Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley D&C 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 71, 73 Matthew McBride 24 April 2015 For early members of the Church, the summer of 1831 began with high expectations. An important con- ference was held during the first week of June in the schoolhouse on Isaac Morley’s farm near Kirtland. The room was crowded, and many sat just outside the open windows, straining to hear. The summer breeze carried the fragrance of freshly harvested mint, planted by the acre in the nearby fields. Joseph Smith opened the con- Ezra Booth Isaac Morley ference with prayer. Now, in this new revelation, the Lord declared that At this gathering, the first ordinations to the “high Missouri was indeed “the land which I will consecrate priesthood” were performed.1 Several of the elders ex- unto my People.” Speaking of the New Jerusalem, He perienced spiritual manifestations, including the cast- promised that He would “hasten the City in its time.” ing out of evil spirits. Then, near the close of the four- The revelation also called Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, day conference, Joseph Smith received a revelation that and 13 other pairs of missionaries to travel two by two spoke to the dearest hopes of the faithful. to Missouri, where the next conference was to be held. It Ever since they had first read the Book of Mormon, also told them that if they were faithful, the Lord would believers had wondered how, where, and when the reveal “the land of [their] inheritance.”3 book’s prophecies would be realized. When would the The pairs of missionaries departed for Missouri with Lamanites—then believed to be the North American high hopes. They believed the day of Jesus’s return to Indians—be converted and join Church members in earth was very near and that they were traveling to lo- building a New Jerusalem in the Americas? These early cate and build a temple city in which they would gather members knew the site for the city would be “among the to receive the Lord when He came. Rumors rippled that Lamanites.”2 They had even dispatched Oliver Cowdery Oliver Cowdery and his fellow missionaries were on and three other missionaries to the far western reaches the verge of converting many American Indians.4 The of the United States to preach to American Indians near missionaries anticipated that in Missouri “the objects of Missouri. faith and hope, were to become the objects of knowl- edge and fruition.”5 The Journey to Missouri Isaac Morley and Ezra Booth were among the mis- sionaries called. They had both attended the conference and had been ordained, and they were now designated to travel as companions. Isaac Morley had been among the first converts to the Church in Ohio. At the time of his conversion, Mor- ley; his wife, Lucy; his family; and several friends lived on his farm, sharing a communal lifestyle. They were trying the best they could to live as the early Christians mentioned in the book of Acts, who had “all things Isaac Morley farm Ohio common” (Acts 4:32). 1 Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley upset that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon left for Mis- souri on a wagon, while he and Isaac were called to walk the entire distance in the summer heat, preaching along the way. The journey was inconvenient for others as well. Jo- seph Smith departed just weeks after he and Emma lost twins shortly after birth. He left his grieving wife, who would have to care for herself and the newly adopted Murdock twins (whose mother, Julia, had died in late April and whose father, John, would also make the trip to Missouri). When Ezra Booth finally arrived in Missouri, he felt deflated. He and others “expected to find a country abounding with the necessaries and comforts of life.” Instead, he looked around and noted that “the prospect appeared somewhat gloomy.”9 Booth remembered Jo- seph Smith confidently asserting before the trip that the Church in Missouri would be large and growing, but when they arrived they found only seven new members. Joseph Smith himself might have been disappointed initially when he arrived in Missouri. The area around Independence was mostly open prairie with a few scat- tered trees. Far from inspiring visions of a millennial capital, the frontier town itself was “a century behind the times.”10 For most of the elders, the reality on the ground in Missouri was a disappointment. But they would deal with that disappointment in different ways. A Prayer for Guidance Was this really the place and time to try to build up Zion? On July 20, anxious to understand God’s timing and intentions, Joseph turned to the Lord. “When will D&C 57 the wilderness blossom as the rose?” he prayed. “When will Zion be built up in her glory, and where will thy Ezra Booth had been a respected Methodist preach- Temple stand?”11 These questions prompted a reve- er in northeastern Ohio.6 His conversion created a lation—now Doctrine and Covenants 57—that finally small stir among his friends and acquaintances, who designated the site for the city and temple. lamented his joining the “Mormonites.”7 Booth had felt A further revelation on August 1 (Doctrine and strongly prompted to join the new faith. “The impres- Covenants 58) instructed the missionaries to dedicate sions of my mind were deep and powerful,” he recalled, the land but hinted that Zion would be built up only “and my feelings were excited to a degree to which I had “after much tribulation.” The revelation chastised those been a stranger.”8 who, like Ezra Booth, had murmured complaints. “They But by the time of his departure in June 1831, Booth say in their hearts this is not the work of the Lord for his had begun to doubt. The spiritual manifestations at the promises are not fulfilled.” It warned that “their reward conference did not meet his expectations, and he was lurketh beneath & not from above.”12 2 Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley D&C 58 D&C 60 In spite of disappointment and the enormity of the many years for them to receive their inheritance in this city building project, Joseph was determined to make a land.”15 start. Together with Sidney Rigdon and others, he set to Another revelation, now Doctrine and Covenants work. They consecrated the land near Independence for 60, instructed the returning missionaries to travel on a place of gathering, laid the first log for a house in Zion, the Missouri River east to St. Louis.16 There Joseph and set the northeast cornerstone for a temple. and Sidney Rigdon would travel speedily to Cincinnati, Some of the elders, like Reynolds Cahoon, saw ex- Ohio, to preach, while the others were to travel “two by citing possibilities in these symbolic beginnings. “There two & preach the word not in haste among the congre- my mortal eyes beheld grate and marvilous things,” he gations of the wicked.”17 wrote, “such as my eyes once never even contemplated They embarked in canoes for St. Louis on August 8. of seeing in this world.”13 But Ezra Booth was unim- The Missouri River was notoriously difficult to navigate. pressed by the meager start. It was “a curiosity,” he said, Steamboat captains dreaded the sawyers, or fallen trees “but not worth going to Missouri to see.”14 lurking in the river, that frequently wrecked their ves- sels. The elders would later tell Elizabeth Marsh that the The Return to Ohio river’s roiling current “look[ed] mad as if it had been Though a few of the missionaries had been chosen cursed.”18 to remain in Missouri, the August 1 revelation com- The journey was a contentious one for the elders. manded the rest of the missionaries to return to their Exhaustion, heat, and the treacherous Missouri River homes, indicating that “the time has not yet come for 3 Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley ions traveled the remainder of the journey to Ohio by boat and coach. “Confound Your Enemies” Shortly after his return to Ohio, Ezra Booth parted ways with the Church in a very public fashion. Because his experience did not match his expectations of how Zion should look or how Joseph Smith should behave, he first wavered and then abandoned his faith. Begin- ning that October, the Ohio Star, a newspaper located in Ravenna, Ohio, began publishing a series of letters Booth penned, heavily criticizing Joseph Smith and the Church. By December his letters had even started to hinder missionary work, and Joseph Smith received two reve- lations in December 1831 and January 1832, now found Karl Bodmer painting depicting the difficulties in Doctrine and Covenants 71 and 73. They challenged of navigating the Missouri River in 1833. Booth and other dissidents such as Symonds Ryder to frayed their nerves. On their third day on the water, “bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord.” They some of the canoes nearly became entangled in the saw- also encouraged Joseph and Sidney Rigdon to preach yers, which threatened to capsize the canoes, endanger- actively: “Confound your enemies; Call upon them to ing the lives of those who could not swim. meet you both in publick and in private.”22 After they made it safely to shore, they continued Though Sidney Rigdon challenged Booth and Ryder bickering. Though certainly capable of contention him- to public debate, they declined, perhaps aware of Rig- self, Ezra Booth had little tolerance for it in others.