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Instruction, 16 May 1843

Source Note

JS, Instruction, [, Hancock Co., IL, 16 May 1843]. Featured version copied [ca. 19 May 1843] in William Clayton, Journal, 25 Apr. 1843–24 Sept. 1844, pp. [13]–[16]; handwriting of ; William Clayton, Journals, 1842–1846, CHL.
Blank book measuring 6¼ × 4 × 1 inches (16 × 10 × 3 cm) and containing 156 leaves bound in brown leather. There are two flyleaves in the front of the volume and two in the back. The recto of the first flyleaf in the front was inscribed by : “Journal No 1”. An archival label pasted onto the spine reads, “Journal by Wm. Clayton 1843–4”. Embossed in gold leaf on the bottom of the spine is “3”.
used the journal to record daily entries from 25 April 1843 to 24 September 1844. Shortly after Clayton finished making entries in the volume, he apparently loaned or gave it to the Church Historian’s Office (now CHL), and by winter 1845–1846 the office staff began using the journal to inform their work on JS’s multivolume history, during which time use marks were added. The journal was listed in inventories that the Church Historian’s Office produced in the nineteenth century. Sometime in the twentieth century, three of Clayton’s journals became part of the papers of Joseph Fielding Smith, who was church historian and recorder from 1921 to 1970. In 1970, when Smith became the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these journals became part of the First Presidency’s papers. In 2017 the Office of the First Presidency formally transferred this journal to the CHL. A sixteen-page account written by Clayton of JS’s activities just before his death has been inserted in the inside front cover of the volume.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 9 Feb. 1843, 14; and Vogel, History of Joseph Smith, 1:xcviii.

    Vogel, Dan, ed. History of Joseph Smith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Source and Text-Critical Edition. 8 vols. Salt Lake City: Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2015.

  2. [2]

    See, for example, “Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [7]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  3. [3]

    Neilson and Marianno, “True and Faithful,” 14.

    Neilson, Reid L., and Scott D. Marianno. “True and Faithful: Joseph Fielding Smith as Mormon Historian and Theologian.” BYU Studies Quarterly 57, no. 1 (2018): 7–64.

  4. [4]

    “Inventory of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s Safe,” 23 May 1970, First Presidency, General Administration Files, CHL.

    “Inventory of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s Safe,” 23 May 1970. First Presidency, General Administration Files, 1921–1972. CHL.

  5. [5]

    See the full bibliographic entry for William Clayton, Journals, 1842–1846, in the CHL catalog.

  6. [6]

    See William Clayton, Daily Account of Joseph Smith’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844, in JSP, J3:331–339.

Historical Introduction

On 16 May 1843 at the residence of and in , Illinois, JS instructed the Johnsons and “on the .” Benjamin Johnson recalled that “in the evening,” JS invited him and Melissa “to come and sit down, for he wished to marry us according to the law of the Lord. I thought it a joke, and said I should not marry my wife again, unless she courted me, for I did it all, the first time. He chided my levity, told me he was in earnest, and so it proved; for we stood up and were by the Holy Spirit of promise.” Contemporaneous records, however, show that when he later recounted the story, Johnson conflated when he first heard this teaching and when he and Melissa were actually sealed. According to ’s journal, the couple was “united in an ” on 20 October 1843.
JS taught that if a man and a woman were sealed as husband and wife by the power of the priesthood, their marriage would continue beyond death, and they would live together in marriage in the highest level of heaven. His teachings included the idea that couples properly sealed would have “children in the resurrection.” Based on JS’s statement to that he knew in whom he could confide, it seems he expected the Johnsons not to discuss this doctrine with others.
was present during JS's instruction and took notes. However, in view of the uniformity of the ink flow and character formation in his journal, it appears that Clayton created the entries covering 14 May through most of 19 May in one sitting. It is likely the entries were based upon earlier notes that are no longer extant.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Clayton, Journal, 16 May 1843. On 16 May, JS traveled to Carthage, Illinois, and then on to Macedonia in the company of Clayton, George Miller, Eliza Partridge, Lydia Partridge, J. M. Smith, and Lorin Walker. Almera Woodward Johnson, Benjamin F. Johnson’s sister, had been sealed to JS as a plural wife around late April 1843. Almera lived with her brother and his wife, and this visit to the Johnsons’ home was JS’s first since the sealing. (Editorial Note preceding 16 May 1843 entry in JS, Journal; Almera Woodward Johnson Barton, Affidavit, Iron Co., Utah Territory, 1 Aug. 1883, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Benjamin F. Johnson, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 4 Mar. 1870, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 2:3–9.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  2. [2]

    Johnson, “Life Review,” 92, underlining in original.

    Johnson, Benjamin Franklin. “A Life Review,” after 1893. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, Papers, 1852–1911. CHL. MS 1289 box 1, fd. 1.

  3. [3]

    Clayton, Journal, 20 Oct. 1843; see also Benjamin F. Johnson, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 4 Mar. 1870, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 2:7.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.

  4. [4]

    Parley P. Pratt later recalled that JS taught him privately about this doctrine when JS visited him in Philadelphia in 1840. (Pratt, Autobiography, 329.)

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

  5. [5]

    Portions of the 16 May 1843 instruction were canonized in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4, 1876 ed. [D&C 131:1–4].)

    The Doctrine and Covenants, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Containing the Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jun., the Prophet, for the Building Up of the Kingdom of God in the Last Days. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Office, 1876.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Instruction, 16 May 1843
History Draft [1 March–31 December 1843] History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [13]

He put his hand on my knee and says “your life is hid with Christ in God.” and so is many others”. Addressing [p. [13]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Instruction, 16 May 1843
ID #
1068
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:307–309
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    William Clayton’s knee.

  2. [2]

    See Colossians 3:3; and Revelation, 6 Dec. 1832 [D&C 86:9]. JS may have been alluding to the secrecy surrounding plural marriage, in which an increasing number of Latter-day Saints were participating by this time, including William Clayton and his two wives, sisters Ruth and Margaret Moon. (Clayton, Journal, 27 Apr. 1843.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

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