License for Gardner Snow, 19 January 1839
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Source Note
JS, License, , Caldwell Co., MO, for , 19 Jan. 1839; printed form with additions in handwriting of ; notation by ; two pages; Ella M. Bennett Collection, CHL. Includes docket.Single leaf measuring 3 × 8 inches (8 × 20 cm). The right edge of the recto has the square cut of manufactured paper. The top, bottom, and left edges have been unevenly cut. The license was folded for filing, and “G. Snows | License” was docketed on the verso, possibly by . The license remained in the possession of Snow’s descendants until 1986, when it was donated to the Historical Department of the LDS church.
Footnotes
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1
Acquisition Sheet and Instrument of Gift, 20 Dec. 1986, in Case File for Ella M. Bennett Collection, CHL.
Bennett, Ella M. Collection, 1834–1910. CHL.
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1
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Historical Introduction
In January 1839, received a new ’s attesting to his office and his good standing in the . Snow was appointed as an elder in winter 1834, and in 1836 he was as a . Although Snow already possessed an elder’s license, church members passed a resolution at an April 1838 conference in , Missouri, specifying that priesthood officers should obtain new licenses, signed by a member of the and the general church recorder. All licenses previously issued would be considered invalid following the conference.Circumstances did not permit to obtain a new license until early 1839. He was in , Ohio, at the time of the April 1838 conference and did not arrive in until fall. By that time, the conflict with anti-Mormon vigilantes had disrupted the First Presidency’s ability to issue new licenses. Although JS and his counselors in the First Presidency were incarcerated during the winter in , Missouri, general church recorder resumed producing routine documents such as priesthood licenses in late December 1838. On 19 January 1839, Robinson completed and issued the following license to Snow in . Likely in Robinson’s capacity as the First Presidency’s scribe, he signed JS’s name on his behalf.
Footnotes
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1
Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:64].
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2
Gardner Snow, Autobiographical Sketch, 1874, in Patriarchal Blessings, 124:3; Quorums of the Seventy, “Book of Records,” 20 Dec. 1836, 10.
Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.
Record of Seventies / First Council of the Seventy. “Book of Records,” 1837–1843. Bk. A. In First Council of the Seventy, Records, 1837–1885. CHL. CR 3 51, box 1, fd. 1.
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3
Elder’s License for Gardner Snow, Kirtland, OH, 11 July 1836, Ella M. Bennett Collection, CHL.
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4
See Minutes, 7–8 Apr. 1838; and Resolution, ca. 8 Apr. 1838.
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5
Following Snow’s arrival in Missouri with the Kirtland Camp in October 1838, he temporarily settled in Adam-ondi-Ahman before the state militia forced him and other Saints to relocate to Caldwell County in late November 1838. (Kirtland Camp, Journal, 13 Mar. and 2 Oct. 1838; Robert Wilson, Adam-ondi-Ahman, MO, to John B. Clark, 14 Nov. 1838, copy; Robert Wilson, Keytesville, MO, to John B. Clark, 25 Nov. 1838, copy, Mormon War Papers, MSA; Gardner Snow, Autobiographical Sketch, 1874, in Patriarchal Blessings, 124:3.)
Kirtland Camp. Journal, Mar.–Oct. 1838. CHL. MS 4952.
Mormon War Papers, 1838–1841. MSA.
Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.
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6
A church record book shows that George W. Robinson issued new licenses from April to September 1838. No entries for new licenses were recorded in October and November. (General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 32; see also Introduction to Part 3: 4 Nov. 1838–16 Apr. 1839.)
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7
When Robinson resumed issuing licenses in late December, he recorded the date of each license on the flyleaf of the church record book. (General Church Recorder, License Record Book.)
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| Clerk. | Joseph Smith Jr. | President. |
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