Footnotes
Historical Introduction to Declaration, 21 June 1834; Historical Introduction to Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105]; Historical Introduction to Letter to John Thornton et al., 25 June 1834.)
William W. Phelps, Liberty, MO, to Daniel Dunklin, Jefferson City, MO, 1 Aug. 1834, copy, William W. Phelps, Collection of Missouri Documents, CHL, underlining in original.
Phelps, William W. Collection of Missouri Documents, 1833–1837. CHL. MS 657.
A June 1834 revelation stated that the elders must be “endowed with power from on high” before Zion could be redeemed. Those assigned to go to Kirtland included David Whitmer, William W. Phelps, and John Whitmer, who were the three presidents of the high council. (Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105:11]; Minutes, 23 June 1834; Minutes and Discourse, ca. 7 July 1834.)
JS apparently gave this assignment to Wight before he left Missouri. A 12 July 1834 meeting of the Missouri high council referred to the “mission appointed” to Wight “by the seer” and assigned Amasa Lyman to go with Wight “to ascertain the strength of the Lord’s house.” According to Amasa Lyman’s journal, this meant visiting those who had been driven from Jackson County and determining how many Saints lived in “this land”—probably meaning either Clay County specifically or Missouri generally. (Minute Book 2, 12 July 1834; Lyman, Journal, 12 July 1834.)
Lyman, Amasa. Journals, 1832–1877. Amasa Lyman Collection, 1832–1877. CHL. MS 829, boxes 1–3.
Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:21–22].
Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 16–18; Parkin, “Zion’s Camp Cholera Victims Monument Dedication,” 4–5.
Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.
Parkin, Max H. “Zion’s Camp Cholera Victims Monument Dedication.” Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation Newsletter 15 (Fall 1997): 4–5.
Partridge, Corrill, and Morley constituted the bishopric in Missouri, but it is unclear why Wight, who was a member of the high council, was specifically mentioned. It may have been because Wight had served as the general of the Camp of Israel, or perhaps it was because JS gave him specific instructions in the letter. (Minutes, 3 July 1834; Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 12.)
Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.
Minute Book 2, 10 Sept. 1834.
According to the accounts kept for the Camp of Israel, JS received a fifty-dollar loan from Edward Partridge before returning to Kirtland. (Account with the Camp of Israel, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834.)
Three Hulet men were members of the church in Missouri: Charles, Sylvester, and Francis. An account detailing JS’s expenditures from and contributions to the Camp of Israel’s general fund indicates that JS had a three-year-old colt worth forty-five dollars that he then “exchanged for the chock hors[e],” but it does not state from whom JS originally obtained the colt. (Johnson, Life History of Charles Hulet, 64; Account with the Camp of Israel, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834.)
Johnson, Eldred A., comp. The Life History of Charles Hulet and His Wives, Anna Taylor, Margaret Noah, and Mary Lawson Kirkman. Lindon, UT: By the author, 1991.
The “consecratd horn” may refer to the horn used by the Camp of Israel. According to George A. Smith, this horn was a “common brass french horn.” (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 24.)
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
McLellin departed Missouri in July with JS’s group. According to a 22 July 1834 entry in McLellin’s journal, when the group got to Paris, Illinois, McLellin “was so sick that [he] could not travel on.” He asked the group to continue on and leave him to recover. He did not start again for Kirtland until 15 September, after he had spent some time proselytizing in the area. (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 50; McLellin, Journal, 22 July and 15 Sept. 1834.)
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
McLellin, William E. Journal, July 1834–Apr. 1835. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 4. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
“Sister Bunnel” may be Esther Mendenhall Bunnell, the wife of Luther B. Bunnell, who lived in Washington, Indiana. If so, she apparently overcame her illness at this time because she lived well past 1834. (Whitney, History of Utah, 4:600.)
Whitney, Orson F. History of Utah. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1904.
Cholera was prevalent in the United States in summer 1834, especially along watercourses. One newspaper reported that seventy people died in Detroit from cholera between 2 and 14 August 1834. According to another report, cholera broke out in Buffalo in July 1834; by August, Buffalo was “the most afflicted city” in the state of New York. The disease also “extensively prevailed” in Cleveland. (“The Cholera,” New-York Spectator, 21 Aug. 1834, [2]; “This Day,” New-York Spectator, 25 Aug. 1834, [1]–[2]; “Board of Health,” New-York Spectator, 1 Sept. 1834, [2].)
New-York Spectator. New York City. 1804–1867.
George A. Smith later remembered passing through Chariton on 12 July and finding the town “nearly abandoned, in consequence of the cholera, the inhabitants having fled in every direction.” (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 52.)
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
See Isaiah 1:5.