Footnotes
Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:3, 5]. An earlier revelation indicated that land purchased for “an inheritance . . . shall be called the New Jerusalem.” The Book of Mormon contains references to God establishing the New Jerusalem, or the city of Zion, on the American continent. Nearly a year had passed since a September 1830 revelation had declared, “No man knoweth where the City shall be built But it shall be given hereafter Behold I say unto you that it shall be among the Lamanites.” (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:65–66]; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 497, 566 [3 Nephi 20:22; Ether 13:3–6]; Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9].)
William W. Phelps, “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2]; JS History, vol. A-1, 126.
Ontario Phoenix. Canandaigua, NY. 1828–1832.
Revelation Book 1, p. [208].
Revelation, 20 July 1831, in Gilbert, Notebook, [34]–[36] [D&C 57]; JS History, vol. A-1, 126; William W. Phelps, “Extract of a Letter from the Late Editor,” Ontario Phoenix (Canandaigua, NY), 7 Sept. 1831, [2].
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
Ontario Phoenix. Canandaigua, NY. 1828–1832.
See Covenant of Oliver Cowdery and Others, 17 Oct. 1830; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 Apr. 1831; Knight, Reminiscences, 9; and Jennings, “First Mormon Mission to the Indians,” 288–299. A 29 January 1831 letter from Cowdery states that they had arrived “a few days since.” Peter Whitmer Jr.’s later account, however, says the group arrived on 13 December 1830. Accounting for the travel time to Independence in the winter, it is highly unlikely that the group, which left Kirtland by 22 November, could have arrived in mid-December, which suggests that Cowdery’s contemporary account is more accurate. (Oliver Cowdery, Independence, MO, to the Church in Ohio, 29 Jan. 1831, in Letter to Hyrum Smith, 3–4 Mar. 1831; Whitmer, Journal, Dec. 1831, [1]; Givens and Grow, Apostle Paul of Mormonism, 42; see also Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1].)
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
Jennings, Warren A. “The First Mormon Mission to the Indians,” Kansas Historical Quarterly 38 (Autumn 1971): 288–299.
Whitmer, Peter, Jr. Journal, Dec. 1831. CHL. MS 5873.
Givens, Terryl L., and Matthew J. Grow. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Rigdon and Sidney and Elizabeth Van Benthusen Gilbert, for example, had decided to go by water from St. Louis to Independence, rather than overland, which delayed their arrival. (JS History, vol. A-1, 126–127.)
Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9]. Early church members sometimes referred to American Indians as “Lamanites.” The history of the people called the Lamanites is told in the Book of Mormon.
JS History, vol. A-1, 127.
JS, “To the Elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1835, 1:179. The “others” noted by JS may have referred to Harris, Partridge, Coe, Phelps, Cowdery, Whitmer, Peterson, and Williams. Sidney Gilbert’s copy of the revelation bears the notation “1st Commandment recd at Missouri after the arrival of Joseph Smith Jnr=M. Harris Edwd. Partridge=Joseph Coe & W.W. Phelps”—without mentioning himself or any of the others, who may not yet have arrived in Missouri at this point. (Gilbert, Notebook, [34].)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
When embarking on his mission to preach to the Indians, Cowdery promised “to rear up a pillar as a witness where the Temple of God shall be built, in the glorious New-Jerusalem.” But it was this 20 July revelation that gave the first clear designation of the temple’s location. (Covenant of Oliver Cowdery and Others, 17 Oct. 1830.)
Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41:9]; Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53:4].
See Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1.
Edward Partridge, Independence, MO, to Lydia Clisbee Partridge, 5–7 Aug. 1831, Edward Partridge, Letters, 1831–1835, CHL.
Partridge, Edward. Letters, 1831–1835. CHL. MS 23154.
John Whitmer assigned this number to the revelation when recording it in Revelation Book 1.
This heading likely did not appear in the original manuscript; John Whitmer likely added it when he copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1. It is not included in other manuscript copies of the revelation. At some point, Whitmer added “Not to be printed at present” to the copy in Revelation Book 1, and the revelation was not printed until the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (Revelation Book 1, p. 93; Gilbert, Notebook, [34]; Revelation Book 2, p. 89 [D&C 57]; Doctrine and Covenants 27, 1835 ed.)
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
A September 1830 revelation announced that Jesus Christ would “gether his People even as a hen gethereth her Chickens under her wings.” It also appointed the elders “to bring to pass the gethering of mine Elect.” (Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:1–2, 7].)
