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Notice, 11 May 1842
Source Note
Source Note
JS, , and , Notice, , Hancock Co., IL, 11 May 1842; handwriting of ; signatures of JS, , , , and in handwriting of ; signatures of , , , , , , and ; notation in handwriting of , with signatures of , , and ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets.
Single leaf measuring 9½ × 7½ inches (24 × 19 cm), ruled with twenty-eight blue lines (now faded). The top and right edges have the square cut of manufactured paper. The left edge is uneven, suggesting it was cut by hand. The bottom edge has been torn unevenly. The title, main body, dateline, and JS’s signature were inscribed in a different ink than the rest of the document. The leaf was folded in half and then in thirds; the top quarter was then folded down. Significant wear has occurred on the bottom of the verso. There is also some separation along fold lines.
The document was apparently retained either by JS, his office staff, or perhaps the staff of the Times and Seasons, where the notice was later published. , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office from 1853 to 1859, docketed the document, as did Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1882 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and inclusion in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
“Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
- [2]
Jenson, Autobiography, 131, 133, 135, 141, 192, 389; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 44–52.
Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.
Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.
Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
- [3]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
In May 1842, prepared a notice from the withdrawing fellowship from . The notice was later signed by members of the and the in , Illinois. Since Bennett’s arrival in Nauvoo and subsequent into the church in September 1840, he had been a prominent church and civic leader. However, shortly after Bennett’s conversion, JS received information that Bennett, who had portrayed himself to Nauvoo church members as unmarried, “had a wife, and two or three children” in , Ohio. and verified this report in July 1841 after conversing with individuals who lived in the vicinity of McConnelsville.
Charges of seducing women in then came to light. Bennett allegedly told women and several men that JS and other church leaders approved of his actions and did the same things themselves. JS confronted Bennett with these charges, and, according to JS, Bennett admitted to the misdeeds and promised to reform. However, he did not do so, leading JS and other leaders in the church to prepare this notice.
The notice was dated 11 May and may have been dictated by JS to that same day. , the third and final member of the First Presidency to sign the notice, later stated that he signed the document “several days before” withdrew his membership from the church on 17 May. Soon after the notice was created, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the three bishops signed the document, with Richards signing on behalf of JS and three fellow apostles who may not have been present at the time. Bennett later claimed that the notice had been presented to for his signature several days after 11 May, suggesting that some signatures had been gathered in the days that followed.
Church leaders apparently did not inform about the notice until 25 May 1842, when they told him of their intention to publish it. After Bennett showed contrition for his behavior, church leaders withheld the notice from the paper. However, they soon reversed their decision—perhaps because Bennett again became unrepentant and began making plans to write an exposé of the church—and the notice was published in the 15 June 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons.
presented a different account of events. He claimed that he voluntarily withdrew from the church on 17 May 1842, not because of any personal improprieties but because he had joined the church for the sole purpose of exposing JS as a fraud. JS and other church leaders then prepared this “MORMON BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION,” Bennett stated, and dated it retroactively to make it seem as though they, and not Bennett, had severed ties. The notice is dated 11 May in this volume, however, because that is the date that appears on the unpublished version of the notice featured here, and that same date is corroborated by ’s affidavit. No known evidence corroborates Bennett’s statement regarding the date the notice was prepared.
Footnotes
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]
- [4]
Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842;”; Letter to Emma Smith and the Relief Society, 31 Mar. 1842; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 20, 24, 25, 27, and 28 May 1842.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
- [5]
JS dictated “various letters & business” on 11 May. (JS, Journal, 11 May 1842.)
- [6]
“Affidavit of Wm. Law,” Wasp, Extra, 27 July 1842, [3]; “Affidavit of Wm. Law,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:873. Sidney Rigdon, another member of the First Presidency, did not sign the document, perhaps because of his strained relationship with JS at this time. For more information on this tension, see Historical Introduction to Letter from Sidney Rigdon, 1 July 1842.
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
- [7]
John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; see also Bennett, History of the Saints, 41. As noted in Bennett’s History, Pratt did not sign the document.
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.
- [8]
Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; Bennett, History of the Saints, 41; JS, Journal, 26 May 1842; “Trouble among the Mormons,” Daily Atlas [Boston], 13 July 1842, [2]; “Notice,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842, 3:830. The published notice contains no substantive differences from the manuscript version.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Boston Daily Atlas. Boston. 1844–1857.
- [9]
Bennett, History of the Saints, 5–10, 41, emphasis in original; see also John C. Bennett, Nauvoo, IL, 27 June 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 8 July 1842, [2]; and Letter to James Sloan, 17 May 1842.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Notice
The Subscribers, members of the of the , withdraw the hand of fellowship from Gen. , as a christian, he having been labored with from time to time, To persuade him to amend his conduct, apparently to no good effect.
Joseph Smith
.
May 11. 1842)
The following, members of the concur in the above Sentimnts.
We concur in the above sentiment
| ) | of the above mentioned Church |
| ) | |
| ) |
[p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [1]
TEXT: “Notice” is underlined three times.
- [2]
In a 23 June 1842 letter to church members, JS presented his account of events leading to the preparation of this notice and implied that he had worked with Bennett to reform his conduct since about July 1841. An August 1842 editorial in the Times and Seasons also noted that Bennett “ha[d] been dealt with from time to time” and that he sometimes “acknowledge[d] his iniquity, ask[ed] and pray[ed] for forgiveness, beg[ged] that he might not be exposed.” The editorial continued, “He was in this way borne with from time to time, until forbearance was no longer a virtue.” (Letter to the Church and Others, 23 June 1842; “John C. Bennett,” Times and Seasons, 1 Aug. 1842, 3:869.)
Signatures of Hyrum Smith and William Law.
- [3]
The published version of this notice lists the names of the members of the Twelve essentially in order of their seniority in the quorum (Young, Kimball, Wight, William Smith, Page, Taylor, Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Richards, although Wight was the most recently ordained apostle), rather than the order presented here. Two members of the Twelve—Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde—were not included in this list because they were serving missions overseas at the time. (“Notice,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842, 3:830; Pratt, Autobiography, 356–357; “History of Orson Hyde,” 16, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL.)
Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
Signatures of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Lyman Wight, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Willard Richards.
- [4]
Bennett claimed that Wight was in Tennessee at this time and that his signature was forged. However, JS visited Wight in Nauvoo on 6 May 1842, and Wight was present at a 14 May 1842 meeting of the Nauvoo City Council. Wight’s signature on the document matches his handwriting and signature in other documents. (Bennett, History of the Saints, 41; JS, Journal, 6 May 1842; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 14 May 1842, 25.)
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Remainder of signatures in handwriting of Willard Richards.
- [5]
Page, who had been in Nauvoo in early April 1842, had evidently departed for Pittsburgh by the time this notice was being prepared. (Minutes and Discourses, 6–8 Apr. 1842.)
- [6]
Although Willard Richards signed for William Smith, and although Bennett claimed that Smith was in Pennsylvania, it appears that Smith was in Nauvoo at this time. A Nauvoo City Council meeting held 19 May 1842 elected him as a counselor and appointed him to a committee, suggesting he likely was present. (Bennett, History of the Saints, 41; Minutes, 19 May 1842.)
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
- [7]
Although Willard Richards signed for George A. Smith, it appears that Smith was in Nauvoo at this time. A Nauvoo City Council meeting held 19 May 1842 elected him as a counselor and appointed him to a committee, suggesting he likely was present. (Minutes, 19 May 1842.)
- [8]
TEXT: “O[hole in paper]son Pratt”. According to John C. Bennett, the notice was presented to Pratt to sign, but Pratt “REFUSED to sign it—stating as his reason THAT HE KNEW NOTHING AGAINST ME.” (Bennett, History of the Saints, 41, emphasis in original.)
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Willard Richards handwriting ends; Newel K. Whitney begins.
Signatures of Newel K. Whitney, Vinson Knight, and George Miller.