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Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 December 1829

Source Note

, Letter, , Ontario Co., NY, to JS, [, Susquehanna Co., PA], 28 Dec. 1829. Featured version copied [between ca. 27 Nov. 1832 and ca. Jan. 1833] in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 4–5; handwriting of JS; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 1.

Historical Introduction

wrote this letter to JS while still heavily engaged in the publication of the Book of Mormon. JS personally copied this letter into his letterbook approximately three years later, and the original letter, including possible postage information, is not extant. The letter may have been mailed, but more likely delivered it to JS on a planned trip to , Pennsylvania, mentioned in the opening line of the letter.
The purpose of this journey by is not known. He made the trip around the time that and encountered difficulties with , editor of a local , New York, newspaper, the Reflector. In December 1829 Cole announced to his readers his intention to begin publishing extracts from the Book of Mormon, and in January he began circulating portions of the still-unpublished book without JS’s permission. Cole produced his paper on “nights and sundays” at ’s printing office in Palmyra, which gave him access to the pages of the Book of Mormon being printed there. It seems unlikely, however, that Cole’s announced intention to print parts of the Book of Mormon prompted Joseph Smith Sr.’s decision to go, as the letter puts it, “directly” to JS’s home in . There is no evidence that Cowdery or the Smiths knew of the announcement, and the Reflector did not actually publish extracts of the Book of Mormon until the 2 January 1830 issue. ’s account of the Reflector affair, while providing no dates, explains that and Oliver Cowdery were unaware of Cole’s intentions when they went to the printing office on a certain Sunday after Hyrum had a feeling of uneasiness. There they found Cole printing extracts of the Book of Mormon, and a verbal confrontation ensued, resulting in Cole’s refusal to cease his operations. Lucy Smith reported that Joseph Smith Sr. then “set out as soon as possible for ” to alert JS of Cole’s actions. If the confrontation occurred with Cole on 27 December 1829, the Sunday previous to the first distribution of an issue containing Book of Mormon extracts, Joseph Sr. might have left the next day to inform JS of Cole’s intentions, and thus Cowdery’s letter would have been penned to accompany him.
However, it is unlikely for several reasons that a confrontation with over the Book of Mormon was the impetus for this letter. There is no indication of this purpose in the letter itself. Although reported on the progress of the printing, he said nothing about Cole or his intentions to circulate passages of the Book of Mormon in the Reflector. The tone of the letter also lacks the urgency one might expect in a hurried effort to call JS back to . The text of the letter itself, therefore, makes it highly unlikely that it was written the morning after Cowdery and “contended with him [Cole] a long time to dissuade him from his purpose.”
’s account provides additional evidence that the initial confrontation with occurred in January rather than in December, which would make it impossible that the confrontation with Cole led to write this 28 December letter. She explained that JS and his father returned from the Sunday following the confrontation between Cowdery and Cole, and she recalled that the day they arrived in was “the most blustering cold and disagreable that I ever experinced.” After fighting through the storm, they arrived “nearly s[t]iffened with the cold,” and JS “went the same night to the printing office as it was sunday the day in which Mr. Cole published” his paper. Lucy Smith’s reference to the bitter cold makes a mid-January journey by JS much more likely than one occurring a week after 27 December, since the winter was quite mild in the area until 7 January, when a sudden and intense cold front hit. If Lucy Smith’s recollection of the weather is correct, JS’s trip to Palmyra could not have occurred before 10 January, the Sunday following what would have been a 3 January confrontation between , Cowdery, and Cole.
The impetus for this letter, then, was not the episode with , which evidently had not yet occurred. Instead, ’s purpose seems to be to convey some personal feelings to JS and to provide a brief accounting of his activities in . He makes clear to JS that while he had spent much of his time engaged in the publication of the Book of Mormon, he had not neglected his other religious duties.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    In the 9 December 1829 issue of the newspaper, Cole (under the pseudonym Obadiah Dogberry Esq.) declared that since the Book of Mormon would “not be ready for delivery for some months to come,—at the solicitation of many of our readers we have concluded to commence publishing extracts from it,” to appear in the near future. (“Gold Bible,” Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 9 Dec. 1829, 39, italics in original.)

    Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.

  2. [2]

    Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [9].

