The Papers
Browse the PapersDocumentsJournalsAdministrative RecordsRevelations and TranslationsHistoriesLegal RecordsFinancial RecordsOther Contemporary Papers
Reference
PeoplePlacesEventsGlossaryLegal GlossaryFinancial GlossaryCalendar of DocumentsWorks CitedFeatured TopicsLesson PlansRelated Publications
Media
VideosPhotographsIllustrationsChartsMapsPodcasts
News
Current NewsArchiveNewsletterSubscribeJSP Conferences
About
About the ProjectJoseph Smith and His PapersFAQAwardsEndorsementsReviewsEditorial MethodNote on TranscriptionsNote on Images of People and PlacesReferencing the ProjectCiting This WebsiteProject TeamContact Us
Published Volumes
  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 1 March 1835

Source Note

Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, [
Kirtland Township

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...

More Info
, Geauga Co., OH], 1 Mar. 1835. Featured version copied [not before 25 Feb. 1836] in Minute Book 1, pp. 172–186; handwriting of
Warren Cowdery

17 Oct. 1788–23 Feb. 1851. Physician, druggist, farmer, editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Married Patience Simonds, 22 Sept. 1814, in Pawlet, Rutland Co. Moved to Freedom, Cattaraugus Co., New York, 1816...

View Full Bio
; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.

Historical Introduction

On the morning of 1 March 1835, church members convened a meeting in
Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...

More Info
, Ohio, apparently as a continuation of a meeting that had adjourned on 28 February. Several men appointed to the office of
Seventy

A priesthood office with the responsibility to travel and preach and assist the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, similar to the seventy in the New Testament. In February and March 1835, the first members of the Seventy were selected and ordained. All of those...

View Glossary
were given
ordination

The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...

View Glossary
blessings in that 28 February meeting.
1

For more information about these meetings and the Seventy in general, see Historical Introduction to Minutes and Blessings, 28 Feb.–1 Mar. 1835.


The blessings continued in this 1 March 1835 meeting, and at least thirty-three individuals, including some not designated as seventies, were blessed.
2

Although not all blessings explicitly state that an individual was ordained a seventy, it appears that the only men not made seventies at this time were John Murdock, Solomon Denton, Benjamin Winchester, Hyrum Smith, and Frederick G. Williams.


All those receiving ordinations and blessings in this meeting had participated in the
Camp of Israel

A group of approximately 205 men and about 20 women and children led by JS to Missouri, May–July 1834, to redeem Zion by helping the Saints who had been driven from Jackson County, Missouri, regain their lands; later referred to as “Zion’s Camp.” A 24 February...

View Glossary
expedition.
3

Bradley, Zion’s Camp 1834, 269–275; Account with the Church of Christ, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bradley, James L. Zion’s Camp 1834: Prelude to the Civil War. Logan, UT: By the author, 1990.

According to later reminiscences, many of these blessings were performed by members of the church presidency, including JS, his
father

12 July 1771–14 Sept. 1840. Cooper, farmer, teacher, merchant. Born at Topsfield, Essex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Asael Smith and Mary Duty. Nominal member of Congregationalist church at Topsfield. Married to Lucy Mack by Seth Austin, 24 Jan. 1796, at Tunbridge...

View Full Bio
,
Sidney Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

View Full Bio
, and
Oliver Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

View Full Bio
.
4

For examples, see Hutchings, Journal, 15 Feb. 1835; Burgess, Autobiography, 4; and “Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 22.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Hutchings, Elias. Journal, Dec. 1834–Sept. 1836. CHL. MS 1445.

Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.

“Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 1845–1855. In Seventies Quorum Records, 1844–1975. CHL. CR 499.

The minutes indicate that several individuals who had recently been
baptized

An ordinance in which an individual is immersed in water for the remission of sins. The Book of Mormon explained that those with necessary authority were to baptize individuals who had repented of their sins. Baptized individuals also received the gift of...

View Glossary
were also confirmed members of the church at the meeting, and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered. JS also gave instructions on the necessity of worthiness when partaking of the sacrament.
It is unclear who originally recorded the ordination blessings or the minutes of the meeting.
Warren Cowdery

17 Oct. 1788–23 Feb. 1851. Physician, druggist, farmer, editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Married Patience Simonds, 22 Sept. 1814, in Pawlet, Rutland Co. Moved to Freedom, Cattaraugus Co., New York, 1816...

View Full Bio
later copied them into Minute Book 1.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    For more information about these meetings and the Seventy in general, see Historical Introduction to Minutes and Blessings, 28 Feb.–1 Mar. 1835.

