Notice, 11 October 1842
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Source Note
on behalf of JS, Notice, , Hancock Co., IL, 11 Oct. 1842. Featured version published in Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1842, vol. 3, no. 24, 957. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
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Historical Introduction
On 11 October 1842, submitted a notice to the Times and Seasons in , Illinois, certifying that JS had reviewed the financial records of the Nauvoo and found them to be in good order. The notice was the result of a 1 October meeting between JS as trustee-in-trust of the ; , , and , the three members of the temple committee; Clayton as temple recorder; and , one of Nauvoo’s . The purpose of the meeting was to investigate rumors and address dissatisfaction among laborers who, as reported in JS’s journal, felt “the committee was not making a righteous disposition of property consecrated for the building of the .” These rumors were almost certainly connected to subsequent charges that the committee members’ sons received preferential treatment and pay. It seems that discontent over these reports caused some Latter-day Saints to withhold their in the form of labor or donations. To address this problem, JS had “sent for the Temple Committee to balance their accounts and ascertain how the Temple business was going on.”In their meeting, JS reviewed the financial books kept by , interviewed the committee members, and then “expressed himself perfectly satisfied” with the committee’s conduct. However, perhaps recognizing that the committee needed additional help or supervision over their finances, during the meeting JS also directed that ’s office be moved “to the committee house near the Temple.” At the close of the meeting, in an apparent attempt to reassure tithe payers that they could trust the committee with their donations, JS promised to publish a notice expressing his satisfaction with the committee.On 11 October, prepared the notice of support for the temple committee as directed by JS. In composing the notice, Clayton seems to have drawn on some of the language in the account of the 1 October meeting found in JS’s journal, which was also kept by Clayton. He concluded this public account of the meeting by encouraging the Saints to continue providing donations and labor for the construction of the . The notice appeared in the 15 October 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. In response to the October 1842 decision described in this notice, the temple committee built “a small brick office” somewhere near the temple site, and Clayton transferred his office to this new building on 2 November 1842. In mid-November, shortly after he moved into his new office, Clayton and his assistant, , took over the committee’s daybooks from and transferred the accounts into a new, more organized ledger. Despite JS’s intentions, the notice did not end the controversy over the temple committee’s actions, which continued to circulate among those working on the temple until at least April 1843.
Footnotes
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1
JS, Journal, 1 Oct. 1842; see also Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 33–35.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
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2
See Historical Introduction to Letter to “Hands in the Stone Shop,” 21 Dec. 1842.
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3
At least one individual employed by the temple committee attributed the lack of donations to opposition to the secret doctrine of plural marriage in addition to rumors of financial misconduct. (Joseph Hovey, Autobiography, July 1868, Obituary Notices and Biographies, CHL; see also “The Temple,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1842, 3:938.)
Obituary Notices and Biographies, 1854–1877. CHL.
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5
Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 32–35; JS, Journal, 1 Oct. 1842.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
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7
Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 35.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
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8
Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 35; see also Daybook B, 1841–1843, and Ledger B, 1842–1845, Nauvoo Temple Building Committee, Records, CHL.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
Nauvoo Temple Building Committee Records, 1841–1852. CHL.
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9
See, for example, Letter to “Hands in the Stone Shop,” 21 Dec. 1842; and JS, Journal, 6 and 7 Apr. 1843.
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1
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