Jackson County, Missouri

“ It cost considerable, but Father booked it against them, and he will make them pay the debt. We might have to do such a thing again. I do not know anything about it, but I am pretty sure of one thing—we shall go to Jackson county, Missouri; that is, those who do right and honour their calling, doing what they have been told to do. You will be blessed, and you will see the day when Presidents Young, Kimball, and Wells, and the Twelve Apostles will be in Jackson county, Missouri, laying out your inheritances. In the flesh? Of course. We should look well without being in the flesh! ”

“ We are citizens of this republic, and we ask our rights as republicans, not merely in our restoration to our lands and property in Jackson county, Missouri, but in being considered honest in our faith; honest in our deal, and honest before God, till, by due course of law, we may be proved otherwise; reserving the right of every man's being held amenable to the proper authority for his own crimes and sins. ”

“ The crisis has come; all who will not take up arms with the mob and prepare to fight the "Mormons," have to leave Jackson county. I understand some have left the county, because they refused to fight an innocent people. It is said the mob will hold a "general muster" this week, for the purpose of learning who is who. We have reason to believe that they begin to slip over the Missouri, and commit small depredations upon our brethren settled near the river. ”

“ We wish to become permanent citizens of the State, and bear our proportion in support of the government and to be protected by its laws. If the above propositions are complied with we are willing to give security on our part, and we shall want the same of the people of Jackson County, for the performance of this agreement. ”

“ To accept the proposition of the Jackson people, therefore, and bind themselves never again to make any effort to settle collectively or individually within the limits of Jackson County, would be a surrender of their dearest rights of citizenship ”

“ To understand the bearing of this objection, it is necessary to inquire-First, the condition of the case in the circuit court of Jackson county on the appeal; and, secondly, the rules which must govern the case on its removal to the federal court, if such a removal should be effected. The condition of the case in the circuit court of Jackson county on the appeal depends upon the statute of Missouri under which the proceedings were had for widening the street. This statute was an amendment to the city charter of the city of Kansas, passed in 1875. ”

“ To accept such a settlement of their troubles, would have been a covenant with death, an agreement with hell! To their honor be it said, they spurned the proposition with the contempt it deserved.
[Footnote A: Const. Art. IV, Section 2.]
But the surrender of some of their rights as citizens of the United States was not the only difficulty involved in the settlement of the Jackson troubles by the saints selling their possessions. God had revealed it to them that Jackson County was the place where is to be built the Zion of their God. ”

“ Jackson County was alive with men who had sworn to assassinate him if he ventured within their reach. What could have been more admirable than his noble disregard of all their threats! On the 1st of July, 1834, unattended, except by two or three personal friends, he crossed the Missouri River from Clay into Jackson County, visited Independence and saw all that goodly land which the Lord had promised as a Zion, but which now was under the desecration of murder, rapine and a veritable reign of terror. ”

“ These transgressions, be it understood, were no violations of the laws of the land, nor did they consist in any acts of aggression or of trespass upon their Missouri neighbors. The old settlers of Missouri themselves are our witnesses here; for in all their procedure in this Jackson county persecution there is no accusation made against the Saints of violations of the law. ”

“ But feeling disposed to adopt every specific measure that can be done without jeopardizing our lives, to quiet the prejudices and fears of some part of the citizens of this county, we have concluded that our company shall be immediately dispersed and continue so till every effort for an adjustment of differences between us and the people of Jackson has been made on our part, that would in anywise be required of us by disinterested men of republican principles. ”

“ The address this committee reported repeated the falsehoods concerning the saints interfering with slaves, inviting free people of color to settle in Jackson County; and of the saints being the very dregs of the society from which they had emigrated; again charged them with most abject poverty, idleness, and of coming to obtain inheritances in Jackson County, "without money and without price." It declared that the evils which threatened their community, by the "Mormons" settling among them, were such as no one could have foreseen, and therefore they were unprovided for by the laws ”

“ A more clear and indisputable right does not exist, than that the "Mormon" people who were expelled from their homes in Jackson County, should return and live on their lands; and if they cannot be persuaded as a matter of policy to give up that right, or to qualify it, my course as the chief executive officer of the State is a plain one. * * * The Constitution of the United States declares: "that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." ”

“ Now, visitors exclaim, "what an industrious people you are!" We were always so. When we settled in the state of Missouri we made the prairie blossom like the rose. But our enemies lied about us and published scandal concerning us, although we were law-abiding. There was not a solitary man in the county of Jackson, who held office, who was a "Mormon," yet there was never a lawsuit or complaint against the Latter-day Saints up to the time the mobs in Jackson County broke loose upon us and drove us away and robbed us of our homes ”

“ November 21st, R. W. Wells, attorney-general of Missouri, wrote to the legal counsel employed by the saints, that he felt warranted in advising them that in case the "Mormons" expelled from Jackson County desired to be reinstated, he had no doubt the governor would send them military aid. He further advised that the "Mormons" might organize into militia and receive public arms for their own defense. Judge Ryland also wrote Attorney Amos Reese, stating that the governor had inquired of him respecting the "outrageous acts of unparalleled violence that have lately happened in Jackson County;" ”

