JS and others, Blessing, to , , Geauga Co., OH, 1 Mar. 1835. Featured version copied [not before 25 Feb. 1836] in Minute Book 1, p. 181; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
We you to be an in the and one of the . May you be sanctified and filled with light and intelligence. That the importance and duty of your office may be near your heart. You shall go to all the nations afar off and to the Islands of the sea. You shall speak languages that you have never heard even twelve God will prepare you for a great work & you shall do it. You shall have power given you to perform all the duties of your calling, and you shall bear a testimony that shall convince many. And if you are faithful, you shall in the end of your ministry, return to this land with much rejoicing Amen. [p. 181]
Harrison Burgess (1814–1883) was baptized in July 1832 in New York and moved with his family to Kirtland in September 1833. After being discharged from the Camp of Israel in July 1834, he traveled back to Kirtland, arriving there “about the last of July” 1834. He later recalled receiving this ordination blessing as a seventy “under the hands of Joseph Smith Jun, Joseph Smith [Sr.], and Sydney Rigdon.” (Burgess, Autobiography, 1, 3–4; Backman, Profile, 11.)
Burgess, Harrison. Autobiography, ca. 1883. Photocopy. CHL. MS 893. Also available as “Sketch of a Well-Spent Life,” in Labors in the Vineyard, Faith-Promoting Series 12 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884), 65–74.
Backman, Milton V., Jr., comp. A Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtland, Ohio, and Members of Zion’s Camp, 1830–1839: Vital Statistics and Sources. 2nd ed. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine and Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1983.