Cowdery genealogy; Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 222; Bushman, RSR, 578, n.51. There is also a distant geographical connection between the Smiths and the Cowderys. During the 1790s, both Joseph Smith, Sr. and two of Oliver Cowdery's relatives were living in Tunbridge, Vermont.
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Prior to the winter of 1830–31, Cowdery generally signed his name "Oliver H P Cowdery", likely representing the names Hazard and Perry. Oliver Hazard Perry was a recent war hero who decisively defeated the British on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Criticism of his use of this "pretentious moniker" by the Palmyra Reflector (June 1, 1830) probably influenced Cowdery to abandon his temporary usage of the initials. See Ryan N. Cramer, "The Elusive Middle Names of Oliver H. P. Cowdery" John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 42, No. 1 (2022), 79-87 .
Hamer 2004, p. xv–xvii Hamer, John (2004). Northeast of Eden: A Historical Atlas of Missouri's Mormon County. Mirabile, Missouri: Far West Cultural Center. OCLC62190715.
