Footnotes
Volume 2 is nearly identical to the 1845 minute book of Nauvoo’s Mercantile and Mechanical Association, kept by Hosea Stout. They are the same shape and size, with the same red leather bindings and even the same tooling on the covers and spines. (Mercantile and Mechanical Association of Nauvoo Minute Book, Jan.–Mar. 1845, CHL.)
Mercantile and Mechanical Association of Nauvoo Minute Book, Jan.–Mar. 1845. CHL.
Minutes, 5 Apr. 1882, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1845–1883, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1845–1883. CHL.
Minutes, 24 June 1882, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
Franklin D. Richards, Journal, 20 Mar. 1884.
Richards, Franklin D. Journals, 1844–1899. Richards Family Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215, boxes 1–5.
Van Orden, “Close to the Seat of Authority,” 16–18.
Van Orden, Bruce A. “Close to the Seat of Authority: Secretaries and Clerks in the Office of the President of the LDS Church, 1870–1900.” Unpublished paper. Salt Lake City, 1988. Copy at CHL.
Minutes, 23 Jan. 1867, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1845–1883, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1845–1883. CHL.
The pagination is as follows: volume 1: title page, 1–93, 93–156, 147–310, 309–372; volume 2: title page, 1–68, [69]–[70], 69–76, [77]–[78], 77–78, [79]–[80], 79–96, 96½, [?], 97–108, [109]–[110], 109–140, [141]–[142], 141–152, 152½, 152¾, 153–170, 170½, 170¾, 171–184, [185]–[186], 185–186, [187]–[188], 187–188, 188½, 188¾, 189–212, [213]–[214], 213–238, [239]–[240], 239–352, [note on verso of back flyleaf]; volume 3: title page, [1], 2–113.
See, for example, page [260] in volume 1.
Clayton, Journal, 13 Mar. 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 22 June 1844; see also Clayton, Journal, 3 July 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 18 Aug. 1844; 6 Sept. 1844; 6, 11, and 12 Feb. 1845; 6, 7, 12–15, 17, 19–20, 24, and 27 Mar. 1845; 1–2, 16, 17, 21, 22, 24, and 28 Apr. 1845; 11 and 30 Sept. 1845; 5 Oct. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 5 Oct. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
See Clayton, Journal, Apr. 1845–Jan. 1846.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
See “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; see also “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Clayton, Diary, 14 Apr. 1847.
Clayton, William. Diary, Jan.–Dec. 1847. CHL.
Woodruff, Journal, 26 Nov. 1857; see also Woodruff, Journal, 27 Nov. and 18 Dec. 1857; Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 1–100; and “History of Brigham Young,” published serially in the Salt Lake City Deseret News from 17 Jan. to 24 Mar. 1858.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Historian’s Office. Brigham Young History Drafts, 1856–1858. CHL. CR 100 475, box 1, fd. 5.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
“Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [25]; “Contents of the Historian and Recorder’s Office. G. S. L. City July 1858,” 5; “March 24, 1859 Books Deposited,” Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Woodruff, Journal, 26 Feb. 1862; “Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [25], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Thomas Bullock, 25 Feb. 1862, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
JS History, 1838–1856, Index, Apr. 1845.
JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.
Minutes, 23 Jan. 1867, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1845–1883, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1845–1883. CHL.
Franklin D. Richards, Journal, 3 Mar. 1880.
Richards, Franklin D. Journals, 1844–1899. Richards Family Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215, boxes 1–5.
L. John Nuttall, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George Q. Cannon, Washington DC, 3 Mar. 1880, in Letterbook 1, p. 168, L. John Nuttall Papers, BYU; “Diary of L. John Nuttall,” 14 June 1879; Franklin D. Richards, Journal, 16 Mar. 1880.
L. John Nuttall. Papers, 1857–1904. BYU.
“Diary of L. John Nuttall, (1834–1905) Dec. 1876–Mar. 1884.” Typescript, 1948. CHL.
