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Authorization for Amos Fielding, 13 March 1844

Source Note

JS and , Authorization, , Hancock Co., IL, for , 13 Mar. 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 13 Mar. 1844]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets and notation.
Single leaf measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). The paper is ruled with twenty-six horizontal lines printed in blue ink. The authorization was written on the recto. At some point, the paper was folded in half twice horizontally and docketed. It was later trifolded and docketed again for filing.
The document was docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. It was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The notation “A.J.” was added by Andrew Jenson, who served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) circa 1904. By 1973 it had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and notation, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  2. [2]

    Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

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

  3. [3]

    Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 48–52, 55.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. [4]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  5. [5]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 13 March 1844, JS and signed a letter of authorization in , Illinois, for to serve as an for the in Great Britain. Fielding, a native of Lancashire, England, had been appointed as an agent by the in 1841, specifically with the responsibility of overseeing emigration of British Saints to the . Returning from his latest mission to , Fielding arrived in Nauvoo in early January 1844. On 24 February, Fielding volunteered with a few others to investigate locations for possible church settlement in the . However, JS and Hyrum Smith decided instead to reassign him to a financial mission in Great Britain.
The 13 March 1844 authorization to collect church funds referenced ’s trustworthiness and designated him as an appropriate person to receive donations intended for the construction of the in and other church business. Within a few weeks of receiving this authorization, Fielding departed for Great Britain, arriving in , England, on 26 May 1844.
probably kept the original authorization, which is apparently not extant. Before Fielding’s departure, JS’s scribe made a copy of this authorization and identified it as such. The copied version is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Millennial Star, Apr. 1841, 1:311.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 8 Jan. 1844.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 24 Feb. 1844.

  4. [4]

    Editorial, Millennial Star, June 1844, 5:14.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Authorization for Amos Fielding, 13 March 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

Copy—
This is to certify that the bearer hereof our worthy brother hath been appointed by the of the our to transact such business as may be deemed necessary for the benifit of said Church, and such as he shall see proper throughout the Island of Great Britain. He is hereby authorised to receive monies for the in , the poor, or the for the Church, and the brethren will be safe should they deposit money in his hands for any purpose pertaining to the Church business in this place.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and placed the Corporation seal of the City of this 13th. day of March A. D. 1844
Joseph Smith
of the whole Church of J. C. L. D. S.
Seal of Corporation [1/3 page blank] [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Authorization for Amos Fielding, 13 March 1844
ID #
2189
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Only JS and Hyrum Smith signed this authorization on behalf of the church’s First Presidency. The presidency at this time also included Sidney Rigdon, whose service was intermittent. William Law was removed from the presidency sometime before 8 January 1844, and Amasa Lyman was appointed as a counselor to the First Presidency on 4 February 1843. A January 1841 revelation named Hyrum Smith as church patriarch as well as a “prophet and a seer and a revelator” and granted him the same “keys” that were once held by Oliver Cowdery, who was sustained as “second elder of this Church” at the organization’s founding meeting on 6 April 1830. (Law, Record of Doings, 4 and 8 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 41–42, 46; JS, Journal, 4 Feb. 1843; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:91–95]; JS History, vol. A-1, 30.)

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

  2. [2]

    TEXT: “Seal of Corporation” enclosed within a hand-drawn representation of a seal.

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