Letter and Revelation to Edward Partridge, 7 January 1838
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Source Note
JS, Letter and Revelation, [, Geauga Co., OH], to , [, Caldwell Co., MO], 7 Jan. 1838. Featured version copied [ca. Jan. 1878] in Edward Partridge Jr., Genealogical Record, 52; handwriting of Edward Partridge Jr.; CHL.Book measuring 13 × 8⅝ × 1½ inches (33 × 22 × 4 cm). Record contains 120 pages. The text block consists of 215 leaves (430 pages) measuring 12½ × 7⅞ inches (32 × 20 cm) each. Spine has “RECORDS” in gold lettering. A penciled inscription at the top corner of the front flyleaf lists the price of the book: “$3[.]45”. The flyleaf also contains notations by George A. Partridge, former president of the Partridge Family Association.Edward Partridge Jr. used the first sixty pages of the book “to write a few items and facts with regard to the life of my father,” . Subsequent pages contain family genealogical information inscribed by Edward Partridge Jr. and several unidentified scribes. Page 429 contains the testimony of Partridge’s mother, Lydia Clisbee Partridge.The Historian’s Office received this genealogical record in 1925 from George A. Partridge. It includes archival stickers and marking.
Footnotes
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Historical Introduction
As the ’s first , played a significant role in building up and leading the church in . Along with the other Missouri Saints, Partridge was driven from amid mob violence in 1833. By fall 1836, he and many other church members had migrated from temporary exile in to what would become . As bishop in , Partridge performed important administrative and financial duties, including acquiring and managing church lands and properties and raising revenue to build up the church in Missouri.In early November 1837, JS and other church leaders visited the burgeoning settlement of , where they regulated church affairs and discussed the creation of new of . After returning to , Ohio, in early December, JS faced renewed opposition from a vocal group of dissenters who denounced him and his supporters. It was in these circumstances, five days before relocating to , that JS sent the letter and revelation featured here to in Far West. Portions of the letter were apparently read aloud at a general assembly held in Far West on 5 February 1838, in which church members voted to reject the Missouri church .JS’s original letter including the revelation to is no longer extant. Approximately forty years after the letter was created, Edward Partridge Jr. copied a portion of the letter—primarily consisting of the text of the revelation—into the Partridge family genealogical record, prefaced by the words, “The following is an extract of a letter from the Prophet.” This is the copy featured here. The Church History Library retains another, virtually identical copy of the revelation in Partridge Sr.’s handwriting. That copy does not include portions of the original letter from JS; therefore, the copy featured here more closely resembles the original text that Partridge received in early 1838.
Footnotes
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1
Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41]; Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57]; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 28 Jan. 1832.
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2
Edward Partridge, Affidavit, Quincy, IL, 15 May 1839, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL. Partridge, along with William W. Phelps, John Whitmer, and John Corrill, began scouting out land north of Clay County in May 1836. On 29 December 1836, the Missouri legislature officially organized Caldwell County. (Partridge, Journal, [46]–[48]; “2d Series—Letter No. I,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1836, 2:340–341; Application for Land Patent, 22 June 1836; An Act to Organize the Counties of Caldwell and Daviess [29 Dec. 1836], Laws of the State of Missouri [1836], 46–47.)
Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
Partridge, Edward. Journal, Jan. 1835–July 1836. Edward Partridge, Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892, box 1, fd. 2.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Laws of the State of Missouri, Passed at the First Session of the Ninth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, on Monday, the Twenty-First Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Six. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
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3
In addition to obtaining and managing land in Far West, during fall and winter 1837 Partridge was assigned to collect donations for the construction of a new House of the Lord and raise revenue through a voluntary tithe to “assist the poor” and “compensate the Servents of the Lord for their services in attending to the business of the church.” (Minute Book 2, 25 July 1836; 7 Apr. 1837; 11 June 1837; 5 Aug. 1837; 7 Dec. 1837.)
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5
Historical Introduction to Revelation, 12 Jan. 1838–A.
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6
Minute Book 2, 5 Feb. 1838.
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7
Partridge, Genealogical Record, 52. Edward Partridge Jr. was the youngest child of Edward and Lydia Clisbee Partridge. He was born in Independence, Missouri, on 25 July 1833 and died in Provo, Utah, on 17 November 1900. (Partridge, Genealogical Record, 64; Obituary for Edward Partridge Jr., Deseret News, 17 Nov. 1900, 6.)
Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
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8
Revelation, 7 Jan. 1838, in Revelations Collection, CHL.
Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.
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