Ohio Membership 1830

Mormon History 1830-1844

Ohio Membership 1830–1838

Ohio Membership 1830–1838.
1830
September: 63 members		No. of the several members uniting to this Church since the last Conference, thirty-five, making in whole now belonging to this Church sixty-two.	Minutes of September 26, 1830

November: 100+		Some of these [missionaries] have rested for a season in the vicinity of Painesville, Ohio, where a preacher of another faith was converted to the new, and a band of followers, amounting to more than one hundred, added to his train.	"The New Bible," Buffalo Journal & General Advertiser, Dec. 8, 1830. Source

130		… during the seven weeks they [Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and their companions] tarried they succeeded in building up a church of one hundred and thirty members.	¶ Lyman Wight journal

100 in Geauga and [Cuyahoga]		There are rising of 100 in this and an adjoining county who have embraced the ideas and assertions of Joseph Smith, jr., many of them respectable for intelligence and piety.	"The Book of Mormon," PT, Nov. 30, 1830. Source
100 in Geauga and [Cuyahoga]
130		… we went to the States of Ohio. There we declared the fulness of the gospel and had much success; we baptized 130 people.	Peter Whitmer Jr. report, Journal History, Jan. 29, 1831.

127	¶	In two or three weeks from our arrival in the neighborhood with the news, we had baptized one hundred and twenty-seven souls, and this number soon increased to one thousand.	Parley P. Pratt, 52.

100 in Kirtland Best and brightest		The winter following I went with several others to Kirtland, Ohio. They were establishing a Mormon church in that thriving little village. The members now numbered about one hundred persons, the greater part of whom were the brightest and best of the community, [59] merchants, lawyers and doctors.	Life among the Mormons, 58–59.
1831
January 9, 1831 300	¶	Mormonism. — An extract of a letter from a person converted to Mormonism, but who is said to have been formerly a respectable citizen of Boston, is published in one of the papers of that city. It is dated Canandaigua, Jan. 9th, 1831, and says —	Working Man's Advocate, Dec. 3, 1831 Source A December 1831 publication date is unusually late.
	¶	"We live in this place, and have ever since the 8th of October. My mind and time have mostly been taken up in the labor of the new covenant, …The book [of Mormon] causes great excitement in these parts, and many lie and foam out their shame, and some believe and become meek and lowly in this religion.
	¶	There are about one hundred souls who have humbled themselves and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and desired baptism at the hand of Joseph Smith, or some other elder,— … Four of these only have gone to the Samanites [Lamanites] (or Indians) to preach the gospel unto them. They passed through Ohio, and preached, and three hundred have come forth.
Leman Copley land		Many, on coming, brought all their possessions and gave to the church. One of the first was an old miser, who set the example by throwing in all his property—eight hundred acres of land under good cultivation. Thus we see, that when the people become right this will follow, as in the Apostles' days.
400	¶	There are about four hundred souls, and yet no one has aught he calls his own. This we have not preached; but it is the natural consequence of embracing the Apostolic doctrine which we have done; for He has visited his people, by the ministration of angels, and by raising up a new seer and revelator, that He may communicate unto us such things as are necessary for our preservation and instruction.

300		After Joseph and Sidney returned from Colesville to Fayette. The Lord manifested himself to Joseph the Revelator and gave commandment for me to go to the Ohio, and carry the commandments and revelations, with me, to comfort and strengthen my brethren in that land. The disciples had increased in number about three hundred.	J. Whitmer, 13. Is the "increase" of "about three hundred" in Ohio alone, or in all locations combined?

