Footnotes
Part of one illegible character remains.
Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 11.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
Footnotes
Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 69:1–2].
An August 1831 revelation instructed Sidney Rigdon to write “an Epistle & subscription to be presented unto all the Churches to obtain money to be put into the hands of the Bishop to purchase lands for an inheritance for the children of God.” (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:50–51].)
Whitmer, History, 38; Minute Book 2, 23 Jan. 1832.
Cowdery’s minutes in this letter are more expansive than those Ebenezer Robinson later copied into Minute Book 2. It is possible that Whitmer, who kept minutes of several Missouri conferences in 1832, kept his own record of the 23 January meeting. If so, Robinson may have copied Whitmer’s minutes. (See Minute Book 2, 23 Jan. 1832.)
Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:3–4]; Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53:4]; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:4–8].
Register of Officers and Agents [1830], 49 (second numbering).
A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth Day of September, 1817; Together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of all the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Prepared at the Department of State, In Pursuance of a Resolution of Congress, of the 27th of April, 1816. Washington DC: E. De Krafft, 1818.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1829; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1830.A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1831; together with the Names, Force, and Condition, of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built. Washington DC: William A. Davis, 1831.
Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 8 Apr. 1831. According to the statute governing franking, postmasters could use the privilege for both incoming and outgoing correspondence that was business related and weighed no more than half an ounce. It is unclear, however, whether Whitney ever invoked his franking privilege for letters to or from Cowdery. (An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], in Post-Office Laws, Instructions and Forms, 15–16, sec. 27.)
Post-Office Laws, Instructions and Forms, Published for the Regulation of the Post-Office. Washington DC: Way and Gideon, 1828.
Note, 8 Mar. 1832. Mail between Independence and Kirtland generally required three to four weeks of travel time. (Hartley, “Letters and Mail between Kirtland and Independence,” 176.)
Hartley, William G. “Letters and Mail between Kirtland and Independence: A Mormon Postal History, 1831–33.” Journal of Mormon History 35, no. 3 (Summer 2009): 163–189.
| Names of Elders presant. | |
| Received of | $1002.70 |
| Received of agent of the churches at the east and sundry other brethren on the way to this land. $169[2],00 | $1692.00 |
| Total amount received. | $2694,70 |
| Total amount paid out | 2677.83 |
| Sum remaining. | 16.87 |
| $________ | |
| Paid out for Goods for Gilbert & Whitney for Goods and transportation to this place | 827.94 |
| Paid for transportation for families and bagage &c from to this place | 804.89 |
| Other necessaries for the use and benefit of the Church | 1045.00 |
| Total amount paid out | 2677,83 |
TEXT: “b[hole in paper]”.
A February 1831 revelation stated, “& it shall come to pass that the Bishop of my church after that he has received the properties of my church that it cannot be taken from you he shall appoint every man a Steward over his own property or that which he hath received.” (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:32].)
That is, the February 1831 “Laws of the Church of Christ,” which outlined the principles of consecration. (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30–38].)
After this time, upon receiving a donation Partridge prepared an agreement of consecration, which functioned as the “receipt” requested. This agreement stated that Partridge, having received the donation, bound himself to “cause the same to be expended” for the purposes stated on the agreement of consecration. The agreement also declared that if Partridge was “removed from the office of bishop of said church, by death or otherwise,” he and his heirs were legally bound to transmit all such donated property to the new bishop. (See, for example, James Lee and Edward Partridge, Agreement of Consecration, ca. 1832–1833, incorporated as part of Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, to “Honored Father” et al., 22 Oct. 1834, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL.)
Corrill and Morley were appointed “assistants” to Partridge in June 1831. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.)
