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Minutes, 17 September 1837–A

Source Note

Minutes, , Geauga Co., OH, 17 Sept. 1837. Featured version copied [ca. 17 Sept. 1837] in Minute Book 1, p. 242; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.

Historical Introduction

JS and , members of the ’s , presided over and participated in a Sunday meeting on 17 September 1837 in the in , Ohio, during which and received new assignments. After Kirtland nominated Marks to become the to the bishop, Marks was unanimously sustained by the members in attendance. Marks appears to have acted as an agent for JS and Rigdon beginning in April 1837, and this appointment may have been an extension of that role. He formally accepted the position in an evening meeting of the elders of the church on 17 September.
After was sustained, spoke of the need to appoint a new general recorder and clerk for the church since , who had previously acted in this position, had recently moved to , Missouri. Rigdon nominated one of his sons-in-law, , for the office, and the assembled church members unanimously elected him. Robinson appears to have promptly undertaken his new office; he recorded the minutes featured here, acknowledging his position as “Clerk of the Church.”

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Whitney’s request for an agent and Marks’s appointment were printed in minutes in the Elders’ Journal summarizing events that occurred on 17 September. (Minutes, Elders’ Journal, Nov. 1837, 17.)

    Elders’ Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Kirtland, OH, Oct.–Nov. 1837; Far West, MO, July–Aug. 1838.

  2. [2]

    In April 1837, JS and Rigdon each transferred land to Marks, and in May 1837 they transferred ownership of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate and the church’s Kirtland printing office to Marks. It is not clear whether any money was exchanged in these transactions, but Marks’s willingness to transfer his right to land involved in the mortgage of the House of the Lord to Mead, Stafford & Co. suggests he was likely holding this land as an agent. (Deed to William Marks, 10 Apr. 1837; Sidney Rigdon to William Marks, Geauga County Deed Record, vol. 23, p. 535, Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, OH; “Notice,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, May 1837, 3:512; Mortgage to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837.)

    Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, vol. 23. Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, OH.

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  3. [3]

    Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–B.

  4. [4]

    Oliver Cowdery left Kirtland with his family to travel to Far West shortly after 15 September 1837, the date of his last docket entry as a Kirtland justice of the peace. (Cowdery, Docket Book, 14 June–15 Sept. 1837.)

    Cowdery, Oliver. Docket Book, June–Sept. 1837. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 17 September 1837–A
Minute Book 1 Elders’ Journal, November 1837 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 242

Sunday 17th Sept. 1837 In an assembly of the Saints in the , the following business was transacted by the , the of the Church in , stated to the Saints that the time had now arraved when it was necessary for him to have an , agreeable to the provisions made for him in the revelations, he proceded to nominate , and then Called upon the Church to know if it was their minds that Should officiate as Agent to the Bishop, Voted in the affirmative. by the unanymous voice of the Church,
then stated that it was necessary that the Church should have a general recorder & Clerk, to fill the place of who had lately removed to the west, was nominated & elected by a unanymous voice of the Church, to act in that office as general Clerk & recorder of the whole Church. made some remarks upon the duties responsibility &c. of the Bishop his Agent & Councilors, & the nesessity of their standing forth immediately to degnify their office, After some remarks by Presidents Smith & and others upon the disipline of Children, &c. the administration of the being attended to, the meeting Closed by a benediction from the .——
.} Clerk of the— Church [p. 242]
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Source Note

Document Transcript

Page 242

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 17 September 1837–A
ID #
7504
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:442–443
Handwriting on This Page
  • George W. Robinson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS revelations in 1832 and 1833 had directed Newel K. Whitney to obtain an agent. The timing of Marks’s appointment may be related to Whitney’s need for additional help with the financial matters of the Kirtland church or to church leaders’ decision to appoint additional stakes of Zion and relocate the majority of Kirtland Saints to Missouri. (See Revelation, 22–23 Sept. 1832 [D&C 84:112–113]; and Revelation, 8 Mar. 1833 [D&C 90:22–23].)

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