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Elders’ Journal, October 1837

Source Note

Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints, , Geauga Co., OH, Oct. 1837.
Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints (, Geauga Co., OH, and , Caldwell Co., MO), vol. 1, nos. 1–2, Oct.–Nov. 1837, and nos. 3–4, July–Aug. 1838; nos. 1–2 edited by JS (in ) and nos. 3–4 edited by JS (in ).
Each monthly issue featured sixteen octavo pages that measured 10⅛ × 6⅛ inches (26 × 16 cm). Each page was printed in two columns, with each column 2⅛ inches (5 cm) wide.
The copy used for transcription was bound at a later, unknown date with three volumes of an earlier Mormon newspaper—the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate—in a stamped brown leather binding with decorative gold tooling on the covers and spine. The spine also contains two gold-tooled inscriptions: “MESSENGER | & | ADVOCATE” and “W. WOODRUFF.” The pages were trimmed to 9⅛ × 5½ inches (23 × 14 cm) and the edges and endpaper feature a marbled pattern in blue, tan, red, and yellow. The bound volume measures 9½ × 6 × 1⅜ inches (2 × 15 × 3 cm). It includes marginalia and archival notations and is held at the Church History Library. The bound volume belonged to , though at least some of the loose issues of the Messenger and Advocate originally belonged to Ezra Carter, Woodruff’s father-in-law. After Woodruff’s death, the volume passed to his daughter, Clara Woodruff Beebe, who inscribed her name on a flyleaf and pasted on the inside of the front cover a book plate containing her name. The volume entered the custody of the Church Historian’s Office before June 1964, when pencil markings on a flyleaf indicate the volume was accessed by office staff.

Historical Introduction

In the August 1837 issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, a prospectus announced that a new publication, the Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints, would replace the Messenger and Advocate as the church’s newspaper. The prospectus, written by , informed readers that JS would act as editor for the new , Ohio, periodical, which was owned by of the . The first issue of the Elders’ Journal likely appeared sometime in mid- to late October.
By establishing the new periodical, leaders were trying to steer the church’s monthly publication toward a focus on missionary labors. After taking over as editor of the Messenger and Advocate in February 1837, printed lengthy editorials and articles on history and philosophy, devoting less space to missionary work. By September 1837, the Messenger and Advocate had finished its volume run, and a “large body of the of the church” established the Elders’ Journal as a new monthly publication. In the August prospectus, Rigdon called attention to the intended focus on missionary efforts in the and , writing that the new paper was to be “a vehicle of communication for all the elders of the church . . . through which they can communicate to others, all things pertaining to their mission.” By featuring letters from missionaries, the paper would also inform church members of “the progress of the work.”
Assuming editorial control of a new church publication was one of the ways in which JS and other church leaders could limit dissent in . During his time as editor, had occasionally used the columns of the Messenger and Advocate to criticize JS. In a July 1837 editorial, Cowdery asserted: “Whenever a people have unlimited confidence in a civil or eclesiastical rule or rulers, who are but men like themselves, and begin to think they can do no wrong, they increase their tyrany, and oppression. . . . Who does not see a principle of popery and religious tyrany involved in such and order of things?” Cowdery’s editorial echoed the sentiment of other church dissenters who had in previous months expressed similar dissatisfaction with JS’s leadership and his control over spiritual and temporal matters. Several months later, JS informed readers of the Elders’ Journal that the new paper would “pursue a different course from that of our predecessor in the editorial department.” He continued, “We will endeavor not to scandalize our own citizens, especially when there is no foundation in truth for so doing.”
Although JS was listed as editor of the Elders’ Journal, his role in editing the subject matter in the October 1837 issue is unclear, since he was away from from 27 September until approximately 10 December. It is possible that he edited some content before leaving Kirtland, but it is more likely that his younger brother , who was acting temporarily as editor in his absence, authored the editorial sections. Because JS was ultimately responsible for the content of the Elders’ Journal and did in fact author editorials in subsequent issues of the paper, these selections are featured as JS documents.
Note that only the editorial content created specifically for this issue of the Elders’ Journal is annotated here. Articles reprinted from other papers, letters, conference minutes, and notices, are reproduced here but not annotated. Items that are stand-alone JS documents, such as the letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, are annotated elsewhere.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1837, 3:545–547; also reprinted as Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1837, 3:571–574. Marsh had worked at a Boston type foundry for several years in the 1820s. He then acted as proprietor of the Kirtland-era Elders’ Journal while living in Missouri. Publishers of the new newspaper apparently rented the Kirtland printing office and press from William Marks. According to a statement in the April Messenger and Advocate, JS and Sidney Rigdon transferred ownership of the printing office and its contents to Marks in April 1837, though they apparently acted as his agents following the transfer. (“T B Marsh,” [1], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; Masthead, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1837, 3:496; Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1837, 3:545–547; Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.)

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

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

  2. [2]

    See LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb.–July 1837, 3:449–544. The March 1837 issue of the Messenger and Advocate, for example, included a two-page article on the philosophy of religion, one page on the history of ancient Egypt, and several other articles with titles such as “The Causes of Human Misery,” “Philosophy and Consistency,” and “Duties of Masters and Apprentices.” (LDS Messenger and Advocate, Mar. 1837, 3:472–474.)

