History, circa Summer 1832
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Source Note
JS, “A History of the life of Joseph Smith Jr. an account of his marvilous experience and of all the mighty acts which he doeth in the name of Jesus Ch[r]ist the son of the living God of whom he beareth record and also an account of the rise of the church of Christ in the eve of time according as the Lord brought forth and established by his hand firstly he receiving the testamony from on high seccondly the ministering of Angels thirdly the reception of the holy Priesthood by the ministring of—Aangels to adminster the letter of the Gospel—the Law and commandments as they were given unto him—and the ordinencs, forthly a confirmation and reception of the high Priesthood after the holy order of the son of the living God power and ordinence from on high to preach the Gospel in the administration and demonstration of the spirit the Kees of the Kingdom of God confered upon him and the continuation of the blessings of God to him &c—,” [ca. summer 1832]; handwriting of and JS; six pages; in JS Letterbook 1, JS Collection, CHL.JS’s circa summer 1832 history was inscribed in the front of a medium-size, commercially produced blank book. The book’s ledger paper is horizontally ruled with thirty-six (now faint) blue lines and vertically ruled with four red lines. The original book apparently contained nine gatherings of twelve leaves each, but eight leaves have been cut from the final gathering. The text block was sewn all along over recessed cords. The leaves measure 12⅝ x 7¾ inches (32 x 20 cm). The pastedowns and flyleaves were blank white paper. The volume was constructed with front and back covers of pasteboard and a tight-back case binding with a brown calfskin quarter-leather binding. The bound book measures 12⅞ x 8 x ⅞ inches (33 x 20 x 2 cm). The outside covers are adorned in shell marbled paper, with brown body and veins of blue and red. The front pastedown bears the inscriptions “c=c/i” and “/i=”, possibly original merchandising notes. The original front flyleaf, and any inscriptions it may have borne, is no longer extant.The history was inscribed by and JS with quill pen, in ink that is now brown, on the first three leaves of ledger paper. The first five pages of the history were numbered by Williams. Later, the book was turned over so the back cover became the front and the last page became the first. One or more texts were inscribed in this side (the back) of the book, as is evident from inscriptions visible on the remaining stubs of the eight now-excised leaves. The volume was also repurposed as a letterbook. Beginning on the recto of the fourth leaf in the front of the book (immediately following the history) are ninety-three pages of copied outgoing letters, dated 14 June 1829 through 4 August 1835, in the handwriting of Williams, JS, , and . The book’s pagination also began anew with the copied letters. The first page of letters bore the inscription “1a”, which is only partially legible on the now-trimmed page but is complete in photocopy and microfilm copies at the Church History Library. The front flyleaf is missing; perhaps it bore a title related to the history and was removed when the volume was converted to a letterbook. The back flyleaf is also missing. At some point, Williams began an index for the letters. This incomplete index is inscribed on paper that does not match the original ledger paper. It was apparently a loose leaf inserted in the volume—as is Williams’s index to the contents of Revelation Book 2—although it is currently bound in the front of the volume as a result of late twentieth-century conservation. This index does not list the history.A reconstruction of the physical history of the artifact helps explain the current material context of the document. Photocopy and microfilm images of the book, as well as an inspection of the conservation work now present in the volume, indicate that the text block separated from the binding at some point. Also, the initial three leaves containing the history were excised from the volume. The eight inscribed leaves in the back of the volume may have been cut out at the same time. Manuscript evidence suggests that these excisions took place in the mid-twentieth century. A tear on the third leaf, which evidently occurred during its excision, was probably mended at the time. This tear was mended with clear cellophane tape, which was invented in 1930. The three leaves of the history certainly had been removed by 1965, when they were described as “cut out,” although they were archived together with the letterbook. The size and paper stock of the three excised leaves match those of the other leaves in the book. Also, the cut and tear marks, as well as the inscriptions in the gutters of the three excised leaves, match those of the remaining leaf stubs, confirming their original location in the book. The three leaves were later restored to the volume, apparently in the 1990s. This restoration was probably part of a larger conservation effort that took place, in which the entire volume was rebound, including binding the formerly loose index of letters. The first gathering, which contains the history, was slightly trimmed in connection with this conservation work. The volume shows marked browning, brittleness, and wear. It is listed in , Illinois, and early Salt Lake City, Utah, inventories made by the Church Historian’s Office, as well as in the 1973 register of the JS Collection, indicating continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
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1
The photocopy may have been made from the microfilm. The letterbook was filmed on 12 November 1968. (Microfilming report, entry no. JP 1068, Historical Department, Microfilm Reports, 1949–1975, CHL.)
