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Minutes, 19 April 1843

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Minutes, 19 April 1843

Source Note

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 19 Apr. 1843; handwriting of ; four pages; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 1840–1844, CHL. Includes docket and notation.
Four leaves, each measuring 12¼ × 7½ inches (31 × 19 cm). The text was inscribed on the versos of four printed copies of “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2.” After making the initial inscription in black ink, went back through the document, using blue ink to revise material and write over words. The leaves were folded in half twice for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as clerk of the from October 1840 until his death in 1854. Richards presumably retained the minutes in his possession after inscribing them, and they were likely among the “Minutes of the Twelve 1840 to 1844” listed on an 1846 inventory of the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department). The document includes a notation by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The minutes of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were part of the Brigham Young collection during the first half of the twentieth century and were kept in a collection of various minutes during an era when the Church Historian’s Office used a genre-based filing method. In 1986 the minutes of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the 1840s were transferred from the Church Historical Department (now CHL) to the Office of the First Presidency. In 2008, this collection of minutes was returned to the Church History Department (CHL).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2,” Second Issue, between ca. 15 Mar. 1842 and 1 Apr. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Added and canceled material will be identified in the text; those words that Richards merely wrote over for clarification will not be.

  3. [3]

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 8 Oct. 1840; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  4. [4]

    “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  5. [5]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  6. [6]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 1840–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 19 April 1843, JS met with members of the in , Illinois, and instructed them on their assignment to raise funds for the construction of the , an edifice designated by revelation to be built as “a house for boarding” for “strangers . . . from afar” and “the weary traveller.” JS’s direction to the apostles stemmed from the belief that members were not sufficiently supporting the building of the Nauvoo House because they were more concerned with construction of the Nauvoo . In April 1842, the Twelve circulated a letter reminding church members that God had commanded the construction of both houses, and in August 1842, told appointed to travel to the eastern not only to raise funds for the temple but to “get the people to take stock in the Nauvoo House” as well. In February 1843, , the architect of the Nauvoo House, complained about the lack of support for the project, after which JS declared, “I want the Nauvo[o] House bui[l]t[.] it must be built, our salvation depends upon it.” JS counseled the Saints to “do what they can for the Nauvoo House. We never can accomplish our work at the expence of another.” Accordingly, at the of the church held in early April 1843, JS stated that one of the purposes of the meeting was “to take into consideration the sending out of the twelve or some porti[o]n of them or some body else to get means to build up Nauvoo. House.” Later in the meeting, JS appointed the Twelve to “this spicial mission of collecting funds for the Nauvoo House,” an action the conference ratified.
At this 19 April meeting in JS’s office, JS met with apostles , , , , , , , and to elaborate on the ’s fund-raising assignment. Woodruff recorded in his journal that JS “counciled us to take a mission in the East to obtain a means to build the as we were appointed So to do by the Conference.” JS also instructed the quorum on the need for others besides the apostles to proselytize in and directed them to write a letter to , an early leader of the church who was excommunicated in 1838, to ask if he was ready to return to the church.
, an apostle and one of JS’s clerks, took the minutes of the meeting in his role as clerk of the Quorum of the Twelve. The hurried nature of these minutes and the fact that Richards went back over them to correct misspellings, clarify words, and add information suggest that these were the original notes he took during the meeting. Richards made a cleaner copy of the minutes in JS’s journal. Substantive differences between the minutes and the journal version are identified in the footnotes.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:23].

  2. [2]

    Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1842, 3:737; JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 21 Feb. 1843; Discourse, 21 Feb. 1843.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 6 Apr. 1843; see also Revised Minutes and Discourses, 23 Apr.–ca. 8 May 1843.

