{"id":53847,"date":"2026-06-16T07:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=53847"},"modified":"2026-06-16T07:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:21:53","slug":"from-the-archives-letters-to-a-mormon-pioneer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2026\/06\/from-the-archives-letters-to-a-mormon-pioneer\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Archives: Letters to a Mormon Pioneer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/em><\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The impulse to keep in contact with family members didn\u2019t just extend to Zerah\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In an 1848 letter, Arunah was critical of Zerah\u2019s 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: \u201cYea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.\u201d In response, Arunah pointedly noted that \u201cthis 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.\u201d He then addressed the persecutions Zerah mentioned by stating that \u201c[I am] glad to learn that you have been as far as you have\u2014I doubt not you people have been persecuted a great deal\u2014But\u2014have you as a body given no occasion for it? \u2026 have you in all things done right?\u201d Arunah felt that persecution was not necessarily a sign of doing right in God\u2019s eyes because of opposition from a wicked world.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Next in the letter, Arunah turned to a discussion of Jesus Christ\u2014an ongoing concern for those in the Evangelical tradition of Christianity when evaluating the validity of Latter-day Saint beliefs. \u201cAnd 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 \u201cLatter day Saints.\u201d He added, \u201cI am concerned for your soul.\u201d That concern was compounded by the geographical distance that separated them from each other: \u201cI 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. \u2026 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 \u2026 farewell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Arunah expressed that \u201cI am concerned for your soul,\u201d he still loved Zerah and wished for his welfare: \u201cI love you yet. And I\u2019ll 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.\u201d And regardless of their religious differences, Arunah wanted to keep in touch with Zerah: \u201cI want you to write as often as you can\u2014I want to know whether you are yet firm in the \u2018Mormon faith.\u2019\u201d[2]<\/a> We don\u2019t know what Zerah offered in response to Arunah\u2019s requests for information in 1848, but they would continue to correspond from time to time afterwards.<\/p>\n

\n

Footnotes:<\/h2>\n

[1]<\/a> Arunah Pulsipher to Zerah Pulsipher, September 13, 1848, in Zerah Pulsipher Papers, circa 1848-1874, MS 753 fd 2, CHL.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Arunah Pulsipher to Zerah Pulsipher, September 13, 1848, in Zerah Pulsipher Papers, circa 1848-1874, MS 753 fd 2, CHL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":53850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-history"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/zera-pulsipher-letters-family-arunah.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53847"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53851,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53847\/revisions\/53851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}