Footnotes
See Nauvoo Female Relief Society, Petition to Thomas Carlin, ca. 22 July 1842, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 136–141; and Minutes, 22 July 1842.
Derr, Jill Mulvay, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds. The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016.
In condemning his enemies and stating that he would ultimately triumph over adversity, JS echoed sentiments he had expressed in a 29 August discourse to the elders of the church. In that sermon, he denounced all those who had worked against him. (See Discourse, 29 Aug. 1842.)
In early September, JS wrote a letter to the church in which he instructed the Saints that proxy baptisms for the dead should be witnessed by a recorder. (See JS, Journal, 4 Sept. 1842 [D&C 127]; and “Tidings,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1842, 3:919–920.)
Two days earlier, JS spoke of the many enemies he had confounded, including Governor Thomas Carlin, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, and Missourians in general. He also spoke against Orson Pratt, Sidney Rigdon, and George W. Robinson, implying that they had ties to John C. Bennett. In his letters to the editor of the Sangamo Journal, Bennett called for Robinson, Rigdon, Pratt, and others to verify his accusations against JS. While Robinson apparently wrote privately to Bennett and shared his perspective, neither he nor the others spoke out publicly against JS. Robinson left the church and moved away from Nauvoo, while Rigdon and Pratt reconciled with JS. (See Discourse, 29 Aug. 1842; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 2 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2]; John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal, 15 July 1842, [2]; George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 3 July 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 44–45; and George W. Robinson, Nauvoo, IL, to John C. Bennett, 16 Sept. 1842, in Bennett, History of the Saints, 248–249.)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Luke 13:32.
In late August 1842, JS directed missionaries to travel to the eastern United States in an effort to refute the accusations that Bennett was making in the press and in public lectures. (See Discourse, 29 Aug. 1842.)
The phrase “Jack in the lantern” referred to the visual phenomenon of ignis fatuus, or erratically moving light (also called will-o’-the-wisp), and denoted something misleading or elusive. Folklore developed in western Europe around this visual phenomenon, connecting it with stories about “Shady Jack” or “Jack of the Lantern.” In most folklore, the trickster character of Jack confounded the devil to escape death for a time, only to be eternally caught between heaven and hell after his death as the result of his trickery; he thus was doomed to wander the world as a spirit. (See “Jack-o’-lantern,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 5:539–540; Allies, British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities, 423–430; and Santino, All around the Year, 157.)
Allies, Jabez. The British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-lore of Worcestershire. 2nd ed. London: John Russel Smith, 1856.
Santino, Jack. All around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995.