A Brief History Of The Church Of Christ Of Latter Day Saints Commonly Called Mormons PDF Download

John Corrill was a very early convert to Joseph Smith's emerging group of Mormons and he recorded many details of the evolving faith as an eye witness. Corrill was born in 1794 in Massachusetts. Not many details are known about his early life but he had enough formal education to write a detailed history of his time as a Mormon. By 1830, Corrill had married and was living in Ashtabula County, Ohio. It was here that he first met Oliver Cowdery, Parley Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson. He investigated the group out of curiosity and his initial opinion was that the "golden bible" was published for speculation. It was a money making scheme and Joseph Smith was the author. Not long after his initial encounter, Corrill heard that Sidney Rigdon, the head of a group of Campbellites living 30 miles away, has converted. He was disturbed by this and set out to talk sense into Rigdon. Instead he found himself intrigued and eventually converted also. Corrill explains, "The main difference between them and other professors on the Gospel is, that they believe rather more firmly in the promises of God, especially those that require great faith for their fulfillment, than others do. Where the Scriptures hold out fair promises to the believers, the believe those promises will be fulfilled, just in proportion to their faith." Early in January of 1831, Corrill was baptized into the Mormon faith. Very quickly he was ordained as an elder. A few months later he became an assistant to the first bishop of the church, Edward Partridge. He tried to start to missionaries near his home in Ohio and then was sent to Missouri as the third bishop. Briefly he went back to Kirtland to help build the temple before returning to Missouri. In 1838, he became the official church historian along with Elias Higbee. In 1838 he was elected to the Missouri State Legislature representing Caldwell County. He witnessed the Mormon War and testified against Smith. Corrill began to distance himself from the Mormons after Sidney Rigdon delivered what is named the "Salt Sermon" in June of 1838. He was distressed by the tone towards dissenters. In 1839, Corrill was excommunicated and he published his book detailing the history of the Mormons. He died impoverished a few years later in 1842 in Adams County, Illinois.