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Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 October 1840

Source Note

General Conference Minutes, and JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, 3–5 Oct. 1840. Featured version published in “Minutes of the General Conference,” Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 185–187. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

JS presided over a general of the in , Illinois, from 3 to 5 October 1840. The conference originally was scheduled to begin on 2 October but was delayed due to inclement weather. Nevertheless, four to five thousand people attended the conference, according to estimates. One observer believed the conference was “the largest company of People that I ever saw together on a religious ocation [occasion].” The assembly likely met at the meeting grounds near ’s house in the southwest part of the Nauvoo peninsula. The conference discussed business related to responding to crime in the area; constructing a in Nauvoo; drafting a city charter; organizing church units and leadership in and , Ohio; and creating another committee to try to obtain redress for the Saints’ expulsion from .
One of the conference’s significant participants was , who had recently arrived in after corresponding with JS and in previous months. Although Bennett was a new convert, the conference placed a great deal of responsibility on him, especially by enlisting him to help obtain legal incorporation for the city of Nauvoo. Bennett held political clout in as the current quartermaster general of the Illinois militia and the former brigadier general of the Invincible Dragoons, a division of the Illinois militia. Hoping to capitalize on Bennett’s influence, the conference appointed him to support efforts to obtain a city charter for Nauvoo from the state legislature.
At the conference, JS spoke on a new church doctrine: members could be on behalf of deceased persons. JS had mentioned this concept on 15 August 1840 during a funeral sermon for . On that occasion, according to reminiscent accounts, JS read from 1 Corinthians 15 and promised Jane Harper Neyman, a woman in attendance who was grieving the death of her unbaptized son, that she “shou[ld] have glad tidings in that thing,” “that thing” meaning vicarious baptism. Although the following minutes of the conference do not preserve the details of JS’s instruction, two accounts confirm that JS provided the conference with additional guidance about baptism for the dead. Specifically, JS explained, “it is the privilege of this church to be baptised for all their kinsfolks that have died before this Gospel came forth; even back to their great Grandfather and Mother if they have ben personally acquainted with them.” The Saints were not to be baptized for their “acquaintances unless they [the deceased] send a ministering spirit to their friends on earth.” When someone was baptized on behalf of the deceased, the deceased would be “released from prison and they [the living Latter-day Saint] can claim them in the resurrection and bring them into the celestial kingdom.” JS may have been familiar with the entry on “Baptism for the Dead” in Charles Buck’s theological dictionary, which stated that it was a “practice formerly in use, when a person dying without baptism” would depend upon another to be “baptized in his stead; thus supposing that God would accept the baptism of the proxy, as though it had been administered to the principal.” In the first vicarious baptisms took place in the as early as 13 September 1840. According to , “During conference there were sometimes from eight to ten in the river at a time baptiseing” for the dead. The Saints may have performed baptisms while the conference took place because JS encouraged them to “liberate their friends from bondage as quick as posable [possible].”
served as clerk of the conference and took the minutes, which were then published in the October 1840 issue of the Times and Seasons.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Editorial, Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 1:184; Benjamin Dobson, “The Mormons,” Peoria (IL) Register and North-Western Gazetteer, 30 Oct. 1840, [1]; Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, 11 Oct. 1840, photocopy, Vilate Murray Kimball, Letters, 1840, CHL.

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

    Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer. Peoria, IL. 1837–1843.

    Kimball, Vilate Murray. Letters, 1840. Photocopy. CHL.

  2. [2]

    John Smith, Journal, 1840–1841, 2–10 Oct. 1840.

    Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.

  3. [3]

    Franklin D. Richards, Walnut Grove, IL, to Levi Richards, West Stockbridge, MA, 21 July 1840, CHL.

    Richards, Franklin D. Letter, Walnut Grove, IL, to Levi Richards, East Stockbridge, MA, 21 July 1840. CHL.

  4. [4]

    See Letters from John C. Bennett, 25, 27, and 30 July 1840; Letter to John C. Bennett, 8 Aug. 1840; and Letter from John C. Bennett, 15 Aug. 1840.

  5. [5]

    Letter from John C. Bennett, 25 July 1840.

  6. [6]

    See Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840. Brunson, a member of the Nauvoo high council and a lieutenant colonel in the Nauvoo Legion, died on 10 August 1840. (Obituary for Seymour Brunson, Times and Seasons, Sept. 1840, 1:176.)

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

  7. [7]

    Simon Baker, “15 Aug. 1840 Minutes of Recollection of Joseph Smith’s Sermon,” JS Collection, CHL; see also Jane Harper Neyman and Vienna Jaques, Statement, 29 Nov. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.

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

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

  8. [8]

    Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, 11 Oct. 1840, photocopy, Vilate Murray Kimball, Letters, 1840, CHL.

    Kimball, Vilate Murray. Letters, 1840. Photocopy. CHL.

  9. [9]

    Phebe Carter Woodruff, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, 6–19 Oct. 1840, digital scan, Wilford Woodruff, Collection, CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Collection, 1831–1905. CHL. MS 19509.

  10. [10]

    Phebe Carter Woodruff, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, 6–19 Oct. 1840, digital scan, Wilford Woodruff, Collection, CHL.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Collection, 1831–1905. CHL. MS 19509.

  11. [11]

    Buck, Theological Dictionary, 38.

    Buck, Charles. A Theological Dictionary, Containing Definitions of All Religious Terms: A Comprehensive View of Every Article in the System of Divinity. . . . Philadelphia: W. W. Woodward, 1818.

  12. [12]

    Jane Harper Neyman and Vienna Jaques, Statement, 29 Nov. 1854, Historian’s Office, JS History Documents, ca. 1839–1860, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

  13. [13]

    Vilate Murray Kimball, Nauvoo, IL, to Heber C. Kimball, 11 Oct. 1840, photocopy, Vilate Murray Kimball, Letters, 1840, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Documents, 1839–1860. CHL. CR 100 396.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 October 1840
History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 185

Minutes of the general of the , held in , Hancock county, Ill. Oct., 3rd 1840.
The conference was opened by prayer by .
Joseph Smith jr. was then unanimously called to the chair, and , chosen clerk.
A letter from and and one from Elder were then read by the , which gave very satisfactory accounts of their mission.
On motion. Resolved, That a committee be appointed to such as have recommends to this conference for ordination, and that elders
, ,
, ,
compose said committee, and report their proceedings before the conference closes.
The president arose and stated that there had been several depredations committed on the citizens of , and thought it expedient that a committee be appointed, to search out the offenders, and bring them to justice.
Whereupon it was resolved, that,
Joseph Smith, ,
, ,
, ,
,
compose said committee.
On motion. Resolved, that be appointed the general church clerk in the room of , who intends to remove to .
It having been requested by that the conference would appoint an elder to take charge of the church which he and had raised up in .
On motion. Resolved, that Elder , be appointed to preside over the church in .
The president then rose, and stated that it was necessary that something, should be done with regard to , so that it might be built up; and gave it as his opinion, that the brethren from the east might there, and also, that it was necessary that some one should be appointed from this conference to preside over that [p. 185]
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Page 185

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 October 1840
ID #
7359
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:418–427
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Marks was designated as president of the Nauvoo stake on 5 October 1839 at a general conference of the church. (Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839.)

  2. [2]

    Letter from Samuel Bent and George W. Harris, 23 Sept. 1840. Bent and Harris were appointed as “traveling agents, to make contracts and receive monies” for the church’s publication efforts. (“Books!!!,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:140; Minutes, 17 July 1840.)

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

  3. [3]

    Letter from John E. Page, 23 Sept. 1840. Page and Orson Hyde, who were directed by an April 1840 general conference to preach to the Jews in Europe and the Holy Land, had been raising funds in Cincinnati for this mission. By the time of this conference, Hyde had departed Cincinnati, leaving Page in the city. (Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840; Letter from Orson Hyde, 28 Sept. 1840.)

  4. [4]

    Groves, Murdock, and Carter had served as members of the high council at Far West, Missouri. (Minute Book 2, 17 Mar. 1838; Minutes, 24 Mar. 1838.)

  5. [5]

    One month later, the Times and Seasons reported that Nauvoo had become “infested of late with a gang of thieves, insomuch that property of almost all kinds, has been unsafe unless secured with bolts and bars; cattle and hogs have been made a free booty.” (“Look Out for Thieves!!,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1840, 2:204, italics in original.)

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

  6. [6]

    Robinson had served as “general Clerk & recorder of the whole Church” since September 1837. Thompson was appointed as a secretary in late 1839. (Minutes, 17 Sept. 1837–A; Letter from Emma Smith, 6 Dec. 1839.)

  7. [7]

    John E. Page had requested that the conference “send some faithful and competent elder to this place to nurse the seed or word that has [been] sown here.” Page had already baptized thirteen new converts. (Letter from John E. Page, 23 Sept. 1840.)

  8. [8]

    Bennett had previously served as the presiding elder of the branch in Philadelphia. (Minutes and Discourse, 13 Jan. 1840.)

  9. [9]

    Oliver Granger, Levi Richards, and Thomas Burdick had complained in letters about the conduct of some of the Saints in Kirtland. Granger was then serving as a church agent in Kirtland and working to resolve outstanding debts of church leaders. In a July 1840 letter to Granger, JS wrote that “under such circumstances Kirtland cannot rise and free herself from the captivity in which she is held and become a place of safety for the saints nor can the blessings of Jehovah rest upon her.” (Minutes, 5–6 Sept. 1840; Minutes, 4–5 May 1839; Letter to Oliver Granger, between ca. 22 and ca. 28 July 1840.)

  10. [10]

    In November 1839, a First Presidency and high council statement condemned a rumored plan of some Saints, who had already abandoned Kirtland for the West, to return to Kirtland without the permission of church leaders. In July 1840, JS specifically lamented that recent converts “should be led to Kirtland instead of to this place [Nauvoo] by Elder Babbit.” In August 1840, Parley P. Pratt also instructed Saints in New York and Philadelphia to gather to the designated locations in the West and not to Kirtland. “When the Lord wants the people to gather to Kirtland and build it up,” he declared, “his servants the Presidency, will advise you by such authority as you will not have any reason to doubt.” Following this October conference, JS and Hyrum Smith announced a plan to “advise the Eastern brethren who desire to locate in Kirtland, to do so.” (“To the Saints Scattered Abroad,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:29; Letter to Oliver Granger, between ca. 22 and ca. 28 July 1840; Parley P. Pratt, New York, to “the Elders and Brethren of the Church . . . in New York, Philadelphia and the Regions Round About,” 25 Aug. 1840, in Foster, History of the New York City Branch, [13]; Letter to the Saints in Kirtland, OH, 19 Oct. 1840.)

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

    Foster, Lucian R. History of the New York City Branch, 1837–1840. High Priests Quorum Record, 1841–1845. CHL.

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