Footnotes
JS, Journal, 26 Aug. 1842; John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2].
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842. In the 1850s, Brigham Young wrote that JS, who was in hiding on 20 August, had been informed of Pratt’s intransigence and had instructed the council to “ordain Bro. Amasa Lyman in Bro. Orson’s stead.” In January 1843 JS determined that “as there was not a quorum” when Pratt had been disciplined, he “had not legally been cut off”; JS did, however, uphold Lyman’s ordination. Some sources use the term disfellowshipped in reference to Pratt’s removal, while others use the term excommunicated. Regardless, when Pratt returned to the church in 1843, he “recived the presthood & the same power & authority as in former days,” thus regaining his membership in the Quorum of the Twelve. (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 64; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 20 Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 20 Jan. 1843; Taylor, Succession in the Priesthood, 18–20; see also England, Life and Thought of Orson Pratt, 75–86.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
Taylor, John. Succession in the Priesthood: A Discourse by President John Taylor, Delivered at the Priesthood Meeting, Held in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Friday Evening, October 7th, 1881. [Salt Lake City?], [1881?].
England, Breck. The Life and Thought of Orson Pratt. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1985.
JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842. Boggs, Missouri’s former governor, had claimed JS conspired to murder him. Carlin, Illinois’s governor, had issued a warrant for JS’s arrest in response to Missouri’s extradition request. (Lilburn W. Boggs, Affidavit, 20 July 1842; Thomas Reynolds, Requisition, 22 July 1842; Petition to Nauvoo Municipal Court, 8 Aug. 1842.)
Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Changes in ink density suggest that Clayton recorded the discourse in JS’s journal no later than 2 September 1842. (Book of the Law of the Lord, 183–184.)
See Numbers chaps. 21, 31; and Joshua chaps. 6–12.
According to Wilford Woodruff, available elders were specifically charged to go to the “free states & mostly to New England or the canidas not to go to any of the indians or slave states.” (Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
JS likely had in mind documents related to his extradition. He also intended to provide the elders with “all the affidavits concerning Bennetts conduct . . . so that each Elder could be properly furnished with correct and weighty testimony to lay before the public.” The affidavits were published as a broadsheet dated 31 August. About a month before, the Wasp and the Times and Seasons had published affidavits defending JS and condemning Bennett. (JS, Journal, 26 Aug. 1842; Affidavits and Certificates [Nauvoo, IL: 1842], copy at CHL; “Bennettiana,” Wasp, Extra, 27 July 1842, [1]–[2]; Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:874.)
Affidavits and Certificates, Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters. Nauvoo Aug. 31, 1842. [Nauvoo, IL: 1842]. Copy at CHL.
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
Wilford Woodruff noted that, along with about four hundred elders, “many others are going,” including all members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles except Woodruff and John Taylor, who were both ill. (Woodruff, Journal, 10 Aug.–18 Sept. 1842.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
An 1841 revelation indicated the Saints would yet receive “things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times.” (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:41]; see also Discourse, 1 May 1842.)
Rigdon and JS had been at odds since May, at least in part due to differences concerning Bennett. In mid-August, Rigdon, who had been warned by his daughter Elizabeth to repent, “bore testimony to the truth of the work” and denied that “he had said Joseph was a fallen prophet.” (JS, Journal, 12–13 May 1842; 28 June 1842; 21 Aug. 1842; see also John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; Letter to Nancy Rigdon, ca. Mid-Apr. 1842; and Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 1 July 1842.)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Robinson, who was married to Rigdon’s oldest daughter, Athalia, appeared to side with Bennett and against JS in the summer of 1842. In a late June letter to the Sangamo Journal, Bennett named Robinson as an individual whom the editors could rely on to corroborate his allegations. Robinson never offered the corroboration Bennett sought. By July he had resigned his position in the Nauvoo Legion and left the church. (John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 8 July 1842, [2]; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 20 June 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 44; George W. Robinson, “Letter from Nauvoo,” Quincy [IL] Whig, 23 July 1842, [2]; “G. W. Robinson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:878; “Bennett’s Second and Third Letters,” Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, 27 July 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 245–247; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 8 Aug. 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 247–248; “Letter from Col. Robinson,” Sangamo Journal, 26 Aug. 1842, [2].)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.
Bennett, Henry Holcomb, ed. The County of Ross: A History of Ross County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on the Bench and Bar, Medical Profession, Educational Department, Industry and Agriculture, and Biographical Sketches. Madison, WI: Selwyn A. Brant, 1902.