It can be easy at times, when studying the early history of the Church through the lens of the Doctrine and Covenants, to forget that there was a whole life and existence in the Church outside of the main gathering places in Ohio and Missouri.\u00a0 We spend so much time following Joseph Smith and his companions that the lives of those not immediately around him can fall by the wayside.\u00a0 Even when studying later periods, it can be easy to forget that there were times during the mid-1800s that the majority of Church members actually lived in Britain rather than the US.\u00a0 Not that focusing on the Doctrine and Covenants in this way is bad (they are scriptures after all), but at the point in the Doctrine and Covenants where we’re at, we do catch glimpses and reminders that the Church was larger than its headquarters and that the branches outside of those areas needed tending to stay aligned with what was happening at the focal points.<\/p>\n
A few examples stand out from the revelations we\u2019ve been studying these past few weeks. \u00a0When Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon were commanded to travel to Cincinnati in an August 12, 1831 revelation (D&C 61), they were told to \u201clift up their voices\u00a0unto god against that People,\u201d then \u201cfrom thence let them Journy for the congregations of their\u00a0brethren for their labours even now are wanted more abundantly\u00a0among them then among the congregations of the wicked.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 A few weeks later, another revelation (D&C 63) instructed Newel K. Whitney and Oliver Cowdery to \u201cspeedily\u00a0go with<\/span>\u00a0<?visit?> the churches expounding these things\u00a0unto them,\u201d sharing instructions from the revelations about purchasing land in Zion and then collecting money from those branches of the Church to do so.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 On 11 October (D&C 69), John Whitmer was told to \u201ccontinue in writing & makeing a history of all the\u00a0important things which he shall observe & know concerning\u00a0my\u00a0Church\u201d and to travel \u201cfrom place\u00a0to place & from Church to Church that he may the more\u00a0easily obtain knowledge.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 On January 10, 1832, yet another revelation (D&C 73) instructed the elders of the Church to \u201ccontinue preaching the gospel and in exhortation to the churches in the reagions round about.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 By this time in Church history, Church leaders had to administer dispersed branches or churches, visiting them to share instructions, collect histories or money for Church projects, and to exhort and preach to members.<\/p>\n Along those lines, the history of the Spafford, New York branch, as seen through Zerah Pulsipher<\/a>\u2019s eyes, based largely on the three versions of Zerah Pulsipher’s Autobiography<\/a>, is a glimpse into life on the peripheries of the early Church of Christ.\u00a0 The earliest contact with the Latter Day Saint movement came in mid- to late-1830 when, according Silas Hillman, \u201ca man by the name of Chamberlain,\u201d visited and spoke about the Book of Mormon, giving a \u201chistory of its origin, how it was obtained, and its translation.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Likely Solomon Chamberlain, an early convert and missionary,[6]<\/a> Zerah recalled this experiences as follows: \u201cIn the summer of 1830 I heard a Minister say in Public that a golden Bible on some ancient Peoples were found in Manches<ter> N.Y. the sentence thriled through my sistem like a shock of Electricity.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Once residents in Spafford were able to get a copy of the Book of Mormon, it became an item of frequent study and discussion.\u00a0 Zerah\u2019s son recalled that his father would get together \u201cwith the neighbors Elijah Cheney, [Shadrach] Roundy and others would sit and read and talk day and night \u2019till they read it through and through. They believed it was brought forth by the power of God, to prepare the way for the second coming of the Son of Man\u2014it was just what they were looking for.\u201d[8]<\/a> Zerah\u2019s wife, Mary, added that they, \u201cread and believed it, but did not know anything more\u00a0about it. Was very anxious to know more about it.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0 Because of these early contacts with Mormonism, there was an interested audience waiting for Jared Carter when he arrived in late 1831.<\/p>\n In relating his missionary efforts, Jared recalled that: \u201cI went on to the west to Spafford[,] a town in york state[,] onondaga County[,] where I commenced laboring in the ministry & the Lord began immediately to bless my labors.\u201d[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Carter preached and met with the people of Spafford, quickly leading to the baptism of several individuals.\u00a0 Zerah and Mary were baptized on 11 January 1832, along with their fourteen-year-old daughter, Almira, and three neighbors.\u00a0 Ultimately, about 20 people were baptized during the short time that Jared Carter was in the community.[11]<\/a> \u00a0Together, these converts formed a new branch of the Church.<\/p>\n Carter told Zerah that he wanted to ordain him an elder, but Zerah initially refused. After Jared informed Pulsipher that he needed to leave, however, Zerah realized that there was \u201cno church that I knew of nearer <then> two hundred miles,\u201d so he consented and was ordained an elder. As an elder, he functioned as the de facto <\/em>leader of this new branch of the Church of Christ.