Journal, 1832–1834

Footnotes

1. 

   JS handwriting begins.  

2. 1

   Compare JS’s letter to William W. Phelps, written on the day the record book was purchased. Similar to his plea here, “that I may be directed in all my thaughts,” JS prayed in his letter to Phelps for the power to “gaze upon Eternal wisdom.” (JS, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps, [Independence, MO], 27 Nov. 1832, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 1–4.)  

   Comprehensive Works Cited

   JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

3. 2

   Katharine and her husband, Wilkins Jenkins Salisbury, had apparently settled in the Chardon area, near Calvin and Sophronia Smith Stoddard.  

4. 3

   TEXT: Faded word rendered as “and”.  

5. 4

   It is unclear whether Williams had accompanied JS or was in Chardon independently. Williams earlier owned property in Chardon and may have had medical patients or other connections there.a Williams’s prophecy may have been motivated by recent events. A month earlier, JS visited New York City, and Sidney Rigdon had recently organized a branch in Pittsburgh, where he had formerly served as the pastor of a congregation of Regular Baptists.b In 1845, Rigdon claimed that while on this mission to Pittsburgh he received a revelation that it would become a gathering center, which would require a bishopric there.c  

   Comprehensive Works Cited

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

   Smith, Joseph. Materials, 1832–1844, 1883. CCLA.

   Van Wagoner, Richard S. Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994.

   Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ. Pittsburgh. Apr. 1845–Sept. 1846.

   Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

   (^aCuyahoga Co., OH, Deeds and Mortgages, 1815–1866, vol. G-7, pp. 443–444, 23 Oct. 1828, microfilm 1,994,221, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.^bJS, New York City, NY, to Emma Smith, Kirtland, OH, 13 Oct. 1832, CCLA; Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon, 26–29, 96.^cSidney Rigdon, “History of Facts,” Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ, 15 June 1845, 235–237; see also “Letters from David and John C. Whitmer,” Saints’ Herald, 5 Feb. 1887, 90.)
6. 5

   Possibly David King, who owned property in Chester Township, which bordered Kirtland on the south. (Geauga Co., OH, Duplicate Tax Records: 1816–1850, Tax Record for 1831, p. 31, microfilm 506,576; Tax Record for 1832, p. 35; Tax Record for 1833, p. 32, microfilm 506,577, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

   Comprehensive Works Cited

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

7. 6

   In preparation for the publication of the Book of Commandments (a compilation of JS’s revelations), a church conference in November 1831 charged JS to “correct those errors or mistakes which he m[a]y discover by the holy Spirit while reviewing the revelations & commandments & also the fulness of the scriptures.” (Minute Book 2, 8 Nov. 1831; see also 30 Apr. 1832; and JS, Hyrum [Hiram, OH], to William W. Phelps, Zion [Independence], MO, 31 July 1832, JS Collection, CHL.)  

   Comprehensive Works Cited

   A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833.

   Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

   Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

8. 7

   JS ordained Packard a priest at a conference of elders. (Minute Book 1, 3 Dec. 1832.)  

   Comprehensive Works Cited

   Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

9. 8

   Earlier revelations assigned Humphrey, Johnson, and Pratt to proselytizing missions, with Johnson and Pratt as partners. (Revelation, 6 June 1831, in Book of Commandments 54:35 [D&C 52:35]; Revelation, 25 Jan. 1832, in Doctrine and Covenants 87:3, 1835 ed. [D&C 75:14].)  

   Comprehensive Works Cited

   A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

   Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

10. 9

    “Jese” is probably Jesse Gause, JS’s counselor in the church presidency, who “denied the faith” sometime earlier in 1832.a JS became increasingly frustrated with McLellin throughout 1832. After McLellin failed to carry out a mission in the eastern states with JS’s brother Samuel, a January 1832 revelation rebuked him for the “murmurings of his heart” and instructed him to serve a mission in the southern states,b which he abandoned as well.c Soon thereafter, JS rebuked the Missouri Latter-day Saints for accepting McLellin into their “fellowship & communion.”d  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    Quinn, D. Michael. “Jesse Gause: Joseph Smith’s Little-Known Counselor.” BYU Studies 23 (Fall 1983): 487–493.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Manuscripts about Mormons at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, ca. 1832–1954. Microfilm. Chicago Historical Society.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

    (^aMinute Book 2, 30 Apr. 1832; see also Quinn, “Jesse Gause,” 492.^bRevelation, 25 Jan. 1832, in Doctrine and Covenants 87:2, 1835 ed. [D&C 75:6–8].^cJS, Greenville, IN, to Emma Smith, Kirtland, OH, 6 June 1832, Manuscripts about Mormons at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, Chicago Historical Society.^dJS, Hyrum [Hiram, OH], to William W. Phelps, Zion [Independence], MO, 31 July 1832, JS Collection, CHL.)
11. 10

    Probably the three 1829 letters from Oliver Cowdery that JS copied into his first letterbook. (See JS Letterbook 1, pp. 4–8.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

12. 11

    On JS’s “New Translation,” or inspired revision, of the Bible, see Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–13.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    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.

13. 12

    A council of high priests met at Humphrey’s request to ascertain “the will of the Lord respcting him.” The council advised Humphrey to go to Parkman, Ohio, to begin a proselytizing mission with Packard. (Minute Book 1, 5 Dec. 1832.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

14. 13

    Revelation, 6 Dec. 1832, in Doctrine and Covenants 6, 1835 ed. [D&C 86]. JS’s revision of the Bible prompted a number of revelations. (Matthews, “Doctrinal Connections,” 27–42.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Matthews, Robert J. “Doctrinal Connections with the Joseph Smith Translation.” In The Doctrine and Covenants: A Book of Answers; The 25th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, edited by Leon R. Hartshorn, Dennis A. Wright, and Craig J. Ostler, 27–42. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996.

15. 14

    New York Latter-day Saint Freeman Nickerson had traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, and persuaded JS and Sidney Rigdon to accompany him to Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada, to preach to members of his family. Frederick G. Williams explained that JS and Sidney Rigdon had “gone down the Lake to Niagara from thence expect to go into Canada as far as Long point U C and to preach in all the most noted places on the way.” (Gates, Lydia Knight’s History, 16–23; Berrett, Sacred Places, 2:249–250; Frederick G. Williams, Kirtland, OH, to “Dear Brethren,” Independence, MO, 10 Oct. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 57.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Gates, Susa Young [Homespun, pseud.]. Lydia Knight’s History. Noble Women’s Lives Series 1. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883.

