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Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, 29 Oct. 1831. Featured version copied [between ca. 30 Oct. 1831 and 15 Nov. 1831]; handwriting of ; two pages; in back of William E. McLellin notebook, “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877”; William E. McLellin, Papers, CHL. Includes redactive pagination.
The revelation is copied on the recto and verso of the fifth of five leaves measuring 6⅛ × 3 ⅝ inches (16 × 9 cm) found in the back of a notebook made up of larger leaves. These smaller leaves, bearing copies of a few revelations, may have originally been a gathering. They were apparently tucked into the back of the larger notebook, although it is possible that they were sewn in. The leaves of the larger notebook measure 7 × 4¼ × ⅛ inches (18 × 11 × ½ cm), and the reddish brown paper cover of the notebook measures 7¼ x 4½ inches (18 × 11 cm). The leaf containing the 29 October 1831 revelation—like the other smaller leaves—has suffered marked browning, brittleness, and wear. The primitive nature of the notebook, the worn edges of the leaves, and the conserved state of the document make the original sewing of the notebook, in general, and the sewing of the 29 October 1831 revelation, in particular, difficult to determine.
The notebook containing the revelation, along with other documents, was apparently inherited by McLellin’s widow, Emeline Miller McLellin, who gave the documents to J. L. Traughber Jr. of Doucette, Texas. Traughber apparently acquired these items in 1884, when he also obtained a copy of the Book of Commandments from McLellin’s widow. Traughber sold the documents to the LDS church in 1908. These documents were kept in the vault of the church’s First Presidency until 1986, when they were loaned to the Historical Department (now Church History Department). Later, custody was permanently transferred to the Church History Library.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Turley, “Provenance of William E. McLellin’s Journals,” 257–261; see also Turley, Victims, 248–250.

    Turley, Richard E., Jr. “The Provenance of William E. McLellin’s Journals.” In The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836, edited by Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, 257–261. Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.

    Turley, Richard E., Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

  2. [2]

    Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 27 Nov. 2012, CHL.

    Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 27 Nov. 2012. CHL.

Historical Introduction

On 29 October 1831, wrote in his journal, “The Lord condecended to hear my prayr and give me a revelation of his will, through his prophet or (Joseph).” McLellin, a recent convert from , Illinois, met JS for the first time at the 25–26 October 1831 in , Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where McLellin was to the . At the conclusion of the conference, he accompanied JS to , Ohio, arriving there on 29 October. McLellin later recalled that on that day, he “went before the Lord in secret, and on my knees asked him to reveal the answer to five questions through his Prophet.” At McLellin’s request, JS dictated a revelation for him, perhaps in the southeast upstairs bedroom of the and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson home, where JS worked on his revision of the Bible. According to McLellin, the revelation answered the questions “to my full and entire satisfaction.” Although McLellin never explained what his five queries were, the revelation’s contents indicate that he was probably concerned about his standing before God and about what the Lord desired him to do.
recounted that he wrote the words of this revelation as JS spoke them. Two copies of the revelation in McLellin’s handwriting exist, but it does not appear that either is the original manuscript. One copy is in McLellin’s journal, probably made soon after the revelation was dictated. The other is the copy in McLellin’s notebook, featured below. McLellin apparently inscribed this copy sometime before 16 November 1831, when he departed on a mission. Three revelations precede the 29 October revelation in McLellin’s notebook, including one dated 30 October 1831, indicating McLellin did not make these copies before that date. McLellin’s journal corroborates this dating, stating that he stayed in from 29 October to 16 November and “read and copyed revelations, &c.” also copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1 sometime before he left for on 20 November.
’s notebook copy appears to be a more complete reflection of the original revelation than either the journal copy or the copy made in Revelation Book 1. The journal copy probably predates the other two versions, but the spelling of certain words (“shew” instead of “show,” which is in the journal copy, for example), the use of contractions, and the lack of punctuation suggest that the copies in McLellin’s notebook and in Revelation Book 1 were derived from a nonextant copy of the original. The notebook version also appears to be more complete than the copy in Revelation Book 1 because the notebook contains an endnote regarding McLellin belonging to the lineage of Ephraim in the Old Testament (a note that also appears in the journal copy).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.

    Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.

  2. [2]

    McLellin, Journal, 26–29 Oct. 1831; see also Minutes, 25–26 Oct. 1831.

    Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.

  3. [3]

    William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 61.

    Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.

  4. [4]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 156.

  5. [5]

    This “translating” room was the largest room upstairs and probably originally the bedroom of John and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson. The Johnsons created a new bedroom by partitioning off a “single large work space on the west end of the second floor” into two smaller rooms while JS was attending the October conference in Orange. Much of the work was done by the time JS and McLellin reached the Johnson home on 29 October, but the partition wall was not plastered until that evening. (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 314.)

    Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.

  6. [6]

    William E. McLellin, Editorial, Ensign of Liberty, Jan. 1848, 61. McLellin noted that these questions “had dwelt upon my mind with anxiety yet with uncertainty.” (McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.)

    Ensign of Liberty. Kirtland, OH. Mar. 1847–Aug. 1849.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  7. [7]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  8. [8]

    Both are fairly clean copies written in small script and with an even hand.

  9. [9]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  10. [10]

    McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct.–16 Nov. 1831.

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  11. [11]

    See Historical Introduction to Revelation Book 1; and Revelation Book 1, pp. 111–112. For the date of Whitmer’s departure, see Whitmer, History, 38.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Revelation, 29 October 1831, as Recorded in McLellin, Journal [D&C 66] *Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66] Revelation Book 1 Revelation Book 2 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] Doctrine and Covenants, 1844 “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [10]

go with <​you​> and forsake him not and give him thine instructions and he that is faithful shall be made strong in every place And I the Lord will go with you. Lay your hands upon the sick and they shall recover. Return not until I the Lord shall send you, Be patien[t] in afflictions. Ask and ye shall receive Knock and it shall be opened unto you Seek not to be cumbered. Forsake all unrighteousness. Commit not adultery, ◊ temptation with which thou hast been troubled. Keep these sayings true and fait[h]ful and thou shalt magnify thine office and push many people to with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads Continue in these things even unto the end and you shall have a Crown of etern[al] life on the right hand of my Father w[ho] is full of grace and truth. Verily thus saith the Lord your God, your Redeemer even Jesus Christ. Amen——
A revelation given to a true decendant from Joseph who was sold into Egypt down through the loins of Ephraim his son——
Given in Portage Co. Ohio. on the 29th. of October 1831
Joseph Smith, Revelator [p. [10]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, 29 October 1831 [D&C 66]
ID #
3236
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D2:87–92
Handwriting on This Page
  • William E. McLellin

Footnotes

  1. [7]

    McLellin recorded in his journal that at some point prior to his and Samuel Smith’s departure on 16 November, “Bro Samuel . . . heard the revelation.” (McLellin, Journal, 16 Nov. 1831.)

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

  2. [8]

    The “Laws of the Church of Christ” explained that when individuals were sick, two or more elders were to “pray for and lay their hands upon them” in Christ’s name. (Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:44].)

  3. [9]

    TEXT: “t” likely missing because of torn edge. Versions of this document in William E. McLellin’s journal and Revelation Book 1 have “patient” and “patiant,” respectively.

  4. [10]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 270 [Alma 17:11]; Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24:8]; and Revelation, Sept. 1830–F [D&C 31:9].

  5. [11]

    See, for example, John 16:24; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 509 [3 Nephi 27:29]; Revelation, June 1829–A [D&C 14:5]; and Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49:26].

  6. [12]

    John Whitmer’s copy in Revelation Book 1 has “a.” (Revelation Book 1, p. 112.)

  7. [13]

    Exactly how McLellin had been tempted with adultery is unclear. His wife, Cynthia Ann, whom he married in 1829, had died recently, leaving McLellin to experience “many lonesome & sorrowful hours.” (William E. McLellin, Independence, MO, to “Beloved Relatives,” Carthage, TN, 4 Aug. 1832, photocopy, CHL.)

    McLellin, William E. Letter, Independence, MO, to “Beloved Relatives,” Carthage, TN, 4 Aug. 1832. Photocopy. CHL. MS 617.

  8. [14]

    See Deuteronomy 33:17; and Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:45].

  9. [15]

    TEXT: “al” likely missing because of torn edge. Versions of this document in McLellin’s journal and Revelation Book 1 have “Eternal” and “eternal”, respectively.

  10. [16]

    TEXT: “ho” likely missing because of torn edge. Versions of this document in McLellin’s journal and Revelation Book 1 have “who”.

  11. [17]

    See John 1:14.

  12. [18]

    This concluding, two-line description of the revelation (which is also in the copy of the revelation in McLellin’s journal) may have been part of the original inscription, but John Whitmer’s copy in Revelation Book 1 does not include it. (McLellin, Journal, 29 Oct. 1831; Revelation Book 1, p. 112.)

    McLellin, William E. Journal, 18 July–20 Nov. 1831. William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1836, 1877–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 1. Also available as Jan Shipps and John W. Welch, eds., The Journals of William E. McLellin, 1831–1836 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies; Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).

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