The Women Who Helped Save the Book of Commandments

The horrendous persecution heaped upon the Latter-day Saints was once common knowledge but many today downplay the persecution. Some say the Latter-day Saints exaggerate their mistreatment, but reading first-hand accounts of the abused Latter-day Saints will clarify the truth. Sometimes the stories of the heroic acts of Latter-day Saints standing up the the Missourians get lumped together. This seems to be the case with the saving of the "Book of Commandments" printing in the Missouri print shop. Most of the time in Church History class you will hear one of the stories of the girls gathering up the pages and hiding in the corn field from the mobbers, but there was a third woman who stood up to the ruthless Missouri mob men and saved the revelations from the Book of Commandments and that woman's name was Vienna Jaques, she, along with two girls gathered up the Book of Commandments sheets that were thrown from the print shop, saving these documents for all. The strength of these women should be recognized and shared.

The more common account of saving the pages of the Book of Commandments is of two young women, 15 year old, Mary Elizabeth Rawlings and her sister 13 year old Caroline. These two courageous young women were hiding and watching the mob throw the revelations out the window of William W. Phelps Print Shop. These young women knew what they must do to save the revelations, and they ran and gathered the revelations up off the ground and ran into the corn fields and hid from the mob men.

Here is what happened in her own words:

“Terrible were the threats against our people, we were too much united to suit the inhabitants of Missouri, and they did not believe in our religion, or our way of doing business; [also] we did not believe in slavery. . . . Soon a mob began to collect in the town and set fire to the grain, and hay stacks in the yard of Bishop Partridge. All were destroyed. Then they began to stone the houses, breaking the doors and windows. One night, a great many got together and stoned our house, part of which was hewed logs, the front was brick. After breaking all the windows, they commenced to tear off the roof of the brick part amidst awful oaths and howls that were terrible to hear; all of a sudden they left and all was quiet. Soon after, I saw Bishop Partridge tarred and feathered, also Brother Charles Allen.

“The mob renewed their efforts again by tearing down the printing office, a two story building, and driving Brother Phelps’ family out of the lower part of the house and putting their things in the street. They brought out some large sheets of paper, and said, ‘Here are the Mormon Commandments.’ My sister Caroline and myself were in a corner of a fence watching them; when they spoke of the commandments I was determined to have some of them. Sister said if I went to get any of them she would go too, but said ‘They will kill us.’ While their backs were turned, prying out the gable end of the house, we went, and got our arms full, and were turning away, when some of the mob saw us and called on us to stop, but we ran as fast as we could. Two of them started after us. Seeing a gap in a fence, we entered into a large cornfield, laid the papers on the ground, and hid them with our persons. The corn was from five to six feet high, and very thick; they hunted around considerable, and came very near us but did not find us. After we satisfied ourselves that they had given up the search for us, we tried to find our way out of the field, the corn was so high we could not see where to go. . . . Soon we came to an old log stable which looked as though it had not been used for years. Sister Phelps and children were carrying in brush and piling it up at one side of the barn to lay her beds on. She asked me what I had. I told her. She then took them from us, which made us feel very bad. They got them bound in small books and sent me one, which I prized very highly.”

—Mary Elizabeth Rollins

Mary Elizabeth Rollins and her sister Caroline both teenagers at the time, saw what the angry mob was doing to the Book of Revelations and took action. The mob men were unable to find the girls and finally gave up.

These two sisters were brave against an angry mob of men, and were able to do their part in saving the revelations being printed. They saw a need and took action. At the same time there was another brave and inspirational woman witness to the terror of the day, Vienna Jaques. Vienna also witnessed the mob of men throw the revelations out the window of the Printing office and took to action herself.

"Vienna Jaques had been in the Independence area of Jackson County for just about six weeks when these violent actions erupted on July 20, 1833. The details of Vienna's life during those six weeks are not known. Her experience that furious day, however survives in the historical record. During the bedlam, perhaps to observe the commotion. Jaques gravitated towards Phelps home and printing office. Seeing the pages of God's revelations being trampled on and rustling about, she ran to preserve them. She got down on her hands and knees, furiously collecting as many pages as she could. As she knelt in the dirt road alone, a mobber hovered menacingly over her. The man started the lone woman, catching her attention. He warned with a sneer, "Madam this is only a prelude to what you have to suffer."

The intimidating man then mockingly pointed out the tarred and feathered Edward Partridge. She saw Bishop Partridge "encircled in a bright light, surpassing the brightness of the sun."

As Vienna observed Bishop Partridge the mobber departed. Alone again, Vienna again began to work to save the revelations.

The Jackson County citizens had taken matters into their own hands, using violent actions as a means to control. After they had completed their destruction, they gave notice they would return in three days to see if Partridge and other Church members would reconsider the decision to remain in their homes and continue to build Zion in Jackson County. After the attacks on July 20 in Jackson County the members of the Church signed a "memorandum of agreement" on July 23, 1833 promising to leave Jackson County. This memorandum promised that half the Saints would leave before January 1, 1834 and the other half would be out by April 1, 1834.

The Book of Commandments represents the first effort to publish in book form the revelations received by Joseph Smith. On July 20, 1833, while the book was in press, the printing office in Independence, Missouri, was destroyed by vigilantes. Some of the unbound print sheets were rescued by several individuals, including sisters Mary and Caroline Rollins, who then hid in a nearby cornfield. Later, the rescued sheets were assembled and hand bound for private use. Approximately 30 copies are currently known to exist, and they are all incomplete.

References:

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/mary-elizabeth-rollins?lang=eng

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/children/resources/topics/doctrine-and-covenants?lang=eng

"The Lord Spoke Her Name, The remarkable story of Vienna Jaques in the restoration" by Brent M. Rogers p. 36-37

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/library/book-of-commandments-1833?lang=eng