Historical Department. Microfilm Reports, 1949–1975. CHL.
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2
At some point, Williams’s index for Revelation Book 2 was attached with adhesive wafers to the inside front cover of the book. (See Revelation Book 2, Index, [1].)
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3
These eight leaves have not been located.
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4
Cole et al., Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions, 22; Edelman, “Brief History of Tape,” 45–46.
Cole, David J., Eve Browning, and Fred E.H. Schroeder. Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Edelman, Jonathan. “A Brief History of Tape.” Ambidextrous 5 (Falling in 2006): 45–46.
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5
Cheesman, “Analysis of the Accounts Relating Joseph Smith’s Early Visions,” 126; Jessee, “The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” 277–278.
Cheesman, Paul Robert. “An Analysis of the Accounts Relating Joseph Smith’s Early Visions.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1965.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision.” BYU Studies 9 (Spring 1969): 275–294.
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6
The leaves were still detached when they were photographed for a 1984 publication.a They were reattached by 2000, when scanned images that show them as such were made by the Church Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.b The leaves are also reported as being reattached in a 25 February 2001 register of the JS Collection, which states that they were “reattached in the 1990s.”c
(aJessee, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, 15–20. bTurley, Selected Collections, vol. 1, disc 20. cFaulring, “Annotated Catalog of the Joseph Smith Collection.”)Jessee, Dean C., ed. and comp. The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
Turley, Richard E., ed. Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2 vols. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002. DVD.
Faulring, Scott H. Early Manuscripts Collection, 1827–1876. CHL. MS 16771.
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7
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1]; “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1], Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
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1
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Historical Introduction
JS’s circa summer 1832 history is the only narrative of the foundational spiritual events of JS’s early life that includes his own handwriting. It begins in an imposing manner, announcing “A History of the life of Joseph Smith Jr. an account of his marvilous experience and of all the mighty acts which he doeth in the name of Jesus Ch[r]ist . . . and also an account of the rise of the church of Christ in the eve of time.” Following this introduction, JS started with his own birth and then quickly moved to the events that marked the beginning of his career as a prophet: his study of the Bible, his early visions, the reception of the gold plates, the financial and scribal assistance of at the beginning of JS’s translation of the plates, and Harris’s loss of the early translation manuscript. Then, following a brief mention of , who in the account had not yet met JS but would soon provide him desperately needed scribal and financial assistance, the document ends abruptly after only six pages. The introductory prospectus to the history refers to four foundational events in JS’s life: “the testamony from on high,” later explained as his first vision of Deity; “the ministering of Angels,” or the angel Moroni’s revelation of the of the Book of Mormon; the “reception of the holy ”; and “a confirmation and reception of the .” JS related the first two events in some detail, providing a firsthand account of his childhood and early religious experiences, but this history includes nothing further about the reception of priesthood authority.It is not clear why JS ended his earliest history before completing his stated intentions. Some of his other documentary endeavors, including the journal he began the same year, are similarly incomplete, perhaps indicating that other activities simply took precedence. It is possible, however, that JS deliberately ended the history where he did, viewing it as part of a larger historical record that would include the work of others assigned as record keepers. Even though JS wrote his own history in about summer 1832, he continued to affirm ’s role as church historian, demonstrating that JS’s historical venture did not relieve Whitmer of the responsibility to continue the church history. For his part, Whitmer viewed his history as continuing work begun by , whom he replaced as church record keeper. The question of whether JS expected Cowdery’s or Whitmer’s work to fit together with the account begun in his own history cannot be settled for certain; JS’s narrative does, however, cover only earlier history for which JS alone could provide a firsthand account, and it concludes just before Cowdery enters the scene.The circa summer 1832 history came about as part of a new phase in JS’s record-keeping practices. During the first four years of Mormon record keeping (1828–1831), JS focused primarily on preserving his revelatory texts. The records surviving