The church was officially known as the Church of Christ from 6 April 1830 to 3 May 1834 and as the Church of the Latter Day Saints from 3 May 1834 to 26 April 1838. An April 1838 revelation changed the name of the church to “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” (Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:1]; Revelation, 6 Apr. 1830 [D&C 21:1]; Minutes, 3 May 1834; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1838 [D&C 115:4].)
Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:1–3].
See “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1833 through March 1834.”
See Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 Mar. 1836 [D&C 109]; and “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1838 through August 1839.”
Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:2].
1 Corinthians 15:29.
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 274, 30 Apr. 1839, Hancock County Recorder’s Office, Carthage, IL; Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, pp. 31–32, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Lee Co., IA, Land Record, 1836–1961, Deeds (South, Keokuk), vol. 1, pp. 507–509, microfilm 959,238; vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 37–39, Nauvoo Plat, 3 Sept. 1839, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 21 Oct. 1839, 26.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
Others are available on the Joseph Smith Papers website, josephsmithpapers.org.
History of Lee County, Iowa, 675.
The History of Lee County, Iowa, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &c., a Biographical Directory of Citizens. . . . Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1879.
Plat of the Town of Nashville [not before Oct. 1841]. A plat for Nashville, which was then known as Ah-we-pe-tuck, had reportedly been filed before church members began settling in the area. (Iowa Stake Record, 30 Jan. 1841, 97; History of Lee County, Iowa, 493.)
Plat of the Town of Nashville. Lithograph. New York: E. Jones, not before Oct. 1841. Copy at CHL.
Iowa Stake, Record. / Iowa Stake. “Church Record,” 1840–1841. CHL. LR 7817 21.
The History of Lee County, Iowa, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &c., a Biographical Directory of Citizens. . . . Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1879.
Leonard, Nauvoo, 96.
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
See Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds (South, Keokuk), vol. 2, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Elias Smith, who was appointed as a bishop in Iowa Territory in 1840, consulted with the First Presidency and the bishops in Nauvoo about selling to church members in Iowa “the remainder of the town lots North of Broadway in the town of Nashville, which remain unsold,” but it is not clear how much other involvement Joseph Smith or his counselors had in land matters there. On 30 January 1841, Elias Smith reported that he had purchased a deed for a lot on the town plat of Nashville from Vinson Knight but did not note if any member of the First Presidency participated in this transaction. (Iowa Stake Record, 12 July and 26 Sept. 1840; 30 Jan. 1841, 90, 95, 97.)
Iowa Stake, Record. / Iowa Stake. “Church Record,” 1840–1841. CHL. LR 7817 21.
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, Hancock County Recorder’s Office, Carthage, IL; Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, pp. 31–32, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Agreement with George W. Robinson, 30 Apr. 1839; Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds (South, Keokuk), vol. 1, pp. 507–509, microfilm 959,238; vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Cook, “Isaac Galland,” 270–275; Leonard, Nauvoo, 57–58; Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Cook, Lyndon W. “Isaac Galland—Mormon Benefactor.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 261–284.
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 21 Oct. 1839, 25; “Obituary,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:32.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. Draft. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 21 Oct. 1839, 25–26; Minutes, 3 July 1840.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. Draft. CHL.
Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 11 June 1839, 59.
Butler, Autobiography, [34].
Butler, John L. Autobiography, ca. 1859. CHL. MS 2952.
Ivie and Heiner, “Deaths in Early Nauvoo,” 165, 167–168, 171.
Ivie, Evan L., and Douglas C. Heiner. “Deaths in Early Nauvoo, 1839–46, and Winter Quarters, 1846–48.” Religious Educator 10, no. 3 (2009): 163–173.
See, for example, Letter from Emma Smith, 6 Dec. 1839; and Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840.
