Mormon History
Keeping Kirtland as a base of operations - 1833
The Geauga Gazette - August 17, 1833
MORMONITES.
One of the preachers of this
strange sect returned a few days ago from their head quarters in Jackson county,
Missouri, and reports that a great riot took place there immediately before his
leaving, in which the inhabitants of that neighborhood attacked the Mormonites,
endeavoring to make some of their leaders recant their faith -- refusing to do
this, the people tarred and feathered them. In consequence of this outrage, he
fled, and came to Kirtland Flats, about seven miles from this village. At
Kirtland, the Mormonites first established themselves, and proclaimed it the
Holy Land. Afterwards, their arch-leaders, Joe Smith and Sidney Rigdon, located
the Holy Land in the far-off West; and started the greater part of their
followers, then congregated at Kirtland with their families, into Missouri, --
the promised land, -- where they formed quite a settlement, and established a
press: -- but being unwilling entirely to give up their first location, a
considerable number remained at Kirtland, forming a nucleus, around which they
could collect more followers; and Smith and Rigdon, after planting their colony,
have returned, and have spent a considerable proportion of their time in and
about Kirtland. It is to be feared, that the course taken by the Jackson county
people is not calculated to cure the Mormonites of their delusion, or prevent
its affecting others. We, who live in their immediate neighborhood, have
purposely avoided noticing them, knowing that such absurdities live and flourish
by opposition. After their colony went to Missouri it was understood, they
disagreed among themselves, and the society, without opposition, would have soon
fallen to pieces, and resolved itself into the beggarly elements of which it was
composed.
At Kirtland, they have contemplated erecting a building of stone on a
magnificent plan, to be called, after the one erected by King Solomon, "The
Temple." Doubtless, this would have far exceeded the temple of Solomon in
magnificence and splendor. The workmen, we have understood, were ready to
commence operations, when it was deferred, and perhaps abandoned, owing to some
misunderstanding, as we have been informed, in relation to its location, or the
purchase of the ground on which it was to stand.
The Cambridge (Ohio) Times says; "A small band of Mormonites passed
through that place a few days since, on their way to the "New Jerusalem;"
located somewhere in the state of Missouri. While here they encamped on the bank
of Wills creek, in the rear of the town."
The idle, foolish whim whams of this sect excite, and very properly, we suppose,
the ridicule of the people generally. The only question is, do they, the
Mormonites, believe their own doctrines. They make sacrifices to follow its
requirements, they leave homes and kindred, and many of them wealth. -- These
things denote sincerity, and plead in their behalf. Man has ever been, and
perhaps ever will be, the sport of some delusion. -- U. S. Gaz.