Footnotes
JS, Journal, 16 and 23 Aug. 1842. JS returned to his home the evening of 23 August, although he did not make a public appearance until 29 August. (JS, Journal, 29 Aug. 1842.)
Historical Introduction to Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.
Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832 [D&C 85:1–2].
Letter to William W. Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832 [D&C 85:5, 7, 11].
JS appears to have extended blessings to individuals who were absent on prior occasions. (See Blessing to David Whitmer, 22 Sept. 1835; Blessings to Joseph Smith Sr. and Others, Sept. and Oct. 1835.)
See Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 421–423, 477–478. Within days of dictating these reflections, JS spoke to the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo regarding baptism for the dead, instructing the members that “all persons baptiz’d for the dead must have a Recorder present. . . . It will be necessary in the grand Council.” In early September, he wrote to the Saints on the same topic, noting that a recorder must be present so that “it may be recorded in heaven.” (Minutes and Discourse, 31 Aug. 1842; JS, Journal, 4 Sept. 1842 [D&C 127:6–7].)
Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. With the assistance of Jed Woodworth. New York: Knopf, 2005.
Clayton was with JS between 15 and 16 August and presumably did not have the very large Book of the Law of the Lord with him. He probably returned to Nauvoo on 16 or 17 August and likely copied the 16 August reflections in the Book of the Law of the Lord soon after returning and no later than 20 August, as suggested by the content of these and surrounding entries and changes in the ink color. (See Book of the Law of the Lord, 135, 164–167.)
See Proverbs 3:3; and 2 Corinthians 3:3.
Joseph Smith Sr. appears to have been buried in the old burying ground on Durphy Street in Nauvoo.a The sacredness JS bestowed on his father’s remains and the place of his burial had roots in Latter-day Saint teachings on the body’s sanctity, resurrection, and enduring domestic relations, attitudes shared by nineteenth-century American Christians, who also approached the dead and their resting places with reverence.b The ordinance of baptism for the dead, which JS introduced in 1840, powerfully joined Latter-day Saint teachings about human bodies, death, resurrection, and eternal familial relations.c Shortly after dictating these 23 August 1842 reflections, JS wrote two letters to the church regarding baptism for the dead, in which he described the process of recording the names, dates, and places of baptism in relation to a “sealing and binding power,” which could be used for the “welding together of the dispensations.”d
(aMackay, “Brief History of the Smith Family Nauvoo Cemetery,” 241–242. bSee Vision, 16 Feb. 1832 [D&C 76:16–17, 36–39, 50–51, 70, 78]; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:15–16]; Visions, 21 Jan. 1836 [D&C 137:5–7]; and Faust, This Republic of Suffering, 3–31, 61–101. cMinutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Letter to Quorum of the Twelve, 15 Dec. 1840; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:29–32]; Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841. dJS, Journal, 4 and 11 Sept. 1842 [D&C 127:4–10; 128:3, 14, 18]; see also Minutes and Discourse, 31 Aug. 1842.)Mackay, Lachlan. “A Brief History of the Smith Family Nauvoo Cemetery.” Mormon Historical Studies 3 (Fall 2002): 241–252.
Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York: Knopf, 2008.
See John 14:2.
In ancient Roman mythology, Jupiter, also referred to as Jove, was “the name of the supreme deity.” Contemporaneous writers also used the phrase “eternal Jove.” (“Jove,” in American Dictionary [1828]; “The Southern Stage,” Dramatic Mirror, and Literary Companion, 26 Feb. 1842, 19.)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
Dramatic Mirror, and Literary Companion. Philadelphia and New York. 1841–1842.
Revelation, 7 Aug. 1831 [D&C 59:2–3]; Revelation, 3 Nov. 1831 [D&C 133:32].
JS was seventeen when Alvin died near Palmyra, New York, in November 1823. During a January 1836 meeting of church leaders in the unfinished House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, JS had a vision of the celestial kingdom and saw there his “brother Alvin that has long since slept.” (JS History, 1834–1836, 10; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 4, [3]–[5]; Visions, 21 Jan. 1836 [D&C 137:5].)
Don Carlos died in Nauvoo in 1841 at the age of twenty-five. (“Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons, 16 Aug. 1841, 2:503.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Evidence suggests that this tomb was located on the south side of the Nauvoo temple block and that it was not completed until 1845. (Johnstun, “Tomb and Burial of Joseph Smith,” 163–180; see also “Tomb of Joseph Smith.”)
Johnstun, Joseph D. “‘To Lie in Yonder Tomb’: The Tomb and Burial of Joseph Smith.” Mormon Historical Studies 6, no. 2 (2005): 163–180.
See Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 66–68 [2 Nephi chap. 3]; see also Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96:7].
See Letter to Edward Partridge and the Church, ca. 22 Mar. 1839 [D&C 121:44].