Documents, Volume 2, Part 2 Introduction: Hiram, Ohio, Fall 1831
Part 2: Hiram, Ohio, Fall 1831
After
returning to
from
in late August 1831, JS made
preparations to move his family from to , Ohio, where he planned to
resume his “,” or revision, of the Bible—a project he had been working on
since 1830. The move occurred on 12 September 1831, following a held
in Kirtland that same day. In Hiram, JS and his family
stayed at the and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson home, sleeping
probably in a back room on the main level. In the end of October, the Johnsons partitioned an upstairs
room, creating a work space for JS in the southeast portion of the house, where he
worked on the Bible revision.
Beginning in September,
served as scribe for this project, working on the books of Matthew and Mark, until
assumed this responsibility in November. Periodically,
JS traveled to Kirtland or other townships in northeastern Ohio to conduct church
business, but he spent most of the fall in Hiram.
In , JS was surrounded by many prominent
church , with whom he consulted on various matters. , , , and all stayed
in the vicinity of the Johnson farm during this period.
In November 1831, JS held several
conferences of elders in the Johnson home to discuss a proposal to
publish the revelations in a compilation that would be
titled the Book of Commandments.
In these meetings, the elders deliberated about how many copies of
the book to print, the appointment of individuals to prepare the
revelations for publication, and the designation of a group to
oversee the publication and share any profits generated by the sale
of the volume.
The
impending departure of and for with manuscript
copies of the revelations led to an outpouring of direction about
publishing the revelations and of guidance for the Saints in
Missouri. Seven revelations dictated at the conferences either had a
direct connection with the publication of the revelations or gave
specific instructions for church members in Missouri. A revelation dictated on 1
November 1831 was designated as the preface to the Book of
Commandments, while another dictated on 3
November eventually served as the compilation’s
appendix. Still another appointed six “ over the
revelations.” Other revelations instructed “the
inhabitants of ” in parental duties and explained to “the in the land of ”
the responsibilities of the various church offices.
During
the fall of 1831,
JS also provided instruction and
revelations on church administration. In a conference held in ,
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on 25–26 October, he gave direction
about the duties of the , to
which elders had first been in June 1831. Such
instruction was followed in November
by revelations dealing both with priesthood responsibilities and
with the necessity of calling presidents for each group of officers
in the church. One revelation noted the need for more as the church’s membership grew, and a month
later, was appointed
a bishop in . JS also explained that elders required
more training in “the ancient manner of conducting meetings as they
were led by the .”
Part two
of this volume includes twenty documents, mostly revelations and
conference minutes. These documents were inscribed mainly by , , and . The majority of the original documents
were produced in the upstairs room of the Johnson home where JS worked, but some originated in
or other northeastern
townships.