Simonds Ryder (1792-1870)

Simonds Ryder (1792–1870)

Leader of Campbellite church in Nelson-Mentor, Ohio. Joins Mormons briefly, then, according to Joseph, leads the 1832 mob that tars and feathers Joseph and Sidney.
Born	November 20, 1792 in Hartford, Washington county, Vermont
Died	August 1, 1870 in Hiram, Ohio.
Father	Joshua Ryder
Mother	Marilla
Baptized	June 3–6, 1831 conference
Events	January 1814 arrives in Hiram, Ohio and purchases 115 acres. In time holdings total over 400 acres.
Campbellite leader	May 1828 joins Campbellite movement and is assigned to the Nelson-Mentor church, which, with the exception of his brief interlude with Mormonism, he serves for fifty-one years.
Ezra Booth Destruction of Peking	In April 1831 Simonds permits Mormon missionary Ezra Booth address his congregation. He is impressed and visits Kirtland, but is put off by a young Mormon girl there who predicts the destruction of Peking, China. In early June, he reads of an earthquake in Peking, which converts him. His departure from the Campbellite movement, according to one nineteenth-century historian, "caused an excitement almost equal to that which followed the fall of Rigdon."	Sidney, 109. Early Days, 104.
Baptized	Spring 1831
Elder	June 6, 1831 ordained an elder.	¶ Minutes of June 6, 1831
Assignment	June 8, 1831 called to fill Heman Basset's mission call (D&C 52:37).
Consecration controvery	Writes a letter to Campbellite leader A. S. Hayden, stating:	Letter qtd. in Conflict at Kirtland, 91. Joseph and company left Kirtland for Missouri on June 19, 1832.
	When they went to Missouri to lay the foundation of the splendid city of Zion, and also of the temple, they left their papers behind. This gave their new converts an opportunity to become acquainted with the internal arrangement of their church, which revealed to them the horrid fact that a plot was laid to take their property from them and place it under the control of Joseph Smith the prophet.
Sidney challenges Simonds	December 15, 1831 Sidney publishes a letter in the Ohio Star stating his intent to devote his Chritmas day sermon to the Ezra Booth leters, and challenges Simonds to debate him in Hiram.	Sidney, 111.
Simonds responds	December 29, 1831 Simonds replies in the Ohio Star: "To undertake to correct [Sidney] of his errors before the public, would be a most arduous task for me. His irrascible temper, loquacious extravagance, impaired state of mind, and want of due respect to his superiors, I fear would render him in such a place, unmanageable, and I therefore fear of accomplishing the desired object," adding that most Hiram Mormons had left the church and a debate would only serve "to save, if possible, a sinking cause."	Sidney, 111.
Sidney taunts	January 12, 1832 Sidney's rejoinder in the Ohio Star spells Simonds' name "Simons Rider" and accuses him of hiding "behind a battery of reproach, and abuse, and low insinuations."
Leads mob to tar Joseph and Sidney	March 25, 1832 Joseph and Sidney are dragged from John Johnson's home in Hiram, and are tarred and feathered. Joseph later reports that Simonds Ryder was the ringleader.	1832 Tarring
Sidney compliments Simonds	January 1836 Sidney pays Simonds a left-handed compliment, comparing him favorably to other Campbellites:	Messenger and Advocate, vol. 2 no. 4 (January 1836), 243.
	Simonds Rider … could blow like a porpoise when there was no person to oppose him; but when called upon to be as bold in the presence of those whom he envied, as in their absence, he had recourse to the same means of slander and abuse: but to the credit of Simonds, we will say that since that time [when a challenge to debate was issued] he has been silent on the subject, in this he has displayed more honesty than some others of his brethren.	If Simonds led the 1832 mob, why does Sydney does not mention his role and instead go out ofhis way to praise him?
Families	Mahitable Loomis (b. 1799) md. November 1818.
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