Missouri Mormon Manuscripts

From the organization of the Church in 1830 through the move to Utah in 1846–47, the Missouri period (January 1831–July 1839),1 was the longest single episode, the most dramatic and troublesome. Although it may also be the best documented, the hunt for new sources does go on.2 A recent search of three Missouri archives (and correspondence with 90 other historical societies in Missouri) turned up over 250 unpublished documents, most of which have seen little use if any. While these documents do not require any substantial alterations of our views of Missouri Mormon history, they do add considerably to our knowledge and understanding of that difficult time.

From them we learn, for example, many details regarding anti-Mormon military and political affairs, the trials of Joseph Smith and others, facts about a little known Iowa-based attempt to kidnap the Prophet, about official Missouri defensive action against adverse criticism of their Mormon policy, about Easterners who wrote to Missouri officials for propaganda to use against Mormon missionaries, and about some surprisingly fair and sympathetic non-Mormon Missourians.

The Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis (hereafter cited as MoSHi) has at least 160 Mormon items scattered throughout 44 collections, most of which are original letters, journals, and documents of all kinds (mainly for the period 1838–63). They refer to the “Mormon War” of 1838–39, the Mormon Battalion, emigration, Book of Mormon, polygamy, Nauvoo, and Utah. Only 18 of these documents (cited below), however, refer significantly to the Mormons in Missouri.

The Missouri State Historical Society in Columbia (hereafter cited as MoHi) has at least 84 Mormon items scattered throughout 41 different collections, most of which are also original letters, journals, and documents of all kinds (mainly for the period 1832–43). They refer to the Mormon War, court trials and indictments, emigration, David Whitmer, Nauvoo, Iowa, and Utah. Of these documents, 54 are listed below. (The society also has hundreds of Mormon War documents—especially pay accounts and pay rolls).3

The Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City have been burned twice (in 1837 and 1911) and therefore contain few Mormon documents. Apparently all that is left in Jefferson City is what appears to have been the original manuscript for the compilation of documents published as Document Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &C. in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons . . . , Fayette, Missouri, 1841.

This manuscript, known as “Mormon Papers, 1838–40,” is filed under the Special Collection section of the papers of the Secretary of State.4 As will be noted below, some documents (items 11, 24–27, 28, 38–50, 53, 54–63 below), previously in Jefferson City have been transferred from the State Archives to the Missouri State Historical Society.

Missouri Mormon history falls into three divisions: the Jackson County, Clay County, and Caldwell County periods.5 The following study is an attempt to integrate into a brief sketch of church history in Missouri 73 of these new and relatively unknown documents. After a brief statement giving the background of the documents, the documents themselves are described, quoted, their sources noted, and numbered consecutively from 1 to 73.

Jackson County (January 1831–November 1833)

Less than a year after the Church was organized, Mormon missionaries were in western Missouri, and soon they experienced difficulties with ministers and Indian agents. Never daunted by rebuffs and problems, the Mormons purchased land, settled a colony, and began to build a gathering place called Zion. For a variety of reasons—political, social, economic, and religious—the original dislike and fear of the Mormons grew to scattered violence by the spring of 1833. Mobs began driving the Mormons out of Jackson County in July, and by November most Mormons had fled northward across the Missouri River into Clay County.

Clay County (November 1833–July 1836)

The earliest document considered in this study is a Mormon request for legal help in recovering property in Jackson County.

Abiel Leonard Papers, MoHi

1. Algernon Gilbert Letter, Feb. 13, 1834, Liberty Co., Mo., to Leonard, Howard Co., Mo., requesting his services as a lawyer (in connection with the firm of Reese, Doniphan, and Atchison) on behalf of the Church in Clay Co.

Gilbert was a prominent Mormon, “the keeper of the Lord’s Storehouse,” and Leonard was an attorney and later a member of the Missouri Supreme Court.

After the Mormons fled from Jackson County to Clay County, they continued trying to get back their land in Zion. Among other things, they petitioned the Governor of Missouri and the President of the United States. Daniel Dunklin (Governor of Missouri, 1832–44) received the following letter:

Daniel Dunklin Papers, MoHi

2. Joel H. Haden Letter Aug. 8, 1834, Fayette, Mo., to Gov. Dunklin requesting him “not to interfere neither the one way nor the other in the Case of the citizens of Jackson, & the poor deluded Mormons.”

3. A week later, on Aug. 15, Dunklin replied, “Upon the subject of the poor deluded Mormons & the infuriated Jacksonites, it is unnecessary now to say anything, & I hope it will continue so. There can be no difficulty in ascertaining the correct course for me to pursue if I am compelled to act. I have no regard for the Mormons, as a separate people; & have an utter contempt for them as a religious sect; while upon the other hand I have much regard for the people of Jackson county, both personally and politically; they are, many of them, my personal friends, and nearly all of them are very staunch democrats; but these are secondary considerations when my duties are brought in question.”

