Footnotes
For the history of these forms, see Arrington et al., Building the City of God, 23–30, 365–373.
Arrington, Leonard J., Feramorz Y. Fox, and Dean L. May. Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation among the Mormons. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976.
See Whitney, “Aaronic Priesthood,” 5–7; and Partridge, Genealogical Record, 1, 28–29; see also the full bibliographic entry for the Edward Partridge Papers in the CHL catalog.
Whitney, Orson F. “The Aaronic Priesthood.” Contributor, Apr. 1885, 241–250.
Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
Footnotes
Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30]. A revelation appointed Edward Partridge as bishop of the church five days earlier. (Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41:9]; see also License for Edward Partridge, ca. 4 Aug. 1831–ca. 5 Jan. 1832.)
Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:4].
These “inheritances” were reminiscent of the land inheritances that Moses allotted the tribes of Israel. (See, for example, Joshua chaps. 13–14.)
Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:32, 35]; see also Revelation, 15 June 1831 [D&C 56:8–10]; and Historical Introduction to Revelation, 15 May 1831. Although the 9 February revelation pointed to the prospect of building the New Jerusalem mentioned by John the Revelator, the building site of the New Jerusalem—Jackson County, Missouri—was not designated until 20 July 1831. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:3].)
How these inheritances were understood and managed is partly revealed in the text of extant inheritance forms. One of Partridge’s forms, for instance, reads that Benjamin Eames gave his consecrated property, valued at $95.75, “for the purpose of purchasing lands in Jackson County Mo, and building up the New Jerusalem, even Zion, and for relieving the wants of the poor and needy. For which I the said Benjamin Eames do covenant and bind myself and my heirs forever, to release all my right and interest to the above described property, unto him the said Edward Partridge, bishop of said church. And I the said Edward Partridge, bishop of said church, having received the above described property, of the said Benjamin Eames do bind myself, that I will cause the same to be expended for the above mentioned purposes of the said Benjamin Eames to the satisfaction of said church; and in case I should be removed from the office of bishop of said church, by death or otherwise, I hereby bind myself and my heirs forever, to make over to my successor in office, for the benefit of said church, all the above described property, which may then be in my possession.” A partial inheritance form for the lease to Joseph Knight Jr. reads: “And as a consideration for the use of the above described property, I the said Joseph Knight junr do bind myself to pay the taxes, and also to pay yearly unto the said Edward Partridge bishop of said church, or his successor in office, for the benefit of said church, all that I shall make or accumulate more than is needful for the support and comfort of myself and family. . . . during the life of the said Joseph Knight Junr unless he transgress, and is not deemed worthy by the authority of the church, according to its laws, to belong to the church. And in that case I the said Joseph Knight Junr do acknowlydge that I forfeit all claim to the above described leased and loaned property, and hereby bind myself to give back the leased, and also pay an equivalent for the loaned, for the benefit of said church, unto the said Edward Partridge bishop of said church, or his successor in office.” (Benjamin Eames and Edward Partridge, Deed of Stewardship, on verso of Edward Partridge, to “Honored Father” et al., 22 Oct. 1834, draft, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL, emphasis in original; Joseph Knight Jr. and Edward Partridge, Deed of Stewardship, 12 Oct. 1832, CHL, italics added.)
Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
Knight, Joseph, Jr., and Edward Partridge. Deed of Stewardship, 12 Oct. 1832. CHL. MS 5589.
A 15 May 1839 affidavit demonstrates that Partridge was the actual owner of the consecrated property. Regarding his landholdings at the time of his expulsion from Missouri, Partridge testified, “Nov. 1833 I was compelled by a mob to leave Jackson county, at which time I held the title to two thousand one hundred and thirty six acres of land all lying in that county and also two village lots situated in the village of Independence.” (Edward Partridge, Petition for Redress, 15 May 1839, copy, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL; see also the partial deeds of stewardship on verso of Edward Partridge, to “Honored Father” et al., 22 Oct. 1834, draft, Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL.)
Edward Partridge, Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
Arrington et al., Building the City of God, 23.
Arrington, Leonard J., Feramorz Y. Fox, and Dean L. May. Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation among the Mormons. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976.
“The Elders Stationed in Zion to the Churches Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 110; “Still Later from Mount Zion,” Cincinnati Journal, 22 Mar. 1833, 46, italics in original. Pixley, according to the Cincinnati Journal, was a Presbyterian clergyman who apparently resided in Jackson County at this time. Because of the timing and other similarities of the cases reported in the Star and Journal (for instance, Pixley also reported that the plaintiff sued for fifty dollars), it is possible that Bates was the plaintiff in both reports. Pixley reported that the case was heard “last Friday.” If Bates was the plaintiff in Pixley’s report and if the March 4 date for the newspaper report is accurate, then the date of Bates’s court appearance was Friday, 1 March 1833.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Cincinnati Journal. Cincinnati, OH. 1833–1836.
