Footnotes
Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:2–3] .
According to Ezra Booth, the arriving elders “expected to find a large Church, which Smith said, was revealed to him in a vision, Oliver had raised up there.” Instead, they found a congregation consisting of only “three or four females.” For Booth, who left the church in fall 1831, this disappointment was difficult to overcome. Apparently, seven people had actually been baptized in Jackson County by this time, including Joshua Lewis and other members of his family. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. V,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 10 Nov. 1831, [3]; Knight, Reminiscences, 9; Whitmer, Journal, Dec. 1831, [1].)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
Whitmer, Peter, Jr. Journal, Dec. 1831. CHL. MS 5873.
Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41:10]; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:6, 15]; Revelation, 8 June 1831 [D&C 53:4].
Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1832; Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 24 Nov. 1831, [1]. In March 1832, Partridge admitted in a conference in Missouri that he had a disagreement with JS sometime prior to “a Conference held on this land at which our brs. Edward & Sidney were present face to face”—most likely the 4 August 1831 conference. “If Br. Joseph has not forgiven him he hopes he will,” the minutes of this meeting state, “as he is & has always been sorry.” (Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1832.)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
The heading that precedes this revelation in Revelation Book 1 records that this revelation was “given to the elders who were assembeled on the land of Zion.”
Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:16] .
Booth, who had become disaffected from the church, quoted a portion of the revelation pertaining to Partridge word for word in a 20 September 1831 letter to Partridge, which indicates that Booth possessed a copy. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1].)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 221.
Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.
See Jeremiah 31:34; and Hebrews 8:12.
Apparently, not all elders were appointed to move to Missouri at this time. Later in this revelation, the elders were told to supervise the gathering, while a later revelation clarified that JS would have “power that he shall be enabled to descern by the spirit those who shall go up unto the land of Zion & those of my Desiples that shall tarry.” (Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:41].)
See Deuteronomy 33:17.
The 6 June 1831 revelation similarly instructed elders journeying to Missouri to “preach the word by the way.” (Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:25–27].)
A 9 February 1831 revelation giving the “Laws of the Church of Christ” instructed the elders to build up churches in the “regions westward.” (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:8]; see also Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:64].)
This directive, which immediately followed the instruction to build up churches betweenMissouri and Ohio, apparently called for the appointment of a new financial agent, because Sidney Gilbert, the previously appointed agent, was now permanently stationed in Missouri. When this revelation was published in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, the phrase “unto the church in Ohio, to receive moneys to purchase lands in Zion” was added at this point in the text. Shortly after returning to Ohio, Newel K. Whitney was appointed as a church agent. (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, 1835 ed.; Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:42–45].)
A later JS history recounts that after this revelation’s dictation, “we sought for all the information necessary” to compose “a description of the land of Zion.” However, the description that Rigdon composed was not acceptable because he had “received not counsel but grieved the spirit.” A 30 August 1831 revelation instructed him to try again, warning that “if the Lord receive it not behold he standeth no longer in the office which he hath appointed him.” His second attempt was apparently accepted. (JS History, vol. A-1, 137; Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:55–56]; Sidney Rigdon, Kirtland, OH, to “the Saints,” 31 Aug. 1831, copy, Sidney Rigdon Collection, CHL.)
Rigdon, Sidney. Collection, 1831–1858. CHL. MS 713.
The Howe copy omits “to be presented.”
The Howe copy omits “verily I say unto you.”
The 20 July 1831 revelation instructed the Saints to purchase the lot for the temple, the land between the temple and the state border, land along the border, and additional land “in all the regions round about.” (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:4–6].)
The Howe copy omits “let them do this.”
A revelation dictated later in August explained that the Saints were to purchase the lands so that they could have legal claim to them. Without such legal claim, the revelation stated, people would be “stired up unto anger” against the church, even unto “the shedding of blood.” (Revelation, 30 Aug. 1831 [D&C 63:27–29].)
Phelps later explained that this meant determining and making known “how many can be accommodated” in Missouri. (“The Elders in the Land of Zion to the Church of Christ Scattered Abroad,” The Evening and the Morning Star, July 1832, [5].)
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
See Isaiah 52:12.
The Howe copy reads “which they shall receive.”
This conference was held on 4 August. (Minutes, 4 Aug. 1831.)