Richards, Franklin D. Journals, 1844–1899. Richards Family Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215, boxes 1–5.
“Diary of L. John Nuttall,” 29 Mar. 1880.
“Diary of L. John Nuttall, (1834–1905) Dec. 1876–Mar. 1884.” Typescript, 1948. CHL.
Franklin D. Richards, Journal, 20 Mar. 1884.
Richards, Franklin D. Journals, 1844–1899. Richards Family Collection, 1837–1961. CHL. MS 1215, boxes 1–5.
See Minutes, 4 Feb. 1885, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
Correspondence, 13 Oct. 2014, in Case File for Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL; see also “Elder Joseph Anderson Eulogized,” 105.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
“Elder Joseph Anderson Eulogized.” Ensign, May 1992, 105.
Grant, Journal, 3 Jan. 1932. Much of this custodial history is taken from Andrew F. Ehat to Bruce R. McConkie, “Verification of the ‘Last Charge’ by Reference to the Original Records of the ‘Kingdom of God,’” Appendix E: “A Chronology of the Records of the Kingdom of God”; and Ehat, “Joseph Smith’s Council of Fifty: Quest for Empire or Quest for Refuge?”
Grant, Heber J. Journal. Heber J. Grant, Collection, 1852–1945. CHL.
Ehat, Andrew F. “A Chronology of the Records of the Kingdom of God.” Unpublished paper. Copy in editors’ possession.
Ehat, Andrew F. “Joseph Smith’s Council of Fifty: Quest for Empire or Quest for Refuge?” Unpublished paper. 7 Apr. 1980. Copy in editors’ possession.
On 17 March 1981 the First Presidency met with Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and others to discuss the purported JS blessing to his son Joseph Smith III—which turned out to be a Mark Hofmann forgery. The First Presidency granted Elder Hinckley access to records in their vault that might shed light on the document. Later that day, the First Presidency’s secretary lent the Nauvoo Council of Fifty record to Elder Hinckley. (Turley, Victims, 52–53, 349; Francis M. Gibbons to Gordon B. Hinckley, 17 Mar. 1981, in Case File for Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL; see also Arrington, Diary, 17 and 23 Mar. 1981.)
Turley, Richard E., Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
Arrington, Leonard J. Diary, Nov. 1980–Apr. 1981. Leonard J. Arrington, Papers, 1839–1999. Special Collections and Archives, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.
Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 15 Nov. 2010, CHL.
Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 15 Nov. 2010. CHL.
Footnotes
See Minute Book 1; Minute Book 2; Nauvoo High Council Minutes; and Nauvoo City Council Minute Book.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.
Clayton, Journal, 13 Mar. 1844. According to Clayton’s journal, Richards’s appointment was not made until 13 March 1844; however, Clayton’s reconstructed minutes in the Council of Fifty record book date the appointment to 11 March, when the council was formally organized. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Mar. 1844.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
See, for example, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 31 Aug. 1841; and the two 10 March 1844 letters from the Wisconsin pinery, which were addressed to Richards as “clerk” of the Quorum of the Twelve. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 Mar. 1844.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
JS, Journal, 30 July 1843; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 12 Aug. 1843, 186; JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841.
JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842. In the Council of Fifty, Richards was almost invariably chosen for the committees responsible for drafting documents on behalf of the council and regularly signed or countersigned letters from the council as “clerk” or “secretary.” (See, for example, Council of Fifty, “Record,” 13 May 1844 and 27 Feb. 1845.)
Allen, No Toil nor Labor Fear, 1; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31; see also JS, Journal, 29 June 1842.
Allen, James B. No Toil nor Labor Fear: The Story of William Clayton. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 9 Sept. 1842, 101; Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book, 10 Nov. 1842.
Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book. / “Record of Na[u]voo Lodge Under Dispensation,” 1842–1846. CHL. MS 3436
See, for example, Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 6–7 Apr. and 3–5 July 1843.
