Minutes, 10 August 1835
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Source Note
Minutes, , Geauga Co., OH, 10 Aug. 1835. Featured version copied [not before 25 Feb. 1836] in Minute Book 1, p. 96; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
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Historical Introduction
On 10 August 1835, the , Ohio, met to consider a charge that had not corrected his children or instructed them “in the way of truth & righteousness.” According to the minutes, JS was the one who made the charge, but his name does not otherwise appear in the document. Thus, though he was likely present at the council meeting, it is possible that he was not.The minutes fail to clarify what behavior prompted JS’s complaint or which of ’s children were involved in improper conduct. Reynolds and had six children living in August 1835: , twenty-one years old; Lerona, seventeen years old; , fourteen or fifteen years old; Daniel, thirteen years old; Andrew, eleven years old; and Mahonri Moriancumer, one year old. In October 1831, William Cahoon had been charged with “offering abuse to br. ’s little child.” However, he went on the expedition with JS in 1834 and was a in March 1835, signifying he was in good standing with the church at that time. Yet in his ordination blessing to the Seventy, Cahoon was told that he needed to “conquer all [his] evil propensities incident to youth” and that he should “begin from this very hour to reform.” Pulaski Cahoon was excommunicated from the church in November 1837 for “dancing with the world,” but no surviving evidence sheds light on possible improper conduct in August 1835.As these proceedings concluded, confessed that he was in the wrong and would make amends, but difficulties continued. In November 1835, JS dictated a revelation stating that God was angry with Cahoon “because of his iniquities his covetous and dishonest principles in himself and family and he doth not purge them away and set his house in order.”was designated clerk of the council and kept the minutes, though the original copy is not extant. copied the minutes into Minute Book 1, probably sometime in 1836.
Footnotes
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1
JS and Frederick G. Williams left on a trip to Michigan Territory sometime before 17 August 1835. However, JS apparently attended an 8 August 1835 meeting in Kirtland, just two days before this meeting, so he was likely still in Kirtland. (JS History, vol. B-1, 600, 606; Minutes, 8 Aug. 1835.)
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
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2
Shurtleff and Cahoon, Reynolds Cahoon and His Stalwart Sons, 78.
Shurtleff, Stella Cahoon, and Brent Farrington Cahoon, comps. Reynolds Cahoon and His Stalwart Sons: Utah Pioneers. Salt Lake City: Paragon Press, 1960.
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4
Account with the Church of Christ, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834; Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 1 Mar. 1835.
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6
Minute Book 1, 22 Oct. and 1 Nov. 1837.
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7
JS, Journal, 1 Nov. 1835.
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