  2. [2]

    Although not all blessings explicitly state that an individual was ordained a seventy, it appears that the only men not made seventies at this time were John Murdock, Solomon Denton, Benjamin Winchester, Hyrum Smith, and Frederick G. Williams.

  3. [3]

    Bradley, Zion’s Camp 1834, 269–275; Account with the Church of Christ, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834.

    Bradley, James L. Zion’s Camp 1834: Prelude to the Civil War. Logan, UT: By the author, 1990.

  4. [4]

    For examples, see Hutchings, Journal, 15 Feb. 1835; Burgess, Autobiography, 4; and “Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 22.

    Hutchings, Elias. Journal, Dec. 1834–Sept. 1836. CHL. MS 1445.

    Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.

    “Biographies of the Seventies of the Second Quorum,” 1845–1855. In Seventies Quorum Records, 1844–1975. CHL. CR 499.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 1 March 1835 Minute Book 1 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 181

Ezra Thayer

14 Oct. 1791–6 Sept. 1862. Farmer, gardener, builder. Born in New York. Married Elizabeth Frank. Lived at Bloomfield, Ontario Co., New York, 1820. Lived at Farmington, Ontario Co., 1830. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Parley ...

View Full Bio
Blessed thou art and blessed shalt thou be for thou art one of the
70

A priesthood office with the responsibility to travel and preach and assist the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, similar to the seventy in the New Testament. In February and March 1835, the first members of the Seventy were selected and ordained. All of those...

View Glossary
40

Thayer was apparently a member of the Seventy for only a brief period. At a 2 May 1835 council, he was “suspended as an Elder”; the minutes of the meeting make no mention of his status as a seventy. However, when Cyrus Smalling was ordained a seventy, his ordination blessing stated that he would “stand in the office of elder Ezra Thayer, who by transgression fell.” An introduction to that blessing also said that Smalling was being ordained to the Seventy “in the place of Ezra Thayer.” (Minutes and Discourse, 2 May 1835; Ordination and Blessing of Cyrus Smalling, 30 June 1835.)


You shall go to the nations and teach them in their own tongues, the things of the Kingdom. You shall be delivered from all your enemies and go and preach from land to land. and you shall yet have all the promises that the Lord has ever given in this church fulfilled. You shall Lead many to
Zion

A specific location in Missouri; also a literal or figurative gathering of believers in Jesus Christ, characterized by adherence to ideals of harmony, equality, and purity. In JS’s earliest revelations “the cause of Zion” was used to broadly describe the ...

View Glossary
and yet you shall have rejoicings with your family and no man shall take your blessings Even so Amen.
Harrison Burgess

3 Sept. 1814–10 Feb. 1883. Born in Putnam, Washington Co., New York. Son of William Burgess and Vilate Stockwell. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 1832. Served mission to Vermont with John S. Carter, spring 1833. Ordained a ...

View Full Bio
41

Harrison Burgess (1814–1883) was baptized in July 1832 in New York and moved with his family to Kirtland in September 1833. After being discharged from the Camp of Israel in July 1834, he traveled back to Kirtland, arriving there “about the last of July” 1834. He later recalled receiving this ordination blessing as a seventy “under the hands of Joseph Smith Jun, Joseph Smith [Sr.], and Sydney Rigdon.” (Burgess, Autobiography, 1, 3–4; Backman, Profile, 11.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.

Backman, Milton V., Jr., comp. A Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtland, Ohio, and Members of Zion’s Camp, 1830–1839: Vital Statistics and Sources. 2nd ed. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine and Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1983.

We
ordain

The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...

View Glossary
you to be an
Elder

A male leader in the church generally; an ecclesiastical and priesthood office or one holding that office; a proselytizing missionary. The Book of Mormon explained that elders ordained priests and teachers and administered “the flesh and blood of Christ unto...

View Glossary
in the
Church of Christ

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
and one of the
70

A priesthood office with the responsibility to travel and preach and assist the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, similar to the seventy in the New Testament. In February and March 1835, the first members of the Seventy were selected and ordained. All of those...

