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Minutes and Discourses, 6–9 October 1843

Source Note

Special conference of the Church, Minutes, and JS, Discourses, , Hancock Co., IL, 6–9 October 1843. Featured version published in “Minutes of a Special Conference,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1843, vol. 4, no. 21, 329–332. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

From 6 to 9 October 1843, JS presided over the semiannual of the in , Illinois. JS had announced the conference about two weeks earlier in print and in a discourse. The conference was to commence on Friday, 6 October, at ten o’clock in the morning, but cold and windy weather necessitated postponing it until the next day. When the conference began the next morning at ten o’clock, JS stated that the conference would address two matters of business: first, ’s standing in the church; and second, the building of the .
In the early years of the church emerged as one of JS’s most capable followers and fellow church leaders, serving as the first counselor in the , but the two men grew estranged after the Latter-day Saints relocated to . Because of chronic sickness, Rigdon had not actively functioned as a counselor. Additionally, a rift emerged between the men following JS’s alleged plural marriage proposal to Rigdon’s daughter in spring 1842. During the next year and a half, JS’s and Rigdon’s relationship vacillated between tenuous reconciliation and open hostility. In August and September 1843, and reportedly heard rumors that Rigdon had conspired with JS’s enemies in and . During a mid-August discourse, JS responded to these allegations by publicly accusing Rigdon of disloyalty and persuading the assembled Saints to withdraw Rigdon’s ministerial . Rigdon tried to answer these charges in late August, but the claims did not receive a full investigation until the October conference. Several church leaders later stated that JS privately to replace Rigdon in the First Presidency even though Rigdon’s case was still pending.
On Saturday, 7 October, JS formally charged , and Rigdon began his defense. The session was dismissed early due to inclement weather, and Rigdon continued to defend himself on Sunday, 8 October, during which time JS dropped at least one of the charges against him. , , and advocated for mercy in Rigdon’s behalf. Although JS continued to express doubt about Rigdon’s integrity, the conference voted to retain Rigdon as one of the counselors in the First Presidency. At the conclusion of the vote, the conference adjourned until the next day due to poor weather.
On Monday, 9 October, the conference assembled for both a morning and an afternoon session. In the morning, JS stated that the next item of business for the conference was the progress of the ’s construction. During the prior season, temple workers raised the walls from somewhere between four and twelve feet high to nearly twenty-five feet high, roughly completing the first-story stonework. Yet considerable work remained, and there was a great need for labor and goods to complete the structure. After JS’s remarks, and , the members of the church’s , discussed this progress and the need for additional labor and supplies to help the work continue. echoed their comments, after which the conference voted to continue the efforts to build the temple.
In the Monday afternoon session, JS delivered a funeral sermon for , a prominent Latter-day Saint who had moved to from , Illinois, by the prior summer. JS first met Adams in 1839, when JS passed through Springfield on his way to . Thereafter Adams served as one of JS’s trusted confidants and was a father figure to him. Adams died on 11 August 1843, and though JS attended his funeral on 16 August, there is no record that he preached on that occasion. His conference sermon about Adams was possibly prompted by the attendance of Harriet Denton Adams, James Adams’s widow, at a prayer meeting held in JS’s house the night before. JS based his discourse on chapter 12 of the epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament, particularly the difference between angels and the spirits of “just men made perfect” as mentioned in verses 22–23. According to the featured published conference report, JS’s sermon “was delivered with his usual feeling and pathos; and was listened to with the most profound and eager attention by the multitude, who hung upon his instructions.” recorded that “the people were well edified” by JS’s remarks and “a very good feeling prevailed throughout” the conference.
There are apparently no extant manuscript minutes for the October 1843 conference. served as the conference clerk. Although Hills occasionally served as clerk for church and civic meetings, he was not one of JS’s usual scribes. Hills’s minutes were printed in the 15 September 1843 issue of the Times and Seasons, which was at least a month behind schedule. likely kept loose minutes of at least the proceedings against on 7 October, but if he did so, they are apparently not extant. While Richards typically recorded conference minutes in JS’s journal, which he kept, he did not do so for this conference. However, Richards did record an account of JS’s 9 October discourse in the journal. Church member copied a refined account of JS’s doctrinal teachings from that discourse into his personal journal, although it is unclear if Burgess was present at the conference. Burgess attributed these teachings to “J Smith Prophet,” and while his account is not dated, it matches the themes and doctrines JS addressed at the October 1843 conference.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    He authorized Willard Richards to publish a notice, dated 22 September, announcing the conference, but before it was published, JS announced the conference from the stand during his Sunday discourse on 24 September. (“Special Conference,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 27 Sept. 1843, [3]; Note from Willard Richards, 22 Sept. 1843; JS, Journal, 24 Sept. 1843.)

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 6 Oct. 1843.

  3. [3]

    Rigdon told the April 1844 conference of the church that he had frequently suffered from “the violence of sickness” and noted that “want of health, and other circumstances have kept me in silence for nearly the last five years.” (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 May 1844, 5:522.)

  4. [4]

    Letter to Nancy Rigdon, ca. mid-Apr. 1842; Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 1 July 1842.

  5. [5]

    “Elder Rigdon, &c.,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1842, 3:922–923; Letter to Justin Butterfield, 16 Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 11 Feb. 1843; Letter to Sidney Rigdon, 27 Mar. 1843; Minutes and Discourses, 6–7 Apr. 1843.