See, for example, Minutes, 6 Apr. 1838, in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 47; and Minute Book 1, 17 Sept. 1837.
“Rules of Order of the City Council,” 22 Jan. 1842, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
See, for example, Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4, 11, and 18 Mar. 1845; 13 Jan. 1846.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Apr. 1845.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 14 Mar. 1844.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 1, 4, 11, and 18 Mar. 1845.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 5 Apr. 1844; 3, 6, and 13 May 1844.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 27 Feb. 1845; Council of Fifty, Minutes, 27 Feb. 1845.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Mar. 1845; see also Council of Fifty, “Record,” 13 May 1844.
See Minutes, 25–26 Dec. 1846, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
Compare, for example, Clayton’s rough minutes with his fair minutes for 3 March 1849 in Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 13 Jan. 1846; Council of Fifty, Minutes, [13 Jan. 1846], CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 22–23 June 1844; Events of June 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Feb. 1845; Almon Babbitt, Macedonia, IL, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 5 May 1844, Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 3 July 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 15 Aug. 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 18 Aug. and 6 Sept. 1844.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton’s reconstructed record of council meetings for 10 to 14 March appears to be heavily dependent on his journal entries for those days. In some entries, text from his journal was copied verbatim or paraphrased, while meetings of the council that Clayton did not record in his journal were not captured in the record book. Clayton may have been referring to his composition of these entries when he wrote on 20 September that he spent part of the day “writing minutes of Council of fifty.” By contrast, his journal entries of 18 August and 6 September, which apparently corresponded with his transcribing of the letters from Miller and Wight, instead note that he was “copying” the record—as do so many later journal entries that correspond with his copying of minutes. (Clayton, Journal, 10–14 Mar. 1844; 18 Aug. 1844; 6 and 20 Sept. 1844, italics added; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10–14 Mar. 1844.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
See, for example, Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 and 14 Mar. 1844.
Clayton, Journal, 6, 11, and 12 Feb. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 1 Mar. 1845.
Although the rough and fair copies of Clayton’s Utah-era minutes survive, the fair copies are still not as polished as the Nauvoo-era record and contain clerical marks suggesting that they served as an intermediary copy between the rough minutes and a nonextant record book copy. (See, for example, Clayton’s rough and fair minutes for 3 March 1849 in Council of Fifty, Papers, 1844–1885, CHL.)
Council of Fifty. Papers, 1844–1885. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 6–7, 12–15, 17, 19–20, 24, and 27–28 Mar. 1845; 1–2, 16–17, 21–22, 24, and 28 Apr. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 10 Mar. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Journal, 17 Apr. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton did not record spending any days copying minutes during this period. When he copied the 10 May 1845 minutes he listed George D. Grant as present, possibly anachronistically since Grant did not join the council until 8 September. The inclusion of Grant in the 10 May minutes suggests that the minutes may have been copied into the record book sometime after Grant joined the council. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 10 May 1845.)
Clayton, Journal, 11 and 30 Sept. 1845; 5 Oct. 1845.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
On 5 October, Clayton recorded filling “43 pages of a small record like this [his journal].” The 4 October minutes in the record book cover forty-three pages. (Clayton, Journal, 5 Oct. 1845; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Oct. 1845.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
The two 1845–1846 exceptions are the impromptu 27 February 1845 meeting of the Twelve and other council members, which Clayton did not attend, and the 13 January 1846 meeting, which was attended by the council and the captains of the emigrating companies. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 27 Feb. 1845 and 13 Jan. 1846.)
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Feb. 1845.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Mar. 1845.
Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 and 18 Mar. 1845.
Clayton, Diary, 14 Apr. 1847; see also Source Note for Council of Fifty, “Record.”
Clayton, William. Diary, Jan.–Dec. 1847. CHL.