These charges apparently stemmed from encounters between Partridge and JS in Missouri during the summer of 1831. A September 1831 letter from Ezra Booth reminded Partridge of an argument Partridge had with JS over the selection of land to purchase in Missouri. This argument, Booth recounted, culminated in Partridge telling JS, “I wish you not to tell us any more, that you know these by the spirit when you do not.” Rigdon likely had this incident in mind when he charged Partridge with “having insulted the Lord’s prophet in particular & assumed authority over him in open violation of the Laws of God.” Rigdon also questioned how Partridge reimbursed him for expenses incurred in the trip to Missouri. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1]; Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1832.)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
“Abating pride.” (“Humiliating,” in American Dictionary [1828].)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
There is no extant record of a conference being held in Missouri on 3 April 1832.
According to his father, Gilbert was an “invalid” in a “low state of health” in 1832. His ailment is unknown. (Eli Gilbert, Huntington, CT, 24 Sept. 1834, Letter to the editor, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:9.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
TEXT: “[Hole in paper]ought”.
According to a later reminiscence of Emily Dow Partridge Young, Edward Partridge’s family and Isaac Morley’s family traveled to Missouri with “a company of Saints under the direction of W. W. Phelps and A. S. Gilbert.” (Young, “What I Remember,” 4–5.)
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “What I Remember,” 1884. Typescript. CHL. MS 5718.
The store was probably not in operation at this time. Gilbert apparently obtained a merchant’s license in the name of “Gilbert & Whitney” from Jackson County sometime prior to 6 February 1832. On 20 February 1832, “Gilbert & Whitney” paid $371 for the former log courthouse in Independence. (Jackson Co., MO, Deed Records, 1827–1909, vol. B, pp. 32–33, 20 Feb. 1832, microfilm 1,017,978, U. S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Eakin and Eakin, Jackson County Missouri Court Minutes Book 1, 127, 143–144; Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:47–48, 58.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Eakin, Joanne C., and O. B. Eakin, comp. Jackson County Missouri Court Minutes Book 1, 1827–1833, with Index; and Jackson County Missouri Death Register, 1883–1891. Independence, MO: By the author, 1988.
An August 1831 revelation designated Whitney as “an agent unto the Desiples” in Kirtland. A December 1831 revelation, dictated two weeks after Cowdery and Whitmer departed for Missouri, designated Whitney as bishop for the Kirtland area. (Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:45]; Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–A [D&C 72:7–8].)
A July 1831 article in the Missouri Intelligencer indicates that both corn and wheat crops were “very light,” in part because of “excessive rains” and high water. The lack of production in fall 1831 probably increased the price of grain. (“The Crops,” Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser [Columbia], 30 July 1831, [1]; “Wheat,” Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser, 13 Aug. 1831, [3]; News Item, Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser, 13 Oct. 1832, [4].)
Missouri Intelligencer and Boon’s Lick Advertiser. Franklin, MO, 1819–1827; Fayette, MO, 1827–1830; Columbia, MO, 1830–1835.
Emily M. Coburn, who came to Missouri in 1831, later recalled that “teams were constantly on the road to St. Louis, Missouri, not only for farming machinery, but for other necessaries, such as mercantile goods, all of such as were needful, both in groceries and dry goods.” (Austin, Life among the Mormons, 66.)
Austin, Emily M. Mormonism; or, Life among the Mormons: Being an Autobiographical Sketch, Including an Experience of Fourteen Years of Mormon Life. Madison, WI: M. J. Cantwell, 1882.
Weather was a substantial cause of Gilbert’s delay in reaching Missouri. Accompanied by his nephew James Rollins, Gilbert departed Kirtland for Missouri sometime in mid-October and arrived about 1 January 1832. Rollins later recalled, “We were delayed when we got to Arrow Rock, [Missouri,] one hundred miles below Independence, on account of the great flow of ice. The steamer turned back, and we remained there with W. W. Phelps for at least 5 weeks.” Emily Dow Partridge Young, who was with the group, recalled that they had to stay in a log cabin in Arrow Rock for two or three weeks until the weather improved. (Rollins, Reminiscences, 2; Young, “What I Remember,” 5.)
Rollins, James H. Reminiscences, 1896, 1898. Typescript. CHL. MS 2393.
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “What I Remember,” 1884. Typescript. CHL. MS 5718.