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Authorization for Brigham Young, 1 June 1843

Source Note

JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Authorization, , Hancock Co., IL, for , 1 June 1843; manuscript form in handwriting of with manuscript additions in handwriting of and ; signature of JS; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets, redactions, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12 × 7½ inches (30 × 19 cm) and ruled with thirty-five horizontal blue lines per page. The authorization was folded for carrying and filing and was later refolded for filing. The foreign-language portions of the text were canceled by the early twentieth century.
The authorization was docketed by , who served as a church clerk in 1843. The authorization was also docketed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL), and an archival marking had been added in the upper right corner of the recto of the first leaf. The document’s early dockets and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    When church clerk Thomas Bullock copied the authorization into the manuscript history of the church in the 1850s, the text was not redacted. The version based on the manuscript history, which was published in the Deseret News’s “History of Joseph Smith,” also included the unredacted text. The redacted version first appeared in volume 5 of Brigham H. Roberts’s edition of JS’s history, which was published in 1909. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1567–1568; “History of Joseph Smith,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 22 Oct. 1856, 257; History of the Church, 5:416–417.)

    History of the Church / Smith, Joseph, et al. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Edited by B. H. Roberts. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1902–1912 (vols. 1–6), 1932 (vol. 7).

  2. [2]

    See JS, Journal, 8 Aug. 1843; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 11 May 1843; Brigham Young and John M. Bernhisel to JS, Bond, 30 May 1843, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL; and George Walker, St. Louis, MO, to William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, 3 Jan. 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

  3. [3]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  4. [4]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 1 June 1843 in , Illinois, JS signed an authorization designating an empowered to raise funds for the and the Nauvoo . In January 1841, JS dictated a revelation that commanded the Saints to build two edifices, a temple and a hotel called the Nauvoo House. During the ’s April 1843 special , JS argued that the system of allowing any traveling to convey donations for these buildings from church to Nauvoo was insufficiently secure. He proposed that members of the be designated as the only church agents authorized to collect donations. The proposal was accepted by the conference, and the apostles were directed to deposit the collected funds only with JS, as the church’s trustee-in-trust, or with his clerk .
According to , on 19 April, JS met with the Twelve and “counciled us to take a mission in the East to obtain means to build the as we were appointed So to do by the Conference.” president was to lead the mission, which was expected to culminate in later that year. By mid-May the apostles established an itinerary through , , , and . In preparation for the mission, JS’s clerk prepared a “Blank Bond” requiring the apostles to convey donations to JS as trustee-in-trust, as well as a “recommendation . . . for the Elders going abroad.” Phelps presented drafts of both documents to JS and the apostles during a meeting on 27 May 1843; both documents were accepted by those present. Evidently, Phelps and , another scribe, then prepared copies of the bond and the recommendation, or authorization, for each apostle and other agents. JS met again with the apostles on 30 May 1843 in his , where they each signed $2,000 bonds requiring them to convey to JS “all moneys that he [the agent] may collect” for the Nauvoo House and the . They also received shares of the , valued at fifty dollars each, to sell on their mission.
On 1 June 1843, JS met with the apostles again at his and gave them their authorizations as agents, with and inscribing the manuscript forms. Phelps, who was known for using foreign-language phrases in his writing, contributed the words in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. A transliteration in the Roman alphabet and the English equivalent were written after each phrase. ’s authorization, featured here as a representative sample, was inscribed by Walker and signed by JS. After the authorization was folded, Walker added an ornate docket indicating the document belonged to the chief apostle. On 7 July 1843, Young and other apostles left , presumably carrying their authorizations. After visiting several branches over the next several months, the apostles concluded their mission with a three-day conference in in early September. They then returned to Nauvoo and deposited the donations they had received with , who recorded the donations in the Book of the Law of the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:22–23, 31, 62].

  2. [2]

    Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Woodruff, Journal, 19 Apr. 1843. Eight apostles embarked on the mission: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. Smith. (See Minutes, 19 Apr. 1843.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  4. [4]

    Wilford Woodruff, Nauvoo, IL, to Aphek Woodruff, Farmington, CT, 16 May 1843, Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  5. [5]

    Minutes and Discourse, 27 May 1843.

  6. [6]

    Aside from Young’s authorization, the authorizations for apostles Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. Smith are extant, as are authorizations for James Brown and Peter Haws, who were not apostles but were also appointed as agents for the Nauvoo House and the temple. (JS, Authorization for Heber C. Kimball, 1 June 1843, Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL; JS, Authorization for Wilford Woodruff, 1 June 1843; JS, Authorization for George A. Smith, 1 June 1843; JS, Authorization for James Brown, 31 May 1843, JS Collection, CHL; JS, Authorization for Peter Haws, 31 May 1843, JS Materials, CCLA; see also JS, Authorization, 1 June 1843, draft, JS Collection, CHL.)

  7. [7]

    Brigham Young and John M. Bernhisel to JS, Bond, 30 May 1843, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL; JS, Journal, 30 May 1843.

  8. [8]

    On 23 February 1841, church members William Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider, and Peter Haws formed the Nauvoo House Association, a committee responsible for overseeing construction of the building. The association was authorized to issue stock to raise funds to support the endeavor. On 30 May 1843, William Clayton noted that he “paid out about $30000 Stock,” presumably to the Twelve but possibly to others as well. Brigham Young received three hundred shares. (“An Act to Incorporate the Nauvoo House Association,” 23 Feb. 1841, copies certified by Stephen A. Douglas and Lyman Trumbull, CHL; Clayton, Journal, 30 May 1843; Brigham Young to JS, Receipt, 30 May 1843, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL.)

    “An Act to Incorporate the Nauvoo House Association,” 23 Feb. 1841. Copies certified by Stephen A. Douglas and Lyman Trumbull. CHL. MS 15558.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  9. [9]

    Woodruff, Journal, 1 June 1843.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  10. [10]

    See Brown, “Translator and the Ghostwriter,” 26–62.

    Brown, Samuel. “The Translator and the Ghostwriter: Joseph Smith and W. W. Phelps.” Journal of Mormon History 34, no. 1 (Winter 2008): 26–62.

  11. [11]

    Woodruff, Journal, 7 July–4 Nov. 1843; Young, Journal, 1840–1844, [7] July–22 Oct. 1843; JS, Journal, 22 Oct. 1843; Minutes, Boston, MA, 9–11 Sept. 1843, 1, Historian’s Office, Minutes and Reports (Local Units), CHL; Book of the Law of the Lord, 366, 367–368, 374–375, 379, 380–381, 383.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Young, Brigham. Journals, 1832–1877. Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1, boxes 71–73.

    Historian’s Office. Minutes and Reports, 1840–1886. CHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Authorization for Brigham Young, 1 June 1843 History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Authorization for Brigham Young, 1 June 1843
ID #
2185
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:367–371
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