Whenever you produce a book, you will inevitably reach a point where you have to edit out something dear to you, but which isn’t going to be as important to someone else or the book as a whole. Sometimes referred to as “kill your darlings,” it’s a difficult process. I faced it while writing A Barn Full of Angels: The Spiritual World and Pioneer Journey of Zerah Pulsipher, and there was one section in particular that I’m still not certain that I made the correct choice in cutting it, so I thought I would share it here.

The impulse to keep in contact with family members didn’t just extend to Zerah’s descendants and their family meetings. He also wrote letters back and forth with his brother Arunah, who lived in Union, Broome County, New York. Unfortunately, we only have the letters from Arunah, and not copies of the outgoing letters, so we only have half of the conversation.

In an 1848 letter, Arunah was critical of Zerah’s decision to join the Latter-day Saint movement and of his decision to follow it westwards. It is likely that his earlier letter was likewise critical on that point, resulting in Zerah becoming defensive and pointing towards the persecution he endured as a sign that he was on the right path in the eyes of God. In doing so, he seems to have pointed to 2 Timothy 3:12 to justify his interpretation of events: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” In response, Arunah pointedly noted that “this country has changed wonderfully since you left it. I think you would not set your face towards the next place if you could now firmly and comfortably settled here.” He then addressed the persecutions Zerah mentioned by stating that “[I am] glad to learn that you have been as far as you have—I doubt not you people have been persecuted a great deal—But—have you as a body given no occasion for it? … have you in all things done right?” Arunah felt that persecution was not necessarily a sign of doing right in God’s eyes because of opposition from a wicked world.[1]

Next in the letter, Arunah turned to a discussion of Jesus Christ—an ongoing concern for those in the Evangelical tradition of Christianity when evaluating the validity of Latter-day Saint beliefs. “And now, my dear brother, in the fear of God let me ask you, do you enjoy the pure religion of Jesus Christ? You used to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I thought you believed it. Have you yet that faith which works by law and purifies the heart. Or would not this accord with the belief of the “Latter day Saints.” He added, “I am concerned for your soul.” That concern was compounded by the geographical distance that separated them from each other: “I expect I have seen your face for the last time. I had a faint hope that was not so till I got your last letter, but now I have not. … Your homes will probably rest in the Great Salt Lake Valley. But how with your souls? Have you a hope big with immortality? If so I expect to meet you again in Heaven. But if not I must bid you … farewell.”

Although Arunah expressed that “I am concerned for your soul,” he still loved Zerah and wished for his welfare: “I love you yet. And I’ll pray for you yet. If I cannot do it in your hearing, the breeses shall waft my sighs to the ever open ear of my God in your behalf. Thank God there is a faith yet to be exercised which brings opposite sides of the earth close together.” And regardless of their religious differences, Arunah wanted to keep in touch with Zerah: “I want you to write as often as you can—I want to know whether you are yet firm in the ‘Mormon faith.’”[2] We don’t know what Zerah offered in response to Arunah’s requests for information in 1848, but they would continue to correspond from time to time afterwards.

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Footnotes:

[1] Arunah Pulsipher to Zerah Pulsipher, September 13, 1848, in Zerah Pulsipher Papers, circa 1848-1874, MS 753 fd 2, CHL.

[2] Arunah Pulsipher to Zerah Pulsipher, September 13, 1848, in Zerah Pulsipher Papers, circa 1848-1874, MS 753 fd 2, CHL.