A redaction made to JS’s 20 May 1831 revelation specifically addressed this issue but does not appear in any version of the revelation predating the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. The revision reads, “If he shall transgress, and is not accounted worthy to belong in the church, he shall not have power to claim that portion which he has consecrated unto the bishop for the poor and the needy of my church: therefore, he shall not retain the gift, but shall only have claim on that portion that is deeded unto him.” (Revelation, 20 May 1831, in Doctrine and Covenants 23:1, 1835 ed. [D&C 51:5].)
Partridge may have complained to JS that letters containing important administrative counsel had not been addressed to him. JS repeated his displeasure the following month to Missouri church leaders that “some of our letters of a public nature which we sent for the good of Zion have been kept back from the Bishop, this is conduct which we highly disapprobate.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833, underlining in original.)
Several months earlier, JS expressed a similar reliance on revelation in determining a colleague’s character when he wrote to William W. Phelps, “In the love of God having the most implicit confidence in you as a man of God having obtained this confidence by a vision of heavn therefore I will procede to unfold to you some of the feelings of my heart.” Though on a number of occasions during the previous two years Edward Partridge had been corrected and chastened by revelation, his honesty and integrity were never questioned. Indeed, the February 1831 revelation calling him to be bishop likened him “unto Nathaniel of old in whome there is no guile.” (Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832; Revelation, 9 May 1831 [D&C 50:39]; Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:14–15]; Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:17]; Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41:11].)
See Hebrews 12:6; Revelation 3:19; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 447–448 [Helaman 15:3].
One of the definitions for confounded in Webster’s 1828 dictionary is “put to shame and silence.” (“Confounded,” in American Dictionary; see also Psalm 22:5; 1 Peter 2:6; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 76 [2 Nephi 7:7].)
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.
See 2 Corinthians 11:26.
See Luke 12:42.
TEXT: With the exception of the supplied character in “b[r]other” at the end of this paragraph, all bracketed insertions in this document supply characters missing because of holes in the paper.
See Luke 12:32
See Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:1–72]; and Revelation, 23 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:74–93]. The earliest version of the “law of the Lord” included this directive: “Behold thou shalt consecrate all thy properties that which thou hast unto me with a covenant & a deed which cannot be Broken.” (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in Revelation Book 1, p. 64 [D&C 42:30]; for later instructions regarding consecration, see Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51]; Revelation, 15 June 1831 [D&C 56]; Revelation, 12 Nov. 1831 [D&C 70]; Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–A [D&C 73:3–8]; Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–B [D&C 72:9–23]; Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:3–12]; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:11–24]; Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832; and Revelation, 23 Apr. 1834, in Revelation Book 1, pp. 192–198 [D&C 104]; see also Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm,” 5–66.)
Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.
After property was initially consecrated, the bishop was to “appoint every man a Steward over his own property or that which he hath received in as much as shall be sufficient for him self and family & the residue shall be kept to administer to him that hath not that every man may receive according as he stands in need & the residue shall be kept in my store house to administer to the poor and needy.” Given the vague instructions that appear in previous revelations, it is unclear if JS considered the stewardship as private or church property before this letter. The 9 February 1831 revelation, for instance, stated that the bishop “shall appoint every man a Steward over his own property.” The same revelation declared, “It shall come to pass that he that sinneth & rep[e]nteth not shall be cast out & shall not receive again that which he hath consecrated unto me.” Regarding consecrated property, the 20 May 1831 revelation specifically told Partridge that the steward was to “hold it of the Church.” Such ambiguous phrases in the revelations—such as “his own property,” “not receive again,” and “hold it of the Church”—might also explain why Partridge initially considered the inheritances to be property of the church. (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:32–34, 37]; Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:4].)
A week before JS wrote this letter, news of a court case in which an individual sued Partridge over consecrated property was published in the northeastern Ohio area. (“Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 26 Apr. 1833, [3]; see also “The Elders Stationed in Zion to the Churches Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1833, 110; and “Still Later from Mount Zion,” Cincinnati Journal, 22 Mar. 1833, 46.)
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
Cincinnati Journal. Cincinnati, OH. 1833–1836.
For other uses of the phrase “delivered over to the buffetings of satan until the day of redemption,” see Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832 [D&C 78:12]; and Minutes, 22–23 Jan. 1833.
This refers to part of a 9 February 1831 revelation published as “Extract from the Laws for the Government of the Church of Christ” in the second issue of The Evening and the Morning Star in July 1832. The consecration of property is actually discussed in the third paragraph. (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831, in “Extract from the Laws for the Government of the Church of Christ,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [1] [D&C 42:29–41].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
In previous months, there had been significant misunderstandings between church leaders in Missouri and those in Ohio. (See Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833; and Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 21 Apr. 1833.)