Footnotes

1. [1]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 19.

2. [2]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 11; Knight, Reminiscences, 5. Though JS recalled that Samuel Smith then returned to Palmyra, he likely remained in Harmony until at least 6 April, when he signed and witnessed a land agreement between JS and Isaac Hale. During this time he worked as a farm laborer and briefly served as JS’s scribe. (JS History, vol. A-1, 18–19; Agreement with Isaac Hale, 6 Apr. 1829; Hale, Ledger, 20 Mar. 1829, p. [19]; JS History, ca. Summer 1832, [6].)

   Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

   Hale, David. Ledger, 1827–1869. David and Ira P. Hale, Papers, 1827–1888. BYU.

3. [3]

   Revelation, Feb. 1829 [D&C 4].

4. [4]

   In accounts written in 1834 and 1838–1839, Cowdery and JS respectively described receiving authority to baptize from a resurrected John the Baptist. (Oliver Cowdery, Norton, OH, to William W. Phelps, 7 Sept. 1834, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:15–16; JS History, vol. A-1, 17–18.)

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

5. [5]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 19.

6. [6]

   Revelation, Feb. 1829 [D&C 4:3].

7. [7]

   Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:1–9]; see also Revelation, Apr. 1829–B [D&C 8]; and Revelation, Apr. 1829–D [D&C 9].

8. [8]

   See JS History, vol. A-1, 17–21. David Whitmer later said that the translation completed at his “father’s occupied about one month, that is from June 1 to July 1, 1829.” The nearly hundred-mile trip to Fayette would have taken roughly three days. (“Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1].)

   Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.

9. [9]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 18–19. JS’s history reported that Oliver Cowdery baptized Samuel Smith “on the [blank] day of that same month [May].” James Mulholland, JS’s scribe for the history, left this blank space, but it was later filled by the insertion “twenty fifth” in what appears to be the handwriting of Thomas Bullock, who began clerking in JS’s office on 16 June 1844 and was Willard Richards’s main scribe for JS’s history in 1845. Concerning Samuel’s baptism, Lucy Mack Smith wrote that he was baptized the same day as JS and Cowdery. She was not present for Samuel’s baptism, however, and because JS was, the latter’s first-person account takes precedence. If the insertion in the history is correct, this revelation was dictated sometime after 25 May. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 8, [4].)

10. [10]

    “Mormonism,” Kansas City Daily Journal, 5 June 1881, [1]; JS History, vol. A-1, 23.

    Kansas City Daily Journal. Kansas City, MO. 1878–1891.