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Minutes, 11 September 1833

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Minutes, 11 September 1833

Source Note

Minutes, , Geauga Co., OH, 11 Sept. 1833. Featured version copied [ca. 11 Sept. 1833] in Minute Book 1, p. 24; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1. Includes take marks.

Historical Introduction

Members of the branch of the in , Ohio, met with , a member of the branch of the firm, on 11 September 1833 to “take into consideration the expediency of establishing a printing press” in . Before this time, most of the church’s printing operations took place in Missouri. In July 1831, a revelation appointed “a Printer unto the Church” and directed him and his family to “be planted in the Land of as speedily as can be.” Cowdery was to assist Phelps in the printing operation. Phelps spent the next few months purchasing equipment for a and moving to , Jackson County, Missouri. In Independence, Phelps—as part of a corporate entity called , which likely consisted of him, Cowdery, and —was responsible for publishing a monthly church newspaper called The Evening and the Morning Star, as well as a weekly newspaper of more general interest called the Upper Missouri Advertiser. Phelps was also directed to publish JS’s revelations in a compilation titled the Book of Commandments. These endeavors were halted in July 1833 when non-Mormon settlers, upset in part by an editorial Phelps had published in the Star that they believed encouraged free blacks to migrate to Missouri, formed a mob and destroyed the printing office in Independence, throwing the press out the second-story window and scattering the type in the street. To appease their assailants, church leaders signed an agreement that stated, among other things, that The Evening and the Morning Star would not “be published nor a press set up by any” church members in the county. In the agreement, church members also promised that they would leave —half of them by 1 January 1834 and the other half by 1 April 1834. The signing of this agreement and the destruction of the printing office left church leaders in Missouri wondering about the future of the church’s printing operations.
Before hearing of the destruction of the , church leaders in were already making plans to establish a printing operation in . A 2 August 1833 revelation directed the church to build a in Kirtland in order to publish JS’s recently completed revision of the Bible and any other works that God commanded to be published. Yet printing was meant to continue in Missouri as well. On 6 August 1833, JS, , and instructed Missouri church leaders to construct a house of printing like the one they would build in Kirtland. They also directed Missouri leaders to “print an Edition of the there at the same time we do here so that two additions [editions] will be struck at the same time.” After arrived in Kirtland on 9 August with news of the misfortunes in , JS reiterated to and others that God had “communicated to m[e] by the . . . that an other printing office must be built” in Missouri—“the Lord knows how.” However, to explain why The Evening and the Morning Star was no longer going to be published in Missouri, Kirtland church leaders decided to have Cowdery publish an extra of the Star in Kirtland. Just a few days later, they directed Cowdery to print the Star in Kirtland until the Missouri Saints could “obtain deliverence” and establish another press.
Because church leaders wanted printing in to begin as soon as possible, members of the United Firm met on 11 September 1833 to discuss how the printing operation would be established. The United Firm—a group of eleven church leaders in and —were responsible for overseeing the church’s mercantile and publishing endeavors, which were managed by various branches of the firm. The mercantile operations were overseen by in Kirtland and by in ; the publishing endeavors, including W. W. Phelps & Co., were managed by the , which consisted of six men who had been designated as “ over the revelations” in November 1831. In this 11 September 1833 council, members of the United Firm established another entity to carry out printing in Kirtland: The council also decided to establish another church newspaper in Kirtland—the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Cowdery later explained that this newspaper was necessary because “The Evening and the Morning Star was designed to be published at Missouri” and church leaders believed a paper under a different name “would be more appropriate” in Kirtland.
Leaders quickly acted on the decisions made in the meeting. traveled to in October 1833 to purchase a printing press and type while a was set up in a tavern that had been purchased with the , since the new printing office had not yet been built. On 18 December 1833, this shop was dedicated and the first proof sheet of the Kirtland continuation of The Evening and the Morning Star was printed. The Messenger and Advocate, however, did not commence publication until October 1834, mainly because Cowdery first finished printing the remaining issues of the second volume of the Star before beginning work on the new publication.
As clerk, recorded the minutes of the 11 September council. He later copied the minutes into Minute Book 1.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:11, 13–14].

