Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1976 Missionary Activities and Church Organizations in Pennsylvania, 1830-1840 V. Alan Curtis Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Missions and World Christianity Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Curtis, V. Alan, "Missionary Activities and Church Organizations in Pennsylvania, 1830-1840" (1976). Theses and Dissertations. 4631. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4631 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. missionary activities AND CHURCH organizations IN pennsylvania 183018401830 1840 A thesis presented to the department of church history and doctrine brigham young university in partial fulfbulffulfillmenti llmentclment of the requirements for the degree master of arts by VVO alan curtis april 1976 V this thesis 9 by ve alan curtiss is accepted in its present form by the department of church history and doctrineI1 of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of masterofmasteroffMastemasterrofof arts it lafoflafvf C bporteroporteroPorter committee chairman donald aeqeQ cannoncannons committee membermemder C to 6 Z se Zc ar&r faorbelgffor Ddauedabeameaye Y larrycorteLarrylaf CorteC ejaortersejAojaopa ortersortero riacting ep4rtmentdepartment chairman typed by linda hone ii acknowledgmentsKNO WLED GMENTS the writer expresses appreciation to all who have helped make the present work possiblepossi blesbiesblee without the assistance of those named below and others unnamed this study would yet be uncompleted special gratitude is voiced to andrew jenson for paving the way many years agoagog appreciation is also extended to the advisory committeecommittees drs larry ceC porter and donald Q cannon for their suggestions and directiondirectionsdirectionsese valuable tips and background were also received from drsdrsoarso lamar C berrettBerberrettyrettsretty milton voV backman richard 0oe cowan and russell reR richrichsriche particular gratitude is offered to drs berrett and porter for providing a research grant which made possible a research trip to pennsylvania for a monthm in the summer of 1974 although the volume of material that was found there was small 9 it was special and made a real contribution to the present study of course the single best source of information about missionary work in the 1830sISSOs is the historical department of the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints appreciation is expressed to the entire staff of the historical department for being very helpful and cooperative especial gratitude is extended to marilyn iii iv seifert who started the author at 47 E south temple and to linda haslamhasiamhas lamiamwho has given helpful leads over several summers with patient encouragementencouragementemence A multitude of people contributed to this study during the pennsylvania research triptripe sincere grati- tude is expressed to richard keK wolfe in erie county pennsylvania president devon griffith in towanda pennsylvania and their families for providing the physical necessities and many comforts while the author searched in their areasareasfe former towanda mayor gene mccracken and his late wife helen will be long remem- bered for their research contributions thanks is also extended to paul rosenbaum for sharing his notes on the same subject the writer is especially indebted to president hugh Pinpinnocknocks his family and missionaries of the pennsylvania LDS mission for their valuable leads helpful cooperation and great spirits the saints of pennsylvania were all most cooperative and warm to the authorduringauthor during that valuable month among themtheme the writer is grateful for the personnel of the colleges and historical associations who responded to his questionnaire special thanks is given to francis strong spiers for her information about the missionary to her ancestorancestors erastus snow acknowledgment for cooperation and help is also extended to the county historical society personnel in erieerleerieserlesbradford tioga and indiana countiesCountiesatieseappreciation is likewise felt v for the staffs of the county court houses in erie 9 bradford and tioga Councountiescountiesscountlesstiesstiese richard peP howard church historian for the reorganized church of jesus christ of latter day salsaisaintsantsnts independence missouri provided a cordial welcome and valuable assistance to this visiting researcher brent peterson of brigham young universityuniversitys educational media services was particularly helpful with the maps and photographs in the present workworks larry murdockmurdocks the documents and maps librarian at brigham young universityuniversitysuniversityos Os library also rendered valuable assistassistanceassistancesancesancee gratitude is extended to the staff of the library at BYU for many aandnd varied serviservicescese the authorauthorss bifwifwifeet carolynCaro lyntlyns and his studentstudentssp karlene smith marlene smith and kaye jordan were deliverers in an hour of need by typing questionnairequestionnairesss manuscripts and other material when it was needed others to whom the author would like to express gratitude