Minutes, , Cuyahoga Co., OH, 25–26 Oct. 1831. Featured version copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, pp. 10–15; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
Historical Introduction
On 25–26 October 1831, the church held a general in ’s house in , Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The participants included twelve men who had previously been to the , seventeen , four , three , four , and according to a later JS history, “a large congregation” of additional members of the church. The business of the conference included ordinations to various offices, preaching by some of the participants, and the sharing of testimonies of the Book of Mormon. JS himself declined during the meeting to give details of “the coming forth” of the Book of Mormon. The conference also provided new converts a chance to meet JS and other prominent elders. , for example, wrote in his journal that he “first saw brother Joseph the Seer, also brothers , & and a great many other Elders” at the conference. Many of those present publicly declared their commitment to the church and to God, which, according to McLellin, provided “much spiritual edification & comfort.” recounted that he “received much instruction and was highly edified and blessed of the Lord during the conference.”
This was the first general conference since members of the church had been ordained to the high priesthood in June 1831, and it provided an opportunity for JS and to offer instruction concerning the power of that priesthood. Minutes of the June 1831 meeting do not provide much information about what was said to those ordained to the high priesthood, making it difficult to assess how the ordination was understood at that time. But , who was present at the June conference, later recalled a conversation he had in January 1832 with , who ordained several individuals to the high priesthood at the June conference. Speaking about the priesthood, Hancock remarked that “neither of us understood what it was.” “I did not understand it,” wrote Hancock, “and he [Wight] could give me no light.”
Although no lengthy discussion on high priesthood is captured in the record, the 25–26 October minutes show that JS and provided some instruction to conference attendees. According to the minutes, JS and Rigdon viewed those elders holding the high priesthood as having powers that other elders did not have. The minutes suggest that willingness to relinquish all to God may have been a requirement to obtain the high priesthood and its power “to seal up the Saints unto eternal life.” Accordingly, some participants in the 25–26 October conference made or renewed a covenant to consecrate all to God. Nearly all who did so had been previously ordained to the high priesthood or were ordained at the conference.
The conference also considered business discussed in prior meetings. At an 11 October gathering, for example, had moved that six elders be appointed “to visit the several branches of this church setting them in order” and to raise money for JS and so they could devote themselves to the Bible revision. and had been assigned to these tasks, and this 25–26 October conference appointed four others to assist. The conference provided instructions on proselytizing as well, perhaps as a result of a declaration in a 1 October conference that the elders were “to go forth and warn the inhabitants of the earth of the things known in the Church of Christ in these last days.” Several elements of the conference—including ordinations, discussions of how the needs of missionaries’ families would be met, and instruction on the high priesthood and consecration—seemed to foreshadow an increase in missionary labor. The conference was followed by a public preaching meeting, as the concluding minutes indicate.
served as clerk of the conference and took the minutes. entered these minutes into Minute Book 2 in 1838.
JS History, vol. A-1, 156. Although the minutes list four priests in attendance, John Whitmer wrote that five priests were present. (Whitmer, History, 38.)
McLellin, Journal, 25–26 Oct. 1831; Whitmer, History, 38; “History of Luke Johnson,” 3, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL. Luke Johnson’s history states that the eleven witnesses to the Book of Mormon, “with uplifted hands, bore their solemn testimony to the truth of that book; as did also the Prophet Joseph.” Although the conference clearly included testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and although many of the eleven witnesses who attested to the existence of the gold plates were present, the minutes of the conference do not reflect the particular event Johnson describes. Of the eleven, neither Christian Whitmer, who held the office of elder, nor Hiram Page, who held the office of teacher, was present at the commencement of the conference when the names of attending priesthood officers were recorded. There is no indication that Jacob Whitmer, another of the eleven witnesses, attended. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831; Minutes, 6 Sept. 1831.)
McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
McLellin, Journal, 25–26 Oct. 1831. Joel Johnson also recounted that he first saw JS at the conference. (Johnson, Autobiography, 2.)
McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
Johnson, Joel H. Autobiography, ca. 1882. Photocopy. CHL. MS 15025.
McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
The minutes include parenthetical redactions that were probably added after the creation of the original document. (See the source note for Minute Book 2.)
Minutes of a held at the dwelling of br. in the Town of , Cuyahoga County, Ohio, October 25, 1831.
Names of those ordained to the
Joseph Smith jr.
(Died.)
(cut off.)
John Smith ( taken)
Edward Johnson (denied the faith)
Benjamine Carpenter (not felloshiped
(cut off)
Hiram Griffith
Silvester Parker, (left the church)
and
Prayer by br , Glorious things, were then sung Br arose & said that he wished to make a few observations connected with the object of our assembling our selves together, When God works all may know it, for he always answers the prayers of the Savior for he makes his children one, for he by his Holy Spirit binds their hearts from Earth to Heaven; And in this thing God had taught his children to sing a new song even about which David Spoke of, &c, God always bears testimony by his presence in counsil to his Elders when they assemble themselves in perfect faith and humble themselves before the Lord and their wills being swallowed up in the will of God [p. 10]
Psalm 149:1–2 describes Israel and Zion singing a new song and rejoicing in God. Several other psalms refer either to singing a new song or to Zion. (See, for example, Psalms 40:3; 137:3; 146:10.)