Authorization for John P. Greene, circa 6 May 1839
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Source Note
JS, Authorization, for , , Adams Co., IL, [ca. 6 May 1839]. Featured version copied [between 29 May and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, p. 45; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.
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Historical Introduction
Following a meeting held in , Illinois, on 6 May 1839, JS signed an authorization for , reflecting the conference’s resolution that he travel to “and preside over the there, and in the regions round about.” A was organized in the city in early 1838 by missionary , and subsequent growth in the area required experienced leadership. Greene’s previous appointments in the church prepared him to oversee the church in the eastern . After being in April 1832, Greene presided over branches in and ; served on the , Ohio, ; and proselytized in New York, Ohio, and . He later moved to , Missouri, where he served on the high council. Following the 1838 conflict between church members and other Missourians, he migrated to , where he became a principal liaison between the Saints and the Democratic Association of Quincy, an organization composed of influential non-Mormons who raised money for the indigent Saints.’s authorization was inscribed by , who also recorded the minutes for the 6 May meeting at which Greene received his appointment. Mulholland began the authorization with a slightly altered version of the resolution inscribed in the meeting minutes. The authorization also includes more information on Greene’s appointment and a description of his character. Additionally, the authorization directs Greene to collect donations to assist Latter-day Saint refugees who recently migrated from . JS, who presided at the 6 May meeting, signed the original authorization, which is apparently not extant. Mulholland inscribed a copy in JS Letterbook 2 sometime between 29 May and 30 October 1839.In summer and fall 1839, gave public presentations in and on the Saints’ sufferings and raised money for Mormon refugees. Upon his arrival in in August 1839, he met with church members and presented his “letter from the Presidency of the church . . . recommending Elder Green[e] as a man of God, and worthy of all confidence.” The New York Saints sustained Greene as their . At a conference held later that month in , New Jersey, Greene met with representatives of church branches in , New Hampshire, , and . Greene presented to them his authorization from the , and the representatives sustained him as their president.
Footnotes
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2
New York City Branch History, [1]; see also Givens and Grow, Parley P. Pratt, 120–129.
New York City Branch History, no date. In High Priests Quorum Record, 1844–1845. CHL.
Givens, Terryl L., and Matthew J. Grow. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
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3
Greene, “Biographical Sketch of the Life and Travels of John Portenus Greene,” 1–2; Minutes, 7–8 Apr. 1838; Greene, Facts relative to the Expulsion, iii–iv, 8–9; Bennett, “Study of the Mormons in Quincy,” 87–91. By November 1839, there were about two hundred Latter-day Saints in New York City and surrounding areas in the state. (New York City Branch History, [6].)
Greene, Evan Melbourne. “A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Travels of John Portenus Greene,” 1857. CHL. MS 15390.
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.
Bennett, Richard E. “‘Quincy the Home of Our Adoption’: A Study of the Mormons in Quincy, Illinois, 1838–1840.” In A City of Refuge: Quincy, Illinois, edited by Susan Easton Black and Richard E. Bennett, 83–105. Salt Lake City: Millennial Press, 2000.
New York City Branch History, no date. In High Priests Quorum Record, 1844–1845. CHL.
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4
Mulholland copied his own 29 May 1839 letter to Edward Partridge on page 15 of JS Letterbook 2, making that the earliest likely copying date for documents he subsequently copied but that had dates preceding 29 May.
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5
Letter from John P. Greene, 30 June 1839; Pratt, Late Persecution of the Church, 159–163.
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6
New York City Branch History, [5]; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, Jan. 1840, 1:44; John P. Greene, Monmouth Co., NJ, to Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Sept. 1839, in Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:28–29; Greene, “Biographical Sketch of the Life and Travels of John Portenus Greene,” 4.
New York City Branch History, no date. In High Priests Quorum Record, 1844–1845. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Greene, Evan Melbourne. “A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Travels of John Portenus Greene,” 1857. CHL. MS 15390.
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