On 20 April 1840, JS and his clerk signed an ’s for . JS likely signed scores of such licenses in the years after leaders adopted an April 1838 resolution requiring each license to be signed by at least one member of the . This license is featured as an example of this type of document as issued in 1840.

moved to the , Illinois, area in March 1840 and was subsequently appointed clerk of the , even though he apparently was not a . According to this license, an early April 1840 general of the church resolved that the First Presidency should issue Stout a license—most likely as part of an effort to license a large group of recently elders—although the resolution is not recorded in the conference minutes. The license itself is undated, but wrote in a church record book that Stout received an elder’s license “from under our hands” on 20 April 1840. The license certified that Stout was a member of the church, that he had been ordained an elder, and that he was authorized to preach the gospel.