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Minutes, 22 November 1835

Source Note

Minutes, , Geauga Co., OH, 22 Nov. 1835. Featured version copied [between ca. 4 Apr. and ca. 16 May 1836] in Minute Book 1, pp. 130–131; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.

Historical Introduction

On the evening of 22 November 1835, JS attended a meeting that examined the standing of , a former “who had withdrawn from the ” but who had recently appealed to return and be restored to his previous office. Squires had been an energetic missionary for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The minutes of the proceedings of a 24–25 January 1835 conference held in , New York, stated that Squires had recently established a branch of the church with nineteen members in good standing in Portage, Allegany County, New York. A little more than two months later, minutes of another conference in Freedom recorded the creation of a church branch in Burns, Allegany County, and noted that it had been “raised and established almost wholly by the instrumentality of Elder A. J. Squires.” The same minutes also indicated that Squires had “been the instrument in the hands of the Lord” in organizing the branch, also in Allegany County, on 23 March 1835 and that it had twenty-six members.
Despite his proselytizing success, sometime between that April 1835 conference and this 22 November meeting, mailed his priesthood back to JS and joined the Methodists. At the time, Methodism constituted the largest Protestant denomination in the , and it was particularly prevalent in the areas where Squires preached. Whatever attracted Squires to Methodism was apparently short lived—within months he journeyed to , Ohio, to apologize to church leaders and to seek the restoration of his elder’s license in order to recommence his missionary labors. After JS and gave Squires “a severe chastisment” and a “keen rebuke” at the meeting featured here, the church and council voted to restore Squires to his office. In the months following this 22 November 1835 meeting, Squires resumed proselytizing for the Latter-day Saints.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 22 Nov. 1835.

  2. [2]

    “A Summary,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, 1:75.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  3. [3]

    Minutes, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1835, 1:101.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  4. [4]

    Many early converts to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, including Brigham Young’s family and Emma Smith, came from Methodist backgrounds. Several studies have examined the connections between and the parallel histories of Mormons and Methodists in the 1830s. (See Jones, “We Latter-day Saints Are Methodists,” 3–20; Yorgason, “Some Demographic Aspects of One Hundred Early Mormon Converts,” 42–43; Grandstaff and Backman, “Social Origins of the Kirtland Mormons,” 56; Underwood, Millenarian World of Early Mormonism, 129–131; Underwood, “Millenarianism and Popular Methodism,” 81–91; Jones, “Mormonism in the Methodist Marketplace,” 83–90; and Hatch, “Mormon and Methodist,” 24–44.)

    Jones, Christopher C. “‘We Latter-day Saints Are Methodists’: The Influence of Methodism on Early Mormon Religiosity.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 2009.

    Yorgason, Laurence Milton. “Some Demographic Aspects of One Hundred Early Mormon Converts, 1830–1837. Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1974.

    Grandstaff, Mark R., and Milton V. Backman Jr. “The Social Origins of the Kirtland Mormons.” BYU Studies 30, no. 2 (Spring 1990): 47–66.

    Underwood, Grant. The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

    Underwood, Grant. “Millenarianism and Popular Methodism in Early Nineteenth Century England and Canada.” Wesleyan Theological Journal 29, nos. 1, 2 (Spring–Fall 1994): 81–91.

    Jones, Christopher C. “Mormonism in the Methodist Marketplace: James Covel and the Historical Background of Doctrine and Covenants 39–40.” BYU Studies 51, no. 1 (2012): 66–98.

    Hatch, Nathan O. “Mormon and Methodist: Popular Religion in the Crucible of the Free Market.” Journal of Mormon History 20, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 24–44.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 22 Nov. 1835.

  6. [6]

    Andrew Squires, Euclid, NY, to John Whitmer, Kirtland, OH, Feb. 1836, in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Mar. 1836, 2:288; “Conference,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1836, 2:350.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 22 November 1835
Minute Book 1 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 130

of and , held in the presence of the members of the Nov 22d 1835.
President Joseph Smith Junr. & Presiding
appointed Clerk.
The case of presented by J. Smith had been an ordained Elder in the Church and for a time preached the gospel successfully. but after a while sent his in a letter in a to President Smith requesting to be excused from laboring longer in the vineyard. This evening he came forward before the church and confessed that he had been in temptation and fallen into Error, so much [p. 130]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 130

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 22 November 1835
ID #
8380
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:67–69
Handwriting on This Page
  • Warren A. Cowdery

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This letter, not located, was sent between early April 1835—when Squires was present and active in the Freedom, New York, conference—and this 22 November 1835 council meeting.

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