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

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

16. 15

    TEXT: The first part of the entry for 4 October 1833 was initially inscribed in graphite and then retraced in ink—apparently by JS. The following material, written in heavier ink, was apparently inserted at a different time.  

17. 16

    Richard Lyman, the brother of John Smith’s wife, Clarissa Lyman Smith, was apparently residing in Cobourg, Hamilton Township, Upper Canada.  

18. 17

    This meeting may have been held in the home of Andrews and Elizabeth Comins Tyler. (Tyler, “Recollections of the Prophet,” 93; see also Hales, Windows, 101.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Tyler, Daniel. “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Juvenile Instructor, 1 Feb. 1892, 93–95.

    Hales, Kenneth Glyn, ed. Windows: A Mormon Family. Tucson, AZ: Skyline Printing, 1985.

19. 

    JS handwriting ends; Sidney Rigdon begins.  

20. 18

    TEXT: A detached mark at this point could be read as an inserted “s” at the end of “spirite”.  

21. 19

    The 1830 U.S. Census, Portland Township, Chautauque Co., NY, 429, 434, identifies Ruel and Cotton Nash living in Portland, New York, a few miles east of Westfield.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

22. 

    Sidney Rigdon handwriting ends; JS begins.  

23. 20

    A revelation dated this day assured JS and Sidney Rigdon of the well-being of their families. (Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 94, 1835 ed. [D&C 100].)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

24. 21

    A revelation dated the previous day promised JS and Rigdon that if they would “declare whatsoever things ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness,” then the “Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.” (Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 94:2, 1835 ed. [D&C 100:7–8].)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

25. 

    JS handwriting ends; Sidney Rigdon begins.  

26. 22

    Freeman Nickerson; his wife, Huldah Chapman Nickerson; and their son Levi Nickerson accompanied JS and Sidney Rigdon to the home of Freeman and Huldah’s sons Eleazer Freeman Nickerson and Moses Nickerson in Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada. Eleazer Freeman Nickerson was often called Freeman. (Gates, Lydia Knight’s History, 15–16; Goddard, Mormons in Mount Pleasant, 2–6.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Gates, Susa Young [Homespun, pseud.]. Lydia Knight’s History. Noble Women’s Lives Series 1. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883.

    [Goddard, William]. A Brief Descriptive History of the Mormons in Mount Pleasant. No publisher, [1980?]. Copy at BYU.

27. 23

    Probably Philip Beemer. (See Moses Nickerson, Wendhom, [Upper Canada], 29 Dec. 1833, Letter to the editor, The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1834, 134; and Bennett, “Saints in Upper Canada,” 96.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

    Bennett, Richard E. “A Study of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Upper Canada, 1830–1850.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1975.

28. 24

    Eliza McAlister Nickerson.  

29. 

    Sidney Rigdon handwriting ends; JS begins. The remainder of this entry and the entry for 26 October were first inscribed in graphite and traced over in ink—apparently by JS.  

30. 

    JS handwriting ends; Sidney Rigdon begins.  

31. 25

    Possibly Lydia Goldthwaite Bailey. (Gates, Lydia Knight’s History, 22.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Gates, Susa Young [Homespun, pseud.]. Lydia Knight’s History. Noble Women’s Lives Series 1. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883.

32. 

    Sidney Rigdon handwriting ends; JS begins.  

33. 

    JS handwriting ends; Oliver Cowdery begins.  

34. 26

    Freeman and Huldah Chapman Nickerson accompanied JS and Sidney Rigdon from Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada, to Buffalo, New York. From Buffalo, the missionaries continued to Kirtland, Ohio, arriving there on 4 November “after a fateagueing journey.” (JS, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Moses Nickerson, Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada, 19 Nov. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 62–65.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

35. 27

    On JS’s hopes for his family’s well-being and the revealed promise to that effect, see JS, Journal, 6–12 Oct. 1833; and Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 94:1, 1835 ed. [D&C 100:1].  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

36. 

    Oliver Cowdery handwriting ends; JS begins.  

37. 28

    Possibly Marvel Davis. (Kirtland Township Trustees’ Minutes and Poll Book, 21 Oct. 1833, p. 116, in Kirtland, Lake Co., OH, Minutes, microfilm 877,763, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

38. 29

    This meteor display, caused by debris from comet Tempel-Tuttle, is one of the more spectacular of all recorded Leonid showers. It appears with especial intensity at about thirty-three-year intervals. Newspapers throughout the United States reported the incident. One described it as “a constant succession of fire balls, resembling sky rockets, radiating in all directions . . . leaving after them a vivid streak of light, and usually exploding before they disappeared. . . . The flashes of light, though less intense than lightning, were so bright as to awaken people in their beds.” (Littmann, Heavens on Fire, 272; Denison Olmsted, “The Meteors,” Maryland Gazette, 21 Nov. 1833, 2.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Littmann, Mark. The Heavens on Fire: The Great Leonid Meteor Storms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

    Maryland Gazette. Annapolis. Jan. 1827–Dec. 1839.

39. 30

    See, for example, Matthew 24:29; and Revelation 6:12–13; see also Revelation, Sept. 1830–A, in Book of Commandments 29:17 [D&C 29:14]; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831, in Book of Commandments 48:36 [D&C 45:42]. In the wake of a worldwide cholera epidemic that killed millions, one commentator, referring to Revelation 6:13, considered the meteor shower “a sure forerunner—a merciful SIGN of that great and dreadful Day which the inhabitants of earth shall witness when the sixth seal shall be opened!” Like JS, the Missouri Latter-day Saints, who had just been driven from their homes in Jackson County, interpreted the meteor shower within a millenarian framework. (“Meteoric Phenomenon,” Oswego Palladium, 27 Nov. 1833, [2]; [Edward Partridge], Liberty, MO, to JS, [19] Nov. 1833, JS Collection, CHL; Parkin, “History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County,” 44–47.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Oswego Palladium. Oswego, NY. 1832–1852.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

    Parkin, Max H. “A History of the Latter-day Saints in Clay County, Missouri, from 1833 to 1837.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1976.

40. 31

    A 12 October 1833 revelation appointed Rigdon “a spokesman unto my servant Joseph” with “power to be mighty in testimony” and “in expounding all scriptures.” Rigdon had developed a reputation as a talented preacher while a Regular Baptist minister in Pittsburgh and then as a follower of Alexander Campbell, who later described Rigdon as “the great orator of the Mahoning [Reformed Baptist] Association.” After joining the Latter-day Saints, Rigdon became their most prominent orator. (Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 94:3, 1835 ed. [D&C 100:9–11]; Alexander Campbell, “Anecdotes, Incidents, and Facts,” Millennial Harbinger, Sept. 1848, 523; Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon, 22–30.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Millennial Harbinger. Bethany, VA. Jan. 1830–Dec. 1870.