Robert Johnstone to Richard M. Young, 21 Apr. 1840, in JS History, vol. C-1, 1053; Notice, Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:106.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Commission for John C. Bennett, 20 July 1840, Governor’s Correspondence, 1840, Military Affairs, in Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; Bennett, History of the Saints, 18.
Illinois Governor’s Correspondence, 1816–1852. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Ford, History of Illinois, 263; Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois, 9 and 17 Dec. 1840, 61, 89.
Ford, Thomas. A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Containing a Full Account of the Black Hawk War, the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Mormonism, the Alton and Lovejoy Riots, and Other Important and Interesting Events. Chicago: S. C. Griggs; New York: Ivison and Phinney, 1854.
Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.
John C. Bennett [Joab, pseud.], Springfield, IL, 16 Dec. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:266–267.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
For an explanation of the expulsion and its causes, see “Joseph Smith Documents from February 1838 through August 1839.”
Revelation, 16–17 Dec. 1833 [D&C 101:86–89].
Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 29 Oct. and 1 Nov. 1839, 66.
Recommendation from Quincy, IL, Branch, between 20 Oct. and 1 Nov. 1839; Letter of Introduction from James Adams, 9 Nov. 1839.
Letter of Introduction from Sidney Rigdon, 9 Nov. 1839; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 19 Nov. 1839, 68.
Reynolds, My Own Times, 575; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 17, [12]; Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839.
Reynolds, John. My Own Times: Embracing Also, the History of My Life. Belleville, IL: B. H. Perryman and H. L. Davison, 1855.
See McBride, “When Joseph Smith Met Martin Van Buren,” 150–158.
McBride, Spencer W. Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017.
Letter to Seymour Brunson and Nauvoo High Council, 7 Dec. 1839; Letter from Robert D. Foster, 24 Dec. 1839.
Message from the President of the United States, Senate doc. no. 1, 26th Cong., 1st Sess. [1839]. The message was printed that same day. (Letter from Robert D. Foster, 24 Dec. 1839.)
Message from the President of the United States, to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress. December 24, 1839. Senate Doc. no. 1, 26th Cong., 1st Sess. (1839).
Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.
Letter to Seymour Brunson and Nauvoo High Council, 7 Dec. 1839.
Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 28 Jan. and 12 Feb. 1840, 138, 173.
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.
Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839.
Letter from Edward Partridge, 3 Jan. 1840; Note from Edward Partridge, 3 Jan. 1840.
Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 17 Feb. 1840, 179. Because these affidavits were addressed to Congress and not to Joseph Smith, they are not considered Joseph Smith documents and are not included in the publications of the Joseph Smith Papers Project.
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.
Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 2; Minutes and Discourse, 13 Jan. 1840, pp. 111–115 herein.
Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854. CCLA.
Phrenology Charts, 14 Jan. 1840; Letter to Editor, 22 Jan. 1840.
Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 27 Jan. 1840, 2; Discourse, 5 Feb. 1840.
Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840.
Report of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 4 Mar. 1840; Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 23 Mar. 1840, 259–260.
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.
John Smith, Journal, 1836–1840, 29 Feb. 1840, [58]; Letter from Elias Higbee, 26 Feb. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 9 Mar. 1840; Letter from Elias Higbee, 24 Mar. 1840.
Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.
Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840.
Editorial, Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:169–170; Requisition for JS, 1 Sept. 1840, State of Missouri v. JS for Treason (Warren Co. Cir. Ct. 1841), Joseph Smith Extradition Records, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [3].
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
“The Late Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:447–449.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
See, for example, Discourse, 1 Mar. 1840.
Minutes, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Instruction on Priesthood, ca. 5 Oct. 1840.
Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.
Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, 11 Oct. 1840, photocopy, Vilate Murray Kimball, Letters, 1840, CHL; Jane Harper Neyman and Vienna Jaques, Statement, 29 Nov. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.
Kimball, Vilate Murray. Letters, 1840. Photocopy. CHL.
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.
