Footnotes
Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:6, 9].
Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:9].
According to the letter featured below, Sidney Gilbert brought Corrill’s letter with him to Ohio and arrived there before JS. When JS arrived in Ohio, he reunited with his wife Emma and adopted daughter, Julia, who were staying in Kirtland, before apparently moving them back to the John and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio. Gilbert may have given Corrill’s letter to JS when JS was in Kirtland, or he may have brought it to JS in Hiram. (JS History, vol. A-1, 215–216.)
Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 14 Jan. 1833. Corrill’s letter is not extant.
Phelps’s letter is not extant.
Other 1832 letters from Missouri leaders to JS were sent to Whitney, including a January 1832 letter from Oliver Cowdery. These letters were addressed to Whitney at the Kirtland Mills post office, which was in Whitney’s store. JS apparently received correspondence from the Missouri leaders through the Kirtland Mills post office. (Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832; Berrett, Sacred Places, 3:11–12.)
Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.
On 28 July, Hyrum Smith wrote in his journal that “Brother Sidney was ordaind to the hight preisthood the second time.” Rigdon was probably reinstated in Kirtland; Hyrum and Rigdon both resided there, and Rigdon had been removed from his office in Kirtland. (Hyrum Smith, Diary and Account Book, 28 July 1832.)
Smith, Hyrum. Diary and Account Book, Nov. 1831–Feb. 1835. Hyrum Smith, Papers, ca. 1832–1844. BYU.
JS may have been aware of an incident later reported by Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and Edward Partridge. According to Whitmer, in March 1832 “enem[i]es held a counsel” in Independence to decide “how they might destroy the saints.” Partridge reported that this meeting was broken up by Indian agent Marston Clark, but “still the hostile spirit of individuals was no less abated.” (Whitmer, History, 38; “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints in Missouri,” Times and Seasons, 17 Dec. 1839, 1:17; “The Outrage in Jackson County, Missouri,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 122.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
In a January 1833 letter, Hyrum Smith and Orson Hyde wrote that Phelps and others provided “answers” to letters from church leaders in Ohio that referred to these leadership issues. It is probable that this 31 July letter is one of the letters to which Smith and Hyde referred. Any response that Phelps made to this letter is not extant. (Letter to Edward Partridge and Others, 14 Jan. 1833.)
Revelations in December 1831 specified that those going to Zion needed to obtain “a certificate from three Elders of the church or a certificate from the Bishop” in Ohio that they were “a wise steward.” Such certificates—which are probably the recommends to which JS refers here—were to be given to Bishop Edward Partridge in Jackson County, Missouri. This apparently was a means of regulating the numbers of people who went to Missouri and ensuring that those to whom Partridge issued inheritances had been deemed “wise steward[s].” (Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–C [D&C 72:24–26]; see also Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–B [D&C 72:16–18].)
See Matthew 10:37.
This third reason may be related to the first: the company’s failure to obtain the proper permissions to go to Missouri. The Evening and the Morning Star noted in July 1832 that when the necessary recommends were not obtained, the result was “confusion, which would produce pestilence.” Such confusion resulted from the lack of coordination regarding how many people could be accommodated by the church in Missouri. (“The Elders in the Land of Zion to the Church of Christ Scattered Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [5].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Whitney broke his leg while trying to leap from a runaway stagecoach as he, Sidney Rigdon, and JS traveled back to Ohio. Rigdon went on to Kirtland, Ohio, but JS stayed in Greenville with Whitney while Whitney recuperated. (Letter to Emma Smith, 6 June 1832; see also JS History, vol. A-1, 214–215.)
JS and Whitney probably arrived in Kirtland in late June. In his 6 June letter to Emma Smith, JS wrote that he and Whitney intended to return by about 20 June. His later history indicates that they departed from Greenville sooner than they expected. Martin Harris traveled from Kirtland to Greenville within five days, which suggests that JS and Whitney could not have reached Kirtland before 10 June. Gilbert left Independence for Kirtland on or soon after 2 June 1832 (the date of Corrill’s letter), bringing Corrill’s letter with him. Travel between Ohio and Missouri took roughly three weeks on other trips made in 1831 and 1832, making it unlikely that Gilbert was in Kirtland before 20 June. Rigdon later recalled that JS and Whitney arrived in Kirtland about four weeks after his own 26 May arrival. (JS History, vol. A-1, 215; Letter to Emma Smith, 6 June 1832; JS History, vol. A-1, 142–146, 209–210; Sidney Rigdon, Statement, ca. 1842, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1856, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
See Deuteronomy 32:5; Revelation, Oct. 1830–B [D&C 33:2]; and Revelation, 4 Nov. 1830 [D&C 34:6].
JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Whitney were commanded to travel to Missouri and “sit in councel with the saints who are in zion otherwise satan seeketh to turn there hearts away from the truth that they become blinded & understand not the things which are prepared for them.” (Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:9–10].)