Minutes, 7 November 1837
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Source Note
Minutes, , Caldwell Co., MO, 7 Nov. 1837. Featured version copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, pp. 82–85; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 7 November 1837 members in , Missouri, gathered to vote on church leaders and conduct other matters of church business. A similar meeting had been held in , Ohio, on 3 September 1837, during which several men were removed and replaced as church leaders. In his remarks on 7 November, discussed the 3 September reorganization of the church, after which moderator read the minutes of that meeting to the congregation.In a departure from earlier church voting practices, which usually included only men who had been to the , all those in attendance were asked to vote, including women and unordained men. Some members of the assembled congregation objected to several individuals, including , , , and , who held leadership positions within the church. Ultimately, however, only Williams was removed from his position, as a counselor to JS in the ; was unanimously approved to replace him. Despite some objections raised against two members of the , other church leaders were unanimously chosen to retain their current positions, including the members of the who had been objected to in on 3 September.
Footnotes
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2
Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837. Although they had been sustained in Kirtland on 3 September 1837, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith Sr., and John Smith were not presented to the Far West congregation on 7 November for a vote on their positions as assistant presidents or assistant counselors in the church presidency. Nonetheless, the three men appear to have retained their positions at this time. (Minute Book 1, 7 and 30 Nov. 1837; Minute Book 2, 12 Apr. 1838; “Conference Minutes,” Elders’ Journal, Aug. 1838, 61.)
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
See Hebrews 4:16.
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3
The letter referenced by Lyman Wight and Edward Partridge is not extant.
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4
The reasons for objecting to Frederick G. Williams were not specified. In late May 1837, Abel Lamb and others mentioned Williams as one whose conduct had been “injurious to the church of God.” Williams’s sentiments may have been in line with other dissenters in Kirtland during the spring and summer of 1837, though he was sustained as a counselor in the First Presidency at the 3 September meeting. (Letter from Abel Lamb and Others, ca. 28 May 1837; Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.)
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5
The subject of Williams’s standing was again brought before church members in Kirtland at a general assembly on 17 December 1837. Nothing was done at that meeting to “reinstate Frederick G. Williams in the First Presidency.” (George W. Robinson, Kirtland, OH, to Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, 10 Jan. 1838, CHL; Williams, Life of Dr. Frederick G. Williams, 528–531.)
Robinson, George W. Letter, Kirtland, OH, to Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, 10 Jan. 1838. CHL.
Williams, Frederick G. The Life of Dr. Frederick G. Williams, Counselor to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2012.
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6
The reasons for objecting to David Whitmer were not specified at this time. Thomas B. Marsh later wrote that the “church has had much sorrow . . . on account of the unfaithfulness” of Whitmer and others. (Thomas B. Marsh to Wilford Woodruff, in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 38.)
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7
The word “expression” here may mean “expression in support of.”
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8
The document is not extant. While the charges read by Marsh are not specified, they may have been related to allegations of earlier mismanagement of affairs in Far West by John Whitmer and Phelps. Marsh borrowed money from Saints in Tennessee and Kentucky in summer 1836, which was then used by Whitmer and Phelps to purchase land in Caldwell County. Marsh may have personally borrowed the money, and thus been liable for its repayment, or he may have felt a responsibility for the money to be used solely for the benefit of Zion and then repaid to the Kentucky and Tennessee Saints. Although the council ruled that Whitmer and Phelps were to transfer the original town plat and a portion of common land to Bishop Edward Partridge, the two men remained involved with selling land in Far West. (“History of Thomas Baldwin Marsh,” 5 [draft 4], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; Minute Book 2, 68–73; Historical Introduction to Revelation, 4 Sept. 1837.)
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
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9
TEXT: The text from this point forward was written at a later time. Hinkle was a commissioned colonel in the Missouri state militia. (Document Containing the Correspondence, 34, 73–74, 100; Baugh, Call to Arms, 101–102.)
Document Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &c., in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons; and the Evidence Given before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-House in Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12, 1838, on the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others, for High Treason and Other Crimes against the State. Fayette, MO: Boon’s Lick Democrat, 1841.
Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).
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10
At the 3 September 1837 meeting in Kirtland, the congregation voted to reject Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson, and John F. Boynton as members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Unlike other men who were removed from their church positions at that meeting, the three members of the Twelve were not replaced on 3 September. A week later, each of the men confessed his errors and was restored to full fellowship in the church as well as his position within the Twelve, as their inclusion in the voting on 7 November suggests. (Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.)
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11
Isaac Morley had served as a counselor to Partridge since June 1831. Titus Billings was voted to replace John Corrill as a “Bishop’s Counsellor” at a general meeting of Missouri church leaders on 1 August 1837. This vote confirmed the Missouri leaders’ earlier decision. Corrill had served as a counselor since June 1831. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831; Minute Book 2, 1 Aug. 1837.)
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12
Corrill had been nominated by the Missouri presidency and voted to be “an agent to the Church and Keeper of the Lords’ store House” at a Far West high council meeting on 22 May 1837. (Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831; Minute Book 2, 3 June 1831 and 22 May 1837.)
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13
Morley was the first ordained patriarch for the church in Missouri and the second ordained patriarch in the church. Joseph Smith Sr. continued to serve in his role as church patriarch in Kirtland at this time.
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14
TEXT: The text from this point forward was written at a still later time.
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15
Strict adherence to the church’s dietary code known as the “Word of Wisdom” was not universally practiced at this time. In undated minutes, possibly circa May 1837, the Far West high council had resolved to withdraw fellowship from “any ordained member who will or does not observe the word of Wisdom according to its litteral reading.” In June 1837 the high council resolved not to uphold any man associated with the business of selling alcohol in Far West, but it did not limit personal use. Failure to observe the Word of Wisdom was one of the charges brought against David Whitmer when he was tried and excommunicated in 1838. (Historical Introduction to Revelation, 27 Feb. 1833; Minute Book 2, p. 71, underlining in original; 11 June 1837; 13 Apr. 1838; JS History, vol. B-1, 761–762; Synopsis of David Whitmer Trial, 13 Apr. 1838.)
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16
For more on the reorganization of the presidents of the Quorum of the Seventy, see Historical Introduction to Discourse, 6 Apr. 1837; and Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.
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17
For more on discussions of the gathering of the Saints to Missouri, see Historical Introduction to Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837; and Historical Introduction to Minutes, 10 Nov. 1837.