In early October 1841 in , Illinois, JS presided over a general of the , the minutes of which were published in the Times and Seasons. The conference was supposed to commence on 1 October but was delayed due to inclement weather that prevented the congregation from assembling at the meeting ground near the Nauvoo . Over the next four days, the conference met each morning and afternoon. The first meeting of the conference, held on the morning of 2 October, was conducted without the members of the , who were attending the cornerstone ceremony for the . JS attended and presided over all the meetings that followed, in which church leaders and members conducted a variety of business. Among the many matters discussed and voted upon were filling vacant church leadership positions, the counsel to to the Nauvoo area and the neglect of some Saints to follow that counsel, and the petitioning of Congress regarding the Saints’ expulsion from .

On 3 October, JS gave a discourse at the conference on the church’s practice of for the dead, whereby church members were baptized on behalf of their deceased relatives. In accordance with a January 1841 revelation—which instructed that baptisms for the dead should be performed in the —JS announced, “There shall be no more baptisms for the dead, until the can be attended to in the font of the Lord’s House; and the church shall not hold another general conference, until they can meet in said house.” JS counseled church members to direct their energies to building the house of the Lord.

and were appointed as secretaries of the conference. Their notes were apparently combined to create the minutes that were then published in the 15 October 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons.