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Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire

Source Note

Account of Meeting and JS, Discourse, [
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, 5 Jan. 1841]. Featured version copied [ca. Jan. 1841] in William P. McIntire, Notebook, pp. [1]–[5]; handwriting of
William P. McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

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; CHL.
William P. McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

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, Notebook, ca. 1841–1845; handwriting of
William P. McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

View Full Bio
; thirty-six pages; CHL.
Small gathering of pages sewn together with black thread. The volume lacks a hard cover and consists of a single, eclectic gathering of thirty-eight pages of differing sizes and colors. Two of the pages are blank. The first and last pages are approximately one centimeter shorter than the majority of the pages, which measure 6¼ × 4 inches (16 × 10 cm). Several of the pages show wear from age, including tears on the edges and stains. The pages were inscribed in black ink, with occasional entries in graphite. An unknown scribe, possibly someone in the Church Historian’s Office, made additional entries in red ink in 1878.
According to his autobiography,
William P. McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

View Full Bio
arrived in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
on 22 October 1840. During winter 1840–1841, McIntire heard JS “give much in struction to the Saints on Doctrine & principle” and “made a short Record” of JS’s remarks.
1

McIntire, Autobiography, 62.


Comprehensive Works Cited

McIntire, William Patterson. Autobiography. In William Patterson McIntire, Daybook, 1840–1856, pp. 57–67. BYU.

This volume constitutes McIntire’s record of the sermons JS gave during that period. In addition to recording JS’s sermons, McIntire’s notes from 1841 include comments by several other early church leaders, including
Sidney Rigdon

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

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. Halfway through the notebook, McIntire recorded notes for discourses given in 1844 and 1845. These include sermons by JS,
Brigham Young

1 June 1801–29 Aug. 1877. Carpenter, painter, glazier, colonizer. Born at Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of John Young and Abigail (Nabby) Howe. Brought up in Methodist household; later joined Methodist church. Moved to Sherburne, Chenango Co., New...

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,
Heber C. Kimball

14 June 1801–22 June 1868. Blacksmith, potter. Born at Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vermont. Son of Solomon Farnham Kimball and Anna Spaulding. Married Vilate Murray, 22 Nov. 1822, at Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Member of Baptist church at Mendon, 1831. Baptized...

View Full Bio
,
Orson Pratt

19 Sept. 1811–3 Oct. 1881. Farmer, writer, teacher, merchant, surveyor, editor, publisher. Born at Hartford, Washington Co., New York. Son of Jared Pratt and Charity Dickinson. Moved to New Lebanon, Columbia Co., New York, 1814; to Canaan, Columbia Co., fall...

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, and others.
McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

View Full Bio
possessed the notebook throughout the
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
period and likely retained it during the early Utah period. The notebook came into the possession of the Church Historian’s Office at an unknown time. It has remained in church custody since then.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    McIntire, Autobiography, 62.

    McIntire, William Patterson. Autobiography. In William Patterson McIntire, Daybook, 1840–1856, pp. 57–67. BYU.

Historical Introduction

On 5 January 1841, JS spoke at the organization of a “school of instruction” at his
office

Term usually applied to JS’s private office, which was located at various places during JS’s lifetime, including his home. From fall 1840 until completion of JS’s brick store, office was located on second floor of a new building, possibly on Water Street ...

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in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois. The school was probably a lyceum that met weekly at various locations throughout the city to discuss secular and sacred topics. Lyceums were popular organizations among nineteenth-century Americans, and a group of
Saints

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

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had formed one several years earlier in
Kirtland

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

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, Ohio. As
William McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

View Full Bio
’s account of this meeting demonstrates, the lyceum format usually involved two or three presentations followed by debate among those in attendance.
1

JS, Journal, 18 Nov. 1835. The format described by McIntire—three speakers addressing various topics—fits the lyceum model. Women were typically included in lyceum meetings, but it is unclear if women participated in the Nauvoo lyceum at this time. (Ray, Lyceum and Public Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States, 22–26, 36; Wright, Cosmopolitan Lyceum, chap. 2.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Ray, Angela G. The Lyceum and Public Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2005.

Wright, Tom F. The Cosmopolitan Lyceum: Lecture Culture and the Globe in Nineteenth-Century America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.

In his discourse at the meeting, JS focused on the principle that matter is eternal, arguing that the earth was created through a reorganization of preexisting elements. He also discussed the eternal nature of spirits, advancement toward salvation, and the spiritual progression of God and Jesus Christ.
Two early accounts of JS’s teachings on this occasion, recorded by
William P. McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

View Full Bio
and
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
, are featured here. Though McIntire appears to have kept his record contemporaneously, he seems to have mistakenly dated the meeting as 8 January 1840, almost a year before he moved to
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
.
2

Both men arrived in the area only a few months before January 1841. McIntire moved to Nauvoo at the end of October 1840, and Clayton at the end of November. (McIntire, Autobiography, [62]; Clayton, Diary, 24 Nov. 1840.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

McIntire, William Patterson, Daybook and Autobiography, 1840. BYU.