The bishops were Newel K. Whitney, Edward Partridge, and Vinson Knight. Despite the split of the region into three wards, Saints in Nauvoo generally met as one congregation for their ecclesiastical meetings at this time.
Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839. John Smith was designated as president and Alanson Ripley as bishop. Despite the ecclesiastical structure, which included some offices typically found in stakes, the conference designated this Iowa Territory church unit as a branch. At this time, the terms stake and branch were sometimes used interchangeably, even though both also had separate meanings. (See “Branch” and “Stake” in the glossary.)
A July 1831 revelation first commanded church members to build a temple in Jackson County, Missouri; in December 1832, Joseph Smith dictated a revelation mandating the establishment of a temple in Kirtland, Ohio. Because the Saints were expelled from Jackson County in fall 1833, no temple was ever constructed there, but the Kirtland House of the Lord was dedicated in March 1836. An April 1838 revelation directed that a temple be built in Far West, Missouri, but the expulsion of the Saints from the state prevented that temple’s construction as well. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:3]; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:119]; Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 Mar. 1836 [D&C 109]; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1838 [D&C 115:6–7].)
See, for example, Discourse, ca. 19 July 1840; “A Glance at the Mormons,” Alexandria (VA) Gazette, 11 July 1840, [2]; and Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.
Alexandria Gazette. Alexandria, VA. 1834–1877.
Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:23, 27–28, 37, 62, 72–82].
Obituary for Edward Partridge, Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:127–128; Eliza R. Snow, “Elegy,” Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 1:190–191; JS History, vol. A-1, 18, 27, 37; JS, Journal, 5 Dec. 1834; Minutes, 12 Apr. 1838.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:20–21, 91–96, 124–142].
Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:1–5, 11–12].
Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:6–10].
Historical Introduction to Recommendation for Heber C. Kimball, between 2 and 13 June 1837.
Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 53.
Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.
Revelation, 8 July 1838–A [D&C 118:4–5].
Woodruff, Journal, 26 Apr. 1839.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Allen et al., Men with a Mission, 67–71, 77.
Allen, James B., Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker. Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992.
“Minutes of the General Conference,” LDS Millennial Star, Oct. 1840, 1:165–166; Letter from Heber C. Kimball, 9 July 1840; Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
“Minutes of the General Conference,” LDS Millennial Star, July 1840, 1:67–69; John Tompkins, Estimate, 7 June 1840, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
See, for example, Letter from Brigham Young, 29 Apr. 1840; Letter from Brigham Young, 7 May 1840; and Letter from Heber C. Kimball, 9 July 1840.
Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840; Recommendation for Orson Hyde, 6 Apr. 1840; Orson Hyde and John E. Page, Quincy, IL, 28 Apr. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:116.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Hyde sailed from New York on 13 February 1841, while Page remained in the United States. (Orson Hyde, Manchester, England, to JS, 17 Apr. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 15 July 1841, 2:482.)
See, for example, Letter from Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 1 May 1840; and Letter to Orson Hyde and John E. Page, 14 May 1840.
Hyrum Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, New York City, NY, 22 Dec. 1839, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 80–81.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 29 Dec. 1839, 39.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. Draft. CHL.
Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 259.
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
Minutes, 17 July 1840; “Books!!!,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:139–140.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 260–261; Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.
The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.
Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, 14 Dec. 1840.
Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839; Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 29 Dec. 1839, 39; Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; see also Report of the First Presidency, 4 Oct. 1840.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. Draft. CHL.
“Hymns!! Hymns!!,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1840, 2:204, italics in original.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
“Books,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1841, 2:355.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Backman, Heavens Resound, 342, 368.
Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.
Minutes, 4–5 May 1839; Agreement with Oliver Granger, 29 Apr. 1840.
Letter to Oliver Granger, between ca. 22 and ca. 28 July 1840; Minutes, 5–6 Sept. 1840.
Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Letter to the Saints in Kirtland, OH, 19 Oct. 1840; Letter to Oliver Granger, 26 Jan. 1841.
Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:2].