Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, [, Geauga Co., OH], 1 Mar. 1835. Featured version copied [not before 25 Feb. 1836] in Minute Book 1, pp. 172–186; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
Historical Introduction
On the morning of 1 March 1835, church members convened a meeting in , Ohio, apparently as a continuation of a meeting that had adjourned on 28 February. Several men appointed to the office of were given blessings in that 28 February meeting. The blessings continued in this 1 March 1835 meeting, and at least thirty-three individuals, including some not designated as seventies, were blessed. All those receiving ordinations and blessings in this meeting had participated in the expedition. According to later reminiscences, many of these blessings were performed by members of the church presidency, including JS, his , , and . The minutes indicate that several individuals who had recently been were also confirmed members of the church at the meeting, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered. JS also gave instructions on the necessity of worthiness when partaking of the sacrament.
It is unclear who originally recorded the ordination blessings or the minutes of the meeting. later copied them into Minute Book 1.
For examples, see Hutchings, Journal, 15 Feb. 1835; Burgess, Autobiography, 4; and “Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 22.
Hutchings, Elias. Journal, Dec. 1834–Sept. 1836. CHL. MS 1445.
Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.
“Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 1845–1855. In Seventies Quorum Records, 1844–1975. CHL. CR 499.
We your Ministry upon you and also set you apart to be one of the and also to be one of the of that Mission to preside with thy brethren. You shall magnify this high calling and your heart shall be much expanded to love mankind and desire their salvation. You shall travel much and preach much. work much righteousness and exert all your powers in going forth to do good from nation to nation & from land to land. You shall have much persecution and shall be in perils oft. Your enemies will seek your life much and cunningly. But if you will consecrate your life and your all and be faithful you shall overcome and be preserved) and at the end of your ministry you shall return with singing and rejoicing. You shall have power over fire water and all evil, You shall be one of the horns of Joseph to push the nationgs [nations] together from the ends of the earth These blessings we pronounce upon you, and none shall take them from you if you are faithful. Amen.
Being an , in the , his office was confirmed upon him and great blessings pronounced upon him. That he should be a consoler and comforter of the poor so long as he should live & that he should have visions of Heaven. &c. Amen
Elias Hutchin[g]s,
, but no record of prophecy or blessings
Henry Shibley
We you to be one of the . You shall do great good in your father's family, for they shall listen to your voice. You shall be delivered from prison, into which thou shalt be cast in thy old age. Thou shalt live to a good old age and bring to pass much righteousness. [p. 185]
Young, Joseph, Sr. History of the Organization of the Seventies: Names of First and Second Quorums. Items in Relation to the First Presidency of the Seventies. Also, a Brief Glance at Enoch and His City. Embellished with a Likeness of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and a View of the Kirtland Temple. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Steam Printing Establishment, 1878.
Hiram Winters (1805–1889) was listed in the 1830 census as living in Ellicott, New York, where he operated a sawmill. He was baptized in June 1833 and moved to Kirtland probably sometime in November 1833. He remembered his ordination blessing occurring “under the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” (1830 U.S. Census, Ellicott, Chautauqua Co., NY, 327; Olsen, Among the Remnant Who Lingered, 12, 15, 19, 26, 86.)
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
Olsen, Beth Radmall. Among the Remnant Who Lingered: The History of Rebecca Burdick and Hiram Winters and Their Families. Orem, UT: Micro Dynamics Electronic Publishing, 1997.
Elias Hutchings (1784–1845) was living in Orange, Ohio, when he was baptized on 17 November 1830. After accompanying the Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri, he was ordained an elder in December 1834. He then returned to Kirtland. Hutchings recalled that he received a blessing “for Gowing up to Zion” on 15 February 1835 under the hands of JS, Joseph Smith Sr., and Sidney Rigdon. This was likely his ordination blessing to the Seventy. (“Biography,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1845, 6:876; Hutchings, Journal, 15 Dec. 1834 and 15 Feb. 1835.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Hutchings, Elias. Journal, Dec. 1834–Sept. 1836. CHL. MS 1445.