Editor William W. Phelps had routinely printed excerpts of revelations and even some passages from the Book of Mormon and JS’s translation of the Old Testament in the monthly periodical The Evening and the Morning Star. (See, for example, “Extract from the Prophecy of Enoch,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1832, [2]–[3] [Moses chap. 7]; “The Book of Jacob,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1832, [2]–[4] [Jacob chap. 5]; and Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B, in “Revelation Given, Hiram, Ohio, November 1, 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Mar. 1833, [6] [D&C 1].)

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

Oliver Cowdery’s letter has not been located. Legal problems arose in Missouri over what to deed and what kind of deed to give to a person who received a stewardship in return for his or her consecrations. Though JS had “nothing further to say on the subject” in this letter, two weeks later he sent Bishop Edward Partridge a letter giving details on his “views, concerning consecration, property, and giving inheritances.” The “commandments of the Lord” likely refer to earlier revelations containing guidelines for consecration, which include Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30–39, 54–55]; and Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]. (Letter to Edward Partridge, 2 May 1833; see also De Pillis, “Development of Mormon Communitarianism,” 189–204.)

De Pillis, Mario S. “The Development of Mormon Communitarianism, 1826–1846.” PhD diss., Yale University, 1960.

A later Missouri state law required that any transfers of registered land be recorded by the county assessor. (An Act to Provide for Levying, Assessing, and Collecting the Revenue [14 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], 533.)

The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly, During the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. Together with the Constitutions of Missouri and of the United States. 3rd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.

Deed records indicate that David Elliott did not purchase land in Geauga County, in which Chagrin (later Willoughby) was located, until 1836, when he received a deed for a parcel of land sold to him by JS. Elliott, however, resided in Chagrin as early as 22 January 1834, suggesting that he may have begun the process of purchasing the land much earlier than 1836. About two weeks before this letter was written, Elliott and his wife, Mary Cahoon, initiated a land sale to Luther Snow for a piece of property in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for $500. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 23, p. 422, 15 Oct. 1836, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Cuyahoga Co., OH, Deeds and Mortgages, 1815–1866, vol. N, pp. 191–192, 9 Apr. 1833, microfilm 1,994,223, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Letter to the Church in Clay Co., MO, 22 Jan. 1834.)

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

In 1828 the United States government publicly announced that it would begin selling federal lands in Missouri. Such lands were sold at auction for $1.25 per acre in tracts of at least eighty acres. Purchasers paid the surveyors’ fees up front, filed the necessary paperwork, and were required to complete payment within two or three years in order to obtain title to the land. In 1831 the federal government offered for sale the lands it had reserved to benefit public education, including the “Seminary Lands,” which had been set aside to fund higher education in Missouri and included much of the land in Jackson County. The seminary land was initially offered for sale at $2 per acre. (An Act to Provide for the Sale of Seminary Lands [31 Dec. 1830], Laws . . . of the State of Missouri, vol. 2, chap. 155, pp. 209–213.)

Laws of a Public and General Nature of the State of Missouri, Passed between the Years 1824 and 1836, Not Published in the Digest of 1825, Nor in the Digest of 1835. Vol. 2. Jefferson City, MO: W. Lusk and Son, 1842.

The 20 July 1831 revelation, which designated Independence as the center place of Zion and identified the exact location for the temple in Independence, also instructed members of the church to purchase the temple site and “also every tract lying westward even unto” the Missouri border so that they would own land “in all the regions round about.” By January 1832, Edward Partridge, Sidney Gilbert, and other church leaders had purchased 1,200 acres for the Saints in an ongoing effort to obtain land. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:3–6]; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832.)

The Evening and the Morning Star mentioned this 21 April letter from JS only in regards to this information about Rigdon. Apparently, the editors of the Star in Missouri received a subsequent letter dated 2 May 1833, reporting that Rigdon had recently returned to Kirtland and that during his brief mission to Medina County he had baptized sixteen people. ([William W. Phelps], “The Progress of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1833, 100.)

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

It is unclear who died and if a particular illness or event caused these deaths.

See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 192 [Mosiah 18:9].

See Acts 20:32; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 566, 585 [Ether 12:41; Moroni 9:22].