Letter from the Presidency of Elders, 29 January 1836
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Source Note
, , , and , Letter, , Geauga Co., OH, to JS, [, Geauga Co., OH], 29 Jan. 1836. Featured version copied [ca. 29 Jan. 1836] in JS, Journal, 1835–1836, p. 145; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, 1835–1836.
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Historical Introduction
At a grand council on 15 January 1836, as they filled vacancies in the several , JS and other leaders appointed a for the . , who had arrived in , Ohio, from , Livingston County, New York, on 11 January 1836, received a unanimous vote to officiate as president of the Kirtland quorum of elders. JS, , and then ordained him to that position.Following his appointment, worked to organize the elders and prepare them to receive the promised of power. At a meeting of the Kirtland elders on 25 January 1836, , , and gave instructions respecting the elders’ preparation to receive the “holy .” At that meeting, Beman chose and as his counselors; he then “organized the quorum according to age” and recorded their names. On 28 January, JS “assisted in anointing the counsellors of the President of the Elders & gave them the instruction necessary for the occasion” so that they could anoint others in the quorum. The next day, Beman, Hedlock, and Morton, with as their clerk, wrote to the church’s seeking further clarity about putting the elders quorum in order as JS had directed. They wrote specifically requesting instruction on receiving and ordaining new candidates to the office of elder. Though no written response from the First Presidency has been found, JS and other leaders may have had this letter in mind at a conference of the church presidency the next day, when they passed a resolution “that no one be ordained to an office in the Church in Kirtland without the voice of the several quorums when assembled for church business.”copied the letter from the presidency of elders into JS’s journal sometime before 8 February 1836, when resumed his scribal duties.
Footnotes
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1
Minutes, 13 Jan. 1836; JS, Journal, 15 Jan. 1836; Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 30 Jan. 1836.
Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.
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2
JS’s journal incorrectly states that Beman lived in Genesee County, New York, at this time. Mary A. Noble, Beman’s daughter, and county deed records indicate that Beman resided in Avon, Livingston County, approximately twenty-five miles from Batavia, the seat of Genesee County. (JS, Journal, 11 and 15 Jan. 1836; Noble and Noble, Reminiscences, [2]; Livingston Co., NY, Deed Records, 1820–1901, vol. 8, p. 593, 22 Jan. 1831, microfilm 510,038, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Minutes, 13 Jan. 1836; Minutes, 15 Jan. 1836.)
Noble, Joseph B., and Mary Adeline Beman Noble. Reminiscences, ca. 1836. CHL. MS 1031, fd. 1.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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3
JS, Journal, 21–23 Jan. 1836; Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 30 Jan.–6 Feb. 1836; Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:32, 38].
Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.
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4
Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 25 Jan. 1836. The “ordinance of annointing our heads with holy oil” was a ritual to prepare men who had been ordained to priesthood office to receive the promised endowment of power at the solemn assembly. (JS, Journal, 21 Jan. 1836; Whitmer, History, 83; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:70].)
Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.
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5
Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 25 Jan. 1836.
Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.
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6
JS, Journal, 28 Jan. 1836; Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 28 Jan. 1836.
Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.
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7
JS, Journal, 21–22, 25, 28, and 30 Jan. 1836.
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9
JS, Journal, 8 Feb. 1836; see also Letter from Warren Parrish, 25 Jan. 1836.
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