, sometimes running out into the fields, getting on stumps of trees and there preaching as though surrounded by a congregation,—all the while so completely absorbed in visions as to be apparently insensible to all that was passing around them.”¹¹ Satan’s inroads in the Church were due to the credulity and gullibility of these new Saints who brought some of their previous ways with them and were without priesthood direction for a few months.

Only a few members behaved in this manner, however. “The more substantial minded looked upon it with astonishment, and were suspicious that it was from an evil source.”¹² Distressed by what he saw, Joseph felt that these excesses were “calculated to bring disgrace upon the church of God; to cause the spirit of God to be withdrawn; and to uproot and destroy those glorious principles which had been developed for the salvation of the human family.”¹³ “With a little caution and some wisdom” and the guidance of several revelations, he succeeded in overcoming these problems.¹⁴

Still, in late February 1831, some individuals continued to claim they had received revelations. This was not a new problem; Hiram Page had done the same thing in Fayette the previous fall (see D&C 28). One of these so-called “revelators” was a professed prophetess named Hubble, who claimed she should be allowed to become a teacher in the Church. According to John Whitmer, she “appeared to be very sanctimonious and deceived some who were not able to detect her in her hypocrisy.” Many saw through her false claims, however, and “her follies and abominations were made manifest.”¹⁵ The Prophet inquired of the Lord about her stratagems. In a revelation directed to the elders of the Church, the Lord declared “that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until [Joseph Smith] be taken, if he abide in me” (D&C 43:3). So-called revelations through others for the guidance of the Church were not of God (see D&C 43:4–6).

Shortly thereafter another revelation called the elders to go forth by twos in all directions to preach the gospel (see D&C 44:1–3; 42:6–7). Soon many elders were seen going into villages and towns throughout Ohio. For example, John Corrill recounted that he and Solomon Hancock “went to New London, about one hundred miles from Kirtland, where we built up a church [branch] of thirty-six members in about three weeks time, though we were bitterly opposed by other preachers.”¹⁶ That spring the Church in Ohio increased by several hundred converts.

The growing Church did not go unnoticed in northern Ohio. Joseph Smith wrote that in the spring of 1831, “many false reports, lies, and foolish stories, were published in the newspapers, and circulated in every direction, to prevent people from investigating the work, or embracing the faith.”¹⁷ For example, a devastating earthquake struck near Peking, China, which a young Mormon girl had predicted six weeks earlier. This event convinced Symonds Ryder, a well-known Campbellite preacher who had been perplexed over Mormonism for some time, to join the Church. His conversion caused quite a disturbance in the vicinity, and the earthquake was heralded in the newspapers as Mormonism in China. “But to the joy of the Saints who had to struggle against everything that prejudice and wickedness could invent,” the Prophet received a revelation that identified numerous signs that will precede the second coming of the Lord.¹⁸ In it the Saints were commanded to “stand in holy places” and take “the Holy Spirit for their guide,” and they were promised that they would be rewarded for this with the establishment of the “New Jerusalem” (D&C 45:32, 57, 66).

Also in the spring of 1831 a Methodist preacher named Ezra Booth brought a party to Kirtland, which included a well-to-do farmer named John Johnson and his wife, Alice, from Hiram, Ohio. Alice’s arm was partially paralyzed from rheumatism, and she could not raise it above her head. As they talked with the Prophet, one of the visitors asked if there was anyone on earth who had the power to cure Alice’s lame arm. When the conversation turned to another subject, Joseph went up to Mrs. Johnson, took her by the hand, and with calm assurance said, “Woman, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command thee to be whole.” As Joseph went from the room, leaving everyone astonished and speechless, she raised her arm. The next day she hung out her first wash in over six years without any pain. Ezra Booth and some members of the Johnson family joined the Church as a result of the healing. The miracle also attracted wide acclaim throughout northern Ohio.¹⁹

That same spring Parley P. Pratt returned to Kirtland with a report on the mission to the Lamanites and was delighted to see the tremendous growth of the Church. He was especially happy that Joseph had moved to Ohio. Parley was soon called to go on a mission to a religious group called the Shakers in northern Ohio.

