Footnotes
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.
Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.
Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878, microfilm, Aug. 1975, CHL.
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.
See the full bibliographic entry for Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 1840–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
Four days earlier, Fields Jarvis wrote to JS offering him ferry rights in or near Shokokon. It is unclear, however, whether Cowan’s offer on 10 February was connected to Jarvis’s letter. (Letter from Fields Jarvis, 6 Feb. 1843.)
In warning Saints in the eastern United States about Cowan’s pretentions, Young described Cowan as “all love— Charm— Calculated to magnetize” and argued that he only sought to profit off JS and the Saints. It is unclear whether JS shared Young’s negative assessment of Cowan’s character. On several occasions in 1843 and 1844, Cowan met or corresponded with local and national politicians apparently on behalf of JS or the church. It is unclear whether JS sanctioned Cowan’s activities. (Boston Conference, Minutes, 11 Sept. 1843, 16–17, Historian’s Office, Minutes and Reports [Local Units], CHL; John Chambers, Burlington, Iowa Territory, to John Cowan, [Bald Bluff, IL], 10 Mar. 1843, JS Office Papers, CHL; John Cowan, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 23 Jan. 1844; John Cowan, New York City, NY, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 31 May 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)
Historian’s Office. Minutes and Reports, 1840–1886. CHL.
After JS confronted Adams with the charge of adultery in September 1842, Adams confessed and promised to reform. However, in January 1843, while Adams was preaching in Boston, his wife, Caroline Youngs Adams, informed JS that George’s mistress had given birth to a child and she requested that JS privately recall Adams to Nauvoo for church discipline. (Letter from George J. Adams and David Rogers, 11 Oct. 1842; Letter from Caroline Youngs Adams, ca. 15 Jan. 1843.)
In JS’s history, Thomas Bullock clarified that “Bro Bear” referred to John Bair, a Latter-day Saint living at Nauvoo. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1466; License for John Bair, 18 Apr. 1840, in General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 34; Nauvoo, IL, Tax List for 1842, district 3, p. 218, microfilm 7,706, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Four days after the meeting, JS again met with Cowan. Together they traveled up to Shokokon to survey the community, where they spent several days before JS agreed to purchase part of the town. (JS, Journal, 14–17 Feb. 1843; see Deed from Robert and Mary Crane McQueen, 20 Feb. 1843.)
Although general theft in Nauvoo was an ongoing topic of concern for JS, Richards’s account of this statement in JS’s journal suggests that JS was simply addressing theft in the Nauvoo post office. Since fall 1842, JS had accused postmaster Sidney Rigdon and others in the post office of stealing letters or funds sent to him in the mail. In November 1842, he even sought to replace Rigdon as postmaster. The renewed interest in the office on 10 February may have been in response to rumors that William Rollosson was beginning to draft a petition to replace Rigdon as postmaster. There is no further indication that a public meeting on the issue was ever held. (Affidavit, 29 Nov. 1841; Letter to George W. Robinson, 6 Nov. 1842; JS, Journal, 8 Nov. 1842; 10 and 13 Feb. 1843; Letter from Sidney Rigdon, ca. 13 Feb. 1843.)
Young and Richards wrote to Adams the next day, conveying JS’s instructions to cease preaching and return to Nauvoo. (JS, Journal, 11 Feb. 1843; George J. Adams, New York City, NY, to Brigham Young and Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Mar. 1843, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)
Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.