    Van Wagoner, Richard S. Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994.

41. 

    JS handwriting ends; Oliver Cowdery begins.  

42. 32

    More extensive transcripts of JS’s revelatory-prophetic blessings for Rigdon and Williams, the two men closest to him in church leadership, are recorded in Patriarchal Blessings, 1:13. JS blessed Oliver Cowdery, the other general church leader, on 18 December 1833, as recorded in this journal. Transcriptions of these blessings will be published under their date in The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents series.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.

43. 

    Oliver Cowdery handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.  

44. 33

    The date of these baptisms is incorrect. On 13 and 14 October, JS was at the home of Freeman Nickerson in Perrysburg, New York. The baptisms referred to here took place on 27 and 28 October at Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada, the residence of Nickerson’s son Eleazer Freeman Nickerson. Scribe Frederick G. Williams may have mistakenly dated this list based on the journal entries for the early part of JS’s journey, where the name Freeman Nickerson first appears. (See entries for 13 and 27–28 Oct. 1833.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

45. 34

    In August 1833, after hearing of the initial depredations in Missouri, JS dispatched Hyde and Gould to Missouri “with advice to the Saints in their unfortunate situation.” An October revelation assured JS, who was concerned for the safety of the two messengers, that “inasmuch as they keep my commandments they shall be saved.” The pair returned to Kirtland safely but bore the news of vigilantes driving the Latter-day Saint population from Jackson County. (JS History, vol. A-1, 344; Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 94:4, 1835 ed. [D&C 100:14]; Jennings, “Expulsion of the Mormons”; and Jennings, “Zion Is Fled.”)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Jennings, Warren A. “The Expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri.” Missouri Historical Review 64 (Oct. 1969–July 1970): 41–63.

    Jennings, Warren A. “Zion Is Fled: The Expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri.” PhD diss., University of Florida, 1962.

46. 35

    A council held in Kirtland on 11 September 1833, consisting of JS, Frederick G. Williams, Oliver Cowdery, and other members of the United Firm, resolved that a printing office be established there under the firm name of F. G. Williams & Co. to commence a new newspaper, Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. The council also resolved to continue publication of The Evening and the Morning Star—the church newspaper that was printed at Independence, Missouri, prior to the destruction of the press there in July 1833—until it could be moved back to Missouri.a They also planned at this time to publish a weekly political paper.b Cowdery began printing the first Kirtland issue of the Star a week and a half later.c The Messenger and Advocate superseded the Star the following October. The first regular issue of the political paper, later titled the Northern Times, did not appear until February 1835.d  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    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.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

    Northern Times. Kirtland, OH. 1835–[1836?].

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

    (^aMinute Book 1, 11 Sept. 1833.^bSee JS, Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge, [Liberty], MO, 5 Dec. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 65–70.^cJS, Journal, 18 Dec. 1833.^dSee Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 47–53.)
47. 36

    Drawing upon biblical prophecies, many early Americans anticipated a literal gathering of the descendants of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, also named Israel. Most conceived of this gathering as a return of the Jewish people to Palestine.a JS taught that many descendants of the other Israelite tribes—now scattered throughout the earth—would be gathered to Zion, the New Jerusalem, in America. A primary mission of the early Mormon publishing effort was to facilitate a “gathering” through which all who accepted the message of the restored gospel, were baptized and confirmed into the church, and immigrated to Mormon gathering centers would receive the blessings promised to Jacob’s descendants.b  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Adler, Selig. “Backgrounds of American Policy toward Zion.” In Israel: Its Role in Civilization, edited by Moshe Davis, 251–283. New York: The Seminary Israel Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1956.

    Whalen, Robert Kieran. “Millenarianism and Millennialism in America, 1790–1880.” PhD diss., State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1971.

    The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, NY: E. B. Grandin, 1830.

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    (^aAdler, “American Policy toward Zion,” 251–259; Whalen, “Millenarianism and Millennialism,” 117, 124.^bSee, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 496–501, 566 [3 Nephi 20:11–21:29; Ether 13:4–8]; JS, Kirtland, OH, to N. C. Saxton, Rochester, NY, 4 Jan. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 14–18; and JS, “Church History,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:710 [Articles of Faith 1:10].)
48. 37

    Like JS’s brother Don Carlos, both Wilbur Denton and Phineas Young had come to work with Oliver Cowdery in the newly established printing operation at Kirtland. (Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Ambrose Palmer, New Portage, OH, 30 Oct. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 4–5; Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps, [Liberty, MO], 11 Dec. 1833, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 13.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

49. 38

    That is, the proof sheet of the first issue of the resuscitated The Evening and the Morning Star in Kirtland (December 1833).  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

50. 39

    See Isaiah 5:26; 11:12; compare Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 91, 98 [2 Nephi 15:26; 21:12].  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. Palmyra, NY: E. B. Grandin, 1830.

51. 40

    See Isaiah 3:17.  

52. 41

    An allusion to 1 Samuel 3:10.  

53. 42

    Oliver Cowdery noted that these blessings were “given by vision and the spirit of prophecy” when he copied more complete transcripts of the blessings into the first book of patriarchal blessings. However, the copied transcripts do not mention the weaknesses of Cowdery. Compare the assessment of Cowdery with similar assessments of JS’s counselors Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams in the blessings they received a month earlier. (Patriarchal Blessings, Patriarchal Blessings, 1:8–13; JS, Journal, 14–19 Nov. 1833; transcriptions of these blessings will be published under their dates in The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents series.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.

54. 43

    Copies of a letter, a revelation, and possibly an earlier letter, all written by JS in response to news from Missouri, were dispatched to Missouri by way of Pratt and Patten. The documents expressed empathy with the exiled church members and counseled them to remain in Missouri, retain title to their lands if at all financially possible, collect accounts of the atrocities committed against them, and seek “evry lawful means to obtain redress of your enemies.” (JS, Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge, [Liberty], MO, 5 Dec. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 65–70; JS, Kirtland Mills, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Liberty, MO, 10 Dec. 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 70–75; Revelation, 16 and 17 Dec. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 97, 1835 ed. [D&C 101].)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

55. 

    Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends; JS begins.  

56. 44

    Salisbury and his wife, Katharine Smith Salisbury, JS’s sister, lived in the area of Chardon, Ohio.  