  6. [6]

    Historical Introduction to Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–B.

  7. [7]

    JS, Journal, 27 Aug. 1843.

  8. [8]

    JS had previously called Lyman to the First Presidency in February 1843, apparently to replace Rigdon. At the time, JS was preparing ecclesiastical charges against Rigdon for his alleged connections to John C. Bennett. However, JS and Rigdon reconciled before Lyman’s calling could be announced and possibly before it could be implemented. In 1844, after JS’s death, Heber C. Kimball publicly stated that sometime around the October 1843 conference, Lyman was privately “ordained & put in the place of Sidney Rigdon as counsillor” to JS. Jedediah Grant made a similar statement in an 1844 pamphlet. This ordination may have occurred during a 1 October 1843 prayer meeting at which William Law and at least one unidentified individual were “anointed. counselors” to JS. (JS, Journal, 4 and 11 Feb. 1843; Woodruff, Journal, [20] Jan. 1843; Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 10 Jan. 1842 [1843]; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 8 Sept. 1844, 12; “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1844, 5:663–664; Grant, Collection of Facts, 15–16; JS, Journal, 1 Oct. 1843.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    Historical Department. Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL. CR 100 137.

    Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

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

    Grant, Jedediah M. A Collection of Facts, Relative to the Course Taken by Elder Sidney Rigdon, in the States of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking and Guilbert, 1844.

  9. [9]

    Workers had completed the basement stonework in 1842. (JS, Journal, 6 Apr. 1843; David Nye White, “The Prairies, Nauvoo, Joe Smith, the Temple, the Mormons, &c.,” Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, 14 Sept. 1843, [3].)

    Pittsburgh Daily Gazette. Pittsburgh, PA. 1841–1844.

  10. [10]

    Historical Introduction to Letter of Introduction from James Adams, 9 Nov. 1839.

  11. [11]

    Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 Nov. 1839, 67; JS, Journal, 4 May 1842; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 4 May 1842, 11.

  12. [12]

    JS, Journal, 11 and 16 Aug. 1843.

  13. [13]

    JS, Journal, 8 Oct. 1843.

  14. [14]

    JS previously touched on this subject during a funeral sermon for Elias Higbee in mid-August 1843. (Discourse, 13 Aug. 1843–A.)

  15. [15]

    Clayton, Journal, 9 Oct. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  16. [16]

    Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841; Historical Introduction to Minutes, 22 July 1842.

  17. [17]

    The 15 September issue of the Times and Seasons included an authorization for George J. Adams dated 14 October, indicating that the issue was published at least a month behind the printed date. In the previous issue, dated 1 September, John Taylor, the editor of the Times and Seasons, apologized for the lengthy delay, which he attributed to the absence of his business partner Wilford Woodruff—who was then serving a mission in the east—and his employees’ poor health. (Authorization for George J. Adams, 14 Oct. 1843; “To Our Patrons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1843, 4:312.)

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

  18. [18]

    In the 7 October 1843 entry in JS’s journal, Richards directed the reader to “see minutes” of an account of Sidney Rigdon’s trial. Richards wrote “see minutes” in JS’s journal nine other times, each time referring to minutes he personally kept. (JS, Journal, 7 Oct. 1843; JS, Journal, 12, 24, and 30 Apr. 1843; JS, Journal, 11, 23, 27, and 29 May 1843; 29 Dec. 1843; 13 May 1844.)

  19. [19]

    See, for example, JS, Journal, 6–8 Apr. 1843; and JS, Journal, 6–9 Apr. 1844.

  20. [20]

    Burgess, who moved to Nauvoo in April 1843, noted in his journal the “joy and gladness” he felt after arriving at the city, where he had “the priviledge of hearing the doctrine of the blessed redeemer developed by his servant the Prophet.” He also seems to have sought out accounts of JS’s sermons, and there is at least one sermon recorded in his notebook that he did not attend. (Burgess, Journal, [62]–[63]; see also, for example, Discourse, 6 Apr. 1843–B, as Reported by James Burgess.)

    Burgess, James. Journal, 1841–1848. CHL. MS 1858.

  21. [21]

    Burgess, Journal and Notebook, Oct. 1841–Dec. 1848, [14]–[15]; JS, Journal, 9 Oct. 1843.

    Burgess, James. Journal and Notebook, Oct. 1841–Dec. 1848. James Burgess, Journals, 1841–1848. CHL.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 7 October 1843, as Reported by Gustavus Hills “History of Joseph Smith” *Discourse, 8 October 1843, as Reported by Gustavus Hills History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] *Discourse, 9 October 1843, as Reported by Willard Richards Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844 *Discourse, 9 October 1843, as Reported by Gustavus Hills *Minutes and Discourses, 6–9 October 1843 *Discourse, 9 October 1843, as Reported by James Burgess History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 332

forward the work of the , and in walking before the Lord in soberness and righteousness.
Such a faint outline of the discourse of President Joseph Smith, which was delivered with his usual feeling and pathos; and was listened to with the most profound and eager attention by the multitude, who hung upon his instructions, anxious to learn and pursue the path of eternal life.
After singing by the choir, and prayer by the President, adjourned sine die, with the benediction of the President.
JOSEPH SMITH, President.
, Clerk. [p. 332]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourses, 6–9 October 1843
ID #
12370
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:160–167
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