Footnotes
Revised Minutes, 18–19 Feb. 1834 [D&C 102:3]. Sylvester Smith was not related to JS.
For accounts of these events, see Hancock, Autobiography, 138; George A. Smith, Autobiography, 29; and Minutes, 28–29 Aug. 1834.
Hancock, Levi Ward. Autobiography, 1803–1836. New Mormon Studies CD-ROM: A Comprehensive Resource Library, 2009. CHL.
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
George A. Smith, Autobiography, 35.
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 19.
Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.
Sylvester Smith to Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 28 Oct. 1834, in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:11. Besides the minutes and records of the councils dealing with these accusations, there are no other extant sources detailing Smith’s specific charges against JS.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
John Corrill, a counselor to Bishop Edward Partridge, had accused JS in summer 1832 of abuses of power, for which Corrill was reprimanded by a council of high priests. (Godfrey, “Joseph Smith and Leadership in the Church of Christ,” 25–28. For examples of past accusations by a disaffected church member and by an outsider, see Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1]; and “Interview with the Mormon Prophet,” Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, 5 Apr. 1834, 5:107.)
Faulring, Scott H. “Early Marriages Performed by the Latter-day Saint Elders in Jackson County, Missouri, 1832–1834.” Mormon Historical Studies 2 (Fall 2001): 197–210.Godfrey, Matthew C. “‘Seeking after Monarchal Power and Authority’: Joseph Smith and Leadership in the Church of Christ, 1831–1832.” Mormon Historical Studies 13 (Spring/Fall 2012): 15–37.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate. Utica, NY. 1830–1850.
Revelation, 11 Nov. 1831–B [D&C 107:82].
Sylvester Smith to Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 28 Oct. 1834, in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:10.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Minutes, 23 Aug. 1834; Minutes, 28–29 Aug. 1834; Sylvester Smith to Oliver Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, 28 Oct. 1834, in LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:10–11.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
“Conference Minutes,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1834, 182.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
The “new school-house” was a two-story building with an attic on a lot west of where the House of the Lord was being constructed. The church’s printing office was on the second floor, while school was held on the lower level. A later JS history suggests that the building may not have been completed by August 1834. (“Portion of Kirtland Township, Ohio, 12 January 1838”; Cowdery, Diary, 24 Jan. 1836; 7 Feb. 1836; 5 Mar. 1836; JS History, vol. B-1, 558.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
Sylvester Smith was appointed a member of the Kirtland high council when it was organized in February 1834. (Revised Minutes, 18–19 Feb. 1834 [D&C 102:3].)
Cyrus Smalling may have been another who had “jealousies” toward JS. According to George A. Smith, on the way back from Missouri, Smalling “became offended with some of the brethren at the table, on which Joseph reproved him and showed the brethren the necessity of each one controlling himself and preserving peace with each other.” (George A. Smith, Autobiography, 53–54.)
Smith, George A. Autobiography, ca. 1860–1882. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 1, fd. 2.
Before the Camp of Israel left New Portage, Ohio, for Missouri, participants put “all the money [they] had” into a general fund, out of which expenses were paid. Frederick G. Williams was appointed treasurer of the camp and kept the record of contributions and disbursements from this fund. Because Sylvester Smith charged JS of improprieties in “the distribution of monies and other properties,” Orson Hyde put together two accounts based on Williams’s records: one showing JS’s personal expenses and contributions while on the expedition and one showing the general expenses and contributions of the Camp of Israel. (McBride, Reminiscence, 2; Kimball, “Journal and Record,” 8; Minutes, 28–29 Aug. 1834; Account with the Camp of Israel, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834; Account with the Church of Christ, ca. 11–29 Aug. 1834.)
McBride, Reuben, Sr. Reminiscence, no date. CHL. MS 8197.
Kimball, Heber C. “The Journal and Record of Heber Chase Kimball an Apostle of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” ca. 1842–1858. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 1.
Bracketed correction based on a later JS history containing a copy of these minutes, which clarifies that Rigdon was reproving only Sylvester Smith and not Greene and others: “Elder Rigdon made some remarks, by way of reproof upon the conduct of Sylvester Smith. Elder John P. Green[e] spoke, others also, followed by the clerk.” (JS History, vol. A-1, 531–532.)
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.