Dunklin had a nice way of reneging on his duties as governor and still posing as an impartial statesman. He obviously had no desire at all to uphold Mormon rights to their confiscated Jackson County lands or as citizens of Missouri. At the time of this letter, the Mormon question was quiet, and he hoped it would stay that way. He was certainly not going to do anything for them.

For a season the Mormons were left alone in Clay County, but an indication of portending trouble may be seen in the beating of a Mormon in April 1836.

William Thompson Papers, MoHi

4–5. Two statements made 29 Apr. 1836, by witnesses who saw Thompson beaten because he refused to answer “where he was from and whether he was a Mormon.”

This may be the same William Thompson who later lived in Far West in 1839.

The following June a mass meeting of non-Mormons in Liberty led to the peaceable expulsion of the Mormons from Clay County. The non-Mormons quite obviously did not want the trouble of Jackson County.

Caldwell County, (July 1836–July 1839)

By July 1836 the Saints were moving from Clay County into the uninhabitated northern part of Ray County, which by December was organized and named Caldwell County. There the Mormons built several settlements, the most important of which was Far West, and for a little more than two years enjoyed a modicum of peace and stability. During this relatively peaceful time, Edward Partridge, the first bishop in the Church, wrote a letter.

Edward Partridge Letter, MoHi (photostat copy)

6. Partridge, Oct. 12, 1837, Far West, to his sister Emily and brother James of Pittsfield, Mass., defending his Mormon faith, lamenting his family’s ostracism, and reporting in general about conditions in Far West.

By the following March (1838), as a result of difficulties in Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith had moved himself and headquarters to Far West. Less than six months later, on 6 August, during an election in Gallatin, Daviess County, the final scene in the complete expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri commenced. During this election, the Mormons were denied their right to vote, and a fight broke out between Mormons and non-Mormons. When Joseph Smith and others went from Far West to Gallatin to protect their friends, rumors and lies regarding their intentions spread and the so-called Mormon War of 1838–39 began. Some new and relatively unknown documents of this period have been discovered and are presented here in chronological order.

Jamon Aldrich Letter, MoHi

7. Aldrich,6 Sept. 30, Far West, to his brother Daniel in Littleton, New Hampshire. He wrote that “Mormonism so callen has not come to naught not withstanding the many prophicies of its coming to naught. But it is like the stone that Daniel saw . . . we have been threatened with a mob to drive the Mormons from certain counties but [they] did not undertake it.”7

Aldrich had previously helped to build the Kirtland Temple and later died while fleeing Missouri.

One letter from Lilburn W. Boggs (Governor of Missouri, 1836–40) suggests the type of anti-Mormon propaganda sent to him. It is not known how much faith Boggs put in such reports, but his strong anti-Mormon sentiments caused him to take immediate and forceful action.

[Graphic omitted. See source document.]

Forest Smith Papers, MoHi

8. An order from Boggs, Oct. 26, 1838, Jefferson City, Mo., to Col. Joseph Hawkins. Boggs wrote, “I have just received information from the County of Davis [Daviess] that the Mormons have driven the Citizens of Davis from their homes burnt their houses, destroyed their property, have reduced to ashes the town of Gallation the County Seat of said County, including the Clerks office, Post Office and all the public records—the Citizens of Davis have requested of the Executive protection and to be reinstated in their homes.” He then ordered Hawkins to raise 2,000 men and present them in Jefferson City within a week, on November 1. (See the photocopy of this letter on p. 463.)

One letter gives us an idea of the general reaction of Missourians far removed from the scene of trouble.

Hull Papers, MoSHi

9. Letter, Nov. 5, 1838, St. Louis, Mo., to J.S.W. Baldwin. This unknown writer reports, “The most of intelligence we now talk about are the difficulties on the frontier, or the Mormon War. These deluded fanatics have been for some years collecting in one or two of the frontier counties of this state and so consentrating their property and forces as to become sufficiently embolded of late to set the Civil law at defiance. They have built a town which they call Mount Zion and openly declare that none but Mormons shall hold property in the promised land. Things after so long secretly fermenting have of late come to a crisis. The issue is now made up between the citizens and the Mormons. The Militia have been called out at the order of the Executive and we are daily expecting news of an engagement in which it is expected much blood will be split. Some skirmishing has already taken place and several have fallen on both sides.”

Because E. M. Violette (who wrote A History of Missouri, Kirksville, Mo., 1918) had the highly unprofessional habit of “borrowing” documents, the court proceedings in the trial of Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders before Judge Austin A. King in Richmond (Daviess County) during November of 1838 are in Columbia rather than in Daviess County Court House in Gallatin.

