W. W. Phelps and Edward Partridge's Missionary Prayer in Caldwell County
Published October 4, 2026 at 2:29 AM
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Times and Seasons Research
W. W. Phelps and Edward Partridge located Caldwell County, Missouri, and performed the first prayer on that land after fourteen hundred years, observing a glory that the spirit indicated would cover the Saints.
In Their Own Words
“I have been a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, about nine years; and have been acquainted with the rise and progress of the church, and the persecutions of the saints, from the beginning. I was with the church in Jackson county, Missouri, in 1833, when they were driven from their homes; and I was with them in Clay county, and in Caldwell county. When Caldwell county was searched out, he and I did it! We made the first prayer to God on that goodly land that had been for about fourteen hundred years; and saw a glory that will yet cover the saints, 'tis a clear heat upon herbs,' we lived together in peace, and our communion was sweet; although we often rebuked each other in plainness and had snaps according to passion, yet, like the used key, our friendship was bright and moistened with tears.”
— W. W. Phelps, letter to Joseph Smith
Sources & References
Times and Seasons (Commerce, later Nauvoo, Illinois, November 1839–February 1846), October 1840 (Vol. 1, No. 12). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1840-10_1_12 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Times and Seasons, Vol. 1, No. 12 (October 1840), p. 191 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1840-10_1_12/page/n15/mode/1up
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