[12]<\/a> When Orson Hyde and Samuel Smith visited in the spring of that same year (during their missionary journey taken in response to the 25 January 1832 revelation, now D&C 75),[13]<\/a> Zerah recalled that they \u201cgave me the Presidency of the Branch,\u201d recognizing him as the de jure <\/em>presiding elder or branch president.<\/p>\n Zerah\u2019s account demonstrates some aspects of life outside of the main centers of Mormonism was like in the early 1830s. In his case, he had heard about Mormonism once or twice before a missionary came through to preach and baptize converts, only to see that missionary leave shortly afterwards. The converts that remained behind were left with a copy of the Book of Mormon in the community, but otherwise had to rely on their own intellectual and religious resources. In many cases, they probably continued to believe much of the same things they had previously believed (in this case, Protestant Christian primitivism).\u00a0 The main differences from their former co-religionists were that they believed they had found the true restoration of New Testament Christianity, with the Book of Mormon<\/em> acting as tangible sign of the nearness of the end times.<\/p>\n Innovations in theology, doctrine and church organization that occurred through revelations and other means in Kirtland or Missouri only gradually filtered out into outlying branches, carried there via visiting missionaries from the Church centers.[14]<\/a>\u00a0 Zerah mentioned that when Hyde and Smith visited, he welcomed them with \u201cgreat Joy and satisfaction\u201d because he \u201cwas much in need of instruction.\u201d\u00a0 Like Jared Carter, however, these missionaries only visited briefly\u2014preaching, baptizing, ordaining, and then moving on. In this case, the missionaries were traveling on a mission tour of the northeastern United States, and, having heard of \u201ca small branch of the Church\u201d they \u201chastened on to Spafford, NY.\u201d \u00a0Zerah recalled that \u201cthey preached a number of times [and] Baptised some.\u201d[15]<\/a> \u00a0Hyde and Smith recalled that, \u201cby our ministry [we] added 14 members\u201d to the branch before leaving for Boston, Massachusetts.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n Other Mormon missionaries visited the town from time to time. In November of 1832, Orson Pratt, Lyman E. Johnson, Hazen Aldrich and William Snow came to town. This group stayed in Spafford for six days, holding five meetings, \u201cone of which was a Conference <at which there were> eleven Elders present.\u201d After the conference, the missionaries moved on.[17]<\/a> Reynolds Cahoon and David W. Patten visited in December and baptized and ordained Reverend John Gould\u2014who served as a minister at the Free Will Baptist Church in Spafford.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n As a lay leader, Zerah had to grapple with problems associated with differences between what Mormonism was like at its gathering centers and what it was like in the countryside. At times these differences were due to new converts carrying over old beliefs and traditions to the new movement. Later in life, Zerah told his children and grandchildren that they had an advantage over his generation of Mormonism because they had \u201cless Gentile Traditions to over come,\u201d alluding to the fact that it was a process to transition into Mormonism.[19]<\/a> Parley P. Pratt likewise observed in 1835 that those branches where missionaries did not often visit were \u201cuninformed in the principles of the new covenant.\u201d[20]<\/a>\u00a0 On other occasions, convert\u2019s zeal about their new religion and the ideas of renewed spiritual gifts spurred eccentric innovations by individual members. Zerah recalled having difficulties with \u201cone or two Elders there with enthusiastic spirits which led the church into diversion\u201d that ultimately led him on \u201ca journey of 325 miles to get council to settle the difficulty.\u201d[21]<\/a><\/p>\n The difficulty was that the elder in question was teaching that \u201cwomen should have the gift of seeing that they might be able to discover the Mistakes that the Elders might make from time to time and furthermore that they might actually see what was in <their> hearts and if <they> [the elders] had <any> hypocrisy to declare it before the Church.\u201d This elder also \u201cordained a number of the sisters who made use of this power to the condemning some & satisfying others without any other testimony.\u201d Zerah rejected this idea, and traveled the long journey to Kirtland \u201cin <the> month Dec<ember> to get a council of high Priests that would be able to try the spirits to the satisfaction of all the honest in heart.\u201d Pulsipher rushed across muddy trails until he \u201carrived at that place the Last of Dec<br>. they immediately Called a conference and sent R[eynolds] Cahoon and D[avid] Patten who came with Leonard Rich and set things in order.\u201d[22]<\/a>\u00a0 Presumably, they decided that the elders and their teachings were in the wrong.<\/p>\n The Pulsiphers continued living in Spafford for a few more years, with Zerah presiding over the Church and preaching in the region. He visited neighboring townships and counties, such as Cortland County and Chenango County, New York.[23]<\/a> \u00a0Occasionally, Zerah took it upon himself to leave his home and travel a little further to spread the gospel, much as Jared Carter had done.\u00a0 Pulsipher later boasted that: \u201c<I had> many small missions in that region of country with success,\u201d adding that: \u201cI do not remember as I ever preached more then one week in a place without establishing a branch.\u201d[24]<\/a>\u00a0 Wilford Woodruff was one of the converts from these missionary journeys that Zerah set out on with his neighbor.