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Minutes, 10 November 1837

Source Note

Minutes, , Caldwell Co., MO, 10 Nov. 1837. Featured version copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, p. 86; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.

Historical Introduction

On 10 November 1837, officers met in , Missouri, to receive instruction from JS and regarding the acquisition of additional lands, the expansion of the city of Far West, and other church matters. A central topic of the meeting was the of the Saints and the need for establishing additional Latter-day Saint settlements, or new of . Finding locations for those settlements was one of JS’s and Rigdon’s reasons for traveling to Far West.
At the beginning of the meeting, read a memorial issued by , Ohio, and his counselors on 18 September, which discussed recent struggles in Kirtland, the gathering of the Saints, and the decision made on 17 September to create additional stakes of Zion. Rigdon then spoke on taking appropriate steps to create more cities and provide remuneration for those who were purchasing lands for church members. Conflicts had arisen in obtaining land for the church in , Missouri, when and made decisions regarding land purchases and building sites without consulting other church leaders. The two also faced criticism for using funds raised for the redemption of Zion to purchase the land in their own names and then keeping the profits rather than providing those funds to bishop . As JS and Rigdon prepared to organize more areas for church members to settle, Rigdon’s instructions were intended to ensure that those involved in purchasing land would be repaid and that the land and the proceeds from land sales would be used for the benefit of the church and community and not for the profit of individual church members.
The 10 November meeting also focused on the church ’ proselytizing efforts. introduced to the Saints in the church’s newly published newspaper, the Elders’ Journal, of which JS served as editor. According to its prospectus, the paper was intended to “be a vehicle of communication for all the elders of the church of Latter Day Saints, through which they can communicate to others, all things pertaining to their mission, and calling as servants of the living God.” Later in the meeting, the assembled men were asked to volunteer if they were able to travel and preach, a request similar to one delivered in an elders’ meeting held in on 17 September 1837. The twenty-three men who volunteered at this 10 November meeting may have received instructions akin to those given to the Kirtland elders regarding where they should travel, but did not record any such directions in the meeting minutes.
Before leaving to return to , JS and conferred with church leaders in and determined that there was room in the vicinity of Far West in to accommodate the church members planning to settle there. Accordingly, the Far West and the church’s voted that “other Stakes be appointed in the regions round about, therefore a committee was appointed to locate the same; consisting of , , , and .” Members of that committee promptly began surveying land in northwest Missouri for these new stakes of Zion.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This memorial was printed as a broadside and was also included in the September issue of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. (To the Saints Scattered Abroad, the Bishop and His Counselors of Kirtland Send Greeting [Kirtland, OH: 18 Sept. 1837], CHL; Newel K. Whitney et al., Kirtland, OH, to “the Saints Scattered Abroad,” 18 Sept. 1837, in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1837, 3:561–564.)

    To the Saints Scattered Abroad, the Bishop and His Counselors of Kirtland Send Greeting. [Kirtland, OH: 18 Sept. 1837]. CHL.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  2. [2]

    “T. B. Marsh,” [2], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; Minute Book 2, pp. 68–73. For more on charges against Whitmer and Phelps, see Historical Introduction to Revelation, 4 Sept. 1837.

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

  3. [3]

    See Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837.

  4. [4]

    Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Aug. 1837, 3:545.

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

  5. [5]

    See Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–B.

  6. [6]

    Travel Account and Questions, Nov. 1837; Minutes, 6 Nov. 1837.

  7. [7]

    JS also noted that the members of this committee “started on their mission before we left.” By December 1837 the committee included Cowdery, Wight, David W. Patten, and Frederick G. Williams. Cowdery reported his efforts to survey land and determine new locations for the Saints in a 21 January 1838 letter. (Travel Account and Questions, Nov. 1837; Minute Book 2, 6–7 Dec. 1837; Letter from Oliver Cowdery, 21 Jan. 1838.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 10 November 1837
Minute Book 2 Elders’ Journal, November 1837 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 86

. Tuesday, Nov. 10. 1837.
At a general meeting of the of the in this place, opened the meeting by prayer, and Pres’t. read the memorial of the of , and his counsellors, to the churches abroad of Sept. 18th. 1837. He then laid before the meeting the subject of laying off Cities, of consecrating for public purposes, and for remunerating those who appoint and lay them off, &c. When it was unanimously voted that all city plotts hereafter laid off, after remunerating those for their labors who may be engaged in appointing and laying off the same, shall be consecrated for the public benefit of the church— for building houses for public worship, or such other purposes as the church shall say.
then read the prospectus of the “Elders’ Journal,”— which was unanimously received. It was then also unanimously voted that the persons present use their exertions to support said paper.
It was then voted that the town of be enlarged so that it contain four sections— that is, two miles square.
Voted, that and his counsellors be appointed a committee to appraise the land adjacent to the present Town Plott, see that it is enlarged according to the above vote, provided the present holders of the lands will take such a price for the same, as the above appraisers shall think worth, and that the same be then disposed of as is voted above.
A call was then made for those whose circumstances were such as to permit, to go out to preach, to present themselves. These were twenty-three who arose.
Sylvester H. Earl, , and John W. Clark, were ordained Elders, and William J. Lemans was ordained a .
then closed the meeting by prayer.
Clerk—. [p. 86]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 86

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 10 November 1837
ID #
7526
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:472–476
Handwriting on This Page
  • Ebenezer Robinson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The same request for support is found in the prospectus for the Elders’ Journal. Rigdon may have emphasized the need for support because of the debts of the printing office, many of which were the result of subscribers of the Messenger and Advocate failing to make payments. (Sidney Rigdon, Elders’ Journal Prospectus, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 1837, 3:573; Elders’ Journal, Oct. 1837; Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837.)

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  2. [2]

    The original town plot purchased by John Whitmer and William W. Phelps was one square mile and was divided into 121 blocks of land. Phelps and Whitmer signed and acknowledged a plat for the town plot before Elias Higbee, a justice of the Caldwell County court, on 13 April 1837. (See “Description of Far West Plat,” copy, Brigham Young University and Church History and Doctrine Department, Church History Project Collection, CHL; and Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 121.)

    “Description of Far West Plat,” 1837. Brigham Young University and Church History and Doctrine Department, Church History Project Collection, 1977–1981. Photocopy. CHL. Original at State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia.

    Cannon, Donald Q., and Lyndon W. Cook, eds. Far West Record: Minutes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1844. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.

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