[1][2] 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.

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.

[6] Later that year he was ordained to the High Priesthood and made an assistant to the Latter Day Saint movement's first Bishop of the Church, Edward Partridge, a position he would hold until 1837.

When Missourians expelled Mormons from the area, Corrill joined in petitioning the governor for militia assistance and settled in Clay County for the winter.

"[9] In 1837 he was released as a counselor to Bishop Partridge and was called to a committee for organizing more stakes in Missouri and was "Keeper of the Lord's Storehouse" in Far West.

Some Mormons had in the past accused him of opposing priesthood authority and "the Judgment of God" in his preference for autonomy and democracy in the church.

[1][8] Historian Richard L. Bushman's noted 2005 biography, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, described Corrill as rational, coolheaded, and cautious, illustrating the "clash between Mormonism and republicanism" when he questioned whether he must sacrifice his freewill or autonomy to the Kingdom of God.