Footnotes

1. [1]

   JS, Journal, 24 Nov. 1835 and 20 Jan. 1836; Knight, Autobiography, 810–811. Notices of Boynton and Lowell’s marriage were printed in Portland, Maine, newspapers, likely because Lowell hailed from nearby Saco, Maine. (“Married,” Eastern Argus [Portland, ME], 9 Feb. 1836, [3]; “Married,” Portland [ME] Advertiser, 16 Feb. 1836, [1].)  

   Knight, Newel. Autobiography and Journal, ca. 1846. CHL. MS 767.

   Eastern Argus. Portland, ME. 1803–1863.

   Portland Advertiser. Portland, ME. 1829–1841.

2. [2]

   Geauga Co., OH, Probate Court, Marriage Records, 1833–1841, 17 Nov. 1835, microfilm 873,464, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.  

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

3. [3]

   An Act, Regulating Marriages [6 Jan. 1824], Statutes of Ohio, vol. 2, p. 1407, sec. 2; see also Bradshaw, “Joseph Smith’s Performance of Marriages in Ohio,” 28, 34–37, 57.  

   The Statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern Territory, Adopted or Enacted from 1788 to 1833 Inclusive: Together with the Ordinance of 1787; the Constitutions of Ohio and of the United States, and Various Public Instruments and Acts of Congress: Illustrated by a Preliminary Sketch of the History of Ohio; Numerous References and Notes, and Copious Indexes. 3 vols. Edited by Salmon P. Chase. Cincinnati: Corey and Fairbank, 1833–1835.

   Bradshaw, M. Scott. “Joseph Smith’s Performance of Marriages in Ohio.” BYU Studies 39, no. 4 (2000): 23–69.

4. [4]

   Statement on Marriage, ca. Aug. 1835.  

5. [5]

   JS, Journal, 20 Jan. 1836. Despite the Ohio law’s allowance for unlicensed ministers to perform marriages, reminiscent accounts cast doubt on JS’s ability to legally solemnize marriages. John C. Dowen, a justice of the peace in Kirtland from 1833 to 1839, stated in 1885: “Mormons were not permitted to marry couples. They often had me perform the legal marriage ceremony, and afterward Joe Smith would, as he claimed, marry them according to the gospel.” According to Lydia Knight, Ohio law “did not recognize the ‘Mormon’ Elders as ministers.” Knight recalled that some unnamed Mormon elders were arrested and fined for performing marriages. Nevertheless, as M. Scott Bradshaw has argued, “Joseph was indeed within his statutory rights in assuming the authority to solemnize marriages. Moreover, he was correct when he stated that performing marriages was his ‘religious privilege.’” (John C. Dowen, Statement, 5, microfilm, Chicago Historical Society, Collection of Mormon Materials, 1836–1886, CHL; Gates, Lydia Knight’s History, 30; Bradshaw, “Joseph Smith’s Performance of Marriages in Ohio,” 31; see also Knight, Autobiography and Journal, [45]–[46].)  

   Chicago Historical Society, Collection of Mormon Materials, 1836–1886. Microfilm. CHL. MS 8136.

   Gates, Susa Young [Homespun, pseud.]. Lydia Knight’s History. Noble Women’s Lives Series 1. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883.

   Bradshaw, M. Scott. “Joseph Smith’s Performance of Marriages in Ohio.” BYU Studies 39, no. 4 (2000): 23–69.

   Knight, Newel. Autobiography and Journal, ca. 1846. CHL. MS 767.

6. [6]

   JS, Journal, 22 Feb. 1836. Regarding marriages for which the couples had obtained licenses, see JS, Journal, 24 Nov. 1835; 3 and 13 Dec. 1835; 14 and 20 Jan. 1836; and Cowdery, Diary, 3 Feb. 1836. Regarding marriages legitimized by publishment—that is, giving sufficient public notice of a couple’s intent to marry without a license—see An Act, Regulating Marriages [6 Jan. 1824], Statutes of Ohio, vol. 2, p. 1407, sec. 8.  

   Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.

   The Statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern Territory, Adopted or Enacted from 1788 to 1833 Inclusive: Together with the Ordinance of 1787; the Constitutions of Ohio and of the United States, and Various Public Instruments and Acts of Congress: Illustrated by a Preliminary Sketch of the History of Ohio; Numerous References and Notes, and Copious Indexes. 3 vols. Edited by Salmon P. Chase. Cincinnati: Corey and Fairbank, 1833–1835.

7. [7]

   To meet the three-month deadline, JS had only two days left to file the certificate for Newel and Lydia Goldthwaite Bailey Knight, the first of the eleven marriages he solemnized. Though the marriage certificate for John F. Boynton and Susan Lowell is no longer extant, county clerk David D. Aiken recorded the certificate after 22 February 1836 in the ledger of solemnized marriages. The other ten marriages officiated by JS and recorded by Aiken in the official county record include Newel Knight and Lydia Goldthwaite Bailey (married 24 Nov. 1835); Warren Parrish and Martha H. Raymond (3 Dec. 1835); Ebenezer Robinson and Angeline Eliza Works (13 Dec. 1835); Edwin Webb and Eliza Ann McWithy (13 Dec. 1835); Thomas Carrico and Elizabeth (Betsey) Baker (14 Jan. 1836); John Webb and Catharine Wilcox (14 Jan. 1836); Joseph C. Kingsbury and Caroline Whitney (3 Feb. 1836); William Cahoon and Nancy Gibbs (17 Jan. 1836); Harvey Stanley and Lerona Cahoon (17 Jan. 1836); and Tunis Rappleye and Louisa Cutler (17 Jan. 1836). (Geauga Co., OH, Probate Court, Marriage Records, 1806–1920, vol. C, pp. 141–144, microfilm 873,461, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also JS, Journal, 17 and 19 Jan. 1836.)  

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

8. [8]

   An Act, Regulating Marriages [6 Jan. 1824], Statutes of Ohio, vol. 2, p. 1407.  

   The Statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern Territory, Adopted or Enacted from 1788 to 1833 Inclusive: Together with the Ordinance of 1787; the Constitutions of Ohio and of the United States, and Various Public Instruments and Acts of Congress: Illustrated by a Preliminary Sketch of the History of Ohio; Numerous References and Notes, and Copious Indexes. 3 vols. Edited by Salmon P. Chase. Cincinnati: Corey and Fairbank, 1833–1835.