E. M. Violette Collection, MoHi

10. This is the original three-part, 127-page Daviess County Circuit Court record “In the matter of the State of Mo. vs. Joseph Smith, Jr., et al. . . . Wherein the following named persons were then and there brought before me [Judge King] [during November 1838], being charged with several crimes of high treason against the State, murder, burglary, arson, robbery & larceny. . . .” (See photo pp. 466–67.)

As a result of strong anti-Mormon feelings and questionable procedures during this trial, Joseph Smith, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin, Hyrum Smith, Alexander McRae, and Sidney Rigdon were sent to jail in Liberty, Clay County, to await further trial for treason and murder (there being no suitable prison in Caldwell County), and Parley P. Pratt, Morris Phelps, Lyman Gibbs, Darwin Chase, and Norman Shearer were put in the Richmond, Ray County, jail to stand trial for the same crimes.

Later, criticism of Missouri’s treatment of the Mormons led the Missouri legislature to appoint a committee to collect and publish all documents pertaining to this trial. The resulting 163-page publication carried the omnibus title of Document Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &C. in relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons: and the Evidence Given Before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Courthouse in Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, begun November 12, 1838, on the trial of J. Smith, Jr., and others, for High Treason and Other Crimes Against the State. Published by order of the General Assembly, Fayette, Mo. 1841.

Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City

11. As mentioned above, what appears to be the original manuscript from which this Document was published is in the Missouri State Archives. The collection consists of the following:

A. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS, pp. 1–8.

B. CORRESPONDENCE (letters, orders, petitions, affidavits) pp. 8–96.

C. EVIDENCE (given before Judge King consisting of thirty-seven testimonies—twenty-nine for the state and eight for the defendants), pp. 97–151.

D. CERTIFICATES (regarding the authenticity of the documents of the trial furnished by the Clerks of the Circuit Courts of Boone, Daviess, Caldwell, and Ray counties), pp. 153–63.

This collection of 125 documents is worthy of a study by itself.8

Evidently several copies of these November 1838 court proceedings were made, for in addition to the documents in Jefferson City and the court record referred to above as item 10, there is another incomplete account of the proceedings in the Missouri Historical Society.

[Graphics omitted. See source document.]
Daviess County Circuit Court Record, State of Missouri vs. Joseph Smith, Jr., et al., 12 November 1838, by courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.

Mormon Papers Collection, MoSHi

12. A 43-page manuscript copy of some of the testimony of witnesses for and against Joseph Smith during November 1838 before Judge Austin A. King of the Daviess County Circuit Court.

Two letters of December 1838 may well express the attitude of many fair-minded Missourians regarding Mormon affairs.

Hull Papers, MoSHi

13. Letter, Dec. 10, 1838, St. Louis, Mo., to father, Louisville, Ky. The unknown writer reports, “I could tell you a long story of the disgraceful Civil War that has but recently terminated in a consumation of foul disgrace to our State. Think of an Order from the Executive of a State to a Military Commander to expel or exterminate a portion of its Citizens. Every Citizen according to the Common law of England and according to a law of paramount authority . . . But our sapient governor has ordered that the poor infatuated Mormons shall be stripped of the Arms, they had taken up in defence of their lives and property, and themselves be expatriated from our Democratic State. These people are not less worthy of pity for being the victims of a most shameful and debasing imposture. Men in all ages of the world have been dupes of delusion of various kinds. . . .”

George Frederick Bollinger Letter, MoHi

14. Major George Frederick Bollinger Letter, Dec. 20, 1838, Jefferson City, Mo., to Charles Welling.

A personal letter with a few references to the Mormon War. For example, he writes, “The Mormon War and Col. Z[achary] Taylor’s report [he was leading Missouri troops during the Seminole War] are making much noise here at this time, both rather extraordinary business . . . we have had but little excitement, except when the Mormon War, as it has been called has been up. My own opinion is that there has been some of the very worst kind of conduct on both sides, and more than likely when investigating will not add much to the credit of our state, particularly at a distance.”

The final document for the year 1838 in this study consists of three muster rolls.

Elliott Collection, MoSHi

15–18. Three Muster Rolls of Capt. N. G. Elliott’s Company of the 14th Regiment of the Missouri Militia “in the service of the State against the Mormons” during 1838 and one “certified sick list.”

These rolls list the men by name, rank, and term of service. (See the photocopy of one of these documents on p. 469.)

[Graphic omitted. See source document.]
Muster Roll, Captain N. G. Elliot’s Company of the 14th Regiment of the Missouri Militia, 1838, by courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri.

The common and controversial nexus of military exploits and political aspirations is suggested by an early 1839 letter.

Sibley Papers, MoSHi

19. G. Tompkins Letter, Feb. 21, 1839, City of Jefferson, Mo., to George C. Sibley, St. Charles, Mo. A personal letter including the observation that “The Mormon campaigns [words unclear] have failed to produce a warrior of note enough for Governor.”9

Four miscellaneous affidavits and indictments of the period have been preserved.

Daviess County, Mo., Circuit Records, April Term, 1839, MoHi

20–23. Four affidavits and indictments to the effect that the Mormons injured Adam Black, a Daviess County judge, that the Mormons stole from Cornelius Pott, a statement of proceedings ordering Joseph Smith to be transferred to Boone Co., and a statement (typescript) from William Morgan, Sheriff of Daviess County, which says, in effect, “This is to certify that I executed the within order by taking the bodies of the within named Joseph Smith, Jr., Lyman Wight into my custody and that I summoned a guard of four men to wit William Bowman William McKinney, John Brassfich, and John Page to assist me in taking the Smith Wight and others from E.B. Creekmores the place of holding court in the County of Daviess to the town of Columbia in the County of Boon State of Missouri as commanded by said order and that on the way from said E.B. Creekmores in the County of Daviess aforesaid on the 16th day of April 1839 the said Smith and others made the escape without the connivance consent or negligence of myself or said guard, July 6, 1839.” (See photocopy on page 471.)

Morgan and Bowman, ex-sheriff of Daviess County, were later accused of, and roughly handled for, complicity in the escape of Joseph and others. This statement by Morgan was obviously made to avoid further unpleasantries.10 According to the Manuscript History of Brigham Young for 12 June 1847, Bowman was later ridden to death on an iron bar and Morgan fled to Oregon.

[Graphic omitted. See source document.]

State Archives—Gov. Thomas Reynoles, MoHi

24–27. Four letters for the period 1841–43 requesting payments from Reynolds for services rendered during the Mormon War.

The escape of Joseph Smith and others while en route to Columbia, Boone County, occasioned, no doubt, much correspondence, some of which has survived (cf. item 23 above).

State Archives—Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs, MoHi

28. Austin A. King Letter, June 7, 1839, Richmond, Mo., to Boggs. General comments regarding the escape of Joseph Smith while enroute to Boone Co.

There is also a rather belated pro forma report (from a Daviess County judge to the Missouri Secretary of State) on the escape of Joseph Smith.

Mormon Papers Collection, MoSHi

29. Th. C. Burch, Letter, June 24, 1839, Keytesville, Mo., to James S. Minor, Jefferson City, Mo., informing him that Joseph Smith, Lyman Wight, and others, while being transferred from Daviess Co. to Boone Co., have escaped and that Burch will forward copies of the indictments against the escapees.11

As a companion to items 10 and 11 above, the Boone County Circuit Court records of three cases against Joseph Smith, Caleb Baldwin, Parley P. Pratt, King Follett, and others have been preserved.

Circuit Court, Boone County, Missouri, Papers, 1839 (copies), MoHi

30–33. The original 250-page set of documents is on file in the Circuit Court Office, Boone Co., Mo., in Columbia. Included are case No. 1362, involving charges of treason, arson, burglary, etc. against Caleb Baldwin, Joseph Smith, Jr., and others; No. 1379, involving the charge of murder against Parley Pratt and others, as well as charges of aiding and harboring, against Joseph Smith, Jr.; No. 1380, involving charges of robbery, against King Follett. Papers include indictments, changes of venue, and subpoenas.

Although the lawyers hired by the Mormons accomplished little in their behalf, they left behind some evidence of half-hearted attempts.

Abiel Leonard Collection, MoHi

34. Amos Reese Letter, Nov. 1, 1839, Richmond, Mo., to A. Leonard, Esq., regarding Mormon property in Daviess Co. He gives detailed information about Mormon troubles there and asks Leonard to determine whether the Mormons are entitled to any considerations for their lands.

As mentioned above, the Missouri State Legislature, to present its side of the Mormon War difficulties, printed all the available documents pertaining to the November 1838 trial of Joseph Smith and others. There is one letter regarding this venture.

James L. Minor Letter, MoHi

35.Minor, Sec’y of State, Feb. 23, 1841, City of Jefferson, Mo., to Roger N. Todd, Clerk of Boone County Circuit Court, Columbia, Mo., requesting information about Mormon difficulties for this publication. Minor specifically requested a “general certificate” regarding,

1. Who of the Mormons were indicted

2. For what crimes

3. What was the final disposition of said indictment

1. Whether they (the indictments) were disposed of by trial or dismissal.

2. In any case was a trial prevented by the escape of the prisoner or the forfeiture of his recognizance, or from any other cause.

Minor stated that this publication was to “assist in cleansing the aspirsions which are now so industriously circulated against our State, in consequence of these disturbances. I trust that you will lose no time in preparing your certificate for this publication, which it is desirable, should be made at a period as early as possible.”

The history of the Mormons in Missouri, of course, did not end with the escape of Joseph Smith in April 1839 or with the escape of Parley P. Pratt the following July. In fact, it did not end until the Mormons left Winter Quarters for the West in 1848. And if one considers that men such as David Whitmer continued to be a part of Mormon history even after disaffection and excommunication, then it did not end until the 1880s.

After Smith, Pratt, and others finally escaped to Illinois, Missouri officials attempted to extradite or kidnap Smith and others for several years—until 1844. Some sixteen documents relating to various kidnapping attempts have survived.

Chauncy Durkee Letter, MoSHi

36. Chauncy Durkee letter, 1840, Monticello, to Lilburn W. Boggs, reporting that the Gov. of Illinois intends to summon Durkee to account for the kidnapping of five Mormons; claims he had nothing to do with it.

There is no evidence that Durkee was involved.

H. M. Woodyard Letter, MoSHi

37. H. M. Woodyard letter, 24 July 1840, Tully, Mo., to Gov. Boggs concerning Mormon charges of kidnapping against him and others, says that the Gov. of Illinois intends to look into these charges.

It is quite possible that Woodyard was implicated in the July 1840 kidnapping of four Mormons—Alanson Brown, James Alfred, Benjamin Boyce, and Noah Rogers—who were forcibly taken to Tully, Missouri, beaten and detained for several days.

Not only were some Missourians anxious to drag Joseph Smith and others back to Missouri for more kangaroo court proceedings, but at least two citizens of Lee County, Iowa, conspired with Thomas Reynolds (Governor of Missouri, 1840–44) to this end. The two were David Wells Kilburn, postmaster of Montrose, and Laban B. Fleak, postmaster of Keokuk.12 Fleak was by far the more active of the two, writing at least eleven letters to Boggs reporting on the movements of Smith and others and offering kidnapping schemes of his own. The letters are as follows:

[Graphic omitted. See source document.]
From Laban B. Fleak to Governor Thomas Reynolds, 5 October 1842.

State Archives—Governor Thomas Reynolds, MoHi

38. July 12, 1842. Fleak requests Reynolds to assist in getting rid of Smith.

39. Aug. 8, 1842. Fleak has received word from Nauvoo that Smith has been arrested and that all the Keokuk Mormons have gone to Nauvoo.13

40. Aug. 14, 1842. Tells of Smith’s liberation and his present whereabouts.

41. Sept. 6, 1842. Fleak tells of difficulties in arresting Smith and Rockwell. “You have not much to expect from Gov. Carlin, he is about half-Mormon himself or at least appears so from his sycophancy when he meets those Smiths.”

42. Oct. 5, 1842. Fleak states that the Gov. of Illinois has increased the reward for the capture of Smith. He also writes of the difficulties in trying to arrest Smith and his own plans to abduct him. “The intention . . . is to seize Smith some night in his own house perhaps, gag him and carry him on board a small boat and bring down to my house & keep him securely in a room in the 3rd story until the arrival of one of our regular St. Louis Packets, one of which leaves here every night in the week except Monday Night, I am agent for all of those Packets & when once on board there will be no further difficulty. If the enterprize succeeds I am entitled to one fourth of the Reward which I will take pleasure in bestowing on the State of Missouri.” (See photocopy of this letter on p. 475.)

43. Oct. 5, 1842. Fleak transmits a letter from his half-brother reporting on another arrest of Smith.

44. Nov. 7, 1842. Fleak writes that the report of Smith’s arrest was not true and says that plans are still being made to abduct him.

45. Dec. 4, 1842. Fleak reports the failure to arrest Smith. Says efforts to do so have been abandoned and thinks the Mormons intend to return to Missouri.

46. Mar. 1, 1843. Fleak mentions a new requisition out for Smith and says that Smith has ordered the Mormons to leave Keokuk for Nauvoo.

47. Mar. 3, 1843. A letter regarding the arrest of Rockwell.

48. Aug. 3, 1843. Fleak complains that the Indians are being taken in by Mormon promises and lies and tells Reynolds that he can expect trouble on his western and northern borders in the fall.

There are also two letters from Kilbourn in this collection.

49. May 14, 1842. Kilbourn wrote to Reynolds regarding Smith’s reaction to the news of Gov. Bogg’s attempted assassination.

50. Aug. 12, 1842. He wrote to Fleak regarding an attempted arrest of Smith.

The background of this August 1842 arrest is as follows: On 6 May 1842, an unsuccessful attempt was made on the life of former Governor Boggs. On 20 July Boggs made affidavit that Orrin Porter had shot him on orders from Smith and applied to Governor Carlin of Illinois and Governor Reynolds of Missouri for the arrest of Rockwell and Smith. On 8 August they were arrested but not held and promptly went into hiding, whereupon Reynolds sent an agent, Edward R. Ford, to Illinois to find Smith and Rockwell and, with the permission of Carlin, bring them back to Missouri. Ford was unsuccessful, and we have two interesting documents regarding his efforts.

Ford Documents, 1842, MoSHi

51. Edward R. Ford Letter, Sept. 8, 1842, St. Louis, Mo., to “His Excellency,” [Gov. Reynolds] giving a report of his progress in pursuing the Mormons. He first went to Quincy and then to Nauvoo arriving there about nine a.m., but Smith “furnished with the information that the officers was a coming, he left Nauvoo about seven o’clock in the morning . . . we then proceeded for a carch [search] with five men . . . we carch two days for Smith and Rockwell on both sides but intier falier. Tho Smith is undoubtedly about Nauvoo—it is very unseartin whether Rockwell is about or not.”

Ford’s Quincy hotel bill has survived and suggests that Missouri agents sent after Mormons lived well and billed the state for all expenses. (See the photocopy of this bill p. 279.)

52. Receipt to Mr. Edward R. Ford from J.H. Miller, City Hotel, Quincy, Ill., Aug. 12, which reads as follows:

Quincy, Aug. 12th, 1842

Mr. Ford

	To City Hotel	pr
Horse    5 days		5.00
1 days board		1.00
5 drinks		.62
Cigars		.12
Washing		.50
Horse & Buggy		8.00
1 days board		1.00
Horse & Buggy		5.00
1 days board		1.00
		$22.24	1.24
	Cr. by Cash	4.00
		$18.24
	Received payment J.H. Miller
			$21.00

[Graphic omitted. See source document.]
Receipt from city Hotel, Quincy, Illinois, to Mr. Edwoard R. Ford from Mr. J. H. Miller, 12 August 1842, by courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri.

After E. R. Ford left Nauvoo, Joseph Smith returned on 29 August and decided to stand trial. He did so in Springfield, Illinois, and was acquitted 2 January 1843, whereupon one aspiring bounty hunter offered his services to ex-Governor Boggs.

State Archives—Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs, MoHi

53. J. A. Richardson, Feb. 4, 1842, Monticello, Mo., to Boggs. Although Richardson had recently failed “from causes not now necessary to mention . . . to bring to justice a negro thief,” he offered his services “to have Jo Smith brought to justice,” and affirmed that “I will bring him dead or alive or he shall leave the United States.”

There is no evidence that Boggs accepted this offer. Perhaps he wisely concluded that anyone who could not apprehend an ordinary thief was hardly up to capturing the Mormon prophet.

State Archives—Governor Thomas Reynolds, MoHi

There are a few other letters in the Governor Reynolds collection which ought to be noted in passing.

54–58. Five letters for this period, 1840–41, from persons in New Jersey, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania requesting information on Mormon troubles in Missouri to be used against the Mormons, especially missionaries, in their area.

Specifically the letters are as follows: Edward D. Smith, Nov. 18, 1840, Trenton, N.J., and June 28, 1841, Chester County, Penn.; J. H. Johnson, Feb. 4, 1841, Utica, Miss.; Lyman Cowdery, Feb. 20, 1841, Kirtland Mills, Ohio; and A. V. B. Orr, July 7, 1841, Steelesville, Penn.

59. George Miller Letter, Sept. 4, 1842, St. Louis, Mo., to His Excellency Thomas Reynolds, [Jefferson City, Mo.].14

Miller writes in defense of Joseph Smith and the Mormons in the attempted assassination of L. W. Boggs. After explaining why he thinks it was impossible for Smith to have been involved, he writes, “I have known Joseph Smith intimately for nearly three and a half years, halving been a great portion of that time in his society every day. There being an intimacy between us like that of Brothers, he having frequently unbosomed himself to me and I unhesitatingly aver that in every sense of the terms, a more generous, liberal, honorable, high toned virtuous man, never existed on the footstool of the great Jehovah than Joseph Smith . . . I make this appeal to your Excellency having learned from good sources that you are a learned jurist, a good man & honorable patriot. . . .”

60. John Corrill Letter, Mar. 21, 1841, Quincy, Ill., to Mr. Samuels.

Corrill, an ex-Mormon, writes, “I have just returned from Nauvoo and to confess the truth to you, I consider the prospects for collecting debts this season very poor, and what property there is among Jo and his associates contrive to make use of four public or Church use buildings.” Corrill goes on to explain that the church tithing system “only serves to reduce and enslave these people.” Corrill apparently had the nerve to face Smith for he reports, “I discovered by talking with Smith and others that they feel very hostile toward you and Mr. Arthur & others there [in Missouri] . . . and I must confess that I found their feelings much more hostile than I expected. . . .”

Although for years Corrill was a faithful member and defender of the Church, he later left it.15 This letter reveals him to have been a very naive and simple fellow. Unless he is deliberately dissembling, it is incredible that, considering what the Mormons suffered in Missouri, he would even consider trying to collect Missouri debts from them. Perhaps, however, he was working on a commission. We have one more letter from him on this subject.

61. Apr. 5, 1841, Quincy, Ill., to Messrs. Samuel and Arthur, Liberty, Mo. Corrill suggests that an effort be made to get the governor of Missouri to correspond with the governor of Illinois regarding these debts.

62. Samuel D. Lucas Letter, May 13, 1842, Independence, Mo., requesting Reynolds to offer a reward for the arrest of the person who attempted to assassinate Boggs. Reports that the Jackson County Committee of Investigation is offering $1,000.00.16

63. Levi Williams,17 Chairman, Citizens of Hancock, Ill., Jan. 13, 1844, sends Reynolds a pamphlet circulating among the Mormons and appealing to the Green Mountain Boys.18

A few miscellaneous documents turned up which perhaps should be noted here.

Darby Papers, MoSHi

64. John Corrill Letter, Apr. 21, 1839, Springfield, Mo., to Messrs. Thomas Watson and Sons, St. Louis Mo. Corrill is writing the printers of his booklet (A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints . . . St. Louis, Mo., 1839) regarding an insertion to be made in the manuscript he had previously sent them. He wanted to add a “specimen of the manner in which he [Joseph Smith] performed his translations.” His selection was the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew as it appears in the Pearl of Great Price.

65. In addition to this letter there are seventy-three pages of Corrill’s original manuscript.

James O. Broadhead Papers, MoSHi

66. Adolphus Allen Letter, Aug. 12, 1840, Monticello, Ill., to Gov. Boggs requesting information on the Mormons.

Mormon Papers, MHS

67. L. A. Moody [Lamoody?], Sept. 26, 1842, Willoughby, Ohio. The writer, a postmaster, wrote the St. Louis postmaster reporting the supposed presence of O. P. Rockwell “who tried to take the life of Gov. Boggs” in the Kirtland, Ohio area.

Two documents have surfaced pertaining to the Mormons going into Missouri while crossing Iowa in 1846.

Ethlyn Cockrell Collections, MoHi

68. Alfred L. Rockhold Letter, May 13, 1846, Mercer Co., Mo., to Thomas Rockhold, Whitley Co., Ky., regarding the Mormons in northern Missouri. “The Mormons is as thick as hops about here they have been drove from Narvoo.” He reports three or four hundred wagons on their way to California.

Whether the Mormons at that time were actually in present-day Missouri is debatable for, at that time, Missouri claimed a boundary ten miles north of the present line separating the states.19

G. S. Kunkel Memoirs, (typed copy), MoHi

69. According to Kunkel. “During the Mormon emigration [1846–47]” . . . Brigham Young preached in Oregon, Missouri. “He walked up to his pulpit with two of his ‘high mugs’ [guards] on each side of him, pulled out two revolvers and laid one on each side of him . . . Oregon was the last stop at which the Mormons could get supplies before reaching Salt Lake.”

Kunkel, only a boy of twelve at the time of this visit, may be mistaken. Although the Mormons did occasionally go into Missouri to buy supplies, it seems strange that Young himself would have gone so far south as Oregon—some forty-five miles off their general line of march across Iowa. This may be a reference to one of the trips for supplies made from Winter Quarters. At times the Mormons went 60, 80, even more than 100 miles into Missouri from Winter Quarters for necessities.

Hockaday Family Papers, MoSHi

70. Letter. May 13, 1857, Columbia, Mo., to Mother, Mrs. Emily Hockaday, Fulton, Mo. “A boat passed up Friday evening with 400 Mormon emigrants. They would not risk her stopping though there is no cholera on the boats.”

These were undoubtedly European emigrants going from St. Louis via the Missouri River to Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Iowa, and then overland to Utah.

[Graphic omitted. See source document.]

Notes from Missouri Intelligencer, MoSHi

71. A collection of twenty-one stories from this newspaper for the period Sept. 17, 1831–Oct. 11, 1834 concerning Mormons in Missouri, including some official correspondence and miscellaneous private letters.

Espenschied Papers, MoSHi

72. A typescript account (1960) of the activities of Louis Espenschied, a St. Louis wagonmaker who furnished wagons for the Mormon trek west.20

On 13 November 1886, M. J. Hubble visited with David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and left behind an account of this interview which I here quote in full.21 (See photocopy of a page of this document, on p. 483.)

Hubble Family Papers, MoHi

73. The account:

Richmond Nov. 13, 1886

I have just come from an interview with David Whitmer who is one of the witnesses to the translation of the Mormon Bible or “Book of Mormon” as he always called it when speaking of the book. I did not ask him how old he was but I think he must be between 75 & 80 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches high hair Iron gray not white smooth shaven & when young would I think have weighed 150 lbs. his nose & his eyes are his strong features, the first is large & somewhat after the manner of what the negroes in the south used to call “Hawk Nosed” the eye, when he was discussing the “Plates” from which Joe Smith made the translation (or pretended to) lighted as brilliantly as ever I seen an eye in my life, it brought back, in a flash, the eyes of a beautiful girl in Springfield, Mo., when at a social party in 1856, I told her I had news from her lover who had just got to California via overland route with a herd of cattle—it was the only time I have ever seen Miss Lizzie’s eyes rivalled, the thumb of his right hand is missing & he is now suffering from rhumatic pains.

I was met at the door by a pleasant faced intelligent lady of 25 years, I should think, who was present at the conversation & who called Mr. Whitmer Grandpa.

I asked as soon as I could the privalidge of an interview for publication but he said he preferred not as an interview published in a Chicago paper some years ago22 & written I think he said by Mr. Jacob T. Childs Editor of the “Richmond Conservator” was nearly right, (“only two trifling errors” he said) and he wanted that “to stand for all time as his testimony as to things therein mentioned” So, I now put on paper for my own benefit what Mr. Whitmer told me Copying his language as near as I Can. “My Brother was Sheriff of our county in Western New York. He got Crippled and had business in the neighborhood of where the Smiths lived and sent me to attend to it, while transacting the business I first heard of the Smiths, and the translation. A part of the book of Lehigh [Lehi] had been translated, about 150 pages & taken to Philadelphia by one of the parties, who put it in a bureau drawer at night, the next morning it was gone and has never yet been found. Joseph Smith was informed that for his transgressing the command, to keep it always under his care, he would be punished and the “gift” of reading through the spectacles was taken from him for about 3 months & never was allowed to see the “plates” again but at the end of his punishment, he was told that he might translate the book of Mormon, instead of the book of Lehigh but would not be permitted to see the “plates” that the “Characters” would appear before him & when he translated them correctly they would disappear & new ones come in their place if not translated correctly the first time they would remain until they were which in several instances he knew to be true because he said Joseph Smith was a man of limited education could hardly write legibly.

The statement regarding the “Book of Lehigh” surprised me, never having heard it before, although, I can well remember the “Mormon War”, my Father having participated therein, and I can remember the pain and sorrow his departure caused my Mother and the joy at his return, therefore I have been particular to write his statement correctly.

He said the Brass or Gold Plates were bound together at the back by having 3 rings run through & when a page was translated it turned back on the ring.

He said Smith translated by means of a pair of large bound Speciacles ie the “Book of Mormon”, that the Characters would appear in the air & stay until correctly translated and then disappear that Smith was ignorant of the Bible that when translating he first came to where Jerusalem was spoken of as a “Walled City” he stopped until they got a Bible & showed him where the fact was recorded—Smith not believing it was a walled city.

Mr. W. said that when Jerusalem was captured by the Babalonians that many of the Jewish histories were missing and believes that the book of Lehigh and the Book of Mormon were safely secured by their proper owners & brought to this continent & under the guidance of Almighty God buried until future generations should be ripe for the truth. Mr. W. also expressed reverently, his belief in “Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ”. Although an old man his mind is clear & vigorous & he expressed himself in good language and he believes what he says.

Addenda

Correspondence with ninety other historical societies in Missouri turned up several important documents which ought to be mentioned in passing.

The archives of the RLDS Church in Independence contain two letters from Joseph Smith to Emma, his wife, dated Independence, Nov. 4, 1838, and Richmond, Nov. 12, 1838; a William E. McLellin letter dated Independence, Aug. 4, 1832, to Samuel McLellin, Cartage, Tenn.; a manuscript fragment of the Book of Commandments; and the manuscript of “John Whitmer’s History.”

The archives of the Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, Missouri have several letters suggesting that a Johannes Gerber, a Swiss Reformed missionary of Pinckney, Missouri, was accused of joining the Mormons. A George Wall letter of May 3, 1855 states, “Dr. Gerber ist in Salt Lake City, das Jerusalem der Mormonen, gezogen—der arme Mann.”

The St. Mary Pioneer Historical Society of Independence, Missouri, has a letter in French from Father Roux, Mouth of the River of Kansas, 27 June 1834, to Bishop Rosati, St. Louis County, Missouri, regarding Mormon troubles in Jackson County. The sympathetic priest reports:

The troublesome situation of the Jackson County people will create for a while some obstacles to our aims. Between them and the Mormons is an implacable hate. [Entre eux et les Mormones il existe une haine implacable.] They have chased them from their possessions destroyed their crop, broke their fences, burned their houses and thrown them into distress, that would move even a heart of stone, they keep guard along the Missouri to repel them and take away all hope for them to return to their farms. Everywhere they created generals, chiefs, and armed themselves to the teeth with the most determined resolution to sustain the bloodiest fight. Everywhere in Jackson County resound these words “War to the Mormons.” If the government of the State of Missouri does not take this matter in hand, we will see grave and serious things in a short time. Mr. Bouvet and I are recluse, in solitude waiting for the bomb to explode. Combat ideas replace religious ideas and religion does not hold the first place in the Jacksonian hearts.