  3. [3]

    “The First Book of Nephi,” Reflector (Palmyra, NY), 2 Jan. 1830, 9.

    Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.

  4. [4]

    Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [9]–[10].

  5. [5]

    Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [9]–[10].

  6. [6]

    “Singular Winter,” Schenectady (NY) Cabinet, 6 Jan. 1830, [3]; “From Albany,” New-York Spectator, 15 Jan. 1830, 5.

    Schenectady Cabinet. Schenectady, NY. 1810–1837.

    New-York Spectator. New York City. 1804–1867.

  7. [7]

    There is additional evidence from Cole himself that may support the conclusion that his meeting with JS occurred on 10 January. In the 13 January issue of his paper, Cole explained to his readers that “the appellation of ‘Gold Bible,’ is only a cant cognomen that has been given it by the unbelievers. . . . The true title of the work, as appears from the copy-right, is ‘The Book of Mormon.’” Cole’s reference to the phrasing on the copyright form may suggest that he had discussed the matter of copyright when JS arrived at his shop the previous Sunday to assert his rights to the publication of the Book of Mormon. According to Lucy Smith, after initial belligerence, Cole agreed to an arbitration of the matter. He discontinued his publication of extracts from the Book of Mormon after the 22 January 1830 issue of the Reflector. (“Gold Bible,” Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 13 Jan. 1830, 20; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 9, [9]–[11]; see also Copyright for Book of Mormon, 11 June 1829.)

    Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.

  8. [8]

    A June 1829 revelation had commanded Cowdery to “cry repentance unto this people” and “search out the twelve” disciples who were to “go into all the world to preach my gospel unto every creature.” (Revelation, June 1829–B [D&C 18:14, 28, 37].)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 December 1829 Letterbook 1

Page 5

is going directly to your country but knowing that if a few lines from you under my hand is as gladly rec[e]ived by you as one from you would at all times be by me I cannot in duty to my feelings let this oppertunity <​pass​> u[n]improved Your great anxiety will probably be to know of the progress of the work in the which we are <​So deeply​> engaged and possibly our Souls wellfare al[l] of which can make known unto you it may look rather Strange to you to find that I have So Soon become a printer and you may cast in your mind what I Shall become next but be asured my cahngeing [changing] business has not in any degree I trust taken my mind from meditateing upon my mission which I have been called to fulfill nor of changing Slacking my diligence in prayr and fasting but but Some times I feel almost as though I could quit time and fly away and be at rest in the Bosom of my Redeemer for the many deep feelings of Sorrow and the many long Struglings in prayr of Sorrow for the Sins of my fellow beings and also for those whose pretend to be of my faith almost as it were Seperateth my spirit from my mortal body do not think by this my Brother that I am would find give you to understand that I am freed from Sin and temptations no not by any means that is what I would that you Should undersstand is my anxiety at some times to be at rest in King in the Paradice of my God is to be freed from sin temptation &c. You have our prayrs and our best wishes
Yours in Christ Amen
Joseph Smith Jr
P S we Send our respects to &c—— [p. 5]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 December 1829
ID #
26
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:101–104
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.

Footnotes

  1. [3]

    In addition to aiding the printing process by creating a printer’s copy of the original manuscript for use in the printshop, Cowdery apparently set type for some of the pages as well. John H. Gilbert, typesetter for most of the Book of Mormon, later recalled that Cowdery, though not a printer, “was a frequent visitor to the office, and did several times take up a [composing] ‘stick’ and set a part of a page—he may have set 10 or 12 pages, all told.” (John H. Gilbert, Palmyra, NY, to James T. Cobb, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 10 Feb. 1879, in Theodore Schroeder Papers . . . Relating to Mormonism.)

    Gilbert, John H. Letter, Palmyra, NY, to James T. Cobb, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 10 Feb. 1879. Theodore Schroeder Papers: Corres., Writings and Printed Ephemera Relating to Mormonism. Microfilm. New York: New York Public Library Photographic Service, 1986. Copy at CHL.

  2. [4]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 144 [Enos 1:11].

  3. [5]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 304 [Alma 29:16].

  4. [6]

    In several early documents, Oliver Cowdery signed his name with “H P” as middle initials. What the initials stand for is unknown. JS used just the “H” when writing to Oliver in October. (Letter to Oliver Cowdery, 22 Oct. 1829.)

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