Footnotes
See John S. Fullmer, [Nauvoo, IL], to George D. Fullmer, Nashville, TN, 28 Mar. 1841, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 124; Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; and JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Isaac Galland, [Keokuk, Iowa Territory], 17 Jan. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.
Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.
See the full bibliographic entry for Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, 1836–1963, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
“To set apart for, or assign to a particular use.” (“Appropriate,” in American Dictionary.)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841. A January 1841 revelation designated Nauvoo as a gathering place and a “corner stone of Zion” and indicated that a temple would be built there. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:2].)
“An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, 2:567–568.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
The printing of the scriptures was an ongoing process. On 29 December 1839 the Nauvoo high council had resolved “that Book of Mormon be printed in this place.” In 1840, Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith oversaw the acquisition of stereotype plates for the printing of the Book of Mormon, and they had printed two thousand copies by December of that year. Although the new edition of the Book of Mormon had been published by the time of Vance’s letter, the printing of the Doctrine and Covenants was ongoing. In October 1840, Robinson reported that a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants was forthcoming, along with a hymnbook. (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 29 Dec. 1839; Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, 14 Dec. 1840; Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; see also Walker, “As Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” 12–26.)
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
Walker, Kyle R. “‘As Fire Shut Up in My Bones’: Ebenezer Robinson, Don Carlos Smith, and the 1840 Edition of the Book of Mormon.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 1 (Winter 2010): 1–40.
Likely JS’s brother William Smith, who lived in Plymouth, Illinois, near the border between Hancock and McDonough counties. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 16, [8]; bk. 17, [8]; JS, Journal, 15–17 June 1839.)
Along with the First Presidency’s instruction to gather to Hancock County, which was shared early in 1841, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had recently published counsel concerning land and construction in Nauvoo. In order to help the church pay the debt on and obtain titles to Illinois land purchased from Horace Hotchkiss, members residing in the eastern United States were asked to trade their land for Illinois property. Titles to those eastern lands would then be used as payment toward the debt to Hotchkiss. Church members already in the Illinois area were invited to contribute goods and labor toward the temple construction in Nauvoo. Vance presumably meant to obey this counsel by offering a portion of the proceeds from his farm’s sale to the temple construction and printing of the scriptures. It is unclear how Vance’s proposal might have been an “exception to a general rule.” Vance may have deviated from normal procedure by asking JS to help him sell land that was so close to Hancock County and by wishing to retain some of the money for himself. (“An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, 2:568.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
JS’s brother Don Carlos Smith had also written a letter to JS in June 1841—even though both brothers lived in Nauvoo—because he felt he had “no opportunity to converse” with JS, who was “thronged with business.” (Letter from Don Carlos Smith, 3 June 1841.)