Hiram College Archives Local History Research Collection:

Relations between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Hiram
Community 

Hiram’s Research materials dealing with the early interactions between members of the Reformation (Disciples) community and the small group of Mormon converts led by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Symonds Ryder is contained in two collections within the Mildred Bennett Memorial Collection of Local History Materials. The papers largely cover the seminal days of both churches in the Hiram area and their clash which culminated in the tarring and feathering of Joseph Smith by locals in 1832. Documents listed under the heading Local History Collection were compiled from various local donors and sources. The items listed under the heading Reign Hadsell Local History Collection (box 2) were compiled by Reign Hadsell, Hiram, class of 1926. A local educator and philanthropist, Mr. Hadsell maintained a lifelong interest in documenting local history.  

Local History Collection compiled from various sources:  

Box 2/A/1/a (Hiram History Narratives)
            Folder: “The Prophet Gets a Robe, and Other Essays” by Charles Reynard
Box 2/A/1/b
            Folder: “History of the Old South Road” aka “Ryder Road” aka “Pioneer Trail” by Vesta Ryder Clark
            Bound Pamphlet: “The Beginnings of Hiram” by Clinton Young (1951)
            Bound Pamphlet: “History of Hiram” by Charles H. Ryder (1864)
Box 2/A/1/c
            Folder:”One Hundred Years of the Old South Road” (Pioneer Trail) Vesta Ryder Clark
            Folder: “A Visit to Hiram’s Past” by Mildred Leach Bennett
            Folder: “The Johnson Home Farm” by Joyce Monroe as told to Agnes Smith
Box 2/A/3 (Hiram History – Population and Biographies of Local Individuals)
            Folder: “Symonds Ryder”

Box 3/C/1 (Mormons)
            Folder: “Joseph Smith Tells His Own Story, selections from the writings of Joseph Smith.” Deseret
                        Press, n.d.
            Folder: “ Manuscript of Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon” Tract #77, Western Reserve
                        Historical Society. (photocopy)
            Folder: manuscripts of “An Episode of the Thirties” by Abram Garfield (1934)
            Bound Pamphlets: “Mormons in Portage County” by G.V. Stamm (1939)
            Folder: “Mormonism in the Western Reserve, 1830-1840” by Agnes Monroe Smith, n.d.
                        “The First Mormon Mission to Britain” by Agnes Smith. History Today (July, 1982): 24-31
                        “Early Mormonism in Hiram and Kirtland” by Agnes Smith
                        “Folklore and History in the Mormon Encounter with the Disciples of Christ at Hiram, Ohio,
                                    1832” (1966)
                        Newspaper Article: “The Mormons are Only a Memory but ‘Hiram Hill’ is Still Unchanged.”
                                     Plain Dealer Magazine, February 21^st, 1909.

Box 3/C/2 (Mormons)
            Folder: “Historic John Johnson Home” Bill and Adelaide Cowles, comp. n.d.
            Folder: ”The Prophet Joseph in Ohio,” Donald L. Huber. Timeline. (Nov-Dec., 1999):2-17;55;56.
            Folder: “Sources on the History of the Mormons in Ohio, 1830-38” . Stanley B. Kimball. BYU
                                    Studies.Summer, 1971: 523-540.
                        “The Mormons and the Jewish People.” Elder LeGrand Richards. Deseret News Press. n.d.
                        Pamphlets, Various, Kirtland Temple, Kirtland, Ohio.
                        Pamphlet:  Brigham Young, Pioneer Entrepreneur.  Gordon Hinckley.  Published by the
                                        Cleveland Newcomen Society.
            Folder: “ The Mobbing of Joseph Smith.” An excerpt from the History of the Church of Jesus
                         Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph Smith and Apostle Heman C. Smith.
            Folder: “ A Short History of the Foundation of the Mormon Church.” Personal Manuscript of Hartwell
                        Ryder. (1903-04)
            Folder: “Reminiscing in Kirtland.” by Pearl Wilcox . Donated by Emma Phillips, 1973.
            Folder: Donation of Ouida Blanthorn, containing the following items:
            ·        Css. From Ouida Blanthorn
            ·        Acknowledgement and Table of Content to book by Janet Lisonbee entitled In Memory of the
                        Early Saints Who Lived and Died in the Kirtland, Ohio Area.
            ·        Poem by Eliza Snow
            ·        Grandison Newell’s Obsession by Dale W. Adams

            Folders: Donation of Ouida Blanthorn. The Founding of Rush Valley Town: Chapter 11: “The
                        Johnson Family”  by Ouida Blanthorn.

            "Hiram: a Stake in Zion" Writings on the Upper Cuyahoga by George Cochran. Written for
        the  Upper  Cuyahoga Association (in conjunction with a CETA Grant). Donation by Richard Masters.
        Topics:
            Joseph Smith -- Mormon Church in Hiram
            Joseph Smith being "tar and feather" by mobsters at Johnson Farm
            Healing of Mrs. Johnson and other miracles of Joseph Smith
            Symonds Ryder
            1828 Alexander Campbell Preaching in Mantua
            Campbellites in Hiram
            Sidney Rigdon
            Solomon Spaulding -- Fiction Book -- Book of Mormon

Reign Hadsell Local History Collection:

Box 2

            Folder: “John Johnson Home”  pamphlet
            Folder: “Morgan Map and Guide” Hiram Township, circa 1857
            Folder: “Mormon History: Book Excerpts”
            Folder: “Mormon History” by Hartwell Ryder. Annotated by Dr. Agnes M.Smith.

Relevant Books and Pamphlets:
              Sp Coll
              Ch Hist  Minutes in History: the Hiram Christian Church, 1835-1985
              Hir
                    Including: “The Ryder Family and the Mormons”, Parts I, II.and “The Earliest Years of the
                                    Disciples of Christ”  by Agnes Monroe Smith.
            Ch. Hist   Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve by A.S. Hayden.
            Hay          (1875)

            Ch Hist    The Disciples in Hiram
             

            Ben
            2/A  Bound Booklet: “History of the Ryder Family of Hiram, Ohio” by Vesta   Ryder Clark. (2001)