Original sentence: To avoid conflict and persecution  encountered in New York and Pennsylvania, Smith moved with his family to Kirtland, Ohio early in 1831 in the midst of Ridgon's followers (which numbered almost double the members in New York and Pennsylvania)
Edited sentence: To avoid conflict and persecution encountered in New York and Pennsylvania, Smith moved with his family to Kirtland, Ohio early in 1831 in the midst of Ridgon's followers (which numbered almost double the members in New York and Pennsylvania)