Mormon Redress Petitions (Religious Studies Center Monograph Series)

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began settling in Missouri in 1831. The original place of settlement was Jackson County, on the western border of the state. As early as 1832 trouble arose between the Mormons and their Missouri neighbors. In 1833 mobs drove the Mormons from Jackson County and into the neighboring counties of Clay and Ray and further north into what eventually became Caldwell and Davies Counties. The Mormons again built communities and planted crops. By 1836, mobs again began to molest the Mormon communities. The Mormons living in the counties of Ray and Clay were again forced to flee their homes and joined other members of the Church living in Caldwell and Davies Counties. The respite, however, was short lived as persecution and mob violence came to a head in the summer and fall of 1838. Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders were placed in Liberty Jail while the body of the Church was forced to flee the state to Iowa Territory and the State of Illinois. As early as 1839 members of the Church who had been forced to flee Missouri began preparing affidavits and petitioning for compensation for their losses and suffering at the hands of the Missourians.