See Hebrews 11:9; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 9 [1 Nephi 2:20]. A January 1831 revelation stated that God would lead church members to “a land of promise.” Later that month, Sidney Rigdon was reported to have proclaimed that the “land of promise” extended from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean. (Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:18]; Waterloo, NY, 26 Jan. [1831], Letter to the Editor, Reflector [Palmyra, NY], 1 Feb. 1831, 95; see also Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 110–111.)
Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
This courthouse was an almost-completed brick structure built in the center of Independence’s public square. The public square, on which the town of Independence was centered, was situated on the highest point of the gentle-sloped bluffs on the southern side of the Missouri River between the Blue and Little Blue rivers. (Parkin, “Courthouse Mentioned in the Revelation on Zion,” 451–456; U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Topographic Map: Missouri, Independence, Quadrangle, 7.5 Minute Series, 1996.)
Parkin, Max H. “The Courthouse Mentioned in the Revelation on Zion.” BYU Studies 14 (Summer 1974): 451–457.
U.S. Department of the Interior. Geological Survey Topographic Maps. 7.5 Minute Series. 1996.
The spot for the temple was on a western promontory of the same bluff as the courthouse but outside the town’s boundaries. Ezra Booth, who arrived in Missouri shortly after JS, wrote that the temple spot was “one half of a mile out of the Town” on “a rise of ground, a short distance south of the road.” The spot was marked at this time during JS’s stay in Missouri, and by the end of the year Bishop Edward Partridge purchased a parcel of land including the spot. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VI,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 17 Nov. 1831, [3]; see also Richard P. Howard, “The Spot for the Temple,” Saints’ Herald, June 1987, 9–10; and Romig, Early Independence, Missouri, 15–18.)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Romig, Ronald E. Early Independence, Missouri: “Mormon” History Tour Guide. Independence, MO: Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation, 1994.
This apparently refers to the border between Missouri and land to the west occupied by American Indians. An earlier revelation referred to this boundary as “the borders of the Lamanites.”a Both the Book of Mormon and JS’s revelations sometimes identified the “Lamanites” (the name by which JS and his followers referred to American Indians) as Jews.b The Book of Mormon also refers to those Europeans who would colonize the Americas as “gentiles,” as do some of JS’s revelations.c Prophecies in the Book of Mormon stated that, in the last days, those Gentiles who accepted the “fulness of the gospel” would be “numbered” with the “remnant of Jacob”—believed by the Saints at that time to be the American Indians—and would help them build the New Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon also taught that the New Jerusalem “should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph.”d
(aRevelation, 10 June 1831 [D&C 54:8]. bSee, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 117 [2 Nephi 30:4]; and Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19:27]. cSee, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 29 [1 Nephi 13:13–19]; and Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14:10]. dBook of Mormon, 1830 ed., 36, 501, 566 [1 Nephi 15:13; 3 Nephi 21:22–24; Ether 13:6].)Likely a reference to the land west of Missouri. Early church member Elizabeth Godkin Marsh reported that those who went with JS to Missouri said that “a little beyond Jackson Co[unty] . . . there is one continued prairies to the rocky and shining Mountain.” Likewise, gazetteers portrayed the Indian lands—especially those bordering Missouri—as “fertile prairie land.” The commandment to purchase additional tracts “bordering by the Prairies” apparently meant to purchase not only a strip of land between the temple lot and the border between Jackson County and the Indian lands but additional land along the border. (Elizabeth Godkin Marsh, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Lewis Abbott and Ann Abbott, East Sudbury, MA, Sept. [1831], Abbott Family Collection, CHL; Baldwin and Thomas, New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States, 522; Goodrich, World as It Is, 125.)
Abbott Family Collection, 1831–2000. CHL. MS 23457.
Baldwin, Thomas, and J. Thomas. A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States; Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy. . . . Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo and Co., 1854.
Goodrich, S. G. The World as It Is, and as It Has Been; or, A Comprehensive Geography and History, Ancient and Modern. New York: J. H. Colton, 1855.
A June 1831 revelation appointed Gilbert as an agent to the church. (Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53:4].)
Missing text supplied from versions of this revelation in Gilbert, Notebook, [35]; and Revelation Book 2, p. 90. Whitmer also later added “divide” to the manuscript in Revelation Book 1. (Revelation Book 1, p. 93.)
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
See Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:3]; see also Numbers 33:54. Those previously “appointed to assist” Partridge were Isaac Morley and John Corrill, who were “ordained assistants to the Bishop” in a June 1831 conference. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.)
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