Jared Carter (Latter Day Saints)

"Since I left home and was ordained to preach the gospel and was preaching from place to place now, I thought that I had great reason to thank and praise the Lord for what he had done for me and my brothers and sisters of my father's family. ... I can say that God has blessed me according to the prophecy of Brother Joseph [Smith], before I went from Ohio. He has blessed me with sheaves and with health and blessed be his name." —Jared Carter, journal recording of his first mission[7]

Shortly after being ordained an elder, Carter was appointed to be a missionary in the eastern United States,[4] leaving Ohio on September 22, 1831.[7] He and Ebenezer Page[3]^: 119 traveled back to Carter's hometown of Benson, Vermont, planning to share the message of the faith with Carter's family and friends. Twenty-seven people in the area chose to join the church, and their chapel, which had been a part of the Free Will Baptist denomination, "soon became a Latter-day Saint meeting place."[5] On this mission, Carter also reportedly healed the leg of John Tanner, one of the primary financial benefactors of the early church, leading to Tanner's conversion to the LDS Church.[9] Carter also baptized Zera Pulsipher, who became a leader in the church.[3]^: 134–35 He returned to Kirtland in February 1831, after five months of missionary service. He was encouraged by a revelation given in Doctrine and Covenants 79 to continue preaching and proselyting.[5] Between 1831 and 1834, Carter served missions in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont,[6] Michigan Territory, and Upper Canada.[4] He founded "the first Latter-day Saint branch of converts in Michigan."[6] Carter introduced Mormonism to his brother John, who also became a leader in the church. Gideon, another of Carter's brothers, and his sisters Prudence and Susanna also joined the faith.[3]^{: 119–120} Carter and his brothers baptized approximately half of the converts from New England and eastern New York at the time. These converts included members who later made significant contributions to Mormon history. According to records, the Carters baptized between 138 and 170 people, as well as an estimated 185 more whose names were not recorded.[3]^: 139–40

In May 1833, Carter became a high priest[8] and was tasked, alongside Hyrum Smith and Reynolds Cahoon, with accumulating building supplies for a school in Kirtland.[3]^: 126 In August of that year, he was chosen as a member of the building committee of the Kirtland Temple.[8] He worked on constructing the temple and also participated in the Kirtland Safety Society.[4] When the organization of Latter Day Saints known as Zion's Camp left for Missouri, Carter stayed behind to oversee the Kirtland Temple building committee's efforts. On February 17, 1834, Carter became one of the inaugural members of the first presiding high council of the church in Kirtland, Ohio.[3]^: 127 As a member of the Presiding High Council of Kirtland, Carter fielded complaints from the community when the Kirtland Safety Society—a bank established by the Latter Day Saints—failed.[3]^: 130–31 Carter became the president of the Presiding High Council of Kirtland on September 9, 1837,[4] and continued as a member of it when church headquarters were moved to Far West, Missouri. In this capacity, he testified in favor of the accused in the excommunication trials of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Lyman E. Johnson.[3]^: 132 Carter is mentioned in a number of the revelations of Smith which make up the Doctrine and Covenants;[2] one section, section 79, is addressed directly to Carter.[10]