Though Miller affirmed many times that he had never set a precise date for the second coming of Christ, many “Millerites” predicted specific days. One of the most widely anticipated and reported dates was 23 April 1843. George Storrs, however, a prominent Millerite preacher and publisher from New York, was involved in a controversy that led many Millerites to believe 3 April 1843 was the date of the Second Coming. The Christian Secretary reported that Storrs had set 3 April as the precise date in lectures given in Hartford, Connecticut, because it coincided with the day of the Crucifixion. The Millerite newspaper the Signs of the Times repudiated the idea that any date had been fixed by Miller and after interviewing Storrs denied that the latter had ever fixed 3 April as the day of the advent. The Christian Secretary refused to retract, stating that not only had witnesses heard Storrs’s affirmation but that 3 April was a widespread belief among Millerites in the area. The view that 3 April was the date affixed by many Millerites was evident in Moses Stuart’s book on interpreting biblical prophecy, which referred to Millerites as “the men of April 3d.” JS evidently accepted 3 April as the common Millerite designation for the Second Advent, a supposition possibly conveyed to him two months earlier through his conversation on Millerism with a group of “young men” from New York City. (Doan, Miller Heresy, Millennialism, and American Culture, 47–48; “The Time of the End,” Christian Secretary, 13 Jan. 1843, [3]; “The Christian Secretary of Hartford,” Christian Secretary, 27 Jan. 1843, [3]; “The Time of the End,” Signs of the Times, 4 Jan. 1843, 121; Notice, Signs of the Times, 18 Jan. 1843, 141; see also “Spring,” Vermont Chronicle [Bellows Falls], 5 Apr. 1843, 55; Stuart, Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy, 173; and JS, Journal, 12 Feb. 1843.)

Doan, Ruth Alden. The Miller Heresy, Millennialism, and American Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.

Christian Secretary. Hartford, CT. 1838–1896.

Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy. Boston. 1840–1844.

Vermont Chronicle. Bellows Falls, VT. 1826–1828; Windsor, VT. 1828–1862.

Stuart, Moses. Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy. 2nd ed. Andover, MA: Allen, Morrill, and Wardwell, 1842.

JS and his companions may have stopped at Carthage, Illinois, to search the records there for any evidence that Horace Hotchkiss and John Gillett had been legally able to sell the several hundred acres of land JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith had contracted to purchase from them in August 1839. Chauncey Robison, Hancock County recorder, wrote JS in March that he had found record of a deed Hotchkiss and Gillett had executed in 1836, conveying the lands they owned in Commerce to another party. “I have not yet discovered on Record any Deed of power of Attorney authorizing the Said Hotchkiss and Gillet to convey the Said Lands,” Robison wrote JS, “and am doubtful whether their Conveyance to you and your Brother & S Rigdon is valid.” Robison had recommended that JS “send some Competent person” to make a thorough search of the records in Carthage for some evidence that Hotchkiss and Gillett had authority to make the sale. The evening’s “business at the Court house” to which William Clayton refers in his journal may have included the recommended search. (Clayton, Journal, 3 Apr. 1843; Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, 2:568; Chauncey Robison, Carthage, IL, to [JS], 8 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.