Footnotes
Andrus et al., “Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 1825–1906,” 5–6.
Andrus, Hyrum L., Chris Fuller, and Elizabeth E. McKenzie. “Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 1825–1906,” Sept. 1998. BYU.
Footnotes
Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:3]; JS History, vol. A-1, 146.
Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:44, 51–52].
Whitmer, History, 33.
Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 24 Nov. 1831, [1]; JS History, vol. A-1, 146.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
Sidney Rigdon, Kirtland, OH, “to the Churches,” 31 Aug. 1831, copy, Sidney Rigdon, Collection, 1832–1858, CHL.
Rigdon, Sidney. Collection, 1831–1858. CHL. MS 713.
Backman, Heavens Resound, 70; Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 309–310.
Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.
Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.
Similar fold markings are evident in Whitney’s copy of the revelation and a copy he owned of a letter Rigdon wrote to church congregations to encourage donations, which suggests that the two documents were carried together. (Sidney Rigdon, Kirtland, OH, “to the Churches,” 31 Aug. 1831, copy, Sidney Rigdon, Collection, 1832–1858, CHL.)
Rigdon, Sidney. Collection, 1831–1858. CHL. MS 713.
Revelation Book 1, p. 104; Gilbert, Notebook, [45]–[54]. When William W. Phelps published this revelation in the February 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, he also dated it 30 August 1831. (“A Revelation Given, August 30, 1831,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Feb. 1833, [6]–[7].)
Gilbert, Algernon Sidney. Notebook of Revelations, 1831–ca. 1833. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.
See Matthew 3:12; and Luke 3:17.
The Morley farm.
Before leaving for Missouri in June 1831, Isaac Morley gave his brother-in-law Titus Billings power of attorney over his farm. Billings finalized the sale of portions of Morley’s farm in October 1831 while Morley remained in Missouri. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 14, pp. 583–584; vol. 15, pp. 492–494, microfilms 20,235 and 20,236, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Minute Book 2, 25–26 Oct. 1831; and Edward Partridge, Independence, MO, to Lydia Clisbee Partridge, 5–7 Aug. 1831, Edward Partridge, Letters, 1831–1835, CHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Partridge, Edward. Letters, 1831–1835. CHL. MS 23154.
Three revelations dictated consecutively in August appear to be the only others that contain the phrase “it mattereth not unto me.” (Revelation, 8 Aug. 1831 [D&C 60:5]; Revelation, 12 Aug. 1831 [D&C 61:22]; Revelation, 13 Aug. 1831 [D&C 62:5].)
As assigned in a July 1831 revelation, Edward Partridge, bishop in Zion, and Sidney Gilbert, agent to the church, were responsible for receiving money and making land purchases in Missouri. (Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:6–7].)
An earlier revelation in August indicated that not all elders were to migrate to Missouri at once, stating that some were not to receive their inheritance in Zion for many years. This same revelation also indicated that conferences of elders would help regulate who moved to Missouri. Here, JS receives instruction that he should decide who will go and who will stay in Kirtland, Ohio. Therefore, at least two parties—JS and conferences of elders—had authority to make such decisions. The day after this revelation was dictated, JS dictated another “by the voice of the Spirit,” indicating that John Burk, David Elliott, and Erastus Babbitt should “Journey this fall to the land of Zion.” A few months later, Reynolds Cahoon appeared before a conference of elders to receive direction on whether to go or stay. (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:44]; Revelation, 31 Aug. 1831; Minutes, 11 Nov. 1831.)
The N. K. Whitney & Co. white store (so named for its color). Whitney established a store in Kirtland, Ohio, by 1824 (known as the red store) and built another store in 1827 (the white store), after which the red store was used as a residence. By the beginning of 1827, he had partnered with Sidney Gilbert to form N. K. Whitney & Co. (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 209, 214, 217–218.)
Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.
In company with Oliver Cowdery in September 1831, Whitney raised money from other church members to send to Missouri. He also partnered with Sidney Gilbert to establish a store in Missouri in 1832 under the name Gilbert & Whitney. (Whitmer, History, 37; Jackson Co., MO, Deed Records, 1827–1909, vol. B, pp. 32–33, 20 Feb. 1832, microfilm 1,017,978, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Eakin and Eakin, Jackson County Missouri Court Minutes Book 1, 144, 196.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Eakin, Joanne C., and O. B. Eakin, comp. Jackson County Missouri Court Minutes Book 1, 1827–1833, with Index; and Jackson County Missouri Death Register, 1883–1891. Independence, MO: By the author, 1988.
A 1 August 1831 revelation declared, “let there be an agent appointed by the voice of the Church.” This direction apparently applied to the church in Ohio since Sidney Gilbert had already been appointed an agent for Missouri. Whitney was ordained an “agent unto the Disciples” in Ohio at a conference in Kirtland on 1 September 1831 and in that role gathered money to send to Missouri. (Revelation, 1 Aug. 1831 [D&C 58:49, 51]; Minutes, 1 Sept. 1831; see also Whitmer, History, 37.)
According to Sidney Rigdon, Cowdery and Whitney would read to the Saints the revelations touching on the “way and means of possessing” the land of Zion as they visited the churches. John Whitmer later recorded that “the disciples truly opened their hearts” to Cowdery and Whitney, enabling them to obtain money “for the purpose of buying lands for the Saints according to commandments.” (Whitmer, History, 36–37.)
See Revelation 14:13.
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 566–567 [Ether 13:8–9]; and Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:22–24].
A 7 August 1831 revelation explained that the faithful who died in Zion would “receive a crown in the mansions of my Father.” (Revelation, 7 Aug. 1831 [D&C 59:2].)
See Isaiah 65:20; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:58–59].
See 1 Corinthians 15:51–52; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 510 [3 Nephi 28:8]; and Revelation, Feb. 1831–A [D&C 43:32].
See Matthew 25:1–13.
See Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:68–71].
See Matthew 13:30; and Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:12].
Ezra Booth, who had become disaffected from the church by this time, implied that Rigdon had exaggerated the character of the land in his first draft of the description of Zion, which a 1 August 1831 revelation had commanded him to write. According to Booth, Rigdon’s description differed markedly from one that Edward Partridge had composed. In 1844, Jedediah M. Grant, who was not acquainted with Rigdon in 1831, declared that “men of the strictest veracity” had told him that Rigdon’s original draft was “extravagant in [its] description of the upper country.” According to Grant, Rigdon “expatiated on the beauties of Jackson county in such a profuse manner, that fears were entertained by the brethren that it would cause the saints from the east to apostatize, as soon as they should arrive, not finding things as set forth by Elder R.” (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1]; Grant, Collection of Facts, [4], 7.)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
A January 1831 revelation counseled the elders to “let your preaching be the warning voice evry man to his Neighbour in mildness & in meekness.” (Revelation, 2 Jan. 1831 [D&C 38:41].)
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 585 [Moroni 9:26].
These titles for Jesus Christ were used in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and earlier JS revelations. (See, for example, Revelation 1:8, 11; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 473–474 [3 Nephi 9:18]; and Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19:1].)