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License for John Whitmer, 9 June 1830

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License for John Whitmer, 9 June 1830

Source Note

“A License Liberty Power & Authority,” License, , Seneca Co., NY, for , 9 June 1830; handwriting of ; signatures of JS and ; one page; Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Transcription from digital color image obtained from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in 2010. Includes redactions.
Single leaf measuring 6⅞–7¼ × 7¾ inches (17–18 × 20 cm) with irregular tear along the bottom of the document. Docket on verso in handwriting of : “John Whitmer | Lisence”. Under this is a mostly illegible pencil notation: “Sa◊◊◊◊ ◊◊◊◊ ◊◊ | ◊◊St ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊”. Additional notation in pencil: “◊◊◊◊◊◊”. Beneath that is a “YALE” stamp in dark ink. And along the bottom verso, a docket in handwriting of John Whitmer, “”, is inscribed in ink.
William E. Benjamin, a New York autograph and rare book collector and dealer, likely obtained the license circa late 1899 from Whitmer family member George Schweich when Benjamin obtained the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon. William R. Coe obtained the document by the early 1950s at the latest, after which the Coe collection was obtained by the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Dickinson, Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers, 13–14.

    Dickinson, Donald C. Dictionary of American Antiquarian Bookdealers. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.

  2. [2]

    Riley, Founder of Mormonism, 80n5, 100n59. The New York Times indicated the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon was “kept in a bank vault in this town.” On 17 January 1900, Schweich wrote to O. R. Beardsley telling him that the manuscript was with Benjamin in New York. (“The Book of Mormon,” New York Times, 21 Sept. 1899, 9; George Schweich, Richmond, MO, to O. R. Beardsley, 17 Jan. 1900, Miscellanea, Marie Eccles-Caine Archives of Intermountain Americana, Utah State University Special Collections, Logan.)

    Riley, I. Woodbridge. The Founder of Mormonism: A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1902.

    New York Times. New York City. 1857–.

    Schweich, George. Letter, Richmond, MO, to O. R. Beardsley, 17 Jan. 1900. Miscellanea, Marie Eccles-Caine Archives of Intermountain Americana, Utah State University Special Collections, Logan.

  3. [3]

    See Withington, Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Collection of Western Americana, 32.

    Withington, Mary C., comp. A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Collection of Western Americana Founded by William Robertson Coe, Yale University Library. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1952.

Historical Introduction

This certified that was an “ of Jesus Christ[,] an of this .” It was penned by at the first of the church on 9 June 1830 and was endorsed by JS and Cowdery, the first and second elders of the church. As called for in “Articles and Covenants,” which was formally accepted by church members at this conference, the newly founded Church of Christ issued certificates to members as a public proclamation of their affiliation with and ordination in the church. Whitmer received his license along with four other elders, three , and two . Three of these licenses—those for John Whitmer, Joseph Smith Sr., and Christian Whitmer—are extant. This apparently initiated the practice of issuing licenses for men holding offices in the church.
The Church of Christ had been established two months earlier, on 6 April 1830. stated that “the church was called together and the acknowledged according to the laws of ,” and though no documents of incorporation for the church survive, the procedure followed at the organizational meeting and the wording of these certificates seem to reflect the language and spirit of an 1813 New York law for the “incorporation of religious societies.” Whether the church was formally incorporated or not, ’s certificate implies that church members may have been using the New York law as their guide.
The license for certified that he had been according to the “Articles & Covenants,” the church’s founding document, and ordained by JS. The license also declared that Whitmer was both an apostle and an elder. The title “apostle,” however, was later crossed out. Though it is unknown when the redaction was made, it may have been made after were called in 1835 and might thus have been an attempt to reinterpret the license’s meaning in hindsight. Even though a June 1829 revelation foreshadowed the calling of twelve “disciples,” the certificate likely designated as an apostle in the sense of one who was commissioned or sent forth to preach, not one who was to a specific office with the title “apostle.” No one was described as an apostle in official records in this period, including the early minutes of church , which typically listed the office of each male attendee. John Whitmer himself kept many of these records as the first church historian and also wrote a personal daybook after 1832, but he gave himself other titles in these writings and never called himself an apostle. Nonetheless, when John Whitmer was sent to in January 1831, sent him with a letter that read, “Receive him, for he is a brother greatly beloved, and an Apostle of this church,” which again likely referred to Whitmer’s role as a messenger and preacher rather than to an ecclesiastical office.
The use of the term elder and the office itself were also developing as the Church of Christ grew. The Book of Mormon described the offices of teacher, priest, and , and by June 1829 drew from these accounts to create a list of duties for each in his “Articles of the Church of Christ.” Articles and Covenants, approved by the church on 9 June 1830, similarly described these offices but provided more detail, and also included the office of elder. Until June 1831, elder was the highest office one could hold in the church.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Minutes, 9 June 1830.