February: 200 in Geauga county 200 in Cuyahoga		It is asserted by them that their number in this vicinity is four hundred. In a conversation a few days since with a gentleman of Kirtland, well informed, and every way concerned to give us the truth, we are assured that their numbers in the families in that town were two hundred souls. We doubt not then, that their whole number in this county and Cayahoga [Cuyahoga] are at least four hundred.	"The Golden Bible, or Book of Mormon," Geauga Gazette, Feb. 1, 1831. Source Does "numbers in the families" include unbaptized children?
		By February 1831, converts were living in Kirtland, Chardon, Painesville, and Mentor (Geauga County); Chagrin, Mayfield, Orange, Strongsville, and Warrensville (Cuyahoga County); Hiram, Mantua, and Nelson (Portage County); Rome (Ashtabula county); New Portage and Norton (Medina County)

February: 400	¶	The new church at Kirtland, Ohio, under the auspices of the "Book of Mormon," is said to contain 400 members.	"Summary," Ohio Star, Feb. 24, 1831. Source

March: 1,000+		[Upon returning from the mission to the Lamanites:] I found the churches in Ohio had increased to more than a thousand members, and those in New York to several hundred.	Parley P. Pratt, 69.

May: 100+ in Portage County	¶	Strange as it may appear, it is an unquestionable fact, that this singular sect have, within three or four weeks, made many proselytes in this county [Portage]. The number of believers in the faith, in three or four of the Northern Townships, is said to exceed one hundred—among whom are many intelligent and respectable individuals. The prospects of obtaining still greater numbers in this county, is daily increasing.	Western Courier, May 26, 1831. Source
		Hiram, Nelson, Mantua, and Shalersville are townships north of Ravenna, where the Western Courier is published. John Whitmer and Lyman Wight organized a church in Nelson in [February–March] 1831. Ezra Booth, a Methodist minister from Mantua, joined the church in early 1831. Campbellite minister Rev. Symonds Ryder grants him permission to speak to his congregation in Hiram, but Symonds will not be baptized until shortly before the June [3–6], 1831 conference.
1831
June: 50 families		About the 1st of June, the prophet assembled all his followers, for the purpose of a great meeting, … Previous to this time, it should be remarked, nearly all the Mormonites [127] had arrived from the State of New York, under a revelation, of course, to take possession of the "promised land." There were, in all, about fifty families.	Mormonism unvailed, 126–127. Source Fifty familes from New York? at the June conference? in the Kirtland area?

June: 150 in Kirtland		the number of decipls in K[irtland] is about 150	S. Rigdon to W. W. Phelps, June 25, 1833, Letterbook-1, 44, 46.

July: 1,000		The members of this sect are now said to amount to 1,000 souls!	"Mormonism," Niles Weekly Register (Baltimore), July 16, 1831. Source
1833
September: 1200–1500 in Jackson County		Smith, with a number of his worthy compeers, is snugly located near Pain's Ville, in the state of Ohio, where he enjoys the fruits of his labors; while a motly mass of ragged scape goats, with Cowdry, Phelps, &c. at their head, to the number of 12 or 1500, had located themselves in Jackson County, … and might be said to be in the full tide of successful experiment, and to surpass even Burchard or Finney in the trade of making proselytes.	Abner Cole, Mormonism," Liberal Advocate (Rochester, New York) , Sept. 3, 1833. Source
1838
November 1838: 15,000 [in Missouri]		… the mormons continued to increase in wealth and in numbers, until in the fall of the year 1838, they numbered as near as they can estimate, about 15,000 souls.	Jan. 27, 1840 memorial to Congress by Joseph, Sidney, and Elias Higbee, Redress petitions, 108.
November 1838: [500] in Far West 15,000 fled		Immediately after [Joseph, Sidney, Parley, Lyman Wight, George W. Robinson] were taken and treated as prisoners of war; all the mormons in "Far West," above five hundred in number, surrendered up their arms to the invaders without further resistance. … Fifeen thousand souls, between the sacking of "Far West" and the following spring, abandoned their homes and their property, and fled from the state.	Jan. 27, 1840 memorial to Congress by Joseph, Sidney, and Elias Higbee, Redress petitions, 116.
November 1838: 15,000 fled		The mormons numbering fifeen thousand souls have been driven from their homes in Missouri …	Jan. 27, 1840 memorial to Congress by Joseph, Sidney, and Elias Higbee, Redress petitions, 117.
		1830 Census: Kirtland, et. al. Mormon History Gazetteer for Ohio (1830–1839) Kirtland 1830–1831 Ohio