A church held in , Ohio, on 8 September 1834 apparently reconvened a conference held in nearby , Ohio, on 21 April 1834. The minutes of the April conference indicate that it was “adjourned to the Monday precedeing the second sunday in September,” which was 8 September. JS and left , Ohio, for New Portage on 5 September and arrived by 7 September. The conference dealt with a number of difficult issues, probably because the issues had been set aside in expectation of this conference.

The minutes of the conference depict some of JS’s typical actions when visiting the various congregations of Saints. He blessed a sick woman, provided instruction about the operation of the church, and presided over a council giving decisions on three disciplinary cases. In the first case, the church in New Portage had previously tried one of its members, a man named Carpenter, for an unspecified fault and decided he should be given time to consider his response to the charge. A church member named Gordon had then spoken in tongues, evidently saying the church should not be so lenient with Carpenter, whereupon the decision was reversed. JS instructed the council that this use of the gift of tongues was inappropriate because the gift was instituted mainly to preach the gospel to other nations and was not to be used “for the government of the Church”—perhaps the first time he had given this explanation of how the gift of tongues was to be used. Gordon, who was present at the conference, then admitted his error and sought forgiveness. In the second case, , the presiding authority in New Portage, asked JS whether he, Palmer, should remain the president of the church’s branch in the area since a member of the branch, , had refused to comply with Palmer’s call to order in a previous meeting. The conference determined that Bosworth should make a confession before a in and be notified of this decision by letter. The conference then addressed a final charge against for having made false prophecies.

, who served as clerk of this conference, kept the minutes, though his original inscription is not extant. later copied the minutes, along with a nota bene that included a copy of a letter from Oliver Cowdery to , in Minute Book 1.