Zion high council and bishopric, Minutes, , Caldwell Co., MO, 12 Apr. 1838. Featured version copied [between 1 Oct. 1842 and 14 Sept. 1843] in Minute Book 2, pp. 118–126; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
Historical Introduction
On 12 April 1838, JS testified in the trial of in , Missouri. The rift between church leaders who were loyal to JS and those who were not had been widening for several months, beginning in , Ohio, in 1837 and extending into later that year. The 12 April trial as well as another trial on 13 April represented the culmination of ecclesiastical efforts to cull dissent and division within the church. At the 12 April trial, JS testified that prior to Cowdery’s dissension, he had been JS’s “bosom friend.” In 1829, Cowdery had served as JS’s principal scribe for the Book of Mormon translation, and since that time the two men had jointly experienced visions, witnessed angelic visitations, and served as the church’s first teachers and leading . Further, in 1834 JS designated Cowdery as first assistant in the church . Despite these experiences, by 1837 Cowdery began to express displeasure with JS’s leadership of the church. As Cowdery noted in a letter included in the 12 April minutes, a central issue for him and others who opposed JS was the extent that the church and its leaders were involved in the “temporal interests” of its members. As another factor contributing to Cowdery’s dissent, by summer 1837 he was deeply in debt, likely in part because he previously purchased wholesale goods for a mercantile firm he operated with JS and . In addition, as noted in his trial, Cowdery had insinuated since 1837 that JS was guilty of adultery. Nevertheless, in a 3 September 1837 conference of the church in Kirtland, Cowdery was accepted as one of the “assistant Councilors” in the First Presidency. The next day, JS wrote to church leaders in Missouri, warning them that although Cowdery had been “chosen as one of the Presidents or councilors” in the First Presidency, he had “been in transgression” and that if he did not “humble himself & magnify his calling . . . the church will soon be under the necessaty of raising their hands against him.” In October 1837, Cowdery moved to Missouri, where he evidently devoted much of his time to improving his dire financial situation. He sold personal property in , Missouri, and to bolster his emerging clerical and legal practice, he encouraged lawsuits against church members. Both of these activities were included in the ’s charges against Cowdery in the 12 April trial.
The sale of land by , , and was the impetus for some of the earlier charges against the members of the . John Whitmer and Phelps, who had served as counselors to Zion president , were removed from office in early February. Cowdery showed implicit support for the deposed Zion presidency by attesting a letter the former presidency members wrote to , protesting the trial of Phelps and John Whitmer. On 7 April, submitted nine charges against Cowdery, most relating to accusations of misconduct and disloyalty to JS and the church. Two days later, church leaders wrote letters to Cowdery, , and —an and frequent associate of the dissenters in and —informing them of their trials before the high council. Cowdery received his letter the day it was written. On 12 April, instead of attending his trial in person, Cowdery sent a letter to that underscored Cowdery’s opposition to the actions of the church and asked that he be allowed to withdraw his membership.
’s trial was held at ’s office in . The trial proceeded according to official instructions for trying “a ” before a “common council of the church,” which consisted of a bishop, acting as a “common judge,” and twelve . In this case, Partridge conducted the case with the assistance of his counselors in the and the twelve members of the high council. The letter in which Cowdery requested to withdraw from the church was read to the bishopric and high council, and the court proceeded to investigate the charges. Most of the testimony centered on Cowdery’s emerging legal practice, his accusations that JS had committed adultery, and his alleged connection to counterfeiters in . JS testified twice during the trial. As a result of the testimony JS and others offered, Partridge and his counselors decided to excommunicate Cowdery; the high council concurred. Minutes of the council meeting were taken by clerk . They were later copied into Minute Book 2 by .
Harper, Steven C. “Oliver Cowdery as Second Witness of Priesthood Restoration.” In Days Never to Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, edited by Alexander Baugh, 73–89. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009.
See, for example, John Whitmer, Far West, MO, to Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, Kirtland Mills, OH, 29 Aug. 1837, Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; and Statement of Account from Perkins & Osborn, ca. 29 Oct. 1838.
Whitmer, John. Letter, Far West, MO, to Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, Kirtland Mills, OH, 29 Aug. 1837. Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
The and of met according to appointment in April 12th 1838 Presiding
The Council was organized as follows;
no 1
no 2
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Voted unanimously that be a President of the High Council, whose duty it shall be to receive charges and give notice to the defendant, also, to call the Council together and organize them &c
The Council opened by prayer by
After some remarks by , several charges were read by him prefered against which are as follows;
“To the and Council of the in .
I do hereby prefer the following charges against .
1st, For stiring up the enemy to persecute the brethren by urging on vexatious Lawsuits and thus distressing the inocent.
2nd, For seeking to destroying the character of President Joseph Smith jr, by falsly insinuating that he was guilty of adultry &c.
3rd For treating the Church with contempt by not attending meetings.
4th. For virtually denying the faith by declaring that he would not be governed by any ecclesiastical authority nor Revelation whatever in his temporal affairs [p. 118]
In a 10 March 1838 letter to his brothers, Cowdery reported having “some four or five suits to attend to” at the April term of the circuit court in Caldwell County, Missouri.a The details of these cases are largely unknown because of the lack of extant court records. One of these cases may have been a suit on behalf of George Walters to redeem an 1836 promissory note from the First Presidency. In July 1838, Partridge testified that Cowdery promised to help Walters redeem the note in exchange for removing Cowdery’s name as a debtor on the note.b Several church leaders, probably drawing on passages in the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and JS’s revelations, expressed the belief that it was immoral to sue other church members in a court of law.c For example, in 1837 the Quorum of the Seventy in Kirtland voted to “withdraw fellowship from all who are in a habit of promoting litigation among their brethren and still persist in so dooing.”d It is likely that such beliefs, coupled with a general antipathy toward lawyers, motivated some of the ecclesiastical charges against Cowdery.
(aOliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, [10] Mar. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 92. bEdward Partridge, Affidavit, Caldwell Co., MO, 12 July 1838, in Frampton, Justice of the Peace Docket Entry, CHL. cSee 1 Corinthians 6:1; Ashurst-McGee, “Zion Rising,” 128–129; and Firmage and Mangrum, Zion in the Courts, 12–18; see also JS, Journal, 7 Mar. 1844. dQuorums of the Seventy, “Book of Records,” 32, 37.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Frampton, David. Justice of the Peace Docket Entry, 12 July 1838. CHL.
Ashurst-McGee, Mark. “Zion Rising: Joseph Smith’s Early Social and Political Thought.” PhD diss., Arizona State University, 2008.
Firmage, Edwin Brown, and Richard Collin Mangrum. Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1890. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
Record of Seventies / First Council of the Seventy. “Book of Records,” 1837–1843. Bk. A. In First Council of the Seventy, Records, 1837–1885. CHL. CR 3 51, box 1, fd. 1.
Similar charges were made against Lyman Johnson and David Whitmer. Though Cowdery was clerk of the high council, there is no record of him attending high council meetings after 7 December 1837. In early February 1838, Cowdery wrote to his brothers that the Zionpresidency refused to attend the February general assembly meetings in which presidency members were removed from office. Although Cowdery’s role was not yet in question at that date, he said he planned to only “attend one meeting, say what I think wisdom and leave them to their own damnation.” (Minutes, 13 Apr. 1838; Minute Book 2, 6–7 Dec. 1837; Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 84.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
In February 1838, Cowdery wrote to his brothers that he told a committee of the Zionhigh council, “If I had property, while I live and was sane, I would not be dictated, influenced or controlled, by any man or set of men by no tribunal of ecclesiastical pretences whatever.” (Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 84.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.