\u00a0 In March 1835, however, the Pulsiphers and many other members of their branch decided to move to Church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio, ending their time at an outlying branch and uniting with the Saints at Church headquarters.[25]<\/a>\u00a0 Their story is a reminder, however brief, that there is a whole life and existence in the Church outside of the main gathering places–a reminder that holds relevance both when studying early Church history and for discussing the state of the Church today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> “Revelation, 12 August 1831 [D&C 61],” p. 103, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 3, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-12-august-1831-dc-61\/3<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> “Revelation, 30 August 1831 [D&C 63],” p. [2], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 3, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-30-august-1831-dc-63\/2<\/a><\/p>\n [3]<\/a> “Revelation, 11 November 1831\u2013A [D&C 69],” p. 122, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 3, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-11-november-1831-a-dc-69\/1<\/a><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> “Revelation, 10 January 1832 [D&C 73],” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 3, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-10-january-1832-dc-73\/1<\/a><\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Cited in Rhean Lenora M. Beck, Life story of Sarah (King) Hillman and Her Husband, Mathew Hillman, and Their Children<\/em>. (independently published, 1968).<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> See Larry C. Porter, \u201cSolomon Chamberlin\u2019s Missing Pamphlet: Dreams, Visions, and Angelic Ministrants,\u201d BYU Studies <\/em>37, no. 2 (1997-98): 113-140; Brent Ashworth, \u201cThe John Taylor Nauvoo Journal, January 1845-September 1845,\u201d BYU Studies <\/em>23, no. 3 (1983).<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Zerah Pulsipher Autobiographical Sketch #1<\/a>.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> “John Pulsipher\u2019s History\u201d in In Lund, T., Lund, N. H., Holt, I. L. (1953).\u00a0Pulsipher Family Book<\/em>, 47.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Mary Brown Pulsipher, \u201cThat We May All, In Glory Dwell,\u201d in Women of Faith in the Latter Days<\/em>, Volume One, 1775-1820<\/em>, ed. Richard E. Turley Jr. and Brittany A. Chapman (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), 265.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Jared Carter. \u201cJared Carter Journal, 1831 January-1833 January 20.\u201d MS1441, Church History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 45-46.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> \u201cJohn Pulsipher\u2019s History,\u201d in Lund, 47.\u00a0 Shipps, Jan, and John W. Welch, eds.\u00a0The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831\u20131836.<\/em>\u00a0(Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994), p. 70. Another version of Shadrach\u2019s conversion story says that he sought out Joseph Smith while he was at Fayette, New York and was baptized by him following their first interview in January 1831. See History of the Church<\/em>\u00a0\/ Smith, Joseph, et al.\u00a0History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/em>\u00a0Edited by B. H. Roberts. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1902\u20131912 [vols. 1\u2013]), 1932 [vol. 7]), 2:298.\u00a0 Collins, George Knapp, Spafford Onondaga County, New York<\/em> (Onondaga, NY: Dehler Press, 1917), 48; Journal History of the Church, 26 October 1832.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Zerah Pulsipher Autobiographical Sketch #1<\/a>.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> \u201cAnd again verily thus saith the Lord let my servent\u00a0Orson Hyde\u00a0and my servent\u00a0Samuel [Smith]\u00a0take their journey into the eastern countries and proclaim the things\u00a0which I have commanded them and inasmuch as\u00a0they are faithfull lo I will be with them even\u00a0unto the end.\u201d (“Revelation, 25 January 1832\u2013A [D&C 75:1\u201322],” p. [1], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 3, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-25-january-1832-a-dc-751-22\/1<\/a>)<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> See Jann Shipps, \u201cJoseph Smith,\u201d in Makers of Christian Theology in America<\/em>, ed. Mark G. Toulouse and James O. Duke (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997), 215-216.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> Zerah Pulsipher Autobiographical Sketch #1<\/a>.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> Journal History of the Church, 22 December 1832.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> Journal History of the Church, 26 October 1832.<\/p>\n [18]<\/a> David W. Patten Journal, 1832\u20131834. CHL. MS 603, [16] and 17 Dec. 1832; see also LeRoy W. Kingman (ed.),\u00a0History of Candor, NY, From Our County and Its People, A Memorial History of Tioga County, New York,<\/em>\u00a0(W. A. Fergusson & Co., N. Y., 1897), 444.<\/p>\n [19]<\/a> Zerah Pulsipher Autobiographical Sketch and Family Meeting Notes, p. 34 in Zera Pulsipher record book, circa 1858-1878 MS 753 1, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.<\/p>\n [20]<\/a> Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Record, 29 June 1835, 17-18 July 1835. Cited in Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 78.<\/p>\n [21]<\/a> Pulsipher, \u201cHistory of Zerah Pulsipher,\u201d 13.<\/p>\n [22]<\/a> Zerah Pulsipher Autobiographical Sketch, #1<\/a>, p. 6.<\/p>\n [23]<\/a> Pulsipher, \u201cAutobiographical Sketch,\u201d 6.<\/p>\n [24]<\/a> Zerah Pulsipher autobiographical sketch #3<\/a>.<\/p>\n