Letter from Lester Brooks, 7 November 1842

The enclosed minutes were presumably the minutes published in the 15 December 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:38–39.)  

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

While Brooks may have been referring to the baptisms of people who had long been familiar with the church, his remarks likely also applied to the rebaptisms of longtime church members. Hostile newspaper accounts scoffed at the fact that “old converts” were being rebaptized during the conference. At the April 1842 conference of the church at Nauvoo, Illinois, JS identified four different types of baptism: baptism for the dead, baptism for health, baptism for admission into the church, and rebaptism. In the missionaries’ report of their work in Kirtland, it appears that most of the baptisms they described were rebaptisms, presumably to renew the members’ commitment to the church. For example, they described one woman who at the outset of the conference “declared herself good enough without re-baptism” but apparently later relented and declared that “she would go to the Rocky Mountains if Joseph said so.” Though rarely mentioned in extant sources, the practice seems to have been widespread in the church at this time. For example, one young elder, James Monroe, recounted being rebaptized in Nauvoo prior to leaving on a mission. (“Mormanism Revived,” Plain Dealer [Cleveland], 9 Nov. 1842, [2]; Minutes and Discourses, 6–8 Apr. 1842; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:38–39; James Monroe, Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, to Brigham Young, 16 Sept. 1851, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; “Elder’s Conference,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1843, 4:157; see also Historical Introduction to Revelation, 27 July 1842; and Statement, 27 Aug. 1842, in “Revelation to Newel K. Whitney through Joseph the Seer,” 27 July 1842, Revelations Collection, CHL.)  

Plain Dealer. Cleveland. Jan.–Dec. 1842.

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

The missionaries’ account of the conference stated that thirty elders had been ordained but provided no further details. (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:39.)  

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Austin Babbitt was the brother of longtime church member Almon Babbitt. (“Nancy Crosier: Seventh Child,” 2, in Crozier and Crozier, Family History.)  

Crozier, Ida Florence Wright, and Darlene Ann Budzey Crozier, comps. The Family History of Lieutenant John Crosier and His Descendants, 1750–1995. Hamilton, Ontario: GENCO Publishers, [1995].

There are several references in Latter-day Saint sources to a church member named William Wilson. It is unclear, however, whether all these sources refer to the same individual. A “W. W. Willson” took part in anointing rituals preparatory to the dedication of the House of the Lord in Kirtland in 1837, and a “William Willson” agreed to travel to Missouri with the Kirtland Camp in 1838. In 1840 a William Wilson in Morgan County, Illinois, swore out an affidavit testifying of his experience in 1838 of visiting his family in Ohio and being unable to return to his home in DeWitt, Missouri, due to the governor’s extermination order. Finally, the minutes of a June 1842 conference in Utica, New York, record some discussion regarding the ordinations of a William Wilson and another Latter-day Saint; ultimately, the New York conference determined that “the case of Bro. Wilson was adjourned until the next Conference.” Because of the connection to Wilson’s ordination in this letter, these conference minutes likely refer to the same William Wilson. (Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 4 Apr. 1837; Kirtland Camp, Constitution, 13 Mar. 1838; William Wilson, Affidavit, 24 Jan. 1840, Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives, Washington DC; “Minutes of a Conference,” Times and Seasons, 15 July 1842, 3:861.)  

Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.

Kirtland Camp. Constitution, 13 Mar. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.

Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives / Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to the Committee on Judiciary during the 27th Congress. Committee on the Judiciary, Petitions and Memorials, 1813–1968. Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789–2015. National Archives, Washington DC. The LDS records cited herein are housed in National Archives boxes 40 and 41 of Library of Congress boxes 139–144 in HR27A-G10.1.

The missionaries reported that in the days after the conference “from three to ten” individuals were coming forward each day seeking baptism. (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:39.)  

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

At least some of Wight's preaching in Ohio touched on reform and reformation. While speaking on “the subject of reformation,” Wight argued that Latter-day Saints “were not called to reform any religion but reform ourselves” by embracing or recommitting to the principles God had revealed to “his people.” (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1842, 4:14, italics in original.)  

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

While on his way to Kirtland, Greene accepted an invitation to preach at a Presbyterian church in Huron County, Ohio. According to the missionaries’ report, the minister yielded his pulpit in accordance with his congregation’s wish to hear about “the faith of the Mormons, and wherein they differed from the popular sects of the day.” Greene reportedly “left the people with very serious and favorable impressions; having destroyed much prejudice by the light which was reflected.” In his remarks to Latter-day Saints and his report back to Nauvoo, Wight indicated that one of the purposes of his mission was to refute “the rumors which have gone abroad, by certain corrupt characters, concerning the character of Br. Joseph Smith and others,” presumably referring to Bennett’s ongoing attempts to discredit JS. Wight later claimed—probably with some exaggeration—that few people he met believed Bennett’s allegations against JS. Wight specifically identified a Methodist minister in Dayton, Ohio, who told his congregation that “although Joseph Smith might be a bad man, yet he could say to them it would be an injury to their society to believe any thing that Bennett said.” In fact, Wight claimed that during his mission he had “not heard a single man say but what Joseph Smith had done himself an honor in purging the church of so filthy a rascal as John C. Bennett.” (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:37–38; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1842, 4:14–15.)  

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Reverend Truman Coe was the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Kirtland. Contrary to Brooks’s information, Coe remained pastor of the church until his retirement in 1848. (Backman, “Truman Coe’s 1836 Description of Mormonism,” 348.)  

Backman, Milton V., Jr. “Truman Coe’s 1836 Description of Mormonism.” BYU Studies 17, no. 3 (Spring 1977): 347–355.