“ Dear Sir:—Your Excellency will perceive by the petition, bearing date with this letter, that we intend to return to Jackson county as soon as arrangements can be made to protect us after we are reinstated in our possessions.
We do not wish to go till we know that our lives are not in danger from a lawless mob. Your Excellency will understand that at this inclement season it will require time to restore us, and troops to protect us after we are there, for the threats of the mob have not ceased.
Your obedient servant,
W. W. Phelps.
To Daniel Dunklin, Governor of Missouri. ”

“ They called upon the saints to send money to Missouri with which to purchase inheritances for themselves; they also asked the young and the middle-aged men to volunteer to go to Zion for the purpose of assisting their brethren to maintain their possessions in Jackson County, when the State authorities should reinstate them in their homes. We have none of the speeches of these elders in print, we cannot tell how well they told the story of Zion's wrongs ”

“ The following affidavits are from men of unquestionable veracity. They speak themselves.
STATE OF ILLINOIS, Hancock County. } ss.
Before the undersigned, a Justice of Hancock, and State of Illinois, personally appeared, Harmon T. Wilson. who being duly sworn, deposeth and says: That in the latter part of the winter, and early in the spring of 1843, he had several conversations with Joseph H. Jackson, in relation to the taking of Joe Smith on a writ which was expected from Missouri. ”

“ While this description confines the scenes of violence and rapine to the border counties south of the Missouri river,—it included Jackson county, however, which was one of the heaviest sufferers both in this border warfare and subsequently during the Civil War—still, the counties north of that stream also suffered from lawlessness and violence. ”

“ Doniphan. Rev. M. Riley, of the Baptist church, urged the expulsion of the "Mormons," stating that they had "lived long enough in Clay County, and must either clear out or be cleared out." Mr. Turnham, the moderator of the meeting, answered this speech, counseling moderation, saying, among other things, "Let us be Republicans; let us honor our country and not disgrace it like Jackson County. For God's sake, don't disfranchise or drive away the 'Mormons.' They are better citizens than many of the old inhabitants." ”

“ We expect to build many hundreds of meeting-houses, and we expect to be a people very densely located there—not one man taking up six or eight miles of land, and calling it his farm; we don't expect to live in that way, but we expect to settle a very dense settlement in that region of country. We expect to own the land, too. How? By purchase. We expect to purchase the land that we have not already purchased. We have already purchased a great deal of land in Jackson County and Clay County, Missouri, and our purchases are on record if they have not destroyed the record ”

“ There is now in Jackson County a body of people calling themselves Latter-day Saints. They are in fact a branch of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which church, Joseph Smith, Jr., the eldest son of Joseph Smith, the putative father of "Mormonism," is the president. The present headquarters of the church is at Plano, Kendall County, Illinois; where they have a printing house, containing engine, press, type and other facilities for carrying on quite an extensive business. ”

“ From Lafayette, in the state of Indiana, thence down along the Vermillion of the Illinois river to Lasalle, in Lasalle county, Illinois. From Lafayette post office, in Greene county, by Oceola and Waverley, to Springfield in Sangamon county. From Jonesborough, in Union county, by Willard’s and Smith’s Ferries on the Mississippi river, to Jackson, in the state of Missouri. From Liberty, in Jackson county, down along the bottom of the Mississippi river, by Breeseville, and Willard’s ferry, to Clear Creek Landing, in Alexander county. ”

“ Mr. Smith and those with him resumed their march to reach Liberty, Clay County, on the 23rd; but were met by Gen. Atchison and others when within six miles of the town, and were by them persuaded not to go to Liberty, as the people were too much incensed against them. The party, therefore turned away to the left and encamped upon the premises of a member of the fraternity named Burghardt, on the bank of Rush Creek.
From here a proposition for settlement was agreed to on the part of the "Mormons," and was by them sent to Mr. S. C. Owens and others, the committee from Jackson County. ”

“ From Little Rock, by Erwin’s settlement, White County court-house, Litchfield, and Powhattan, to Jackson. From Ozark, Franklin county, by Huntsville, Madison county, to Osage, Benton county. From the Mouth of Cache, by Searcy, White county, to Clinton. From Helena, by Tunica court-house, Mississippi, Panola court-house, and Oxford, Lafayette county, to Pontitoc. From Athens, Izard county, to Springfield, Missouri. From Pocahontas, through the northern part of Green county, to Stoddard court-house, Missouri. From Jackson, by Long’s on Strawberry river, to Athens, Izard county. ”

“ MISSOURI, Jackson County, Kansas City, Hook, Mary Rockwell, House (Residential Structures by Mary Rockwell Hook TR) , 4940 Summit St. (09/08/83)
MISSOURI, Jackson County, Kansas City, House at 5011 Sunset Drive (Residential Structures by Mary Rockwell Hook TR) , 5011 Sunset Dr. (09/08/83)
MISSOURI, Jackson County, Kansas City, House at 54 E. 53rd Terrace (Residential Structures by Mary Rockwell Hook TR) , 54 E. 53rd Terr. (09/08/83)
MISSOURI, Jackson County, Kansas City, Love, Emily Rockwell, House (Residential Structures by Mary Rockwell Hook TR) , 5029 Sunset Dr. ”

“ The sequel will show how faithfully the laws were executed, and how the "public" stood by, indifferent spectators, while an unoffending people were robbed of their possessions, and the laws of the State set at defiance by insolent mobs. The governor closed his answer to the petition of the exiles by saying that as then advised it would be necessary to have a military guard for the court and State witnesses, while sitting in Jackson County ”