57. 45

    JS apparently returned home to Kirtland within a week. (See “The Elders of the Church in Kirtland, to Their Brethren Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1834, 135–136; Mar. 1834, 142–144; Apr. 1834, 152.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

58. 46

    JS apparently penned the above 16 January entry during his trip away from Kirtland. On JS’s return, Oliver Cowdery apparently used notes taken at the previous Saturday’s prayer meeting to compose this entry.  

59. 

    JS handwriting ends; Oliver Cowdery begins.  

60. 47

    JS, Williams, Whitney, Johnson, and Sidney Rigdon (not present on this occasion) constituted the Kirtland branch of the United Firm. Cowdery, a member of the Missouri branch of the firm, was appointed four months earlier to represent the other members of that branch.a Hyde, appointed a clerk to the church presidency in June 1833, had recently returned from Missouri with the report of the brewing violence there.b The economic interests of the firm were reflected in their prayer concerning church debts, the printing operation, and the well-being of the Missouri Latter-day Saints.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

    (^aBackman, Heavens Resound, 71; Minute Book 1, 11 Sept. 1833.^bMinute Book 1, 6 June 1833; see also JS, Journal, 25 Nov. 1833.)
61. 48

    Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, a former Latter-day Saint, had worked vigorously to discredit JS and the church. During summer 1833, JS noted that the church was “suffering great persicution on account of” Hurlbut, who was “lieing in a wonderful manner and the peopl are running after him and giveing him mony to brake down mormanism which much endangers our lives.”a In summer and autumn 1833, Hurlbut traveled in Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York to collect statements against JS by his former neighbors and to build a case that the Book of Mormon had been copied from a work of fiction written by Solomon Spalding. On his return in mid-December, Hurlbut defamed JS in lectures and stirred up further persecution.b Antagonism against the church in Ohio grew to such proportions that Mormon Heber C. Kimball reported, “Our enemies were raging and threatening destruction upon us, and we had to guard night after night, and for weeks were not permitted to take off our clothes, and were obliged to lay with our fire locks in our arms.”c  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

    Winchester, B[enjamin]. The Origin of the Spaulding Story, concerning the Manuscript Found; with a Short Biography of Dr. P. Hulbert, the Originator of the Same; and Some Testimony Adduced, Showing It to Be a Sheer Fabrication, So Far as Its Connection with the Book of Mormon Is Concerned. Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking, and Guilbert, 1840.

    Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.

    Grua, David W. “Joseph Smith and the 1834 D. P. Hurlbut Case.” BYU Studies 44, no. 1 (2005): 33–54.

    (^aJS, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps et al., Independence, MO, 18 Aug. 1833, JS Collection, CHL.^bWinchester, Origin of the Spaulding Story, 9–11.^cKimball, “History,” 11; see also Grua, “Joseph Smith and the 1834 D. P. Hurlbut Case,” 35–38.)
62. 49

    A “command in writing by a Justice of Peace, or other Officer, for bringing a person or records before him.”a Hurlbut threatened JS’s life. JS’s cousin George A. Smith later recalled that “in delivering lectures he [Hurlbut] had said he would wash his hands in Joseph Smith’s blood.”b Kirtland justice of the peace John Dowen later claimed that when Hurlbut said he would “kill” JS, “he meant he would kill Mormonism.”c On 21 December 1833, JS filed a complaint with the Kirtland justice of the peace, whose decision in a preliminary hearing stated that JS “had reason to fear that Doctor P. Hurlbut would Beat wound or kill him.”d The justice of the peace then issued a warrant for Hurlbut’s arrest.e This legal action was intended to impede Hurlbut from carrying out the threat. Preliminary evaluation of JS’s complaint against Hurlbut began two days later, on 13 January.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    The Law-Dictionary: Explaining the Rise, Progress, and Present State, of the English Law; Defining and Interpreting the Terms or Words of Art; and Comprising Copious Information on the Subjects of Law, Trade, and Government. Edited and compiled by Giles Jacob. 6 vols. 1st American ed.; edited by T. E. Tomlins from 2nd London ed. Philadelphia: P. Byrne; New York: I. Riley, 1811.

    Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–1886.

    Manuscripts about Mormons at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, ca. 1832–1954. Microfilm. Chicago Historical Society.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    (^a“Precept,” in Law-Dictionary, 5:271.^bGeorge A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 15 Nov. 1864, 11:8.^cJohn C. Dowen, Statement, 2 Jan. 1885, 3, Manuscripts about Mormons at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, Chicago Historical Society.^dGeauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, 1807–1904, vol. P, p. 432, 31 Mar. 1834, microfilm 20,278, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.^eDowen, Statement, 2 Jan. 1885, 3.)
63. 50

    Newel K. Whitney.  

64. 51

    Part of the firm’s debt stemmed from the purchase of the French farm—the property upon which the House of the Lord was being built. In the coming months, efforts were made to retire church debts. On 20 February 1834, a church council commissioned Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt to raise funds to retire this debt. (Minute Book 1, 20 Feb. 1834.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

65. 52

    In a letter to Edward Partridge and others, JS outlined Oliver Cowdery’s difficulties returning from New York City with a press and type, “hauling them up in the midst of mobs.” (JS, Kirtland, OH, to Edward Partridge et al., Clay Co., MO, 30 Mar. 1834, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 30–36.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

66. 53

    Publication of a compilation of revelations, the Book of Commandments, ceased when a mob destroyed the printing office in Missouri. The mandate to publish the revelations was explicit. A new compilation, the Doctrine and Covenants, was published in 1835. (See Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831, in Doctrine and Covenants 89:4, 1835 ed. [D&C 72:20–23]; and Minute Book 2, 12 Nov. 1831 and 30 Apr. 1832.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835.

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

67. 54

    A “Literary Firm” had been appointed to conduct the press. Its active members at this time were JS, Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Williams. (Cook, Law of Consecration, 43–44.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Cook, Lyndon W. Joseph Smith and the Law of Consecration. Provo, UT: Grandin Book, 1985.

68. 55

    Less than a month earlier, a revelation promised that the Missouri Latter-day Saints would yet possess their lands in Jackson County: “Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered, they that remain and are pure in heart shall return and come to their inheritances.” This echoed an earlier revelation that stated, “Zion shall be redeemed, although she is chastened for a little season.” (Revelation, 16 and 17 Dec. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 97:4, 1835 ed. [D&C 101:17–18]; Revelation, 12 Oct. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 94:4, 1835 ed. [D&C 100:13].)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

69. 56

    See Minute Book 1, 18 Mar. 1833.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

70. 57

    A “Bishops Council of High Priests” on 3 June 1833 excommunicated Hurlbut from the church for “unchristian conduct with the female sex while on a mission to the east.” Hurlbut, who was not present at this council, appealed the decision to a “Presidents council of high priests.” The president’s council, which met on 21 June 1833, upheld the bishop’s council but restored Hurlbut to fellowship after he confessed. Two days later, the council reopened Hurlbut’s case. After hearing from two witnesses who testified that Hurlbut had stated “that he had deceived Joseph Smith’s God,” the council again deprived him of his membership. (Minute Book 1, 3, 21, and 23 June 1833.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

71. 

