Footnotes
Revelations dated 30 December 1830 and 2 January 1831 directed church members to gather in Ohio. According to an article in the Painesville Telegraph, Sidney Rigdon arrived on 1 February and JS arrived three days later. (Revelation, 30 Dec. 1830 [D&C 37:1, 3]; Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:32]; [Matthew S. Clapp], “Mormonism,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 15 Feb. 1831, [1].)
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Copley was formerly a member of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, more commonly known as Shakers. (See Historical Introduction to Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49].)
Rigdon’s son later recalled that his father’s congregation in Mentor, Ohio, had “bought him a little farm . . . and were engaged in building him a house on it” when Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt introduced him to the Book of Mormon. After Sidney and Phebe Rigdon were baptized, the family moved in with other converts in the Kirtland area. (Rigdon, “Lecture on the Early History of the Mormon Church,” 14, 19–20.)
Rigdon, John Wickliff. Lecture on the Early History of the Mormon Church, [1906]. CHL. MS 3516.
Book of Commandments 43; Doctrine and Covenants 61, 1835 ed.
Whitmer, History, 11; see also Acts 2:44–45.
JS History, vol. A-1, 93.
JS History, vol. A-1, 92–93.
Knight, Autobiography and Journal, 29–30; see also Historical Introduction to Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51].
Knight, Newel. Autobiography and Journal, ca. 1846. CHL. MS 767.
Revelation, 9 Dec. 1830; [D&C 36:1] JS History, vol. A-1, 94; Young, “Incidents,” 3.
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “Incidents of the Life of a Mormon Girl,” ca. 1884. CHL. MS 5220.
Young, “Incidents,” 3–4; see also Partridge, Genealogical Record, 5–6.
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “Incidents of the Life of a Mormon Girl,” ca. 1884. CHL. MS 5220.
Partridge, Edward, Jr. Genealogical Record. 1878. CHL. MS 1271.
Revelation, 30 Dec. 1830 [D&C 37:1]; Young, “Incidents,” 5.
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “Incidents of the Life of a Mormon Girl,” ca. 1884. CHL. MS 5220.
See Matthew 7:6.
Rather than accepting Copley’s apparent offer to live in Thompson, JS stayed in the Kirtland area. After their initial stay with the family of Newel K. Whitney, JS and Emma Smith moved into a small frame home on the property of Isaac Morley, another landowning Ohio convert. (Cox, “Brief History of Patriarch Isaac Morley,” [1].)
Cox, Cordelia Morley. “A Brief History of Patriarch Isaac Morley and Family Written by Mrs. Cordelia Morley Cox, Especially for Isaac Morley, Jr.,” June 1907. CHL. MS 6105.
It is uncertain when Partridge was approved in his new office “by the voice of the church.” This was possibly part of the “Church business” mentioned without detail in the minutes of the “special meeting of the Elders of the Church of Christ held at Kirtland” on 9 April 1831. His bishop’s license created in 1831 states that he was “appointed Bishop of this church on the fourth of February one thousand eight hundred and thirty one with and by the consent of the whole church agreeable to the appointment of God and ordained to this office,” apparently conflating his original calling with its approval by the church. In any case, by the 3 June 1831 church conference Partridge was functioning in the office of bishop, and at that meeting two assistants to the bishop were ordained to serve with him. (Minute Book 2, 9 Apr. 1831; License for Edward Partridge, [ca. 4 August 1831–ca. 5 Jan. 1832]; Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831.)
Partridge owned a hat shop near the town square in Painesville, Ohio, a few miles from Kirtland, as well as multiple pieces of property in the area. Partridge’s daughter later recalled that after this revelation was dictated, her father sold his property and “realized but little” from the transactions. She added, “My fathers course in joining the mormon religion and sacrificing his property caused his friends of the world to think him insane. They could not see what there was in religion to make a man give up all worldly considerations for it.” Partridge’s willingness to part with both his business and property in the area, however, predated his affiliation with the Church of Christ. On 8 September 1829, the Painesville Telegraph carried a notice of Partridge’s intent to liquidate all of his Ohio assets: “Wishing to quit the Hatting business, and leave Painesville, I now offer my stand for sale, together with an assortment of Stock, Trimings and Tools. My shop is large and commodious, and is pleasantly situated on Main-street near the Public square, and is the only Hat Shop in town. On the lot with the shop, is a convenient dwelling house, barn and an excellent well of water.” Partridge also offered for sale other large parcels of land, including “a farm lying in the south part of Harpersfield, containing 100 acres.” He promised liberal terms to potential purchasers and a willingness to divide the properties and sell them separately. Despite this attempt to sell all and leave Painesville, Partridge stayed and apparently still owned these properties at the time of this revelation.
When Partridge left Painesville for Missouri in June 1831, he still had not disposed of many of these properties and, as his daughter Emily later claimed, he took great losses when they eventually were sold. The hat shop was still open for business in November 1831, and while his hundred-acre farm near Harpersfield, Ohio, had been sold, Partridge received only one horse, with accompanying bridle and saddle, as payment. Some of Partridge’s land remained unsold until March 1832. (Young, “Incidents,” 11–12; Advertisement, Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 8 Sept. 1829, [3]; David Harvey Redfield, Painesville, OH, to Edward Partridge, Independence, MO, 8 Nov. 1831, in Edward Partridge, Papers, CHL; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 15, pp. 331–332, 6 Mar. 1832, microfilm 20,236, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Young, Emily Dow Partridge. “Incidents of the Life of a Mormon Girl,” ca. 1884. CHL. MS 5220.
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Partridge, Edward. Papers, 1818–1839. CHL. MS 892.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
See John 1:47.