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Letter to Moses Nickerson, 19 November 1833

Source Note

JS, Letter, , Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, to , , Brantford Township, Wentworth Co., Gore District, Upper Canada, 19 Nov. 1833. Retained copy, [ca. 19 Nov. 1833], in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 62–65; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

Between 4 October and 4 November 1833, JS and traveled to southwest and to preach to ’s family and friends. Their destination in Upper Canada was , the home of Nickerson’s two sons and , who had immigrated to Mount Pleasant and there opened a store together. After arriving in Mount Pleasant, JS and Rigdon found the Nickersons, who were in their late twenties at the time, and others in the area receptive to their message. According to Moses’s later autobiography, after listening to JS and Rigdon’s preaching for “some days,” he investigated “the doctrine advanced by them” and “became much interested; and, finally convinced of its truthfulness.” JS and Rigdon eventually fourteen people, including Eleazer Freeman and Moses. Before they left , JS and Rigdon Eleazer Freeman an and apparently designated him to preside over the small congregation in Mount Pleasant. Nevertheless, JS directed the letter featured here to Moses, apparently because Rigdon had promised to write to Moses but had been unable to do so. In this 19 November 1833 letter, JS informed Moses about matters in , Ohio; expressed his love and concern for the new Canadian members of the ; and attempted to bolster their faith.
received the letter, and by late December he wrote a response to rather than to JS. After acknowledging that he had received JS’s letter, Moses wrote that Rigdon and JS’s labors while in had been “the beginning of a good work: there are 34 members attached to the church at ,” all of whom remained “much engaged” in the Church of Christ. Moses expressed gratitude “for what I have received: the scriptures have been opened to my view beyond account,” and he informed Rigdon that “your friends in Canada often speak of you and brother Joseph.” He asked Rigdon and JS to send more preachers to Mount Pleasant to relieve and noted that “the work requires competent workmen; for the harvest is truly great.” Other missionaries were eventually sent to Mount Pleasant, and by summer 1834, missionary reported that he had “baptized two persons at Mount Pleasant, which increased the church in that place to 43.” Later in 1834, preached to many “attentive congregations” in Mount Pleasant and informed church leaders in “that the church in that place are prospering in the way of the Lord.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833 [D&C 100].

  2. [2]

    “Autobiography of Moses C. Nickerson,” True Latter Day Saints’ Herald, 15 July 1870, 425.

    Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

  3. [3]

    Retrospective Note regarding Baptisms, in JS, Journal, 1832–1834.

  4. [4]

    Moses Nickerson, Wendhom, Canada, to [Sidney Rigdon], 29 Dec. 1833, in The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1834, 134. “Wendhom” is most likely Windham Township, Norfolk County, Ontario, about nine miles south-southwest of Mount Pleasant.

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

  5. [5]

    “Communications,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:7–8.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  6. [6]

    “A Summary,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1834, 1:45.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter to Moses Nickerson, 19 November 1833 Letterbook 1 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 65

from him. I hope you will search the scriptures, to see whether these things are not also consistant with those things that the ancient prophets and apostles have written.
I remember and , Ranson also, and , and little Charles, with all the brethren and sisters. I intreat for an interest in all your prayers before the throne of mercy in the name of Jesus. I hope that the Lord will grant that I may see you all again, and above all that we may overcome and set down together in the Kingdom of our Father.
We contemplate with much pleasure a visit from you next spring, <​and before if consistant with your business,​> and hope we shall not be disappointed. So I close, by subscribing myself your brother in the bonds of the gospel,
(Signed) Joseph Smith Jr.
PS. I said that and mother Nickerson were well when we parted with them at , but you will recollect that ’s eyes <​were​> very sore while at your place: when we left him they were not well but considerably improved. J. [p. 65]
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Page 65

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter to Moses Nickerson, 19 November 1833
ID #
189
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:355–360
Handwriting on This Page
  • Oliver Cowdery

Footnotes

  1. [24]

    Some of the people listed here were baptized into the Church of Christ during JS and Sidney Rigdon’s proselytizing travels in Upper Canada. Fourteen people whom JS baptized in October 1833 are listed in JS’s journal, which helps identify “brother Freeman and Wife,” mentioned in the letter featured here, as Eleazer Freeman Nickerson and Eliza McAlister Nickerson; “Ranson” as possibly Richard Ransom Strobridge; and “sister Lydia” as Lydia Goldthwaite Bailey. “Little Charles” is unidentifiable. (See Retrospective Note regarding Baptisms, in JS, Journal, 1832–1834.)

  2. [25]

    Although he planned to go, it is not known if Moses Nickerson visited Kirtland in spring 1834. JS left Ohio that spring at the head of the Camp of Israel, traveling to Missouri to aid church members there. (Moses Nickerson, Wendhom, Canada, to [Sidney Rigdon], 29 Dec. 1833, in The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1834, 134.)

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

  3. [26]

    This is the second mention of sore eyes in this letter. It appears that both Freeman Nickerson and Sidney Rigdon suffered from an eye ailment, but no documents indicate the particular affliction. Some nineteenth-century United States newspapers ran advertisements and testimonials for curing sore eyes. These ads often pitched a product called “Eye Water,” which was to remedy “weak, sore, or inflamed eyes.” These advertisements and physicians’ manuals of the early nineteenth century suggest that “sore eyes” was a general term for “acute and chronic inflammation” and for eye ailments “of almost every description.” (See, for example, “A Word to the Afflicted,” Huron Reflector [Norwalk, OH], 6 May 1834, [4]; “Dr. Thompson’s Celebrated Eye Water,” Daily National Intelligencer [Washington DC], 14 June 1828, [2].)

    Huron Reflector. Norwalk, OH. 1830–1852.

    Daily National Intelligencer. Washington DC. 1800–1869.

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