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

  3. [3]

    Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1837, 3:545; “Notice,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1837, 3:496. JS and other leaders may have seen October as a logical time to make this transition, given that the third volume of the Messenger and Advocate was coming to a close in September. The first volume (twelve issues in total) had run from October 1834 to September 1835, the second from October 1835 to September 1836, and the third from October 1836 to September 1837. (“Address,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:1; Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1837, 3:571.)

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

  4. [4]

    Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1837, 3:545–547. The prospectus further asserted that the new periodical would be a vehicle to “transmit to succeeding generations an account of their religion, and a history of their travels, and of the reception which they met with in the nations.” The October and November 1837 issues of the Elders’ Journal did in fact consist primarily of such communications. (Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837, 1–16; Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 17–32.)

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

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

  5. [5]

    Around the same time the Elders’ Journal prospectus appeared in the Messenger and Advocate, several church leaders were removed from their positions by a conference of church members for dissenting against JS and the church. In a 4 September letter addressed to John Corrill and the church in Missouri, JS also singled out particular church leaders who he asserted had been in “transgression.” (Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837; Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837.)

  6. [6]

    Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1837, 3:538.

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

  7. [7]

    See Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 23 May 1837; and Charges against JS Preferred to Bishop’s Council, 29 May 1837.

  8. [8]

    Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 27.

  9. [9]

    JS to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” in Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 27; Thomas B. Marsh to Wilford Woodruff, in Elder’s Journal, July 1838, 37; Vilate Murray Kimball, Kirtland, OH, to Heber C. Kimball, Preston, England, 19–24 Jan. 1838, Heber C. Kimball, Collection, CHL.

    Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476.

  10. [10]

    An addendum to a 7 August 1841 entry in JS’s history indicates, “On the commencement of the publication of the Elders Journal in Kirtland, he [Don Carlos Smith] took the control of the establishment until the office was destroyed by fire in December 1837.” (JS History, vol. C-1 Addenda, 12.)

  11. [11]

    See Travel Account and Questions, Nov. 1837.

  12. [12]

    See “Editorial Method”.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Elders’ Journal, October 1837 *Elders’ Journal, October 1837 *Letter from Wilford Woodruff and Jonathan H. Hale, 18 September 1837 *Elders’ Journal, October 1837

Page 7

love to all enquiring friends; write when you receive this, and let this sheet be an example for you, this to my dearest friend.
.
.
————
, I[ndian]a. Oct. 13th, 1837.
,
Dear Sir:
Having arrived here last evening in a heavy shower of rain, and calculating to pursue our journey on the morrow, I thought I would occupy part of the day, in writing a few lines to you for the Journal.
This place is about five hundred miles from , and about half way from to the city of ; which makes the distance from to the , one thousand miles.
Part of the way the roads were excedingly good, and part of the way, were as bad as they could well be.— The immence travel on the national road is incredible, and this composed of all classes, and discriptions of character. Here indeed you may see the rich and the poor, the noble and ignoble, all traveling together along the same way; just like they have to the grave, the common lot of all.
I observed as I passed through , that there was quite a diversity of both soil and timber, some parts of through which we passed, I think is not surpassed in any part of the country, for fertility of soil, beauty of attraction, and splendor of improvements. I have not, as yet, to this point seen any thing to equal it.
Through Indiana, there is a much greater uniformity of soil, timber, and surface, than in , I mean in the parts through which we passed. From the time we crossed the state line, until say within 12 or 15 miles from this place, there is a uniformity in soil, timber, and surface, that amounts to a dull monotony in the eye of the observer. The timber is principly beech and maple. The surface is very flat; and the soil not above second quality, if it would be considered of that qality
Indiana as far as I have traveled through it, until I came within a few miles of this place, does not justify the general report which has been given of it; at least, I confess, that I was disappointed, not finding the country as good as I expected from report.
There are a multitude of villages springing up on the national road, of which Richmond, Indianapolis, and are principle, of these three, I should consider Richmond quite in advance of the others. Indianapolis, the seat of government, is a village of considerable size; but the buildings are generally small, many of them from one, to one story and a half high, and very few excel two storys high.— The greater part of the houses are wood.—The town is built on the east side of White river: the situation is plesant, and would admit of a city of the largest size.
This vilage () is situated on the east side of the wabash, which is a beautiful river, and flows majestically along the west side of the . The steamboats ascend the river to this point. The is situated on a wide spreading prairy of exceedingly rich soil, and the surface is level, and presents a sublime prospect, to the eye of the traveler as he comes from the east. From where the national road enters the prariy; it is about three miles to the river, where the stands.
The prices of land on the national road is astonishing; take it at any point you will, and you will find, the wild land, from twenty to thirty dollars per acre; while the improved land, is from fifty to a hundred, according to the situation and improvements.
No thinking mind can travel through the country, and observe the ways of man and things, without deep reflection. In passing along you will see wealth, beauty, and eligance, flowing in all richness, and the next minute, you will see poverty, want, and wretchedness, praying like a vulture upon the happiness of their subjects. The wretchedness and sufferings which abound in many habitations, makes the heart sicken, and throws a gloominess over the spirit of the philanthrophist.
A person who is acquainted with the purposes and work of God in the last days, by traveling only increases his desire, that the great work of God may be speadily accomplished; for the amelioration of the world depends intirely on the accomplishment of the purposes of God. For this cause, the intel [p. 7]
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Editorial Title
Elders’ Journal, October 1837
ID #
8531
Total Pages
16
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