See, for example, Kimball, Journal, Dec. 1845–Jan. 1846; Clayton, Journal, 10 Dec. 1845; 21–23 and 25 Jan. 1846; and Council of Fifty, Minutes, 19 Jan. 1846.
Kimball, Heber C. Journal, Nov. 1845–Jan. 1846. CHL.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Clayton, Diary, 27 Feb. 1846.
Clayton, William. Diary, Jan.–Nov. 1846. CHL.
According to Miller, he gained the support of Oshkosh, chief of the Menominee, to continue logging. Oshkosh said the timber “was all his, and that the agent and United States had no business to interfere in the matter; that he had come to attend to his timber himself.” The Menominee had previously granted special privileges to a few white men that allowed them to operate lumber mills on Menominee land in exchange for goods and services, and Oshkosh proposed a similar arrangement with the Latter-day Saints, stating that they “should have the exclusive privilege of cutting timber” for the Black River Falls region in exchange for their feeding “his people in their passing by.” Such arrangements were often ratified or witnessed by the local Indian agent or other government officials. It may have been for this reason that Oshkosh suggested to Miller that he go “to the Wisconsin with him, and he would procure me a written permit from the agent, in order to silence the lumbermen.” Miller traveled the sixty miles to the Wisconsin River with Oshkosh and with Latter-day Saint Cyrus Daniels. The Indian agent, David Jones, was at the Wisconsin River touring a government-run blacksmith shop when they arrived. (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [1]–[2]; Thwaites, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 15:9–19; David Jones, Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, Madison, Wisconsin Territory, 24 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319.)
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Vol. 15. Madison: Democrat Printing, 1900.
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.
As early as the 1820s, tribes living in this area had leased or sold logging and milling rights to whites. These agreements were usually sanctioned by the federal government, though the lessees often abused the terms of the agreement. (Beck, Siege and Survival, 118–119.)
Beck, David R. M. Siege and Survival: History of the Menominee Indians, 1634–1856. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Miller later recounted that “the agent refused giving the permit, whereupon very sharp words ensued between the chief and agent. Finally he (the agent) said we might make our own bargain.” In addition, the agent “privately proposed a partnership in our establishment. I told him I could not do it without consulting my friends. He then said we would let the matter rest until the next fall.” Miller was frustrated with the response from agent David Jones and the land claims made by the Menominee to the area. (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2]; Alfred Brunson, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Territory, to James D. Doty, 28 Feb. 1844, in U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, reel 319; Brunson, Western Pioneer, 144.)
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824–81. National Archives Microfilm Publications, microcopy M234. 962 reels. Washington DC: National Archives, 1959.
Brunson, Alfred. A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson, A. M., D. D., Embracing a Period over Seventy Years. Vol. 2. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879.
Miller later recounted that when Oshkosh visited the Mormon lumber operation, he “said he believed we were right, for many things we had told him were backed up by Indian tradition; but for him, the principal chief, to act on his belief would avail nothing; that at some future period it would be best to call a council of all his chiefs, (he could not then as they were on their winter’s hunt,) and deliberately consider the whole matter, and act upon it in national council, and in that case their change of religion would be national and permanent, and that he had no doubt in bringing it about.” Wight and Miller sent Mitchel Curtis and Stephen Curtis to Nauvoo to inquire whether Wight “should preach to the Indians,” which the Menominee and the Chippewa had requested. JS told them on 20 February 1844, “I have no council to give him. he is there on his own ground. and he must act on his own responsibility. & do what he thinks best. & he shall never be brought into difficulty about it by us.” Wilford Woodruff clarified that on the subject of preaching to the Indians, “Joseph thought it wisdom not to do it He said if Lyman did any thing about it he must do it on his own responsibility but finally decided not to send any Council to him but let him act with the best wisdom he had in all things.” (George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 27 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 23 Aug. 1855, [2]; JS, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844; Woodruff, Journal, 20 Feb. 1844.)
Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.