The Shakers (United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming) originated in England and came to America in 1774 because of persecution. “They derive their name from their manner of worship, which [involved] singing, dancing, and clapping hands” to music, but “their dress and manner are similar to those of the [Quakers,] so they were sometimes called the Shaking Quakers.” The Shaking Quakers were led by Ann Lee from 1754 to 1784. She had claimed to be the Messiah returned to earth in female form. She taught that men and women were equals and that there should be no marriage among the believers.²⁰ Leman Copley, a former Shaker, had converted to Mormonism but still believed that the Shakers were correct in many of their doctrines, so he asked Joseph for guidance on the matter.²¹ The revelation Joseph Smith received repudiated the Shaker doctrines of celibacy, abstaining from meat, and God appearing in the form of a woman. Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, and Leman Copley were also called to take the gospel to the Shakers (see D&C 49). The trio visited a settlement of Shakers near Cleveland, Ohio, but according to Parley, “they utterly refused to hear or obey the gospel.”²²

Elder Pratt then visited a number of branches of the Latter-day Saints in the Western Reserve, where he found the same spiritual fanaticism among the members that Joseph Smith had encountered when he arrived in Kirtland in February. Other elders were also disheartened by what they saw. John Whitmer related, “Some would fancy to themselves that they had the sword of Laban, and would wield it as expert as a light dragoon, some would act like an Indian in the act of scalping, some would slide or scoot on the floor, with the rapidity of a serpent, which termed sailing in the boat to the Lamanites, preaching the gospel, and many other vain and foolish maneuvers, that are unmeaning and unprofitable to mention. Thus the devil blinded the eyes of some good and honest disciples.”²³ Parley Pratt concurred that “a false and lying spirit seemed to be creeping into the Church.”²⁴

Uncertain how to handle these spiritual phenomena, the brethren joined with the Prophet in prayer in his translating room in Kirtland. Joseph then dictated a revelation (see D&C 50). Elder Pratt remembered the sublime experience of observing a revelation in process: “Each sentence was uttered slowly and very distinctly, and with a pause between each, sufficiently long for it to be recorded, by an ordinary writer, in long hand.”²⁵

The Lord began by acknowledging that there were many “false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world” (D&C 50:2–3) and that Satan was seeking to deceive the people that he might overthrow them. Therefore the Lord gave the brethren a key by which they could detect and deal with evil spirits:

“Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God.

“And it shall be given unto you, power over that spirit; and you shall proclaim against that spirit with a loud voice that it is not of God” (D&C 50:31–32).

The Law of Consecration

Now settled in Kirtland, the Prophet was eager to know the Lord’s will concerning the economic salvation of the Saints, many of whom were impoverished, particularly those who had left their homes in New York. His interest in the Lord’s economic program was aroused when he arrived in Ohio and discovered a group of about fifty people who had established a cooperative venture based on their interpretation of statements in the book of Acts, describing the early Saints as having all things in common (see Acts 2:44–45; 4:32). This group, known as “the family,” formerly followers of Sidney Rigdon, were members of the Church living on Isaac Morley’s farm near the village of Kirtland. When John Whitmer arrived in mid-January, he noted that what they were doing created many problems. For example, Heman Bassett took a pocket watch belonging to Levi Hancock and sold it. When asked why, Heman replied, “Oh, I thought it was all in the family.” Levi responded that he did not like such “family doing” and would not endure it any longer.²⁶

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In 1833 the Church purchased the Peter French farm, which eventually became the center of the Church in Kirtland, as the close up [above] and enlarged views [below] show.

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The Prophet Joseph, however, realized the need to establish a more perfect system to meet the growing economic needs of the Church. Revenue was required to finance various Church undertakings, such as publishing revelations and missionary tracts. The Prophet was without a home for his family; Sidney Rigdon had lost his pastoral home and the economic support he had previously received from his congregation. Money, goods, and property were needed to help the poor and to assist immigrants who were sacrificing much to gather to Ohio, so Joseph inquired of the Lord.

On 4 February 1831 the Prophet received a revelation calling for Edward Partridge to serve as the first bishop of the Church, with instructions for him to devote his time to this calling (see D&C 41:9). Five days later another important revelation was received, embracing the law of the Church. It gave Bishop Partridge further instruction on his responsibilities and outlined the new economic system (see D&C 42).

