Footnotes
Richards, Journal, 20 July 1837; George A. Smith, Autobiography, 6 Apr. 1840, 92.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
Young and Richards were editing the Millennial Star temporarily in the absence of the paper’s principal editor, Parley P. Pratt, who had returned to the United States to bring his family to England. The Star was first issued in May 1840. (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:108.)
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
Clayton, Diary, 8–9 Sept. 1840; 16 Oct. 1840; and 24 Nov. 1840.
Clayton, William. Diary, Jan.–Nov. 1846. CHL.
JS did not directly respond to the question of whether the Saints in general should be gathered and emigrate the following spring, but he recommended to the Twelve—except Parley P. Pratt, should he choose to remain in England—that “it would be wisdom in you to make preparations to leave the scene of your labors in the spring. Having carried the testimony to that land, and numbers having received it, consequently the leaven can now spread, without your being obliged to stay.” (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.)
Young had earlier written to JS to ask whether the Twelve were authorized to publish a hymnal in England. JS responded affirmatively in a 19 July 1840 letter, but Young had not yet received the response. An April 1840 conference of the church in Nauvoo recommended that a new hymnal, among other publications, be compiled and printed. On 20 May 1840, apostles Young, Richards, and Wilford Woodruff decided that Young should obtain a contract to print, in England, three thousand copies each of a new hymnal and the Book of Mormon. The new hymnal was published in Manchester by W. R. Thomas, printer of the Millennial Star. (Letter from Brigham Young, 29 Apr. 1840; Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840; Note, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 153; JS History, vol. C-1, 1119; Lorenzo Snow, London, England, to “E. McConougley,” [1841], in Snow, Letterbook, [15]; “From England,” Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:120–121; Woodruff, Journal, 20 May 1840; John Taylor, Liverpool, England, to Brigham Young, Manchester, England, 18 June 1840, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:121–124.)
Snow, Lorenzo. Letterbook, ca. 1839–1846. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
In June 1840, Young contracted with Liverpool printer John Tompkins to produce five thousand copies of a new edition of the Book of Mormon, based on the 1837 United States edition. The first copies were available in early 1841. (John Tompkins, Estimate, 7 June 1840; John Taylor, Liverpool, England, to Brigham Young, Manchester, England, 18 June 1840, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Brigham Young, Manchester, England, to Willard Richards, Ledbury, England, 17 June 1840, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:148–151.)
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
Almost a decade earlier, JS had taught that the church was obligated to “provide for the families of the absent Elders while proclaiming the Gospel.” At the time Young and Richards wrote this letter, many of the Saints, including Young’s family and the families of other members of the Quorum of the Twelve, were in destitute circumstances. (Minutes, 25–26 Oct. 1831; Pay Order to Newel K. Whitney for “Mrs. Young,” 15 June 1840.)
That is, the Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star.
Young wrote to JS on 7 May 1840 to ask whether the Doctrine and Covenants should be printed in England. At a 16 April meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve in Preston, England, Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Parley P. Pratt were appointed as a committee to secure a British copyright for the Doctrine and Covenants. JS responded affirmatively on 19 July, but the Twelve had not yet received that letter. (Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840; Note, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 153; see also Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; and Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:304–305.)
Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.
Having already addressed the question of whether the Twelve, in general, should return to Nauvoo the following spring, JS responded to the question about Richards: “Brother Richards’ question respecting arriving in the spring is answered I shall be very happy to see him & his family.” (Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.)
JS acquired four mummies and some rolls of papyrus in 1835 and worked on a translation of the papyri around that time. More recently, in a memorial to the Nauvoo high council in June 1840, JS had stated his intention to “commence the work of translating the Ejyptian Records.” (JS History, vol. B-1, 595–596; Memorial to Nauvoo High Council, 18 June 1840.)
Young expressed similar sentiments in letters to JS on 29 April and 7 May 1840, writing, “I would like to be with my old friends” and “I long to see the faces of my friends again in that Country once more.” (Letter from Brigham Young, 29 Apr. 1840; Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840.)