Blessing to John Whitmer, 22 September 1835
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Source Note
JS, Blessing, to , [, Geauga Co., OH], 22 Sept. 1835. Featured version copied 2 Oct. 1835 in Patriarchal Blessing Book 1, p. 14; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information on Patriarchal Blessing Book 1, see the source note for Blessing from Joseph Smith Sr., 9 Dec. 1834.
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Historical Introduction
On 22 September 1835, JS dictated blessings for and other church leaders who were then in Ohio. Whitmer, one of the presidents of the Missouri , had been appointed on 23 June 1834 “to receive his endowment in Kirtland with power from on high” and had traveled there in spring 1835. He then worked in the church’s as editor of the church newspaper Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. The blessing featured here promised Whitmer prosperity in both temporal and spiritual matters.served as scribe during the blessing’s dictation on 22 September and recorded the text into Patriarchal Blessing Book 1 on 2 October 1835. himself may have possessed a copy of the blessing titled “J. Whitmer—Prophetical Blessing.”
Footnotes
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1
For more information on the context of these blessings and their recording in Patriarchal Blessing Book 1, see Blessing to David Whitmer, 22 Sept. 1835.
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2
Minutes, 3 July 1834; Minutes, 23 June 1834; Whitmer, History, 70–71.
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3
Editorial, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1835, 1:192.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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4
M. Wilford Poulson apparently obtained a small collection of original John Whitmer documents in the 1930s. An inventory he made of the collection noted a “Prophetical blessing to John Whitmer Sep. 22, 1835.” Someone—likely Poulson himself—made a typescript of the blessing that has only minor differences from the blessing in the patriarchal blessing book. Unfortunately, whatever document the typescript was made from is no longer extant. (M. Wilford Poulson, “Books Purchased,” 1938–1951, 5; “J. Whitmer—Prophetical Blessing,” 22 Sept. 1835, typescript, M. Wilford Poulson, Papers, BYU.)
Poulson, M. Wilford. Papers, 1826–1964. BYU.
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