Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - The Joseph Smith papers. Council of Fifty, Minutes: march 1844-january 1846

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Art direction: Richard Erickson.
Cover design: Scott Eggers. Interior design: Richard Erickson and Scott M. Mooy.
Typography: Alison Palmer.
E-book: Ben Ellis Godfrey.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Council of Fifty (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), author. | Grow, Matthew J., editor. | Esplin, Ronald K., editor. | Ashurst-McGee, Mark, editor. | Dirkmaat, Gerrit John, editor. | Mahas, Jeffrey D., 1986 editor. | Smith, Joseph, Jr., 18051844. Joseph Smith papers.
Title: Council of Fifty minutes, March 1844January 1846 / Matthew J. Grow, Ronald K. Esplin, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Jeffrey D. Mahas, volume editors.Description: Salt Lake City: The Church Historians Press, [2016] | 2016 |
Series: Joseph Smith papers. | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016006296 (print) | LCCN 2016008138 (ebook) | ISBN 9781629722429 (hardbound: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781629734439 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Council of Fifty (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)HistorySources. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsHistory19th centurySources. | Mormon ChurchHistory19th centurySources. | Corporate minutes. | LCGFT: Minutes (Records)
Classification: LCC BX8611.C665 2016 (print) | LCC BX8611 (ebook) | DDC 262/.09dc23LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016006296

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

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Contents

Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844January 1846

Reference Material

Organizational Charts

Illustrations and Maps

Textual Illustrations

Contextual Illustrations

Maps

Other Visuals

The Joseph Smith Papers

Church History Department Executives

Steven E. Snow

Richard E. Turley Jr.

Reid L. Neilson

Director of Publications

Matthew J. Grow

Managing Historian

Matthew C. Godfrey

Associate Managing Historian

Robin Scott Jensen

National Advisory Board

Richard Lyman Bushman

Terryl L. Givens

Dean C. Jessee

Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp

Susan Holbrook Perdue

Stephen J. Stein

Harry S. Stout

Editorial Manager

R. Eric Smith

Associate Editorial Managers

Nathan N. Waite

Riley M. Lorimer

Senior Research and Review Editor

Richard L. Jensen

Contributors to This Volume

Editorial Staff

R. Eric Smith, Lead Editor

Rachel Osborne

Shannon Kelly

Document Specialists

Kay Darowski

Joseph F. Darowski

Joseph Smiths residences. Joseph Smiths major places of residence and the general direction of his migrations. (Design by John Hamer.)

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Detailed Contents

Part 1: MarchJune 1844

Part 2: FebruaryMay 1845

Part 3: SeptemberOctober 1845

Part 4: January 1846

Appendixes

SERIES INTRODUCTION

Joseph Smiths Administrative Records

Joseph Smiths youthful quest for personal redemption and religious truth resulted, according to his accounts, in a series of revelatory experiences that thrust him into leadership of a new religious movement. The fourteen years from the organization of the church in 1830 to Smiths death in 1844 were turbulent times for its adherents, fraught with violent external opposition and major episodes of internal dissension. Yet a remarkably resilient core of people and practices developed and flourished. Outside observers were sometimes surprised at what they saw as the churchs cohesiveness.

Key to understanding Joseph Smiths leadership and his governance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an extensive array of records created for administrative purposes that constitute the Administrative Records series of The Joseph Smith Papers. Although record keeping was sometimes inconsistent and incomplete, especially in the early years of the churchs existence, Smith and other church leaders persisted in their attempts to create and preserve records. These efforts undoubtedly contributed to the growth, survival, and vitality of the church.

The administrative records are a complicated and sometimes confusing body of materials, reflecting both the complexity of the churchs organizational structure as it developed over Joseph Smiths administration and the difficult circumstances under which the record keepers labored. The series includes records of the organizations in which Joseph Smith was involved as an administrator, records that were housed in his office, and records of meetings and initiatives in which he played a large part, such as church conferences and his 1844 presidential campaign. Among the records are books of certificates and licenses that he signed or that were signed by others on his behalf and kept under his direction.

All of these records will be available on the Joseph Smith Papers website, josephsmithpapers.org, and some of the records will be published in print. In addition to the administrative records most closely associated with Joseph Smith, the website provides records of organizations in which Smith had some involvement, including minutes of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (organized in 1835), the Nauvoo high council (1839), and the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo (1842). Excerpts from many of the administrative recordsincluding correspondence, minutes of meetings, and financial documentswill appear, with annotation, in the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers.

A Joseph Smith revelation dating from the formal organization of the church in April 1830 mandated that the church keep records. Church leaders began creating and retaining administrative records almost immediately and continued this effort throughout Smiths lifetime and beyond. The bulk of the Smith-era records were created from 1839 to 1844, when church headquarters were in Nauvoo, Illinois. Fewer records survive from New York, Ohio, and Missouri (each of which was the center of church activity for a time) in part because of the forced evacuation of church members from some of these locations. The creation of additional administrative bodies in Nauvoo provides another reason that more records exist for the churchs sojourn there.

The surviving administrative records can be grouped into various categories, each with its own history of clerks and scribes.

Minutes of Conferences and Councils

The foundational Articles and Covenants of the church directed that church business be conducted in meetings of the churchs elders. Most of the meetings for which Whitmer copied or kept minutes took place in Jackson, Clay, and Caldwell counties, Missouri.

Neither the original minutes nor the bound volume that Whitmer apparently prepared is extant. However, sometime between April and June 1838, Ebenezer Robinson and Levi Richards copied the minutes from Whitmers record into another bound volume. Minutes taken by Robinson from 3 March 1838 through 16 January 1839 and minutes of two June 1844 meetings held in Nauvoo were subsequently copied into the volume.