Thomas B. Marsh's Account of 1837–1838 Apostasy
In the summer of 1837, Warren Parrish and others became disaffected with revealed religion but hid the fact from Joseph. When Hyrum and Thomas, then Joseph, Sidney, and William Smith left for Far West, Parrish, three apostles, and a member of the high council united to overthrow the church. When Joseph returned, they publicly renounced the church and proclaimed their own. William Parrish had become a deist.

In 1846, W. W. Phelps and John Parrish, two of the presidency in Missouri, used $1450 borrowed from eastern branches to care for Jackson county refugees to purchase land instead. Without consulting the bishop or high council, they selected and purchased land, laid out Far West, designated the site for the House of the Lord, and appointed a building committee. They would profit from the sale of land to the Saints. In April 1837 they acknowledged their errors and in May it appeared things had been worked out, but it was soon discovered that in transferring the land to Bishop Partridge, they had saddled him with a $3450 mortgage, partly by refusing to honor the $2000 pledge they had made to help build the House of the Lord. The high council rejected the presidency as their leaders, as did the Missouri branches. Shortly thereafter, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer were excommunicated, followed by Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Lyman E. Johnson.
Brother W. Woodruff, …   Elders' Journal, vol. 1 no. 3 (July 1838), 36–37. The letter is not dated, but internal evidence indicates it was written in 1837.
Deplorable f Kirtland You say that you have heard of the deplorable state of things in Kirtland, and it gave me much joy to learn by your letter that you received those things in their true light. Great has been the afflictions of the Saints in that place, particularly our beloved brethren Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.  
Conference of the Twelve In the past summer, I journeyed from this place in company with Wm. Smith and D. W. Patten (h), to Kirtland, for the purpose of meeting in conference there, with the twelve.  
Settled before leaving On our arrival, we soon learned the difficulties that then existed there. These, however, were all apparently settled previous to my leaving Kirtland:    
Warren Parrish and others feigned repentance   And W. Parrish, who has since become an unbeliever in revealed religion, affected to repent and become satisfied with Br. Joseph and the Church. Others also did the same:—But this settlement was not of long duration.    
Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney, others to Far West Soon after this, President Hyrum Smith and myself left Kirtland for the upper Missouri, and President Joseph Smith, President Sidney Rigdon, and Wm. Smith, soon followed us to Far West:  
Kirtland dissidents plot overthrow   and during their absence, it seems that Parrish, J. F. Boynton (h), Luke Johnson (h), Joseph Coe, and some others, united together for the overthrow of the Church.    
Joseph returns December 1837

Dissenters renounce LDS

Return to Church of Christ

Denounce Joseph		 President Smith, [37] and his company returned on or about the 10th of December, soon after which this dissenting band openly and publicly renounced the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, and claimed themselves to be the old standard, calling themselves the Church of Christ, excluded that of Saints, and set at naught Brother Joseph and the whole church, denounced them as heretics.    
Blind apostates How blind and infatuated are the minds of men, when once turned from righteousness to wickedness.  
Name of church They did not understand that by taking upon them the name of Latter Day Saints, did not do away that of the Church of Christ.—Neither did they consider that the ancient church was the Church of Christ, and that they were Saints.  
Daniel refers to the kingdom of Saints And again, it appears that they did not consider the prophecy of Daniel which says, "The Saints shall take the kingdom," &. Again, "the Kingdom, and the greatness of the Kingdom, under the whole heaven, was given to the people (the Saints) of the Most High." And the Saints here alluded to were certainly Latter Day Saints; inasmuch as the above prophecy is to be fulfilled in the last days, and is yet future, as all professed readers of the bible will confess.   "But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." Daniel 7:18.

"And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Daniel 7:27.
Parrish rejects Book of Mormon, becomes a deist We have of late learned, that Parrish, and the most of this combination have openly renounced the book of Mormon, and become deists.  
I will now leave Kirtland, and give you some account of the movement of things here, as they are and have been.  
Recall 1836 visit


Fund raising

$1450 to W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer		 You undoubtedly remember the visit which I, in company with Elder Groves, made to the churches in Kentucky and Tennessee in the summer of 1836. You may also recollect the nature and result of our visit. We came to solicit assistance for poor bleeding Zion. And we obtained through the goodness of the children of God in those regions, the sum of fourteen hundred and fifty dollars, which we delivered unto Wm. W. Phelps and John Whitmer on our arrival at this place.  
Used funds to buy land instead

