Footnotes
See “Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon;” Revelation, ca. Aug. 1835 [D&C 27:8, 12]; JS History, vol. A-1, 37–38; Articles and Covenants, ca. Apr. 1830 [D&C 20:1–3]; and JS, Journal, 3 Apr. 1836; see also Harper, “Oliver Cowdery as Second Witness,” 73–89.
Harper, Steven C. “Oliver Cowdery as Second Witness of Priesthood Restoration.” In Days Never to Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, edited by Alexander Baugh, 73–89. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009.
See Historical Introduction to Letter from Thomas B. Marsh, 15 Feb. 1838.
See, for example, John Whitmer, Far West, MO, to Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, Kirtland Mills, OH, 29 Aug. 1837, Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; and Statement of Account from Perkins & Osborn, ca. 29 Oct. 1838.
Whitmer, John. Letter, Far West, MO, to Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, Kirtland Mills, OH, 29 Aug. 1837. Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Whitmer, Daybook, 20 Oct. 1837.
Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.
David Whitmer et al., Far West, MO, to Thomas B. Marsh, Far West, MO, 10 Mar. 1838, in Minute Book 2, 10 Mar. 1838.
Instruction on Priesthood, between ca. 1 Mar. and ca. 4 May 1835 [D&C 107:74, 82–84].
| no 1 | no 2 | ||
| " 3 | " 4 | ||
| " 5 | " 6 | ||
| " 7 | " 8 | ||
| " 9 | " 10 | ||
| " 11 | " 12 |
The high council had last met on 24 March 1838. (Minutes, 24 Mar. 1838.)
Samuel Smith was apparently substituting for Simeon Carter. (See Minutes, 24 Mar. 1838; and Minutes, 13 Apr. 1838.)
Higbee was apparently substituting for John P. Greene. (See Minute Book 2, 7–8 Apr. 1838; and Minutes, 13 Apr. 1838.)
In a 10 March 1838 letter to his brothers, Cowdery reported having “some four or five suits to attend to” at the April term of the circuit court in Caldwell County, Missouri.a The details of these cases are largely unknown because of the lack of extant court records. One of these cases may have been a suit on behalf of George Walters to redeem an 1836 promissory note from the First Presidency. In July 1838, Partridge testified that Cowdery promised to help Walters redeem the note in exchange for removing Cowdery’s name as a debtor on the note.b Several church leaders, probably drawing on passages in the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and JS’s revelations, expressed the belief that it was immoral to sue other church members in a court of law.c For example, in 1837 the Quorum of the Seventy in Kirtland voted to “withdraw fellowship from all who are in a habit of promoting litigation among their brethren and still persist in so dooing.”d It is likely that such beliefs, coupled with a general antipathy toward lawyers, motivated some of the ecclesiastical charges against Cowdery.
(aOliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, Kirtland, OH, [10] Mar. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 92. bEdward Partridge, Affidavit, Caldwell Co., MO, 12 July 1838, in Frampton, Justice of the Peace Docket Entry, CHL. cSee 1 Corinthians 6:1; Ashurst-McGee, “Zion Rising,” 128–129; and Firmage and Mangrum, Zion in the Courts, 12–18; see also JS, Journal, 7 Mar. 1844. dQuorums of the Seventy, “Book of Records,” 32, 37.)Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Frampton, David. Justice of the Peace Docket Entry, 12 July 1838. CHL.
Ashurst-McGee, Mark. “Zion Rising: Joseph Smith’s Early Social and Political Thought.” PhD diss., Arizona State University, 2008.
Firmage, Edwin Brown, and Richard Collin Mangrum. Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1890. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
Record of Seventies / First Council of the Seventy. “Book of Records,” 1837–1843. Bk. A. In First Council of the Seventy, Records, 1837–1885. CHL. CR 3 51, box 1, fd. 1.
For information on Cowdery’s accusations of adultery, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Thomas B. Marsh, 15 Feb. 1838.
Similar charges were made against Lyman Johnson and David Whitmer. Though Cowdery was clerk of the high council, there is no record of him attending high council meetings after 7 December 1837. In early February 1838, Cowdery wrote to his brothers that the Zion presidency refused to attend the February general assembly meetings in which presidency members were removed from office. Although Cowdery’s role was not yet in question at that date, he said he planned to only “attend one meeting, say what I think wisdom and leave them to their own damnation.” (Minutes, 13 Apr. 1838; Minute Book 2, 6–7 Dec. 1837; Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 84.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
In February 1838, Cowdery wrote to his brothers that he told a committee of the Zion high council, “If I had property, while I live and was sane, I would not be dictated, influenced or controlled, by any man or set of men by no tribunal of ecclesiastical pretences whatever.” (Oliver Cowdery, Far West, MO, to Warren Cowdery and Lyman Cowdery, [Kirtland, OH], 4 Feb. 1838, in Cowdery, Letterbook, 84.)
Cowdery, Oliver. Letterbook, 1833–1838. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.