from the early period of his prophetic career are almost exclusively sacred texts, including the Book of Mormon manuscripts, JS’s revision of the Bible, and his own contemporary revelations. Scriptural record keeping overshadowed personal and institutional record keeping. This focus changed in 1832, when JS began documenting his personal life in detail for the first time, both in his history and in the journal he began on 27 November 1832. He and his scribes also began compiling a minute book and a letterbook, providing material recording day-to-day events. With this broader record-keeping focus, JS began to document his role as revelator and church leader in addition to preserving the texts of revelations and visions.In the early 1830s, when this history was written, it appears that JS had not broadcast the details of his first vision of Deity. The history of the church, as it was then generally understood, began with the gold plates. mentioned in his history “the commencement of the church history commencing at the time of the finding of the plates,” suggesting that Whitmer was either unaware of JS’s earlier vision or did not conceive of it as foundational. Records predating 1832 only hint at JS’s earliest manifestation. The historical preamble to the 1830 “Articles and Covenants,” for example, appears to reference JS’s vision in speaking of a moment when “it truly was manifested unto this first elder, that he had received a remission of his sins.” Initially, JS may have considered this vision to be a personal experience tied to his own religious explorations. He was not accustomed to recording personal events, and he did not initially record the vision as he later did the sacred texts at the center of his attention. Only when JS expanded his focus to include historical records did he write down a detailed account of the theophany he experienced as a youth. The result was a simple, unpolished account of his first “marvilous experience,” written largely in his own handwriting. The account was not published or widely circulated at the time, though in later years he told the story more frequently.Understanding the production of the circa summer 1832 history is complicated by the possibility that it was copied from an earlier manuscript, a possibility suggested by the known record-keeping practices of JS and , in whose alternating handwriting the history is inscribed. In the same time period, they jointly copied six revelations from 1831 and 1832, some of which JS originally dictated to Williams, into the beginning of a compilation of revelations. They also divided inscription work when they copied JS’s 27 November 1832 letter to , which JS originally dictated, into JS’s first letterbook (begun in the same volume that contains the circa summer 1832 history). Thus, the other extant 1832 documents inscribed in both JS’s and Williams’s handwriting are all copies. In their early record-keeping efforts, JS and his scribes established the practice of copying loose minutes, letters, and revelations into more permanent blank books. In fact, the large blank books used in church record-keeping through 1832 were filled entirely or almost entirely with material copied from loose leaves. Thus, the fact that the extant history exists in a record book and not as loose leaves suggests it is a copy.Textual clues also indicate that the extant 1832 history may not be an original composition. The handwriting of and JS passes back and forth with little or no correspondence to the narrative progress of the history; the two sometimes alternate inscription mid-sentence. In JS’s writing, moreover, the disruptions to inscription caused by changing or sharpening a quill and dipping it in ink occur in the middle of a thought and even in the middle of a word, suggesting he was copying rather than composing.Other textual evidence, however, indicates that the circa summer 1832 history may be the original inscription. In their work on the history, neither JS nor made inscription errors that one might expect to find if it were a copy, errors that both men made in contemporary copying work. For example, when copying a 27 November 1832 letter into his first letterbook, JS inadvertently repeated a phrase from a line above and then struck the phrase after realizing his error. Similarly, in copying a December 1833 letter into the same volume, Williams apparently skipped a line of the original before catching himself and fixing the mistake. Errors like these do not appear in the 1832 history.The history also contains several significant contemporaneous revisions in JS’s handwriting, which may indicate that JS was composing original narrative. For instance, at the bottom of page 3 he wrote, “about that time my mother and,” but then apparently decided he did not want to include this detail and canceled the passage. Such revisions, however, could have been made during copying, not during composition. JS and his scribes made similar revisions as they copied drafts and other antecedent documents into the 1834–1836 history and the multivolume manuscript history initiated in 1838. Likewise, JS and may have been modifying the circa summer 1832 history as they copied it from an earlier text.Although JS’s earliest history bears no date, its approximate creation date can be determined by considering the language of the text, the volume in which it is found, and