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License for Stephen Abbott, circa 6 April 1841

Source Note

JS, License, for , , Hancock Co., IL, ca. 6 Apr. 1841; printed form with manuscript additions in handwriting of ; one page, with certificate of recording on verso; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.
One leaf, measuring 7⅝ × 3¼ inches (19 × 8 cm). The document has five major vertical folds and one horizontal fold. The document contains discoloration and archival marks. It has undergone conservation to strengthen folds and repair tears.
A statement was previously stapled to the license: “Certificate of Ordination to office of of , signed by the Prophet Joseph Smith— preserved by his wife Abigail Smith Abbott & brot to Utah, passed down thru their grand daughter Hannah Adelia Bunher Crosby to their great grand daughters Elida Crosby Haycock & Naomi Crosby Bliss of Salt Lake City present owners”. The license was donated to the Church Historian’s Office, likely by 1967, when Elida Haycock died. Sometime between 1974 and 1984, the license was added to the JS Collection (Supplement) at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Statement on Stephen Abbott License, no date, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

Historical Introduction

Around 6 April 1841, in connection with the business of the general held 7–11 April 1841 in , Illinois, received a affirming his to the office of in the . The license was issued by a general conference of the church presided over by JS and was recorded in accordance with the established regulations for licensing in the church.
, then a resident of Perry, Pike County, Illinois, was in 1839 and ordained to the office of by April 1840. In 1840 and 1841, Abbott served in leadership roles in church in Brown and Pike counties in before being ordained a high priest in April 1841; he moved to the next year.
’s license, one of few extant originals issued in 1841, is representative of more than one hundred licenses recorded in the church’s official record book of licenses from February 1841 through November 1841. Unlike earlier licenses issued in , Ohio, Abbott’s license does not attest to moral character and spiritual worthiness—it is more succinct. The exact dating of Abbott’s license is uncertain because it was issued on a form printed in 1840. , the church recorder, initially dated the license 7 April but then changed the date to 6 April, which was the first day of the April 1840 general conference. The April 1841 general conference that supposedly authorized Abbott’s ordination, however, did not begin until 7 April. Thompson may have been confused by the printed date on the license, which was the “sixth of April.” However, it is possible that Abbott was ordained at some point on 6 April 1841, when many church members gathered in for the cornerstone ceremony. The record of the license in the official record book does not provide a date for the issuance of the license.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 77; for more on regulations for priesthood licensing, see Minutes, 3 Mar. 1836; License, 21 Mar. 1836; and Resolution, ca. 8 Apr. 1838.

  2. [2]

    Joseph Wood, Perry, IL, 26 Mar. 1840, Letter to the Editors, Times and Seasons, Apr. 1840, 1:87; Hadfield and Hadfield, George Wells Hadfield and Sylvia Abigail Beecher, 2:301, 309–310, 311, 320; Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.

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

    Hadfield, Milton Gary, and Kathleen Halverson Hadfield, eds. George Wells Hadfield and Sylvia Abigail Beecher. 2 vols. Amelia, VA: By the authors, 2004.

  3. [3]

    Moroni Branch, Brown Co., IL, Record, CHL; Joseph Wood, Perry, IL, 26 Mar. 1840, Letter to the Editors, Times and Seasons, Apr. 1840, 1:87; Hadfield and Hadfield, George Wells Hadfield and Sylvia Abigail Beecher, 2:311; Jacob Foutz, Nauvoo, IL, to Don Carlos Smith, Nauvoo, IL, 17 Jan. 1841, in Times and Seasons, 1 Feb. 1841, 2:308. Stephen and his wife, Abigail Smith Abbott, deeded their land in Pike County, Illinois, to Mary Fielding Smith on 28 November 1842 after they moved to Nauvoo. (Stephen Abbott and Abigail Smith Abbott, Deed to Mary Fielding Smith, 28 Nov. 1842, Hyrum Smith Collection, CHL.)

    Moroni Branch, Brown Co., IL, Record, 1841. CHL.

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

    Hadfield, Milton Gary, and Kathleen Halverson Hadfield, eds. George Wells Hadfield and Sylvia Abigail Beecher. 2 vols. Amelia, VA: By the authors, 2004.

    Smith, Hyrum. Collection, ca. 1839–1911. CHL.

  4. [4]

    See, for example, License for Frederick G. Williams, 20 Mar. 1833; and License, 21 Mar. 1836.

  5. [5]

    For more on the cornerstone ceremony, see Benediction, 6 Apr. 1841.

  6. [6]

    See General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 77.

Page [1]

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
This certifies that has been recieved into the , organized on the sixth of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and has been a according to the rules and regulations of said church; and is duly authorised to preach the gospel, agreably to the authority of that office.
Given by the direction of a general of the authorities of said church, assembled in Ill. on the sixth of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty. <​one​>
Clerk. Joseph Smith President. [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Page [1]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
License for Stephen Abbott, circa 6 April 1841
ID #
1886
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:100–102
Handwriting on This Page
  • Printed text
  • Robert B. Thompson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The church was organized on 6 April 1830 as the “Church of Christ.” The church officially changed its name in 1834 to the “Church of the Latter Day Saints.” In 1838 a revelation changed the church’s official name to “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” (Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:1]; Minutes, 3 May 1834; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1838 [D&C 115:4].)

  2. [2]

    The cited “rules and regulations” may have included the “articles and covenants of the Church of Christ,” which contained the founding principles for governing the priesthood. The articles and covenants were presented to members at the first conference of the church, held 9 June 1830 at Fayette, Seneca County, New York—though these articles did not address the office of high priest specifically. (Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20].)

  3. [3]

    See Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:10, 12, 17]; Revelation, ca. June 1835 [D&C 68:19]; and Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:101].

  4. [4]

    TEXT: The insertion represented here is a handwritten correction to the printed form rather than a filled-in blank.

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