    Oliver Cowdery handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.  

72. 58

    The preliminary evaluation of JS’s complaint against Hurlbut began two weeks earlier. Justice of the Peace William Holbrook, who heard testimony from 13 to 15 January 1834, found that JS had just cause to issue the complaint and ordered Hurlbut to keep the peace and to appear before the court of common pleas at the start of its next term, 31 March 1834. On 22 January 1834, JS reported to the Missouri Latter-day Saints that Hurlbut’s influence had been “pritty much distroyed” as a result of the 13–15 January preliminary hearing. Thus, the “spirit of hostility seams to be broken down in a good degree,” and “there is not quite so much danger of a Mob upon us as there has been.” (Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, vol. P, p. 431–432, 31 Mar. 1834, microfilm 20,278, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; JS et al., Kirtland, OH, to “Brethren scattered from Zion,” 22 Jan. 1834, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 81.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

73. 59

    These individuals, who never affiliated with the church, owned over forty acres of property in the “Kirtland Flats”—the lowlands in northern and eastern Kirtland. In addition, Loud and Lyman jointly owned a sawmill and a gristmill. Bardsley sold a parcel of land to Latter-day Saint Edmund Bosley on 2 June 1834. Portions of this land were subsequently sold to JS on 23 October 1835 and 2 November 1836. (Geauga Co., OH, Duplicate Tax Records: 1816–1850, Tax Record for 1834, pp. 17, 21–22, 25, microfilm 506,578, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, vol. 20, pp. 302–303, 2 June 1834, microfilm 20,238; vol. 18, pp. 326–327, 2 June 1834, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, vol. 21, p. 227, 23 Oct. 1835; vol. 22, pp. 567–568, 2 Nov. 1835, microfilm 20,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

74. 60

    Kirtland was designated a “stake to Zion” in 1832; revelations in 1833 spoke of building up the Kirtland stake. (Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832, in Doctrine and Covenants 86:4, 1835 ed. [D&C 82:13]; Revelation, 2 Aug. 1833–B, in Doctrine and Covenants 83:1, 1835 ed. [D&C 94:1]; Revelation, 4 June 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 96:1, 1835 ed. [D&C 96:1]; see also Minute Book 1, 28 Sept. 1833.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

75. 

    Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends; JS begins.  

76. 

    JS handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.  

77. 61

    Minutes, 17 Feb. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 5, 1835 ed. [D&C 102].  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

78. 62

    Minute Book 1, 24 Feb. 1834.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

79. 63

    Pratt, Autobiography, 117.  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

80. 64

    Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 101, 1844 ed. [D&C 103].  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith. 2nd ed. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844. Selections also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

81. 

    Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends; JS begins.  

82. 65

    At Elk Creek, Pennsylvania.  

83. 66

    Westfield, New York.  

84. 

    Insertion in the handwriting of Parley P. Pratt.  

85. 67

    TEXT: Possibly “save [safe]” or “soon”.  

86. 68

    JS and his wife Emma had lost four of their six children.  

87. 69

    This table—listing settlements, villages, and townships and identifying them by county and state—apparently charts a proposed itinerary for the recruitment and fund-raising mission. Subsequent journal entries indicate that the men did not actually visit all these locations and that they stopped at others not listed here.  

88. 

    JS handwriting ends; unidentified begins.  

89. 

    Unidentified handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.  

90. 70

    Probably a subscription to The Evening and the Morning Star. The sum of $1.50 would have paid for eighteen months of the paper. (JS, Journal, 1832–1834 [undated notes]; Notice, The Evening and the Morning Star, Mar. 1834, 144.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

91. 

    Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends.  

92. 

    Parley P. Pratt handwriting begins.  

93. 71

    Reuben McBride later recalled JS’s staying with him. (McBride, Reminiscences, 1.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    McBride, Reuben, Sr. Reminiscence, no date. CHL. MS 8197.

94. 72

    TEXT: Or “14” or “11”.  

95. 73

    At Perrysburg, New York. (1830 U.S. Census, Perrysburg, Cattaraugus Co., NY, 224.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

96. 74

    When the Latter-day Saints were first settling in Missouri, a JS revelation stated that the gathering should “be done in order” by purchasing lands. A revelation dated 16 and 17 December 1833—less than three months before JS departed on his recruitment and fund-raising mission—directed the Saints to continue observing this order by purchasing lands in and around Jackson County. (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831, in Book of Commandments 59:64–69 [D&C 58:52–56]; Revelation, 16 and 17 Dec. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 97, 1835 ed. [D&C 101].)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

    Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

97. 75

    JS may have held a meeting in Lodi, New York, approximately four miles to the east of Perrysburg. A subscription to The Evening and the Morning Star for Nathan Chase at the West Lodi post office is recorded in the back of the journal. (See JS, Journal, 1832–1834 [undated notes].)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

98. 76

    Possibly David Mathews. (Warren Cowdery, Freedom, NY, to Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 14 Jan. 1834, The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 127; Minute Book 1, 6 June 1835.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

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

    Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

99. 77

    Itinerant circuit courts commonly traveled through rural nineteenth-century America, stopping in county seats and important municipalities to bring the state’s legal apparatus to its citizens. (Mahoney, Provincial Lives, 178–190.)  

    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Mahoney, Timothy R. Provincial Lives: Middle-Class Experience in the Antebellum Middle West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

100. 78

     TEXT: JS inserted “walkers—” over dashed line.  

101. 79

     1830 U.S. Census, Farmersville Township, Cattaraugus Co., NY, 149, lists Leonard Walker, Thomas Walker, and Billings Walker living near Marcellus McCown at Farmersville, New York.  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

102. 80

     Oliver Cowdery’s older brother Warren had expressed sympathy with the persecuted Mormons in Missouri; he joined the church within a few months of this visit. (Warren Cowdery, Freedom, NY, to Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 14 Jan. 1834, The Evening and the Morning Star, Jan. 1834, 127; Warren Cowdery, Freedom, NY, to Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 1 Sept. 1834, The Evening and the Morning Star, Sept. 1834, 189; see also Revelation, 25 Nov. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 99, 1835 ed. [D&C 106].)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

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

     Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

103. 81

     Parley P. Pratt later recorded that Hyde and “some thirty or forty others, were all baptized and organized into a branch of the Church.” (Pratt, Autobiography, 117.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

104. 82

     At Livonia, New York. (Livingston Co., NY, Deed Records, 1820–1901, vol. 1, p. 257, 1 Feb. 1832, microfilm 510,034, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

105. 

