Bishop Partridge is one of the unsung hero's of the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He dedicated his whole life to the Kingdom of God and wore himself out in the work.
The house of Bishop Edward Partridge and the Church School building were on the northeast corner of the Temple Lot as the southwest corner of Lexington and Union Streets, if Union Street were to continue south at the intersection.
When Bishop Partridge and his family first moved to Independence they rented a home from Lilburn W. Boggs(the later Governor of Missouri who issued the Extermination Order on the Latter-day Saints). After renting a log room from Boggs, Bishop Partridge built a two-story log house with a cellar for his family on the Temple Lot. Next to the Partridge home the Church constructed a small school building that was used for religious purposes when the weather did not allow open-air meetings on the Temple Lot.
It was recorded that the Church structure was as "a log house that they used as a school house and a meeting house." The children of Bishop Partridge went to the school, including his daughter Emily.
Mob Attack on Bishop Partridge
On July 20, 1833 at his home in Independence, Bishop Partridge was at home when a mob gathered at the courthouse to attack the "Mormons". The mob leaders sent George Simpson, supported by 50 others to the home of Bishop Partridge. They brought Bishop Partridge back to the courthouse square, where they tarred and feathered him.
After the event Bishop Partridge was returning to his house to remove the tar and feathers when he saw his daughter and she was terrified, thinking someone was after her.
Kicked out of their Home
Bishop Partridge and his family left their home on November 7, 1833, when a mob drove them, and all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the county.
Eliza Partridge wrote this of the departure:
"Our lands and orchards and improvements of every kind [were] left to benefit those who had driven us away."
On that difficult November night the Partridges and other Latter-day Saints left to Everetts Ferry, three miles north near Independence Landing, to cross the Missouri River into Clay County, Missouri.
Reference:
"Sacred Places, Missouri." By LaMar C. Berrett and Max H. Parkin P 32