the larger historical context. first met JS in summer 1831, but there is no evidence that he began work as a scribe before 16 February 1832, the date of the first item he copied into JS’s second revelation book. Although none of the revelations he transcribed into the book bears a transcription date, the inconsistent copying styles of the various transcripts and the interspersed transcripts of older revelations that appear among the March 1832 revelations suggest that the book had become the active record-keeping repository for the revelations by March 1832. If JS and Williams were copying revelations in March 1832, it is not implausible that they created the history around the same time.The volume containing the history provides clues to determine the latest date by which the history was written. Sometime after the history was inscribed, the volume was repurposed as a letterbook, beginning with a letter dated 27 November 1832. The uneven copying styles of the letters from January to April 1833 indicate that the letterbook was being used as an active copy book during that period, with letters being transcribed into the volume in chronological order as they were written, prior to mailing them. JS probably followed this same pattern the previous fall, making a contemporaneous copy of the 27 November 1832 letter in the letterbook before sending the original. If indeed the volume that contains the circa summer 1832 history was repurposed as a letterbook at the end of November, the history must have been written before then.The date range for likely composition of the history can be narrowed even further. took on increasing clerical work in July 1832 during a suspension of ’s position as JS’s principal counselor and scribe. In a later statement, Williams wrote, “I commencd writing for Joseph Smith Jr July 20th 1832 as may be seen by S Rigdon permission dated as above.” Following this 20 July appointment, Williams’s clerical duties expanded and he recorded revelations, Bible revisions, and letters as JS dictated. JS’s earliest history was probably inscribed between the 20 July appointment and 22 September 1832, the date of a revelation that changed JS’s lexicon regarding priesthood. The history refers to the first priesthood JS received as the “holy priesthood,” which was then followed by the reception of the “high priesthood,” but the September 1832 revelation reserved the adjective “holy” for the higher priesthood. JS’s subsequent writings and revelations consistently reserved the word “holy” to describe the greater priesthood only. The terminology of the existing documentary record, therefore, coupled with the date of Williams’s appointment as scribe, suggests that the history was most likely composed between 20 July and 22 September 1832.Regardless of when it was created, the circa summer 1832 history provides the most personal, intimate account of JS’s early visions available and preserves details of those visions not recorded elsewhere.
Footnotes
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1
Although JS began his first journal with the explicit intention “to keep a minute acount of all things that come under my obsevation,” there were substantial gaps in his journal keeping. (JS, Journal, 27 Nov. 1832.)
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2
See JS, Hiram, OH, to William W. Phelps, [Independence, MO], 31 July 1832, JS Collection, CHL; JS, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps, [Independence, MO], 27 Nov. 1832, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 1–4; Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 69:3]; and JS and Sidney Rigdon, Far West, MO, to John Whitmer, Far West, MO, 9 Apr. 1838.
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3
Minute Book 2, 9 June 1830; Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–B [D&C 47]; Whitmer, History, 25; see also the Historical Introduction to Whitmer, History.
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4
Although no narrative history by Oliver Cowdery predating JS’s first history is known, Cowdery wrote a series of historical letters in 1834–1835 that were published in the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate and later copied into JS’s 1834–1836 history. Cowdery may have taken JS’s history into account when he began the first letter, as he picked up the story just where JS had left off—when the two first met in Harmony, Pennsylvania, on 5 April 1829. Cowdery went on to describe the receipt of the lower (Aaronic) priesthood. Thus, whether by design or coincidence, Cowdery detailed the third event outlined in the prospectus to JS’s history (“the reception of the holy Priesthood by the ministring of—Aangels”). In chapter 7 of his history, Whitmer covered the fourth event (the “confirmation and reception of the high Priesthood”). (Oliver Cowdery, Norton, OH, to William W. Phelps, 7 Sept. 1834, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:13–16 [also in JS History, 1834–1836]; JS History, ca. summer 1832; Whitmer, History, 27.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
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5
Whitmer, History, 25.
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6
Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:5–8]. In the circa summer 1832 history, Christ’s first message to JS is “thy sins are forgiven thee.”