  2. [2]

    Edward Partridge, Independence, MO, to Lydia Clisbee Partridge, 5–7 Aug. 1831, Edward Partridge, Letters, 1831–1835, CHL; JS History, vol. A-1, 154.

    Partridge, Edward. Letters, 1831–1835. CHL. MS 23154.

  3. [3]

    Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:32–35; JS History, vol. A-1, 154.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

  4. [4]

    See Minutes, 1–2 Nov. 1831; and Minutes, 30 Apr. 1832.

  5. [5]

    “Free People of Color,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 109; Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  6. [6]

    “To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 114–115; Letter from John Whitmer, 29 July 1833.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  7. [7]

    Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B [D&C 94:10–12]; see also Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–8.

    Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.

  8. [8]

    Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 6 Aug. 1833.

  9. [9]

    Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.

  10. [10]

    Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 10 Aug. 1833. The extra, which explained in detail church members’ difficulties in Jackson County, was not published until February 1834. (The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]–[2].)

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  11. [11]

    Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 18 Aug. 1833.

  12. [12]

    Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:3]; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:11–12]; Note, 15 Mar. 1833; Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96:6–8]; Minutes, 26–27 Apr. 1832; Minutes, 30 Apr. 1832; Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70:1–3]; Masthead, The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832, [8].

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  13. [13]

    Oliver Cowdery, “Address to the Patrons of the Evening and the Morning Star,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 185.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

  14. [14]

    Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear Brethren,” 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 56–60; JS History, vol. A-1, 358; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Ambrose Palmer, New Portage, OH, 30 Oct. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 4–5; Berrett, Sacred Places, 3:16–17, 29–31.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.

  15. [15]

    JS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1833.

  16. [16]

    Oliver Cowdery, “Address,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:1–2; Oliver Cowdery, “Address to the Patrons of the Evening and the Morning Star,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 185. Church members were driven from Jackson County in November 1833, making it difficult for them to establish another printing operation in Missouri. (Oliver Cowdery, “To the Patrons of the Evening and the Morning Star,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 113; Parley P. Pratt et al., “‘The Mormons’ So Called,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Extra, Feb. 1834, [1]–[2].)

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 11 September 1833
Minute Book 1 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 24

11 Sept 1833—
This day the following members of— of the residing in to wit . Joseph Smith J and , and also delegate to represent the residue of the said firm residing in Jackson County Missouri meet in to tak[e] into consideration the expediency of establishing a printing press in this place
First Resolved that by unanimous consent that a press be established and conductd under the firm of
Seccondly Resolved that the above firm publish a paper as soon as arangments can be made entitled The Latter day Saints messenger and advocate
Resolved also that the Star formerly published in Missouri by the firm of — be printed in this place by the firm of F.G, Williams & Co to be conducted by one of the said firm untill it is transfered to its forme[r] Location——
[p. 24]
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Source Note

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Page 24

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 11 September 1833
ID #
6594
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:297–301
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Members of the Kirtland branch of the firm who were not at the council were Martin Harris and John Johnson. Members of the Missouri branch were Cowdery, Edward Partridge, Sidney Gilbert, John Whitmer, and William W. Phelps. (Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:11–12]; Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96:6–8].)

  2. [2]

    F. G. Williams & Co. was apparently in operation by October 1833, when the first entries were made in the company’s ledger book. Newel K. Whitney appears to have supplied the necessary money for the firm to begin business, and the company evidently consisted of just Frederick G. Williams and Oliver Cowdery. (F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 1; Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 98:5, 1835 ed. [D&C 104:29].)

    F. G. Williams & Co. Account Book, 1833–1835. CHL. In Patience Cowdery, Diary, 1849–1851. CHL. MS 3493.

  3. [3]

    Oliver Cowdery later explained, “As the name of this church has lately been entitled the church of the Latter Day Saints, and since it is destined, at least for a season, to bear the reproach and stigma of this world, it is no more than just, that a paper disseminating the doctrines believed by the same, and advocating its character and rights, should be entitled ‘messenger and advocate.’” On 3 May 1834, perhaps to distinguish the Church of Christ from the other churches with similar names in Ohio, a conference in Kirtland passed a resolution changing the name of the church to “The Church of the Latter Day Saints.” (Oliver Cowdery, “Address to the Patrons of the Evening and the Morning Star,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 185, emphasis in original; “Communicated,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 160.)

    The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.