include max parkinpatkins david whitaker eunice curtis recordrecords lareah gifford Torontorontotostop dean zimmerman and linda honehoneshonee special aopreciationappreciation is extended to the authors district coordinator lyman coC Berberrettberrettorettsretto for special encourage- ment and to his bishopbishops robert wassom who will be glad to have a first counselor again finally the writer expresses love and gratitude to carolyn a patient wife advisor and mother of six who will appreciate some new help and to six children who are growing up much too fast TABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments iii LIST OF FIGURES 0 f 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 ix chapter 11eae introduction 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 METHODS OF RESEARCH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 delimitation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 202 pennsylvaniapennsylvaniathe THE FIELD OF LABOR 0 9 e 0 0 6 pennsylvania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 THE messengers 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 9 330 THE LAMANITE MISSIONAMISSION A PRELUDE TO pennsylvania 0 0 0 0 0 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 background 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 THE LAMANITE MISSION 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 MOVING TO OHIO a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 4 pennsylvania THE ROAD TO THE EAST 0 s 0 0 22 BY LAND OR BY LAKE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 JARED CARTER 183118 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 ORSON PRATT AND LYMAN EsE JOHNSON 1832 0 28 ORSON HYDE AND SAMUEL Hho SMITH 0 0 0 0 0 29 JARED CARTER 183218 32 0 0 0 to 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 HYRUM AND WIWILLIAMLLI AM SSMITHMI TH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 36 vi vii chapter page JOHN F BOYNTON AND ZEBEDEE COLTRIN 0 0 0 36 JOHN PF BOYNTON AND EVAN M GREENE e s s 37 DANIEL STEPHENS 45 DOCTOR PHIIASTUSPHILASTUS HURLBURT 0 0 0 0 0 46 EVAN Mme GREENEgreeene andwilliamAND willlamwllliamWILLIAM heH heH SAGERS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 47 LORENZO barnes1833BARNES 1833 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 48 AMASA M LYMAN AND WILLIAM F CAHOON 0 0 49 ZEBEDEE COLTRIN 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 49 JOSEPH smithsSMITHSMITHO SIDNEY RIGDON AND FREEMAN NICKERSON 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 52 ORSON PRATT AND LYMAN E johnson1833JOHNSON 1833 0 53 conference IN SACO p MAINE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56 MOSES MARTIN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 56 LORENZO barnes1835BARNES 1835 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 57 EDWARD PARTRIDGE AND ISAAC MORLEY 0 0 0 0 62 AMASA Mme lyman1835LYMAN 1835 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 63 JEDEDIAH meM GRANT 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 63 LIBEUS toT COON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 64 ALMON weW BABBITT AND BENJANINBENJAMIN BROWN 0 0 0 64 JOSEPH SMITH SENIOR AND HIS BROTHER JOHN SMITH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 64 FINAL CURTAIN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 65 550 THE CHURCH IN BRADFORD AND TIOGA COUNTIES a 67 COLUMBIA AND RUTLAND BRANCHES ORIGIN 0 0 67 THE MISSION TO MENDON 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 74 A TRIP TO COLUMBIA BRANCH AND THE GIFT OF TONGUES 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 79 viivilviiii chapter page EXPANDING AND GATHERING 86 ZIONS CAMP 0 0 0 0 90 MORMON LAKE AND MORMON HILL 93 NAUVOO TIOGA COUNTYCOUNTYs pennsylvania 99 ab6b6 SOUTHWEST pennsylvania 103 ZEBEDEE COLTRIN AND JESSE GAUSE 103 AMASA MASON LYMAN AND zerubbabelZERUBBABEL SNOW 107 CARVEL RIGDON AND SAMUEL JAMES 1835 108 ORSON PRATT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 109 LORENZO barnes1836BARNES 1836 0 0 illlii ERASTUS snow1836SNOW 1836 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 113 ERASTUS SNOWsnowjanuaryJANUARY 1837 0 0 0 0 0 0 124 FRANCIS GLADDEN BISHOPbishop18371837 0 0 0 0 0 124 ERASTUS SNOWMAYSNOW MAY TO decembersDECEMBERDECEMbersBERo 1837 9 0 0 126 ERASTUS SNOW 1838 s 0 0 0 6 Is 0 0 0 ft 132 SAMUEL JAMESjames18391839 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 136 ERASTUS SNOWsnow18401840 0 a a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 138 770 THE philadelphia AREA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 140 brandywine BRANCH 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0 0 141 BRANCHES IN LANCASTER COUNTY 0 0 0 0 0 0 147 THE philadelphia BRANCH 0 0 0 0 0 0 it 0 0 150 880 SUMMARY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 155 APPENDIX erleERIEBRIE COUNTY BAPTISMS OF JOHN F BOYNTON AND EVAN M GREENE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 165 bibliography 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 168 LIST OF FIGURES figure page 1e1ae erie county pennsylvania to 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 2 mormon imnrun 0 to 0 0 0 0