See Revelation, 8 Mar. 1833 [D&C 90]; and Minutes, 18 Mar. 1833.

Previously, Frederick G. Williams had served as a clerk for meetings. He also served as a counselor in the presidency of the high priesthood. Beginning 15 March 1833, Williams ceased signing minutes simply as “clerk” and began signing them “Clk PT [clerk pro tempore].” Hyde began his duties as clerk immediately after his appointment and likely recorded these minutes. He then copied these minutes and penned the next several entries in Minute Book 1. Hyde alone recorded and copied minutes into Minute Book 1 from 26 December 1833 to 19 February 1834, when Oliver Cowdery joined him as a clerk. (Note, 9 Jan. 1833; Revelation, 8 Mar. 1833 [D&C 90:6]; Minute Book 1, 15 Mar. 1833; Minutes, 18 Mar. 1833; Minutes, 13 July 1833.)

See Minutes, 4 May 1833; Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95:11–17]; Minutes, ca. 1 June 1833; and Hyrum Smith et al., Kirtland, OH, to “the Churches of Christ,” 1 June 1833, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 36–38.

At this time Hyrum Smith and Reynolds Cahoon were serving as counselors to Bishop Newel K. Whitney. Jared Carter was the moderator for the conference of high priests that organized the fund-raising committee for the House of the Lord on 4 May 1833. (Cahoon, Diary, 10 Feb. 1832; Minutes, 4 May 1833.)

Cahoon, Reynolds. Diaries, 1831–1832. CHL. MS 1115.

According to Hyrum Smith’s diary, construction work commenced the next day, 7 June 1833. It is likely that Smith’s contemporaneous account is accurate, though other historical sources provide several conflicting dates. For instance, in JS’s manuscript history, Willard Richards made a later insertion, likely in the 1840s, that gives 5 June as the start date: “June 5 Geo. A. Smith drawed the first load of stone for the Temple and Hyrum Smith & Reynolds Cahoon commenced digging the trench for the walls of the Lord’s House and fin[i]shed the same with their own hands.” The next entry in JS’s manuscript history, however, suggests that construction had not yet begun. Richards’s insertion was later published in History of the Church as the only entry for 5 June, and subsequently 5 June has often been perpetuated by later histories of the House of the Lord as the date that work on the building began. Richards, however, contradicted himself when making notes for JS’s history in the back of Revelation Book 2. From memory he wrote that “Hyrum Smith, & Reynolds Cahoon commenced digging the trench for the walls of the Lords house on the 6 of June. and accomplished the same by their own hands.” Lucy Mack Smith’s reminiscent account creates more uncertainty. She wrote that in the afternoon following the 6 June conference, Hyrum declared, “I am determined to be the first at the work” and that he “commenced digging away the Earth where the stone were to be laid.” She mistakenly recalled, however, that the conference occurred on a Saturday, which could not have been 6 June 1833 but rather would have been 1 or 8 June 1833. Regardless of these discrepancies, construction on the temple likely began shortly after authorization was given at this 6 June conference. (JS History, vol. A-1, 302; History of the Church, 1:353; Notes for JS History, ca. 1843, [1]; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 14, [1]; see also Robison, First Mormon Temple, 28.)

History of the Church / Smith, Joseph, et al. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Edited by B. H. Roberts. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1902–1912 (vols. 1–6), 1932 (vol. 7).

Robison, Elwin C. The First Mormon Temple: Design, Construction, and Historic Context of the Kirtland Temple. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1997.