Footnotes

1. [1]

   Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–A [D&C 69:1–2].

2. [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].)

3. [3]

   Whitmer, History, 38; Minute Book 2, 23 Jan. 1832.

4. [4]

   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.)

5. [5]

   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].

6. [6]

   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.

7. [7]

   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.

8. [8]

   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.

9. [9]

   Charges against Missouri Conference Preferred to JS, ca. Mar. 1832.