A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
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8
See Vision, 16 Feb. 1832, in Revelation Book 2, pp. 1–10 [D&C 76]; Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831, in Revelation Book 2, pp. 12–15 [D&C 72]; Revelation, 7 Mar. 1832, in Revelation Book 2, pp. 18–19 [D&C 80]; Revelation, 22 and 23 Sept. 1832, in Revelation Book 2, pp. 20–31 [D&C 84]; and Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832. A small section of JS inscription among his Bible revisions may be an exception; it was made in either 1832 or 1833. (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 72.)
Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.
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9
Later JS documents, however, such as his journals for 1835–1836, March–September 1838, and 1841–1842, provide examples of original material inscribed directly into large blank books. Frederick G. Williams evidently also began inscribing topical indexes of scriptural references directly into several blank books beginning 17 July 1833. (See Jensen, “Ignored and Unknown Clues of Early Mormon Record Keeping,” 136–139.)
Jensen, Robin Scott. “Ignored and Unknown Clues of Early Mormon Record Keeping.” In Preserving the History of the Latter-day Saints, edited by Richard E. Turley Jr. and Steven C. Harper, 135–164. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2010.
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10
On the second page of the manuscript, for example, the quill sharpness changes between the u and the r of “courses” in the phrase “the stars shining in their courses.”
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12
JS, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Liberty, MO, 10 Dec. 1833.
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13
Williams, “Frederick Granger Williams,” 245–247; see also Revelation Book 2, pp. 1–10.
Williams, Frederick G. “Frederick Granger Williams of the First Presidency of the Church.” BYU Studies 12 (Spring 1972): 243–261.
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14
See Revelation Book 2, pp. 1–20. John Whitmer had earlier inscribed revelations into a blank book, Revelation Book 1, but because Whitmer took this book to Missouri in late November 1831, another book was needed for copying revelations. Revelation Book 2 filled this need, and it was apparently begun in February or March 1832.
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15
See JS Letterbook 1, pp. 14–36.
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16
At the Sunday meeting held in Kirtland on 8 July 1832, JS demanded that Rigdon surrender his priesthood license because Rigdon had declared three days earlier that the “keys of the kingdom” had been taken from the church and that he alone retained them.a Three weeks later JS reinstated Rigdon in the church presidency.b
(a“History [of] Charles Coulson Rich,” 3–4, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL; Cahoon, Diary, 5–17 July 1832; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 13, [6]; Dibble, “Philo Dibble’s Narrative,” 79–80. bHyrum Smith, Diary and Account Book, 28 July 1832; Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832.)Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
Cahoon, Reynolds. Diaries, 1831–1832. CHL. MS 1115.
Dibble, Philo. “Philo Dibble’s Narrative.” In Early Scenes in Church History, Faith-Promoting Series 8, pp. 74–96. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882.
Smith, Hyrum. Diary and Account Book, Nov. 1831–Feb. 1835. Hyrum Smith, Papers, ca. 1832–1844. BYU.
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17
Frederick G. Williams, Statement, no date, Frederick G. Williams, Papers, CHL. Although the cited permission is not extant, the language of this undated statement indicates that Williams was basing his information not on memory but on contemporaneous documentation.
Williams, Frederick G. Papers, 1834–1842. CHL. MS 782.
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18
See, for example, Revelation Book 2, pp. 19–31; Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 59, 70–72; Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832; and Letter to Vienna Jaques, 4 Sept. 1833. Williams later wrote that from the time of his employment on 20 July 1832 until January 1836, he “was constantly in said Smiths employ.” (Frederick G. Williams, Statement, no date, Frederick G. Williams, Papers, CHL; compare “Account on Farm,” no date, Frederick G. Williams, Papers, CHL.)
Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.
Williams, Frederick G. Papers, 1834–1842. CHL. MS 782.
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19
Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:6, 18–19]. For examples of pre–September 1832 use of “holy” to describe both the higher and lower priesthoods, see Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 73–74, 258–260 [2 Nephi 5:26, 6:2; Alma 13:1–19]; License for John Whitmer, 9 June 1830; License for Christian Whitmer, 9 June 1830; License for Joseph Smith Sr., 9 June 1830.
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20
See, for example, Plat of City of Zion, circa Early June–25 June 1833; JS to Oliver Cowdery, Blessing, 18 Dec. 1833, in Patriarchal Blessings, 1:12; Instruction on priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:3, 14, 20].
Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.
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