Ignored bishop, high council		 But these men, instead of laying out the money for the benefit of poor bleeding Zion, purchased land for their own emolument. They generally did their business independently of the aid or counsel of either the bishop or high council.  
Bought land

Selected site of Far West

Selected site for House of the Lord

Ordained committee

Without authority		 This gave some uneasiness to the two authorities of Zion: not only because they purchased land with church funds in their own name for their own aggrandizement, but because they selected the place for the city Far West and appointed the spot for the house of the Lord to be built on, drew the plan of said house, and appointed and ordained a committee to build the same, without asking or seeking counsel at the hand of either bishop, high council, or first presidency, when it was well understood that these authorities were appointed for the purpose of counseling on all important matters pertaining to the Saints of God.   two authorities in Zion: apostles ¶ Thomas B. Marsh (h) and David W. Patten (h)
Town plot in their name to profit These two presidents also managed to get the town plot into their own hands that they might reap the avails arising from the sales of the lots.  
High council invited them to meet

Marsh and Patten to meet them 		In consequence of these with other things, the high council met by themselves on the 3rd day of April, 1837, and resolved to invite the two presidents, the bishop and his council, and the two apostles, namely, T. B. Marsh (h) and D. W. Patten (h), to meet with them on the 5th inst. to which time they adjourned.   Council of April 3, 1837
Apostles meet them three days Accordingly, the above named authorities met on the 5th, and after laboring diligently three days in succession, it was unanimously agreed upon that the town plot, with four eighties adjacent to the plot, should be at the disposal of the bishop and his counsel, the high council, the two presidents and the two apostles.  

Council of April 5–6, 1837
Presidents acknowledge error During this labor the two presidents acknowledged they were wrong and they, to all appearance, willingly suffered themselves to be corrected by the council.   Reconciliation of the council and their presidents is evident in the Council of April 7, 1837.
Land deeded to bishop In the beginning of May following, the council met again and resolved to have the above named property transferred into the hands of the bishop as an equivalent to the poor bleeding Zion money, and that the avils of said land should be thereafter applied to the benefit of the poor and other public purposes.   This may be the Conference of May 1837.
For mortgage of $3450

Trickery or misunderstanding? 		The business of the transfer of said property was transacted by the two presidents, the bishop and his counsel, by some means they managed to bind the bishop in a mortgage of three thousand four hundred and fifty dollars to apply two thousand dollars of the avails of the town plot which they had subscribed to the building of the house of worship which they intended to have erected.  
Agreement falls through

$2,000 subscription withdrawn

W. W. Phelps gained 		Since that time, the affair of building the house has fallen through. Consequently, many people have withdrawn their subscription and these two men, claiming this two thousand dollars as their subscription, chose to withdraw it and put it into their own pockets, a small part of which has been already paid to Wm. W. Phelps.  
First committee to meet with the presidents The Council, not feeling willing that the church should be defrauded out of two thousand dollars of her public funds, and also knowing that the church in general, as well as themselves, had become dissatisfied with their conduct as Christians in many things, appointed a committee to labor with them.  
Presidents voted out After which, they called the whole church in Zion together, who almost unanimously voted them out of their presidential office.  
Second committee meets with the presidents Not long after this, the council saw cause to appoint a second committee to wait on these men who still persisted in their opposition to the interests of the church.  
W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer excommunicated   After which, charges were preferred against them before the council, which were substantiated, and they were excommunicated.   Council of March 10, 1838
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Lyman E. Johnson excommunicated Also, the Church has had much sorrow during the past winter on account of the unfaithfulness of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Lyman E. Johnson (h), and in consequence of this and their opposition to our beloved brother Joseph Smith, Jr., and the best interest of the Church of Jesus Christ, and for persisting in the same, a number of charges have been substantiated against them before the council and bishop of the Church, and they have also been excluded from fellowship. "How has the gold become dim, the most fine gold changed!!!"    
Joseph and Sidney in Zion

Church flourishes		 But I must drop this subject for want of room. Suffice it to say, brethren Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon are now with us, the Church now flourishes, and the Saints rejoice, and the internal enemies of the Church are down. You will see by the above prospectus that your anxious desires for the Journal are about to be granted.   Journal: Elders Journal
  May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you and keep you unto His coming and kingdom. Amen.    
  My love to all the Saints in those regions.    
  Yours in the love of God,    
  THOMAS B. MARSH.    
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