Footnotes
These deeds were likely transferred before JS departed that day with the Camp of Israel for Missouri. (JS History, vol. A-1, 477.)
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.
Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 18, pp. 477–478, 480–481, 5 May 1834, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 18, pp. 479–480, 5 May 1834, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834 [D&C 104:34, 43–45]; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 17, pp. 38–39, 10 Apr. 1833; pp. 359–361, 17 June 1833, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. Johnson’s property did not include the town square land immediately south of the temple lot. Frederick G. Williams owned this property, which was intended for the construction of an office for the church presidency and the printing office.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
See Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm,” 17–22. The presidency’s office was never built, though office space for the presidency was included in both the House of the Lord and in the top floor of the printing office. The printing office was built west of the House of the Lord instead of south and on land deeded from Johnson, instead of on the land from Williams. (Cowdery, Diary, 21, 22, and 24 Jan. 1836.)
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.
Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.
Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 18, pp. 477–478, 480–481, 5 May 1834, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 417; Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834 [D&C 104:43–44].
Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.
Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 22, pp. 497–498, 23 Sept. 1836, microfilm 20,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
The revised deed amended the description of property to read as follows: “The following described tract or lot of land situate in Kirtland Township No 9 in the ninth range of townships in the Connecticut Western Reserve in the State of Ohio and which is also in the County of Geauga and is known as part of lot number 30 and is bounded as follows to wit. On the South by land formerly owned by Isaac More. Beginning near the north east corner of the said More’s land in the centre of the road leading from Kirtland Flats to Chester and running west on the north line of said land twenty two rods, thence north Seventeen rods to a Stake marked No 1, thence east to the west line of the lot owned by the Methodist Episcopal Society on which their meeting house stands. Thence South to the southwest corner of said Societies lot, thence east to the centre of the road before mentioned thence Southwardly to the place of beginning. Containing one acre & one hundred and fifty four and half rods.” A copy of this amended deed was made by Orson Hyde from the version in the Geauga County Deed Record Book 24. Hyde’s copy included a note explaining that the “deed is supposed to be illegal for which reason this deed [was] executed be the same more or less.” A note written vertically in the left margin by Lyman Cowdery reads, “Copy of Deed for the Temple.” (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 24, p. 100, 4 Jan. 1837, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; John Johnson to JS, Deed, Kirtland, OH, 5 May 1834, photocopy, Lyman Cowdery, Papers, CHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Cowdery, Lyman. Papers, 1834–1858. CHL. MS 3467.
The two references in this document to “the articles and covenants” of the church do not appear to be direct references to the circa April 1830 document titled “Articles and Covenants,” which does not contain the information cited in the text. Rather, this phrase seems to indicate the standard practices or procedures of the church as an organization. It appears that, at times, “articles and covenants” was used to refer to the body of church organizational procedures. John Corrill, for example, referred to a compilation of JS’s revelations as the “Book of Articles and Covenants.” (Corrill, Brief History, 21; see also Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834 [D&C 104].)
TEXT: Both instances of “L.S.” (locus sigilli, Latin for “location of the seal”) are inscribed within hand-drawn representations of seals.