Ziba Peterson — One of the First Four Missionaries to the Lamanites

Ziba Peterson (died 1849) was among the earliest converts of the restored Church, baptized on April 18, 1830, just twelve days after the Church was organized. He was living in Macedon, New York, and was ordained an elder in June 1830. In the fall of 1830 (October 1830) Joseph Smith received a revelation calling four men to embark on the Church’s first extended missionary journey to the Native American nations (referred to as the Lamanites) and through the American frontier. The four called were Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson.

The missionaries set out in the fall of 1830 on an extraordinary roughly 1,500-mile journey by foot and wagon through New York, Ohio (including Kirtland), Indiana, and Missouri. As they passed through the Kirtland, Ohio area, they preached to Sidney Rigdon’s congregation; Parley P. Pratt in particular connected with his former mentor Rigdon, and over 100 people were baptized there. The four continued westward, preaching to Native American communities in fulfillment of the revelation and enduring cold and other physical hardships along the way.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Ziba Peterson | Doctrine and Covenants Central):

In October 1830 the Lord recognized the desire of the elders to know His will “as to whether elders should be sent at that time to the Indian tribes in the West” (D&C 32: Introduction). Ziba Peterson was one of four elders called to be a missionary to the Lamanites. The others were Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and Peter Whitmer Jr. “As soon as this revelation was received,” said Mother Smith, “Emma Smith, and several other sisters, began to make arrangements to furnish those who were set apart for this mission, with the necessary clothing.” On October 17, 1830 Ziba and his companions left Fayette, New York on what would become a fifteen-hundred-mile journey to the borders of the Lamanites. Along the way, they preached to the Cattaraugus Indians near Buffalo, New York; the Wyandots in Sandusky, Ohio, and settlers in the Kirtland area. About fifty miles west of Kirtland, the missionaries stopped at the Simeon Carter home. When a warrant was served against Parley P. It was not until December 1830 that missionaries to the Lamanites arrived on the western frontier of the United States. On April 8, 1831 Ziba and companion Peter Whitmer Jr. preached to the Indians residing on the banks of the Missouri River.