Clayton, William. Diary, Vol. 1, 1840–1842. BYU.

Clayton’s account appears to date the meeting correctly as 5 January 1841. Further evidence that the meeting occurred on Tuesday, 5 January, comes from McIntire’s notebook. This record includes accounts of the lyceum’s subsequent weekly meetings, suggesting that the next two meetings were held on 12 and 19 January 1841—both Tuesdays.
3

See Account of Meeting, 12 Jan. 1841; and Account of Meeting, ca. 19 Jan. 1841.


Clayton’s original notes of this meeting are not extant, so it is unknown when he created his account. Apparently in 1880, L. John Nuttall filled the opening pages of a notebook with what he titled “Extracts from William Clayton’s Private Book.” The “extracts” were reports of various JS teachings, arranged both chronologically and topically, and included the account of this 5 January lyceum meeting, which was presented under the topic “Keys.”
While
McIntire

29 May 1813–5 Jan. 1882. Tailor. Born in Wheatfield, Indiana Co., Pennsylvania. Son of George McIntire and Sarah Davis. Married Anna Patterson, ca. 1833, in Pennsylvania. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Erastus Snow, 23 Nov. 1836...

View Full Bio
’s and
Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
’s accounts of JS’s discourse and comments during the meeting parallel each other in some respects, they diverge in significant ways. McIntire’s version, for instance, contains JS’s thoughts on phrenology, which are not found in Clayton’s. The account by Clayton, in turn, provides a physical description of the apostle Paul that was not included by McIntire. One of the topics discussed or questions asked—whether the
Melchizedek Priesthood

The authority and power held by certain officers in the church. The Book of Mormon referred to the high priesthood as God’s “holy order, which was after the order of his Son,” and indicated that Melchizedek, a biblical figure, was a high priest “after this...

View Glossary
was taken from the earth with Moses—was recorded only by Clayton. McIntire’s record more clearly illustrates the interactive debate format, with questions, answers, responses, and comments. By contrast, Clayton’s account reads more like a discourse because it includes only JS’s statements during the meeting. However, this lack of detail may be a reflection of Nuttall’s selection from Clayton’s record rather than an indication that Clayton’s original notes skipped over elements of the meeting.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 18 Nov. 1835. The format described by McIntire—three speakers addressing various topics—fits the lyceum model. Women were typically included in lyceum meetings, but it is unclear if women participated in the Nauvoo lyceum at this time. (Ray, Lyceum and Public Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States, 22–26, 36; Wright, Cosmopolitan Lyceum, chap. 2.)

    Ray, Angela G. The Lyceum and Public Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2005.

    Wright, Tom F. The Cosmopolitan Lyceum: Lecture Culture and the Globe in Nineteenth-Century America. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.

  2. [2]

    Both men arrived in the area only a few months before January 1841. McIntire moved to Nauvoo at the end of October 1840, and Clayton at the end of November. (McIntire, Autobiography, [62]; Clayton, Diary, 24 Nov. 1840.)

    McIntire, William Patterson, Daybook and Autobiography, 1840. BYU.

    Clayton, William. Diary, Vol. 1, 1840–1842. BYU.

  3. [3]

    See Account of Meeting, 12 Jan. 1841; and Account of Meeting, ca. 19 Jan. 1841.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire
Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Published in Clayton, Revelations *Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William Clayton

Page [1]

a short minute of the subjects & the most promonent matter as brought fourth from those subjects at Joseph’s office Jan.— 8th. [5th] 1840 [1841]
subject first.— Discused by
D. C. [Don Carlos] Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

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; also this preciple [principle] practized by man; the blessings & results of the same he said the pri[n]ciple would bind the H[e]arts of man togather & give them confidence in each other & as John says thy word is truth;
1

See John 17:17.


so he says if we keep his word— we shall all be actuated by the same principle & be as one man; & as angels are obedient to the same word we shall have Concorse to them & also to all the Heavenly throng; Joseph said to
D. C. Smith

25 Mar. 1816–7 Aug. 1841. Farmer, printer, editor. Born at Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont. Son of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. Moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co., New York, 1816–Jan. 1817. Moved to Manchester, Ontario Co., 1825. Baptized into Church of Jesus...

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that to be free <​from​> the Coruption of the Earth that man [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Account of Meeting and Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William P. McIntire
ID #
592
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:490–495
Handwriting on This Page
  • William McIntire

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See John 17:17.

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