  2. [2]

    Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:63–64]. Other religious societies had a similar practice; compare, for instance, these licenses to those issued by Baptists, as illustrated in “License, A Form of,” in Baptist Encyclopedia, 701.

    The Baptist Encyclopedia. A Dictionary of the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors, and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in All Lands. With Numerous Biographical Sketches of Distinguished American and Foreign Baptists, and a Supplement. Edited by William Cathcart. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881.

  3. [3]

    Minutes, 9 June 1830.

  4. [4]

    On the formalization of licensing procedures, see Cannon, “Licensing in the Early Church,” 96–105.

    Cannon, Donald Q. “Licensing in the Early Church.” BYU Studies 22, no. 1 (Winter 1982): 96–105.

  5. [5]

    “Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, 1.

    Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.

  6. [6]

    Although no extant documents demonstrate that the Church of Christ was legally established on 6 April 1830, religious societies were not required under New York law to undergo formal incorporation in order to be officially recognized. (An Act to Provide for the Incorporation of Religious Societies [5 Apr. 1813], Laws of the State of New-York [1813], vol. 2, pp. 212–219; see also Stott, “Legal Insights into the Organization of the Church in 1830,” 122–132.)

    Laws of the State of New-York, Revised and Passed at the Thirty-Sixth Session of the Legislature, With Marginal Notes and References. 2 Vols. Albany: H. C. Southwick and Company, 1813.

    Stott, David Keith. “Legal Insights into the Organization of the Church in 1830.” BYU Studies 49, no. 2 (2010): 121–148.

  7. [7]

    Revelation, June 1829–B [D&C 18:26–27].

  8. [8]

    See Whitmer, History, 1–96; Whitmer, Daybook, 1832–1878. Soon after he was given this license, John Whitmer signed the certificates of Newel Knight as an elder (in the summer of 1830) and William Smith as a teacher (on 5 October 1831). Both certificates specified that Whitmer was an “Elder.” (Knight, History, 2313; License for William Smith, 5 Oct. 1831.)

    Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.

    Knight, Newel. History. Private possession. Copy in CHL. MS 19156.

  9. [9]

    Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 110.

    Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

  10. [10]

    See “Articles of the Church of Christ,” June 1829; see also Whitmer, Address to All Believers in Christ, 32.

    Whitmer, David. An Address to All Believers in Christ. Richmond, MO: By the author, 1887.

  11. [11]

    Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:38–59].

  12. [12]

    See, for example, Minutes, 9 June 1830; Minutes, 26 Sept. 1830; and Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831. An elder’s duties were to “baptize and to ordain other elders, priests, teachers, and deacons, and to administer the flesh and blood of Christ according to the scriptures, and to teach, expound, and exhort, and to baptize and to watch over the church, and to confirm the church by the laying on of hands and the giving of the Holy Ghost, and to take the lead of all meetings, &c. The elders are to conduct the meetings as they are led by the Holy Ghost.” (Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:38–45].)

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A Liberty Power & Authority
Given to signifying & proveing that he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ an of this established & regularly organized in these last days AD, 1830 on the 6th day of April All of which has been done by the will of God the Father according to his holy calling & the gift & power of the Holy Ghost agreeable to the revelations of Jesus Christ given to Joseph Smith jun the of the Church Signifying that he has been & received into the Church according to the Articles & Covenants of the Church & under the hand of Joseph Smith Jun. <​who is an Apostle of our Lord​>
Singned by(Joseph Smith Jr first Elder
( second Elder
Given to the Bearer in held in Seneca County NY June 9th 1830 [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
License for John Whitmer, 9 June 1830
ID #
34
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:142–146
Handwriting on This Page
  • Oliver Cowdery
  • Joseph Smith Jr.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The title of the license, “A License Liberty Power & Authority,” reflects other contemporary legal language, including that found in the New York laws for incorporating religious societies. (An Act to Provide for the Incorporation of Religious Societies [5 Apr. 1813], Laws of the State of New-York [1813], vol. 2, pp. 212–219; see also An Act Supplementary to the Act, Entitled “An Act to Provide for the Incorporation of Religious Societies,” Passed April 5th, 1813 [12 Apr. 1822], in Laws of the State of New-York [1822], chap. 187, p. 187.)

    Laws of the State of New-York, Revised and Passed at the Thirty-Sixth Session of the Legislature, With Marginal Notes and References. 2 Vols. Albany: H. C. Southwick and Company, 1813.

  2. [2]

    “Apostle of Jesus Christ” was later crossed out in pencil with sufficient pressure to make a small tear through the paper.

  3. [3]

    Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:37].

  4. [4]

    TEXT: A thick black ink smudge is found below Oliver Cowdery’s signature, running about the length of his name. Cowdery presumably made the smudge to ensure that no other signatures were added below his.

  5. [5]

    The terms “first Elder” and “second Elder” were ecclesiastical titles. (See, for example, JS History, vol. A-1, 18.)

  6. [6]

    TEXT: Remainder of document is inscribed in darker ink, possibly signifying it was written at a later date.

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