  5. [5]

    Woodruff, Journal, 19 Apr. 1843; see also Lucien Woodworth and Peter Haws, Nauvoo, IL, to George Miller and Henry Miller, Black River, Wisconsin Territory, 10 May 1843, Nauvoo House Association, Records, CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Nauvoo House Association. Records, 1841–1846. CHL. MS 2375.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 19 Apr. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, 19 April 1843 Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 2, 10 March 1843–14 July 1843 History Draft [1 March–31 December 1843] History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”
You will all go to
I want to continue in the history at presnts
The history is going out in the paper by little & little & cutting it<​s​> way——
When comes home, I intend to send him right back again——
is going east with his sick <​—​>
I want you to cast up a high way for the Sai[n]ts from.— <​here to ​>
will travel
dont be scart about the — dont say any thing againt it, but make all men know your mission is to build the
Joshua <​Grant​> has got into the spirit, of — he is one of his childr[en],— 1/2 their words they clip, <​I intnd to break him— of it.—​>
if a come along— & goes to snub him, <​let him​> knock his teeth down his throat.
you sh[a]ll make a monstrous wake as you go——
, tell the to put hand enough on to that house to fini[s]h it right of[f], the Lord hath need of it,— other houses— as well a .—
6 thousands would liberete me<​—​>
If I can sell $10<​,​>000 of Prprty [property] this spring I will— meet you at any in & any confernce where you are— & st[a]y as long as it is wisdom to do.—
, — send them to <​& when you meet with an​> Arabic send him to Arabia— Italian<​— to Italy​> fren[c]h man <​to Fr[a]nce​> [p. 3]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 19 April 1843
ID #
12394
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:218–228
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [54]

    The account of this meeting in JS’s journal adds “perhaps he will have to travel some to save his life” here. Richards had assumed responsibility for compiling and writing JS’s history on 1 December 1842. (Willard Richards, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842.)

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  2. [55]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

  3. [56]

    The account of this meeting in JS’s journal adds “so that when it is completed it will not raise a persecution again[s]t us” here. The first installment of JS’s history was published in the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. By mid-April 1843, an additional twenty-five installments—one in each issue of the paper following the 15 March 1842 issue—had been published, bringing the published history up to the arrival of Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, and other missionaries in Kirtland, Ohio, in fall 1830. (“History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:726–728; 15 Apr. 1843, 4:172.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [57]

    Wight was in Kirtland, Ohio, at the time. He left the Kirtland area on 13 May 1843 for Nauvoo, where he arrived on 16 June 1843. (“Minutes of a Conference,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1843, 4:282–286; Wight, Address by Way of an Abridged Account, 4; Lyman Wight, Mountain Valley, TX, to Wilford Woodruff, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 24 Aug. 1857, 12, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Wight, Lyman. An Address by Way of an Abridged Account and Journal of My Life from February 1844 up to April 1848, with an Appeal to the Latter Day Saints. [Austin, TX], [ca. 1848].

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

  5. [58]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink. William Smith’s wife, Caroline Grant Smith, began suffering from dropsy, or edema, shortly after her arrival in Illinois in 1839. In 1843 she and William moved to Philadelphia, where she underwent treatment by a doctor “celebrated for the Cure of Dropsey.” (“Funeral of Mrs. Caroline Smith,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1845, 6:918–920; William Smith, [Philadelphia, PA], to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Oct. 1843, JS Collection, CHL.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [59]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

  7. [60]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink. In an April 1843 church conference, JS stated that there was “too great latitude in individuals for the building of the Temple to the exclusion of the Nauvoo house.” He also declared that it was necessary for the conference to “give importance to the N[auvoo] House. as a prejudice exists against the Nauvoo. House in favor of the Lords House.” (Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843; JS, Journal, 6 Apr. 1843.)

  8. [61]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

  9. [62]

    The account of this meeting in JS’s journal reads, “It is not necessary that Joshua Grant should be ordained a high Priest. he is to[o] young. he is one of Zebedee Coltrins children, & has got into Zebedee’s spirit. & Jedediah [M. Grant] also.”

  10. [63]

    The account of this meeting in JS’s journal has “heal them” instead of “break him.”