     Parley P. Pratt handwriting ends; JS begins.  

106. 83

     At Avon, New York. Parley P. Pratt later recalled that JS reminisced with Beaman, who “had been intimate with Joseph long before the first organization of the Church.” (Noble, Reminiscences, 5; Pratt, Autobiography, 118.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Noble, Joseph B., and Mary Adeline Beman Noble. Reminiscences, ca. 1836. CHL. MS 1031, fd. 1.

     Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

107. 84

     JS’s history states this somewhat differently: “while at father Beaman’s, Elders Rigdon and Wight arrived, much to the joy of their souls, and the Saints in Livona.” (JS History, vol. A-1, 447.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

108. 85

     Parley P. Pratt later wrote that in Geneseo, he and JS “met with the other Elders who had started from Kirtland on the same mission, and with others who were local, and held a general Conference,” at which both JS and Sidney Rigdon “addressed the crowds in great plainness of speech with mighty power.” (Pratt, Autobiography, 117–118; see also Noble, Reminiscences, 5–7.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

     Noble, Joseph B., and Mary Adeline Beman Noble. Reminiscences, ca. 1836. CHL. MS 1031, fd. 1.

109. 86

     On this day, JS conducted a conference of elders at Alvah Beaman’s home in Avon, New York. The meeting’s purposes were to recruit men to “assist in the redemption of Zion according to the commandment” and to raise money to purchase Missouri land and meet debts at Kirtland, Ohio. The conference also reassigned Parley P. Pratt to another companion, voting that JS “go to Kirtland soon” with Rigdon and Wight. JS needed to return to Kirtland to testify against Doctor Philastus Hurlbut. (Minute Book 1, 17 Mar. 1834; see Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 101:5, 1844 ed. [D&C 103:22–23].)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith. 2nd ed. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844. Selections also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

110. 87

     At the conference held the previous day at Avon, New York, Edmund Bosley and others agreed to try to raise two thousand dollars by 1 April 1834 to relieve Kirtland debts. (Minute Book 1, 17 Mar. 1834.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

111. 88

     At Bennington, Genesee County, New York. (Genesee Co., NY, Deed Records, 1792–1901, vol. 29, p. 337, 7 Apr. 1832, microfilm 987,179, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

112. 89

     At Wethersfield, Genesee (now Wyoming) County, New York. (History of the Lafayette Hinckley and Alsina Elisabeth Brimhall Holbrook Families, 14.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     History of the Lafayette Hinckley and Alsina Elisabeth Brimhall Holbrook Families, 14

113. 90

     Jesus enjoined his disciples to travel without money, to rely on the hospitality of others, and to condemn those who would not receive them as his representatives. This instruction had been reiterated in revelations for latter-day missionaries, who were not to return to those who rejected them. This may explain why Wilson’s name and place of residence were noted. (Matthew 10:9–15; Revelation, July 1830–A, in Book of Commandments 25:28 [D&C 24:18]; Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832, in Doctrine and Covenants 4:12, 15–16, 1835 ed. [D&C 84:77–78, 86–94]; compare JS, Journal, 26 Mar. 1834.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

     Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

114. 91

     Probably Joseph Starks of Sardinia, about nine miles east of Springville, New York. (1830 U.S. Census, Sardinia, Erie Co., NY, 205.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

115. 92

     Hurlbut had been ordered to appear before the county’s court of common pleas at the start of its term, 31 March 1834. The trial commenced on 2 April 1834. (Grua, “Joseph Smith and the 1834 D. P. Hurlbut Case,” 44–47.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Grua, David W. “Joseph Smith and the 1834 D. P. Hurlbut Case.” BYU Studies 44, no. 1 (2005): 33–54.

116. 93

     Probably Ezekiel Rider. (Geauga Co., OH, Duplicate Tax Records: 1816–1850, Tax Record for 1833, p. 95, microfilm 506,577; Tax Record for 1834, p. 110, microfilm 506,578, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

117. 94

     JS or his attorney would have filled in witness names on subpoena forms for the court clerk. A week later, when the case was heard, seventeen witnesses attended to testify for JS. (An Act Directing the Mode of Trial in Criminal Cases [7 Mar. 1831], Acts of a General Nature, sec. 22; Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, 1807–1904, Execution Docket 1831–1835, p. 110, microfilm 1,289,257, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Acts of a General Nature, Enacted, Revised and Ordered to Be Reprinted, at the First Session of the Twenty-Ninth General Assembly of the State of Ohio. Columbus: Olmsted and Bailhache, 1831.

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

118. 95

     See Psalm 41:9.  

119. 

     JS handwriting ends; Oliver Cowdery begins.  

120. 96

     On 5 April 1834, Johnson was granted a license to keep a tavern in Kirtland. JS testified before the court on Johnson’s qualifications. (Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, 1807–1904, vol. M, p. 184, 5 Apr. 1834, microfilm 20,277, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

121. 

     Oliver Cowdery handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.  

122. 97

     Though council meetings in 1834 generally took place in JS’s home, “councel room” probably refers to the upper room in the Newel K. Whitney store where instruction, administrative meetings, and work on the revision of the Bible usually took place. (“Whitney Store,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4:1566–1567.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1992.

123. 98

     The United Firm. A conference three weeks earlier in Avon, New York, appointed Orson Hyde to remain in the area, preach, and collect money for relieving Kirtland debts, money he was to raise by 1 April. JS had just received Hyde’s letter of 31 March reporting his failure to raise the funds. In a letter of reply, JS wrote, “Myself bro Newel Frederick and Oliver retired to the Translating room where prayer was wont to be made and unbosomed our feelings before God and cannot but exercise faith yet that you in the meraculus providence of God will succeed in obtaining help.” Otherwise, JS continued, he and the other Kirtland Latter-day Saints would not be able to go with the upcoming expedition to Missouri. (Minute Book 1, 17 Mar. 1834; JS et al., Kirtland, OH, to Orson Hyde, [Avon, NY], 7 Apr. 1834, in JS Letterbook 1, p. 82.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

124. 99

     The court found that JS “had ground to fear” an attack from Hurlbut, who was then ordered to post a $200 bond to keep the peace and pay the court costs of $112.59. (Geauga Co., OH, Court of Common Pleas, Court Records, 1807–1904, vol. M, 193, 9 Apr. 1834, microfilm 20,277; vol. P, pp. 431–432, 31 Mar. 1834, microfilm 20,278, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also “Mormon Trial,” Chardon Spectator and Geauga Gazette, 12 Apr. 1834, 3; and [Oliver Cowdery], Editorial, The Evening and the Morning Star, Apr. 1834, 150.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

     Chardon Spectator and Geauga Gazette. Chardon, OH. 1833–1835.

