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Minutes and Discourses, 17 March 1842

Source Note

Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Minutes, and JS, Discourses, , Hancock Co., IL, 17 Mar. 1842. Featured version copied [ca. 17 Mar. 1842] in Relief Society Minute Book, pp. 6–15; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book.

Historical Introduction

On 17 March 1842 JS presided at the organizational meeting of the . Following a national trend in the creation of women’s benevolence, temperance, and moral reform societies, member suggested organizing a women’s society in , Illinois. Kimball proposed a sewing society with the objective of assisting with construction of the . About a dozen women met in Kimball’s home in early March 1842 and invited to draft a constitution for the new society. Decades later Kimball reminisced that when the constitution and bylaws were presented to JS, he responded, “This is not what the sisters want, there is something better for them. I have desired to organise the Sisters in the order of the [.] I now have the key by which I can do it.” Consequently, twenty women, including Kimball, Snow, and , met with JS and and on 17 March 1842 to organize the society.
The society’s first and subsequent eight meetings (through 26 May 1842) were held in the main room of the upper story of JS’s on Water Street in . Referred to in the minutes as the “lodge room,” this was the same room in which the city’s lodge of Freemasons held its organizational meeting. This Masonic lodge was officially created, and JS initiated into it and raised a Master Mason, on 15 and 16 March 1842—the two days preceding the organization of the Female Relief Society. In a letter to the society two weeks after the first meeting, JS and other church leaders referred twice to the society members as Masons, suggesting the timing of the creation of the two organizations was not coincidental. Though not a member of the sororal organization, JS attended nine of the society’s meetings in 1842, delivering sermons at six of them.
JS presided during the first part of the organizational meeting, and apostle served as the chair until the society’s officers were in place. During the meeting JS instructed the women about the purpose of the society—to care for the poor and to strengthen the morals and virtues of the community—and recommended that the women present choose a president for the society. was unanimously elected president, and she chose and as counselors. JS then gave extensive instruction to the society, referring to a July 1830 revelation that declared that Emma was “an Elect Lady” and indicating that she had been ordained to teach the female members of the community. JS gave instruction on parliamentary procedure for the business of the society. Emma Smith and her counselors replaced Taylor as chair and moderated debate regarding the formal name of the society, which they resolved would be the Female Relief Society of . The men left the meeting, at which time the society appointed further officers. When this business was concluded, the men returned and the society closed its meeting with prayer.
A note in ’s handwriting on the title page of the society’s minute book states that apostle presented the book to the organization on the day of its first meeting. Richards served as secretary for the first part of the meeting and took minutes until the men withdrew so the society could appoint more officers. At that point Snow was appointed the society’s secretary and commenced taking minutes. Although Richards gave Snow the book sometime during this day, the cleanliness of the inscription and the fact that the entire account is in Snow’s handwriting suggest that Richards and Snow—after she was appointed secretary—first inscribed these minutes elsewhere, with Snow later copying them into the minute book. Snow probably inscribed the minute book version featured below soon after the meeting. The original notes on which this copy was based are apparently no longer extant.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 6, 24.

  2. [2]

    Sarah Granger Kimball, Reminiscence, 17 Mar. 1882, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 495.

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

  3. [3]

    Freemasonry was a strictly fraternal organization. Both of JS’s references to the women of the society as Masons related to the importance of society members being able to trust their fellow members and to keep the society’s business confidential. The letter, written and presented to the society on 31 March 1842, stated that “there may be some among you who are not sufficiently skilled in Masonry as to keep a secret.” Similarly, in concluding the authors warned, “Let that epistle be had as a private matter in your society & then we shall learn whether you are good masons.” (Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842.)

  4. [4]

    Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, xviii.

  5. [5]

    Revelation, July 1830–C [D&C 25:3, 7].

  6. [6]

    The note reads: “This Book, was politely presented to the Society by Elder W. Richards; on the 17th of March, AD. 1842.” (Relief Society Minute Book, [4], in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 27–28.)

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

  7. [7]

    At the next meeting of the society, held 24 March, Emma Smith “read from the Book of records [the minute book], the proceedings of the first meeting of the Society.” (Relief Society Minute Book, 24 Mar. 1842, 17, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 38.)

    Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes and Discourses, 17 March 1842 Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book

Page 12

the idle speech of our enemies— we design to act in the name of the Lord— to relieve the wants of the distressed, and do all the good we can.—
arose and said that she felt to concur with the , with regard to the word Benevolent, that many Societies with which it had been associated, were corrupt,— that the popular Institutions of the day should not be our guide— that as daughters of , we should set an example for all the world, rather than confine ourselves to the course which had been heretofore pursued— one objection to the word Relief is, that the idea associated with it is that of some great calamity— that we intend appropriating on some extraordinary occasions instead of meeting the common occurrences—
Prest. remark’d— we are going to do something extraordinary— when a boat is stuck on the rapids with a multitude of Mormons on board we shall consider that a loud call for relief— we expect extraordinary occasions and pressing calls—
arose and said— I shall have to concede the point— your arguments are so potent I cannot stand before them— I shall have to give way—
J. S. said I also shall have to concede the point, all I shall have to give to the poor, I shall give to this —
mov’d, that this Society be call’d The Nauvoo Female Relief Society— second. by —
offer’d an amendment by way of transposition of words, instead of The Nauvoo Female Relief Society, it shall be call’d The Female Relief Society of — Seconded by Prest. J. Smith and carried— [p. 12]
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Source Note

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Page 12

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourses, 17 March 1842
ID #
795
Total Pages
10
Print Volume Location
JSP, D9:276–285
Handwriting on This Page
  • Eliza R. Snow

Footnotes

  1. [9]

    That is, the Mississippi River’s Des Moines rapids, an eleven-mile stretch of the Mississippi River above Keokuk, Iowa Territory, where the river dropped some twenty-two feet in elevation. The rapids were unnavigable during seasons of low water. (Hunter, Steamboats on the Western Rivers, 188.)

    Hunter, Louis C. Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949.

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