John Corrill
American politician
John Corrill (September 17, 1794 – September 26, 1842) was an early member and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and an elected representative in the Missouri State Legislature. He was prominently involved in the Mormon conflicts in Missouri before leaving the church in 1839 and publishing A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons).
Biography
Corrill was born near Barre, Massachusetts. He worked as a carriage builder, surveyor, and architect and married a woman named Margaret, with whom he had at least five children. Historians believe his writing ability and personal library suggest he may have had some formal education.
While living in Harpersfield, Ohio in 1830 the town was visited by Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson, Mormon missionaries on their way to Missouri. After reading from the Book of Mormon, Corrill decided it was a fraud. He was later surprised to hear of the conversion of Sidney Rigdon, a preacher in nearby Kirtland who was planning a preaching tour with Corrill. While visiting Kirtland, Corrill attended some Mormon meetings and witnessed miraculous speaking in languages unknown to the speakers. After further investigation, he was baptized on January 10, 1831 in Ashtabula, Ohio.
“John Corrill” enters the record as american politician. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Corrill and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6227184. VIAF identifies the subject as 47170397. The Library of Congress control number is n86026099. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1794, 1842, 1839 and 1830.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Corrill” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.