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

125. 100

     Gilbert and Whitney were the appointed agents for the United Firm, and the bond mentioned here may be related to the dissolution of the United Firm, which was agreed upon the following day. (JS, Journal, 10 Apr. 1834; see also Minute Book 2, 27 and 30 Apr. 1832.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 2 / “The Conference Minutes and Record Book of Christ’s Church of Latter Day Saints,” 1838, 1842, 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

126. 101

     TEXT: A wavy line drawn around the preceding sentence marks it as a personal memorandum.  

127. 102

     The Missouri branch of the firm had been forcibly removed from its Jackson County property, and the Kirtland branch was in debt to eastern creditors. Two weeks later, a revelation directed that the firm was to be dissolved in the sense of dividing it into separate Kirtland and Missouri entities. Each member of the Kirtland firm received “stewardship” for an enterprise or a parcel of real estate. (Minute Book 1, 17 Mar. 1834; Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 98, 1835 ed. [D&C 104].)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

128. 103

     Probably Andrews Tyler, who lived in Springfield, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Orson Pratt and Lyman Johnson excommunicated a “Bro. Tiler” while traveling in and around Springfield four months earlier. (1830 U.S. Census, Springfield, Erie Co., PA, 337; Pratt, Diary, 5 Dec. 1833.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

     Pratt, Orson. Journal, 1833–1837. Orson Pratt, Autobiography and Journals, 1833–1847. CHL. MS 587, fds. 2–4.

129. 104

     Lake Erie, about six miles from Kirtland.  

130. 105

     JS made this purchase for $4.75 with Frederick G. Williams, scribe for this portion of the journal. (See F. G. Williams and Company, Account Book, 6.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

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

131. 

     Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends; Oliver Cowdery begins.  

132. 106

     Missouri state officials had communicated some willingness to see the expelled Mormons return to Jackson County but with the understanding that Mormons would then be responsible to form legal militia units to prevent a second expulsion. (See Crawley and Anderson, “Political and Social Realities of Zion’s Camp.”)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Crawley, Peter, and Richard L. Anderson. “The Political and Social Realities of Zion’s Camp.” BYU Studies 14 (Summer 1974): 406–420.

133. 107

     Following the destruction of the Missouri printing office in July 1833—which interrupted publication of the Book of Commandments—JS, Rigdon, Cowdery, and Frederick G. Williams were assigned to produce in Kirtland an updated compilation of revelations. While JS and Williams traveled to Missouri with the expeditionary force, Rigdon and Cowdery continued to work on the compilation project in addition to sustaining regular publication of The Evening and the Morning Star throughout the three-month period. (Minute Book 1, 24 Sept. 1834 and 17 Aug. 1835; see also Woodford, “Development of the Doctrine and Covenants,” 1:37–47.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ, Organized according to Law, on the 6th of April, 1830. Zion [Independence], MO: W. W. Phelps, 1833.

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

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     Woodford, Robert J. “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants.” 3 vols. PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1974.

134. 108

     Rigdon preached in Norton, Ohio. A note in the back of the journal was apparently recorded in preparation for the conference at which Rigdon spoke. (Minute Book 1, 21 Apr. 1834; JS, Journal, 1832–1834 [undated note].)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

135. 109

     After recounting the church’s foundational historical events to this conference of Latter-day Saints at Norton, Ohio, JS stated, “Without a Zion and a place of deliverance, we must fall, because the time is near when the sun will be darkened, the moon turn to blood, the stars fall from heaven and the earth reel to and fro.” JS and Rigdon also spoke on the importance of the construction of the House of the Lord in Kirtland. (Minute Book 1, 21 Apr. 1834.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

136. 110

     This 23 April meeting of United Firm members was probably the setting in which a revelation of this date was dictated, though it may be that the meeting was held in response to the revelation. Ratifying the decision made two weeks earlier to “dissolve” the firm,a the revelation called for it to be divided into two separate firms, one for Kirtland and one for Missouri; gave members of the Kirtland firm individual stewardships for the assets of the firm in that vicinity (enterprises or parcels of real estate); gave them collective responsibility for financing the publication of scriptures; and counseled them to “pay all your debts,” which would in some cases require renegotiating the terms or borrowing elsewhere.b Frederick G. Williams later described another revelation dictated at about this same time, which was not written, requiring certain members of the United Firm “to ballan[ce] all accounts & give up all notes & demands that they had against each other & all be equal which was done.” Among these, JS owed the largest amount, $1,151.31.c After April 1834, neither of the two successor firms outlined in the major 23 April revelation materialized. Instead, church leaders, including several former members of the United Firm, gave general direction to the management of the enterprises and lands involved in Kirtland.d  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

     Williams, Frederick G. Papers, 1834–1842. CHL. MS 782.

     Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.

     (^aJS, Journal, 10 Apr. 1834.^bRevelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 98:3–11, 13, 1835 ed. [D&C 104:11–13, 19–51, 58–64, 78–85]; see also Revelation Book 2, p. 111.^cFrederick G. Williams, Statement, no date, Frederick G. Williams, Papers, CHL; Balances Due, 23 Apr. 1834, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.^dMinute Book 1, 24 Sept. 1834; Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm.”)
137. 

     Oliver Cowdery handwriting ends; Frederick G. Williams begins.  

138. 111

     This and the previous amount of fifty dollars may have been contributed by a single donor. Wilford Woodruff later recalled that at the end of April 1834, JS received “a letter containing a hundred and fifty dollars, sent to him by sister Voce, of Boston.” The donor could have been either Mary (Polly) Vose (1780–1866) or her niece Ruth Vose (1808–1884), both of whom lived in Boston at this time. (Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 10 Jan. 1858, 7:101; Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 381–382, 386.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–1886.

     Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.

139. 

     Frederick G. Williams handwriting ends; unidentified begins.  

140. 

     Unidentified handwriting ends.  