One of the underlying principles of this new economic system was that the earth and everything on it belonged to the Lord, and man was a steward (see Psalm 24:1; D&C 104:13–14). Under the law of consecration members of the Church were asked to consecrate, or deed, all their property, both real and personal, to the bishop of the Church. He would then grant an “inheritance,” or stewardship, to an individual from the properties received. The size of the stewardship depended on the circumstances, wants, and needs of the family, as determined jointly by the bishop and the prospective steward (see D&C 42:32–33; 51:3). The family then administered its stewardship to the best of their ability. If they were industrious and successful, then at the year’s end they would have a net gain called a surplus (profit). Any surplus remaining beyond the wants and needs of the family was to be turned over to the storehouse to be used by the bishop to “administer to the poor and needy” (D&C 42:34). The law of consecration was designed to bring about relative economic equality and eliminate greed and poverty.²⁷

(Adapted from William O. Nelson, Ensign, Jan. 1979, p. 23.)

The Church gradually learned more about the law of consecration as additional revelations were given. For example, the Prophet asked the Lord how the Church should acquire lands for the settlement of the incoming Saints. Those with property in Kirtland were commanded to impart freely of their lands. Other funds were to be consecrated to buy more land (see D&C 48:2–3). The bedraggled New York Saints began arriving in May, and it was necessary to get them settled. The responsibility rested with Bishop Partridge, so he sought direction from the Prophet. The bishop was instructed to begin apportioning stewardships to the immigrants (see D&C 51:3). “And let every man deal honestly, and be alike among this people, and receive alike, that ye may be one, even as I have commanded you” (v. 9).

Joseph Smith directed the Colesville immigrants to settle in Thompson, Ohio, a few miles east of Kirtland, on property owned by Leman Copley. The Saints in Seneca County were assigned to live on the Isaac Morley farm, where they erected log cabins and planted crops. Although Bishop Partridge tried to inaugurate the law of consecration in Thompson, conflicts prevented its full implementation. Because of the failure of his mission to the Shakers, Leman Copley broke his contract that allowed Latter-day Saints to occupy his farmland and ordered them off his property. When informed of the difficulties, the Prophet sought and obtained a revelation instructing Newel Knight, president of the Colesville branch, and others living on the Copley farm to “repent of all their sins, and . . . journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites” (D&C 54:3, 8). Shortly thereafter, at least fourteen families under Newel Knight’s direction left for the Missouri frontier.²⁸

In the February revelation calling Edward Partridge to be bishop, the Lord had directed Joseph and Sidney to resume the inspired translation of the Bible. “And again, it is meet that my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., should have a house built, in which to live and translate” (D&C 41:7). Five days later the Prophet received the following instruction:

“Thou shalt ask, and my scriptures shall be given as I have appointed, and they shall be preserved in safety;

“And it is expedient that thou shouldst hold thy peace concerning them, and not teach them until ye have received them in full” (D&C 42:56–57). The pair diligently continued their work almost daily throughout the spring in a small house constructed for Joseph and Emma on Isaac Morley’s farm.

At this time Emma went into labor. She had not yet recovered from her illness and the arduous midwinter journey from New York. On 30 April she delivered twins, but they only lived three hours. She and Joseph had now lost all three children born to them. Coincidentally, twins were born on 1 May to Julia Murdock, but she died following their birth. Elder John Murdock was leaving on a mission about this time and consented when Joseph asked if he and Emma could adopt the children. Emma and Joseph’s grief was eased, and they willingly took the infants—a girl named Julia and a boy named Joseph—to raise as their own.

General Conference in Ohio

The fourth general conference of the Church convened in a schoolhouse in Kirtland township on Friday, 3 June 1831. Many missionaries in Ohio returned for the meetings. Minutes record that sixty-three priesthood holders were in attendance.²⁹ In Joseph Smith’s words, “The Lord displayed His power to the most perfect satisfaction of the Saints” at the conference.³⁰ After the opening business, Joseph announced that the Lord wanted worthy elders “ordained to the high priesthood.”³¹ These were the first ordinations to the office of high priest in this dispensation. The Prophet ordained five brethren high priests; one of them, Lyman Wight, ordained several more in the same meeting. John Corrill and Isaac Morley were called to be counselors to Bishop Edward Partridge and were set apart to that calling by Lyman Wight.³²

During the conference the Spirit was with the Prophet in