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Northern Missouri

Clark V. Johnson

Mormons began to move into northern Missouri in 1834 because of persecution in Jackson County to the south. Even before Missouri became a state in 1821, Ray County had been created from Howard County (November 1820) and included the land west of the Grand River to the western boundary of the United States. Ray County is considered the mother county of Clay, Carroll, Caldwell, and Daviess counties, where persecution forced Mormons to settle.

Clay County was created January 2, 1822, from the western section of Ray County. By 1831, when Church members began to settle Jackson County, Clay County boasted more than 5,000 people. When mob pressures forced Mormons from Jackson County, the majority of the 1,200 Mormon citizens found welcome, though only temporary, relief in Clay County. By 1836, almost all of the Mormons had moved northeast to Caldwell County. While there were no Mormon settlements in Clay County, Liberty Jail remains important to Mormons because the Prophet Joseph Smith and others were confined there from December 1838 until April 1839. It was also the scene for several important Revelation to Joseph Smith (D&C 121, 122, and 123).

To the east, Carroll County was created in 1833. Carrollton, the county seat, was not surveyed until 1837. About a year later, John Murdock and George M. Hinckle brought 70 Mormon families from Adam-ondi-Ahman and settled the community of DeWitt, where they quickly built about 100 homes. Situated on the confluence of the Grand and Missouri rivers, DeWitt provided a river port for the import and export of goods needed by people of northern Missouri.

Modeled after the City of Zion plat, DeWitt featured homes inside the town and farms outside. While economically and culturally this arrangement was desirable, it proved a liability. Some citizens of Carroll County rose against their Mormon neighbors and laid siege to DeWitt from mid-August to mid-October 1838, preventing DeWitt citizens from harvesting their crops located on outlying farms. Thus, little more than a year after its settlement, the starving citizens were forced to abandon DeWitt and moved to Far West for safety.

Caldwell County, created in December 1836, lies 60 miles from the state's northern boundary and 40 miles east of St. Josephesians Originally, it was about one-third timber and two-thirds prairie. Among its first settlers were John Raglin and Jesse Mann (1831), Jacob Haun (1834), and Jacob Myers (1835). When the county was organized, it included about 2,000 people, Mormons and non-Mormons. By the time Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs issued his extermination order (1838), Caldwell County's population had increased to more than 7,000.