141. 112

     Revelation, 24 Feb. 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 101:6, 1844 ed. [D&C 103:29].  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith. 2nd ed. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844. Selections also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

142. 113

     Revelation, 22 June 1834, in Doctrine and Covenants 102:3, 8, 1844 ed. [D&C 105:9, 13, 26].  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith. 2nd ed. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844. Selections also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

143. 114

     JS, Richmond, IN, to Emma Smith, Kirtland Mills, OH, 19 May 1834, CCLA.  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Smith, Joseph. Letter, Richmond, IN, to Emma Smith, Kirtland Mills, OH, 19 May 1834. CCLA.

144. 115

     JS History, vol. A-1, 474–527; compare George A. Smith, Autobiography, 14–43; Kimball, “History,” 11–24; and Woodruff, Journal, 1 May–1 July 1834.  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

     Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

     Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.

     Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

145. 

     Oliver Cowdery handwriting begins.  

146. 116

     An epidemic of Asiatic cholera spread through Europe and reached American cities in 1832. Cleveland was revisited with the disease in 1834, and JS and other members of the expeditionary force suffered an outbreak near the end of the Missouri expedition. JS and other Latter-day Saints viewed the epidemic within a framework of millennial judgment. (Chambers, Conquest of Cholera, chaps. 1–6; Avery, History of Cleveland, 1:145; Kimball, “History,” 21–24; JS, Kirtland, OH, to Lyman Wight et al., Missouri, 16 Aug. 1834, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 84–87; “The Cholera,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1832, [1]; Sept. 1832, [1]; see also JS, Hyrum [Hiram, OH], to William W. Phelps, Zion [Independence], MO, 31 July 1832, JS Collection, CHL.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Chambers, J. S. The Conquest of Cholera: America’s Greatest Scourge. New York: Macmillan, 1938.

     Avery, Elroy McKendree. A History of Cleveland and Its Environs: The Heart of New Connecticut. 3 vols. Chicago: Lewis, 1918.

     Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.

     JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.

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

     Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

147. 117

     Before the strikethroughs and revisions, this passage read, “administering to the sick, for the purpose of obtaining means for the work of the Lord”, perhaps showing that Williams intended to raise money for the church by charging for medical services. Williams was a practicing botanical physician. (Williams, “Frederick Granger Williams,” 244–245, 251–252; George A. Smith, Autobiography, 42; JS History, vol. A-1, addenda, 16n18.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Williams, Frederick G. “Frederick Granger Williams of the First Presidency of the Church.” BYU Studies 12 (Spring 1972): 243–261.

     Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.

     JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

148. 118

     Carter, a member of the committee to raise money for building the House of the Lord in Kirtland, was appointed in April 1834 “to visit the several churches, to receive contributions.” (Notice, The Evening and the Morning Star, Apr. 1834, 151; see also Minute Book 1, 4 May and 6 June 1833.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

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

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

149. 119

     Apparently in connection with the church’s desire to expand Mormon holdings in Kirtland, Bosley purchased property from Andrew Bardsley on 2 June 1834. Bosley made a formal covenant to give the land to the church. However, because Bosley still owed four hundred dollars for the land, he proposed that he maintain the use and management of the land for one year, presumably allowing him to earn the money to pay his debt. Bosley later refused to honor his agreement, and a church council excommunicated him in July 1835. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, vol. 20, pp. 302–303, 2 June 1834, microfilm 20,238; vol. 18, pp. 326–327, 2 June 1834, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Minute Book 1, 14 July 1835.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

150. 120

     Oliver Cowdery, Norton, OH, to William W. Phelps, 7 Sept. 1834, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:14; Minute Book 1, 8 Sept. 1834.  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

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

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

151. 121

     Minute Book 1, 24 Sept. 1834; JS History, vol. B-1, 557.  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

152. 122

     Revelation, 16 and 17 Dec. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 97:10, 1835 ed. [D&C 101:72–73]; Minute Book 1, 28 Nov. 1834; Alvah Tippets, Lewis, NY, to JS, Kirtland, OH, 20 Oct. 1834, in Minute Book 1, pp. 78–80.  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

153. 

     Oliver Cowdery handwriting ends; JS begins.  

154. 

     JS handwriting ends; Oliver Cowdery begins.  

155. 123

     This personal covenant made and signed by JS and Oliver Cowdery preceded by nearly four years the revelation mandating that church members contribute “one tenth of all their interest annually” as tithing. (See Revelation, 8 July 1838–C, in JS, Journal, 8 July 1838 [D&C 119:4].)  

156. 124

     See Genesis 28:10–22.  

157. 125

     See Genesis 49:26.  

158. 126

     See Isaiah 54:17.  

159. 127

     In January, donations of Latter-day Saint John Tanner materially improved their situation. Tanner’s son Nathan recalled that his father donated over three thousand dollars and saved the mortgage on the temple block from being foreclosed. (Minute Book 1, 18 Jan. 1835; Tanner, Autobiography, 25; compare “Sketch of an Elder’s Life,” 12–13.)  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     Minute Book 1 / “Conference A,” 1832–1837. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.

     Tanner, Nathan. Autobiography, ca. 1854. BYU.

     “Sketch of an Elder’s Life” (John Tanner). In Scraps of Biography, Faith-Promoting Series 10, pp. 9–19. Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1883.

160. 128

     Cowdery viewed this ordination as fulfillment of an angelic promise. According to JS’s history, in May 1829 John the Baptist announced that Cowdery would be second elder, next in authority to JS as first elder, in the church that was yet to be organized.a Beginning in April 1830, JS and Cowdery held the positions and titles the angel had specified. But Cowdery was away filling an assignment in Missouri when on 8 March 1832 a presidency was established in Kirtland to lead the church.b In Cowdery’s absence, Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gause were appointed counselors to JS.c JS had previously been designated “president of the high priesthood of the church” in November 1831 and ordained to that position on 25 January 1832.d Frederick G. Williams replaced Gause as a counselor by January 1833.e In the history he was keeping for JS at the time, Cowdery recorded a more complete transcription of this 5 December 1834 blessing and reported that although Rigdon and Williams had seniority in office as counselors, Cowdery, in fulfillment of the angel’s promise, was now to be first among the three to “assist in presiding over the whole church, and to officiate in the absence of the President.” Following Cowdery’s ordination, Rigdon and Williams “confirmed the ordinance and blessings by the laying on of hands and prayer, after which each were blessed with the same blessings and prayer.” In a meeting the following day, Hyrum Smith and Joseph Smith Sr. were called as additional “assistant presidents,” or counselors.f  

     Comprehensive Works Cited

     JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (or