Footnotes
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
See the full bibliographic entry for Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, 1836–1963, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
Snow, Journal, 1835–1837, [7]–[10], [25]; “Death of Apostle Erastus Snow,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 30 May 1888, 312.
Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
Hyrum Smith and William Law instructed Snow to not return to Nauvoo in the fall of 1841 as he had planned. Instead, he was to extend his mission and go to Salem, thus partly fulfilling a revelation JS had dictated on 6 August 1836 regarding the residents of that city. (See Snow, Journal, 1841–1847, 3–5; Erastus Snow, Salem, MA, to Hyrum Smith and William Law, Nauvoo, IL, 4 Feb. 1842, JS Office Papers, CHL; and Revelation, 6 Aug. 1836 [D&C 111].)
Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.
Erastus Snow, Salem, MA, to Hyrum Smith and William Law, Nauvoo, IL, 4 Feb. 1842, JS Office Papers, CHL; Snow, Journal, 1841–1847, 19.
Snow, Erastus. Journals, 1835–1851; 1856–1857. CHL. MS 1329, box 1, fds. 1–3.
Snow’s April 1842 letter was referenced in the 2 May 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, but it was not reprinted. If Snow sent another letter after his April 1842 letter, JS apparently never received it. (Notice, Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842, 3:778.)
West was from England. He claimed to be an evangelical minister from Ireland, although some in Boston suspected that claim to be spurious. Initially affiliated with the Methodist sect, he joined the American Episcopal church before becoming embroiled in controversy with some of its leaders. In 1834, he joined the Presbyterian church and served as a minister in New York and later Philadelphia. He published a pamphlet titled Analysis of the Rev. Dr. West’s Lectures and Arguments against Infidelity and Other False Theories in March 1842, which disparaged JS and the Latter-day Saints. The initials “D,D.” after West’s name may be an abbreviation for “Doctor of Divinity.” (Chase, Defence of Kenyon College, 5–10; “George Montgomery West,” Episcopal Recorder, 15 Oct. 1836, 114; Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Proceedings and Papers, 170–177; Tyler Parsons, Boston, MA, 14 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Boston Investigator, 15 June 1842, [3]; “Great Discussion on Mormonism,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:863.)
Chase, Philander. Defence of Kenyon College. Columbus, OH: Olmsted and Bailhache, 1831.
Episcopal Recorder. Philadelphia. 1831–1919.
Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. Proceedings and Papers; Session IV. 1851–52. Liverpool: By the author, 1852.
Boston Investigator. Boston. 1831–1904.
This was an informal idiom, similar to “up a stump,” which signified a difficult situation or a perplexed individual. (“Stump,” in Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, 4:591.)
A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972–1986.
The debate between Adams and West drew significant public attention. It lasted five evenings from Monday, 20 June 1842, through Friday, 24 June 1842. Articles in the Boston newspapers that described the debate agreed that there was a large audience and that Adams was the superior debater who had “the whole Bible at his tongue’s end.” Two such articles from the Bostonian were reprinted in the August issues of the Times and Seasons, and the editorial staff of the Times and Seasons similarly concluded that the debate “resulted in the complete triumph of truth over error and darkness.” (“Dr. West and the Mormons,” Boston Investigator, 22 June 1842, [3]; “The Mormon Discussion,” Boston Investigator, 29 June 1842, [3]; “Great Discussion on Mormonism,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:863–865; “Great Discussion on Mormonism,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1842, 3:886; see also “The Mormons in Salem,” Salem [MA] Register, 2 June 1842, [2]; “Latter Day Saints, or Mormons,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1842, 3:835–836; and “From our Boston Correspondent,” Norfolk Democrat [Dedham, MA], 17 June 1842, [2].)
Boston Investigator. Boston. 1831–1904.
Salem Register. Salem, MA. 1841–1903.
Norfolk Democrat. Dedham, MA. 1839–1854.
The First Free Congregational Church in Boston built the Marlboro’ Chapel on Washington Street behind the Marlboro Hotel in 1837. The chapel was the location of several famous lectures, including one by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in July 1838. In describing the chapel, Abel Bowen wrote: “The building is 100 feet long and 72 feet wide, with a cellar under the whole. The basement contains a large vestry and two other rooms, capable of holding about eight hundred persons. The church will seat eighteen hundred persons, and may be considered a very desirable lecture room.” (Garrison, Address Delivered in Marlboro’ Chapel, title page; Bowen, Bowen’s Picture of Boston, 167–168.)
Garrison, William Lloyd. An Address Delivered in Marlboro’ Chapel, Boston, July 4, 1838. Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1838.
Bowen, Abel. Bowen’s Picture of Boston, or the Citizen’s and Stranger’s Guide to the Metropolis of Massachusetts and Its Environs. To Which Is Affixed the Annals of Boston. 3rd ed. Boston: Otis, Broaders, 1838.
Boylston Hall was located on the third floor of Boylston Market, at the corner of Boylston and Washington streets in Boston. Constructed in 1810, the hall was used by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston as well as for lectures, concerts, and religious meetings. Bowen described Boylston Hall as “a noble apartment, 100 feet long by 48 feet in breadth, with an arched ceiling 24 feet high,” and estimated that it could seat eight hundred, not including the seating for the orchestra. (Bowen, Bowen’s Picture of Boston, 70–71.)
Bowen, Abel. Bowen’s Picture of Boston, or the Citizen’s and Stranger’s Guide to the Metropolis of Massachusetts and Its Environs. To Which Is Affixed the Annals of Boston. 3rd ed. Boston: Otis, Broaders, 1838.