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Revelation, 26 April 1832 [D&C 82]

 
This revelation was dictated in the second half of the first day of a council of high priests and elders held 26–27 April 1832 in Independence

Located twelve miles from western Missouri border. Permanently settled, platted, and designated county seat, 1827. Hub for steamboat travel on Missouri River. Point of departure for Santa Fe Trail. Population in 1831 about 300. Mormon population by summer...

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, Jackson County, Missouri.1

For additional information on this revelation, see Minutes, 26–27 Apr. 1832, p. XXX herein.  

 
Its contents reflected some of the business transacted by that council, including the resolution of a disagreement between Sidney Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

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and Edward Partridge

27 Aug. 1793–27 May 1840. Hatter. Born at Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of William Partridge and Jemima Bidwell. Moved to Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio. Married Lydia Clisbee, 22 Aug. 1819, at Painesville. Initially a Universal Restorationist...

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. The first part of the revelation acknowledged Rigdon and Partridge’s reconciliation, forgave them for the offenses in their earlier conflicts, and required the recipients of the revelation to forgive each other and obey God’s commandments. The second part of the revelation reiterated the need to organize a governing firm for the church’s business and publishing interests and named the individuals who were to participate in this organization.2

The first revelation on this subject was dated 1 March 1832. (Revelation, 1 Mar. 1832, p. XXX herein [D&C 78].)  

 
They included five men living in Missouri (Partridge, Sidney Gilbert

28 Dec. 1789–29 June 1834. Merchant. Born at New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Eli Gilbert and Lydia Hemingway. Moved to Huntington, Fairfield Co., Connecticut; to Monroe, Monroe Co., Michigan, by Sept. 1818; to Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio; ...

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, Oliver Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

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, John Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

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, and William W. Phelps

17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...

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) and four living in Ohio

French explored area, 1669. British took possession following French and Indian War, 1763. Ceded to U.S., 1783. First permanent white settlement established, 1788. Partitioned from Northwest Territory and admitted as state, 1803. Bordered by Lake Erie on ...

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(JS, Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

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, and Martin Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s Landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris at Palmyra...

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).3

Although Jesse Gause was a counselor to JS and accompanied him on this trip, there is no evidence that he was made a member of the firm. This may have been because, unlike the nine listed here, Gause did not already have a role in the management of the church’s publishing and mercantile endeavors. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 209; and Note, 8 Mar. 1832, p. XXX herein.)  

 
The revelation indicated that each of these individuals had a stewardship over some aspect of church business and that uniting them in the firm would allow them to draw on each other’s resources to manage these endeavors, thereby producing more “tallents,” or surplus, for the church’s storehouses.
The revelation also highlighted the evolving relationship between the church in Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

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, Ohio, and the church in Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...

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. A January 1831 revelation designated Kirtland as a temporary place for members of the church to stay until the Lord identified the location of the New Jerusalem.4

Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831, in JSP, D1:XXX [D&C 38].  

 
Subsequent revelations indicated, however, that the Mormon settlement at Kirtland was not to be quite so short lived. A May 1831 revelation stated that the Lord had consecrated Kirtland “for a little season untill I the Lord shall provide for them otherwise.”5

Revelation, 20 May 1831, in JSP, D1:XXX [D&C 51:16].  

 
In July 1831, a revelation designated Independence

Located twelve miles from western Missouri border. Permanently settled, platted, and designated county seat, 1827. Hub for steamboat travel on Missouri River. Point of departure for Santa Fe Trail. Population in 1831 about 300. Mormon population by summer...

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as the “centre place” of Zion, where the church would build the New Jerusalem in preparation for Christ’s second coming,6

Revelation, 20 July 1831, p. XXX herein [D&C 57].  

 
but a September 1831 revelation explained that the Lord would still “retain a strong hold in the Land of Kirtland for the space of five years.”7

Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831, p. XXX herein [D&C 64:21].  

 
The 26 April revelation featured here, evoking imagery used in Isaiah 54:2–3, designated Kirtland as a “stake” of Zion, or a place that would support the establishment of Zion.
As the clerk of the 26–27 April council, Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

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likely recorded this revelation as JS dictated it, though the original manuscript is no longer extant. Whitmer likely copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1 shortly after its dictation.8

The revelation that precedes this in Revelation Book 1 was likely recorded in that volume by Whitmer before he left for Missouri in late 1831. This 26 April revelation begins on a new page and is followed by several revelations given in Kirtland and Hiram, Ohio, which Whitmer presumably entered in Missouri after receiving copies of them from JS in April. (Revelation, 1 Nov. 1831–B, in Revelation Book 1, pp. 125–127, in JSP, MRB:223–227 [D&C 1].)  

 
Sometime later, Whitmer wrote “Not to be published now” on the first page of the manuscript in Revelation Book 1. The second page of the manuscript was crossed out, likely also to indicate the intention not to publish the revelation at that time.9

Revelation Book 1, pp. 128–129, in JSP, MRB:229–231.  

 
This is consistent with a similar notation, “Not to be printed at present,” in the manuscript of a 20 July 1831 revelation mandating extensive acquisition of land for Zion in Jackson County

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

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.10

Revelation, 20 July 1831, in Revelation Book 1, p. 93, in JSP, MRB:159 [D&C 57].  

 
Church leaders apparently believed that publication of plans for their commercial and real estate ventures could be detrimental to their larger goals. The 26 April revelation was not published in the Book of Commandments, but it was published in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, with pseudonyms for the names of the elders in the revelation and for the name of the church’s governing business firm, which by 1835 had been discontinued.11

Doctrine and Covenants 86, 1835 ed. See also “Substitute Words in the 1835 and 1844 Editions of the Doctrine and Covenants,” in JSP, R2:708–711.
Comprehensive Works Cited

 

 

Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

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