Footnotes
Revelation, 8 July 1838–C [D&C 119:1, 4]. This direction adapted the church’s original plan, presented in earlier revelations, for consecrating property. (See, for example, Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30–39].)
Revelation, 8 July 1838–D [D&C 120].
Many Latter-day Saints emigrating from Kirtland entrusted church leaders remaining there with the proceeds from selling the Saints’ properties. In return, these Saints received pay orders written by William Marks on behalf of JS and Sidney Rigdon that stated the value of the Saints’ donations. Upon arriving in Missouri, the Saints presented the pay orders to Bishop Edward Partridge to request repayment in money or property. (Corrill, Brief History, 27; Reed Peck, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 14–15, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA; Pay Order to Edward Partridge for William Smith, 21 Feb. 1838; see also Receipt from Timothy Clark, Oct. 1838; and Receipt from Sarah Burt Beman, 26 Jan. 1839.)
Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
See Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:33].
A month earlier, a stake was organized to the north at Adam-ondi-Ahman, with Vinson Knight as the pro tempore bishop. De Witt, the other stake planned in Missouri, had not been organized. (Minutes, 28 June 1838; Letter to Stephen Post, 17 Sept. 1838; R. Peck to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839, pp. 20–21; Rockwood, Journal, 14 Oct. 1838.)
Peck, Reed. Letter, Quincy, IL, to “Dear Friends,” 18 Sept. 1839. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Rockwood, Albert Perry. Journal Entries, Oct. 1838–Jan. 1839. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2606.
The “Word of Wisdom,” the church’s revealed dietary code, proscribed “strong drink.” In the reorganization conference held in Far West in November 1837, the congregation voted that they would not support “Stores and Shops selling spirituous liquors, Tea, Coffee or Tobacco.” On 23 June 1838, the high council in Far West appointed a committee to visit local tavern keepers to ensure that they were keeping “good orderly houses, and have no drinking, swearing, gambling, and debauchery carried on therein.” (Revelation, 27 Feb. 1833 [D&C 89:5]; Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837; Minute Book 2, 23 June 1838.)
The church’s original communitarian plans in Missouri included a store that also functioned as a storehouse to help provision the Latter-day Saints.a Prices on the frontier could be significantly higher than elsewhere in the United States. In Missouri, according to historian Jeff Bremer, “almost all goods [were] sold at two to three times eastern prices.”b Three days before this meeting, Reynolds Cahoon wrote from Far West to Newel K. Whitney in Kirtland with suggestions of what kinds of goods Whitney should bring to Missouri since it was possible to “transport them much Cheaper than you can git them hear.” Cahoon’s list included furniture, stoves, livestock, and plows, among other items.c
(aSee Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:8–10]; Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:24, 37]; and Berrett, Sacred Places, 4:47–48. bBremer, Store Almost in Sight, 155. cReynolds Cahoon, Far West, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Kirtland, OH, 23 July 1838, CHL; see also Editorial, Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 34.)Berrett, LaMar C., ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999–2007.
Bremer, Jeff. A Store Almost in Sight: The Economic Transformation of Missouri from the Louisiana Purchase to the Civil War. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2014.
Cahoon, Reynolds, and Edward Partridge. Letter, Far West, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Kirtland Mills, OH, 23 and 24 July 1838. CHL.
This decision was reaffirmed within two weeks.a The legislation that organized Caldwell County in December 1836 included measures for establishing a seat of justice in April 1837.b It is not known whether these measures were followed. However, Far West served as the county’s de facto if not official seat of justice because the town was the place where county justices Elias Higbee and William W. Phelps operated, where the office of county clerk John Cleminson was located, and where the circuit court was held a few days after this 26 July meeting.c The Latter-day Saints in Caldwell County, and apparently other Missourians as well, considered Far West the county seat.d
(aJS, Journal, 6 Aug. 1838. bAn Act to Organize the Counties of Caldwell and Daviess [29 Dec. 1836], Laws of the State of Missouri [1836–1837], pp. 46–47, sec. 3; see also An Act for Organizing Counties Hereafter Established [9 Dec. 1836], Laws of the State of Missouri [1836–1837], pp. 38–39, secs. 1–4; and An Act to Establish Judicial Circuits, and to Prescribe the Times and Places of Holding Courts [21 Jan. 1837], Laws of the State of Missouri [1836–1837], p. 57, sec. 23. cPetitions for Habeas Corpus to Elias Higbee, Aug. 1838, George W. Robinson, Papers, CHL; Certificate of William W. Phelps’s Oath of Office, 4 Apr. 1838, William W. Phelps Commissions, CHL; JS, Journal, 30–31 July 1838. dEditorial, Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 33; see also Greene, Facts relative to the Expulsion, 18; Illustrated Historical Atlas of Caldwell County, Missouri, 8, 10; and History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, 121, 259.)Laws of the State of Missouri, Passed at the First Session of the Ninth General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Jefferson, on Monday, the Twenty-First Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Six. 2nd ed. St. Louis: Chambers and Knapp, 1841.
Robinson, George W. Papers, 1838. CHL.
Phelps, William W. Commissions, 1837–1838. CHL.
Greene, John P. Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri, under the “Exterminating Order.” By John P. Greene, an Authorized Representative of the Mormons. Cincinnati: R. P. Brooks, 1839.
An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Caldwell County, Missouri. Compiled, Drawn and Published from Personal Examinations and Surveys. Philadelphia: Edwards Brothers, 1876.
History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources. . . . St. Louis: National Historical Co., 1886.