  11. [64]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink. When these minutes were recorded in JS’s manuscript history, this portion was changed to read, “It is not necessary that Jedediah and Joshua Grant should be ordained High Priests in order to preside they are too young; they have got into Zebedee Coltrin’s habit of clipping half their words, and I intend to break them of it.” Jedediah Grant was appointed at the church’s special conference a few weeks earlier to preside over the Philadelphia branch, while Joshua Grant was appointed to preside in Cincinnati. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1539; Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843.)

  12. [65]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

  13. [66]

    Grant held the office of Seventy. Church members had previously debated whether the office of high priest was higher than the office of Seventy. In 1837, JS stated that “the seventies are to be taken from the quorum of elders and are not to be high priests.” In 1840, he similarly said that seventies “were Elders and not High Priests.” (Discourse, 6 Apr. 1837; Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.)

  14. [67]

    The temple committee consisted of Alpheus Cutler, Reynolds Cahoon, and Elias Higbee. Clayton was the temple recorder. (Letter from Nauvoo Temple Committee, 26 Jan. 1843; Notice, 11 Oct. 1842.)

  15. [68]

    The account of this meeting in JS’s journal adds “Diagonal corner f[r]om the Brick Store” to “house.” Based on this addition, the house referred to here was apparently JS’s new home, the “Nauvoo Mansion,” on the corner of Main and Water streets in Nauvoo. The building was to serve as JS’s residence and as a hotel. He and his family moved into the home around 31 August 1843. (JS, Journal, 31 Aug. and 15 Sept. 1843.)

  16. [69]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink. JS may have been referring to interest payments he owed as part of an 1839 agreement to purchase land in the Nauvoo area from Horace Hotchkiss, Smith Tuttle, and John Gillet. According to the terms of the purchase, Sidney Rigdon, JS, and Hyrum Smith were supposed to make two interest payments of $1,500 annually. In late 1841, JS negotiated with Hotchkiss to transfer land in New Jersey, valued at $3,200, as an interest payment. By the end of 1842, the interest payments would have totaled $9,000. Subtracting the value of the New Jersey land shows that JS owed approximately $6,000 to Hotchkiss, Tuttle, and Gillet. In April 1842, JS filed for bankruptcy; two months later, he told Hotchkiss that all of his “creditors will have to fare alike.” However, in November 1842 he informed Hotchkiss that he was “as anxious as ever to have the contract continue good between us, and to meet the obligations specified in the contract.” The next month, Hotchkiss responded that he would come to Nauvoo in spring 1843 “and make some arrangement relative to the property at that place.” On 7 April 1843, he sent JS a letter regarding the Nauvoo property, but JS probably had not received it by the time of this 19 April meeting. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A; Promissory Note to John Gillet and Smith Tuttle, 12 Aug. 1839; Promissory Note to Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 9 Nov. 1841; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 30 Dec. 1841; Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842; Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 30 June 1842; Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 26 Nov. 1842; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 19 Dec. 1842; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 7 Apr. 1843.)

  17. [70]

    TEXT: Comma inserted in blue ink.

  18. [71]

    JS History, vol. D-1, 1539. Both Zundel and Moeser were native-born Germans. (“Died,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 28 Apr. 1880, 205; “Moesser, John Henry Frederick,” born 21 Aug. 1805, submitted by Ida Maud Warr, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family Group Records Collection; Archives Section, 1942–1969, microfilm 1,274,701, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Illustrated History of Southern California, 884.)

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    An Illustrated History of Southern California. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.

  19. [72]

    The account of this meeting in JS's journal reads, “Take [blank] Zundall [John Jacob Zundel] & [blank] [blank] Messer [Frederick Moeser] & tell them never to drink a drop of ale, or wine or any spirit only that which flows right out from the presence of God. & send them to Germany.”

  20. [73]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

  21. [74]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

  22. [75]

    TEXT: Insertion in blue ink.

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