View Glossary
. May you be sanctified and filled with light and intelligence. That the importance and duty of your office may be near your heart. You shall go to all the nations afar off and to the Islands of the sea. You shall speak languages that you have never heard even twelve God will prepare you for a great work & you shall do it. You shall have power given you to perform all the duties of your calling, and you shall bear a testimony that shall convince many. And if you are faithful, you shall in the end of your ministry, return to this land with much rejoicing Amen.
Alden Burdick

View Full Bio

42

Alden Burdick (1803–1845) was born in western New York, the son of Gideon Burdick and Catherine Robertson. He and his family were baptized near Buffalo, New York, in June 1833. His father moved to Kirtland sometime in November 1833. Alden may have moved there around the same time. (Bennett, “Ancestors of Gideon Burdick,” 2–3; “Short Sketch of the Life of Mother/Laura Burdick Smith,” 1.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bennett, Archibald F. “ The Ancestors of Gideon Burdick,” no date. Typescript. Burdick Family Histories. CHL. MS 18469.

“Short Sketch of the Life of Mother/Laura Burdick Smith,” no date. Typescript. Burdick Family Histories. CHL. MS 18469.

We
ordain

The conferral of power and authority; to appoint, decree, or set apart. Church members, primarily adults, were ordained to ecclesiastical offices and other responsibilities by the laying on of hands by those with the proper authority. Ordinations to priesthood...

View Glossary
you to be an
Elder

A male leader in the church generally; an ecclesiastical and priesthood office or one holding that office; a proselytizing missionary. The Book of Mormon explained that elders ordained priests and teachers and administered “the flesh and blood of Christ unto...

View Glossary
in the
Church of the Latter day Saints

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
. When you did obey the gospel the eye of the Lord was upon you,
43

See Psalms 33:18; 34:15.


and you are now called and set apart. You shall go to many land & Islands, where missionaries are now stationed,
44

This probably refers to missionaries from other churches. Except for excursions into Upper Canada, no missionaries for the church had yet preached outside of the United States or on any islands. (For an example of preaching in Upper Canada, see JS, Journal, 14–29 Oct. 1833.)


and some of them shall receive the truth at your mouth. You shall have powers over all weapons formed against you. You shall see the Heavens opened and the spirits of the Just shall min [p. 181]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 181

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 1 March 1835
ID #
6818
Total Pages
15
Print Volume Location
JSP, D4:264–279
Handwriting on This Page
  • Warren A. Cowdery

Footnotes

  1. [40]

    Thayer was apparently a member of the Seventy for only a brief period. At a 2 May 1835 council, he was “suspended as an Elder”; the minutes of the meeting make no mention of his status as a seventy. However, when Cyrus Smalling was ordained a seventy, his ordination blessing stated that he would “stand in the office of elder Ezra Thayer, who by transgression fell.” An introduction to that blessing also said that Smalling was being ordained to the Seventy “in the place of Ezra Thayer.” (Minutes and Discourse, 2 May 1835; Ordination and Blessing of Cyrus Smalling, 30 June 1835.)

  2. [41]

    Harrison Burgess (1814–1883) was baptized in July 1832 in New York and moved with his family to Kirtland in September 1833. After being discharged from the Camp of Israel in July 1834, he traveled back to Kirtland, arriving there “about the last of July” 1834. He later recalled receiving this ordination blessing as a seventy “under the hands of Joseph Smith Jun, Joseph Smith [Sr.], and Sydney Rigdon.” (Burgess, Autobiography, 1, 3–4; Backman, Profile, 11.)

    Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.

    Backman, Milton V., Jr., comp. A Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtland, Ohio, and Members of Zion’s Camp, 1830–1839: Vital Statistics and Sources. 2nd ed. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine and Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1983.

  3. [42]

    Alden Burdick (1803–1845) was born in western New York, the son of Gideon Burdick and Catherine Robertson. He and his family were baptized near Buffalo, New York, in June 1833. His father moved to Kirtland sometime in November 1833. Alden may have moved there around the same time. (Bennett, “Ancestors of Gideon Burdick,” 2–3; “Short Sketch of the Life of Mother/Laura Burdick Smith,” 1.)

    Bennett, Archibald F. “ The Ancestors of Gideon Burdick,” no date. Typescript. Burdick Family Histories. CHL. MS 18469.

    “Short Sketch of the Life of Mother/Laura Burdick Smith,” no date. Typescript. Burdick Family Histories. CHL. MS 18469.

  4. [43]

    See Psalms 33:18; 34:15.

  5. [44]

    This probably refers to missionaries from other churches. Except for excursions into Upper Canada, no missionaries for the church had yet preached outside of the United States or on any islands. (For an example of preaching in Upper Canada, see JS, Journal, 14–29 Oct. 1833.)

© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of UseUpdated 2021-04-13Privacy NoticeUpdated 2021-04-06