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Personal Journal Entries in Chronological Order
8 October 1844 - 1 April 1845
Editorial Note
Two months had passed since the special meeting of the church held in Nauvoo on 8 August 1844 at which the Saints unanimously sustained the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the Presidency of the Church. At the church’s general conference begun on 6 October 1844, the gathered members of the church ratified that action with another unanimous vote in favor of the leadership of the Twelve Apostles.
Brigham Young set the tone for the conference, the first under his direction. “This day,” he said, “will be devoted to preaching and instruction, and we will attend to business to-morrow.” He proceeded to give instruction “relative to building the temple” and “pertaining to the church, and how it has been led.” The leading apostle taught about revelation. The church was built on and led by revelation, Young declared, and “unless we forsake the Lord entirely, so that the priesthood is taken from us, it will be led by revelation all the time.” Young also spoke about the nature and workings of revelation. “It is the right of an individual to get revelations to guide himself.” He continued: “It is the right of the head of a family to get revelations to guide and govern his family. It is the right of an elder when he has built up a church to get revelations to guide and lead that people until he leads them and delivers them up to his superiors.” Finally, the president of the Twelve addressed the matter of prophets and the life and mission of Joseph Smith. He proclaimed it a “test of our fellowship to believe and confess that Joseph lived and died a prophet of God in good standing.”[1] It was a powerful and timely opening discourse delivered by the leading apostle.
During the second day, church members voted unanimously to carry out the principles and measures adopted and laid down by Joseph Smith in his lifetime. The officers of the church were then presented for a sustaining vote, beginning with Young and the Twelve. After Young was sustained as “president of the quorum of the Twelve, as one of the Twelve and first presidency of the church,” each of the apostles was sustained unanimously. During the afternoon session on 7 October, Brigham Young taught the congregation the principles of tithing. “There has been so much inquiry it becomes irksome,” he began. “The law is for a man to pay one tenth of all he possesses for the erecting of the house of God, the spread of the gospel, and the support of the priesthood.” Seemingly exasperated, he clarified: “It is the law to give one tenth of what he has got, and then one tenth of his increase or one tenth of his time. A man comes and says he was sick six months and what is required of me? Why go and pay your tithing for the time you are able to work.” Young’s concluding message on tithing was simple: “We want you to come on with your tithes and offerings to build this temple, and when it is finished we want you to spend a year in it and we will tell you things you never thought of.”[2]
Young’s afternoon discourse also addressed the matter of prophets and their role, continuing a topic that he spoke of the day before. He stated that “the Lord never let a prophet fall on the earth until he had accomplished his work.” He told the gathered audience explicitly that the Lord did not take Joseph Smith from the earth until he had finished his work. In referring to Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Young further declared, “They are not the only martyrs that will have to die for the truth. There are men before me to-day who will be martyrs, and who will have to seal their testimony with their blood.” He concluded his discourse by saying, “I believe this people is the best people of their age that ever lived on the earth, the church of Enoch not excepted.”[3]
Among other business on the conference’s third day, 8 October, President Brigham Young selected approximately eighty men from the high priests quorum to preside over branches of the church in “all the congressional districts of the United States.” He explained that the object of sending the high priests out was to “go and settle down” until the Saints completed the temple in Nauvoo, at which time they should return and get their endowment. He directed that after receiving the endowment, these men should “return to their families and build up a stake as large” as Nauvoo in each of the congressional districts of the United States.[4]
Though Brigham Young did not write much about the first general church conference he led, it was certainly monumental, and much teaching and business occurred. As he wrote in his 8 October 1844 journal entry, it was indeed “a first rate conference.” One week later, he and Heber C. Kimball “started for the east” on their first journey outside Nauvoo since returning from the Eastern Seaboard in August. This trip, an opportunity to look for places for potential settlement and possibly undertaken to avoid arrest in Hancock County, lasted less than two weeks and did not extend beyond the borders of Illinois.
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8 October 1844 • Tuesday
M E[5]
Oct 8th 1844 this day ended our confrence we have organized eleven Quorams of Seventis. have had a first rate confrence[6]
Br Kimball and my self stoptd at Sister Knoons saw sisters Sarah Alley[7] and Clary [Clarissa, or “Clara”] Blake[8]
9 October 1844 • Wednesday
9 John Websor [Webster?] crd [credit] one gun for temple $10.
9 was at Br Isa[a]c Decker Sister Rebec[c]a Holman[9] was there on a visit Br H[eber]. C. K[imball][10]
10 October 1844 • Thursday
10 at E Snows[11] P[arley]. P. Pratt and sister Anney Parker was there
M E[12]
Oct 10th 1844 Br H[eber]. C. Kimball & my self are at Br Ezera [Ezra] Chases from 10 am. till 1/
H[eber]. C K[imball] Sharlot [Charlotte] Chase[14]
Br[igham]. Y[oung]. Diana Chase[15] was there we had a good visit
15–16 October 1844 • Tuesday–Wednesday[16]
tusday the 15th Br H[eber]. C. K[imball]. & my self Started for the east[17] from Br. L[orenzo]. Y[oung’s]. at 4. o.c. Pm. Came to Layharp [La Harpe] put up with Br E[rastus]- Bingham[18] found Br P[arley]. P. Pratt there the next morning Started for Autuway [Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois] Came 44 miles Stayed with Br. [Justus] Ames we fel in with 2 other teams that had ben to confrence. Brs Busard[19] & Andrus[20]
17–20 October 1844 • Thursday–Sunday
17 Came to Lafaett [Lafayette] staed with Br [Austin] Grant and Br Gillot[21] - Came the next day to a place cauld Providence staid all night at a tavern kept by H. Barney the snow fel a bout 6 inches in corse of the day[22] - Saterday 19 came through to Autuaway [Ottawa] 48 miles - found som of the Bretherin they ware well and in talarable Spirits.[23] Br P[arley]. P. Pratt taulked to the saints in the after noon of Sunday 20 had a meeting in the evening with the Britherin[24]
21 October 1844 • Monday
21 monday went to Br Millers[25] took dinner crost the Fox river Staed all nite with Br Dunavan[26]
22 October 1844 • Tuesday
22 tusday Came to the Norwegon settlement[27] had a meeting in the evening with the Bretherin[28]
23 October 1844 • Wednesday
Oct 23th 1844 Brs H[eber]. C. Kimball P[arley]. P. Pratt & Lorenzo young & my self held a meeting with the Bretherin in Noraway[29] I cauld the Bren to order as a confrence. we appointed G. P. Dikes [George P. Dykes] Presiding high Preast of the Branch & regon of contry. we ordained Br [Reuben] Miller a Bishop over the Branch in that Plac[30]
we Baught one hundred acors of land from Brs Goodman[31] & [Jacob] Anderson for the Perpus of laing it out for a citty[32] we celeceted the ground for a meeting house x stuck the stake at the Sauth East corner[33]
in the evening we ordained Br [Phillip] Busard high Preast for one of Br Dikes Counceleas staed all night at Br Busards cauld on Br Nurs[34] he said he was strong in the faith. the Bretherin seamd to be lauth to Part with us
24 October 1844 • Thursday
24 thursday we left Autuway [Ottawa] we drove all day a gainst a strong south wind Came to Br P. P. Pratts farm 43 miles[35] found Br Anson Pratt and his famely[36] well they ware verry glad to see us staed all night[37] cauld on Sister Delon She was glad to see us
25 October 1844 • Friday
25 frida we came on 3 miles this side of Peoria[38] put up with Nathan Stevens. I have ben unwell for a day or two but now am well[39]
31 October 1844 • Thursday
ME[40]
Oct 31th 12. a.m. at sniveley Br P[arley]. P. Pratt was with me Hanahett [Hannahette] Snively & Susan[n]ah Snively was at home[41] we took diner. Br Kimball was with me at the temple
7 November 1844 • Thursday
M.T.[42]
November 7th 1844 7th at Br J[oseph]. B. Nobles Br A. Lymon [Amasa Lyman] Sister Olive Frost[43] & my self & others was there
10 November 1844 • Sunday
10 on sunday I Preached to the Saints on the meeting ground[44] there was a grate menny People Present Spoke 2 ours to them we had a good time the Saints said they ware satysfyde and much edefyde
11 November 1844 • Monday
11th held a cauncel with [the] twelve Bishops[45] high councel[46] Mair [Mayor Daniel Spencer] & Paleseman [policemen][47]
12 November 1844 • Tuesday
12 went to the temple cauld to Br Richards & Br Kimball[48] found them boath better they had ben sick[49]
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Editorial Note
This 12 November 1844 entry is the last journal-like entry Young wrote for more than two months. Though he inscribed several lists and notes into his diary, he did not resume regular entries until 15 January 1845. During this two-month interim Young continued to unify and strengthen the church. William Marks, an early proponent of Sidney Rigdon’s successorship to the office of church president, renounced Rigdon’s claims as unfounded. Marks declared, “The Twelve are the proper persons to lead the church.”[50] An article in the 15 December 1844 issue of the Times and Seasons spoke to the feeling in Nauvoo as the calendar year closed. “As it regards the church,” the article proclaimed, “there never was more faith manifested, nor a greater degree of union than exists at the present time; the church has been more perfectly organized lately in its different quorums, there are fewer dissatisfied spirits in our midst; and peace and harmony universally prevail.”[51] The efforts of Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles helped to establish such a sense of unity and harmony.
In December Brigham Young also learned of a significant development concerning the fate of the Saints. He heard that the Illinois legislature had moved to alter the government of the city of Nauvoo by repealing its charter. Without a charter, Nauvoo residents would lack a city government, militia, local court system, and police force. Illinois governor Thomas Ford participated in the effort. He advocated for the repeal of the authorization for the Nauvoo Legion, the Latter-day Saint militia force, because it terrified the surrounding community. He did not initially seek a full repeal of the charter, because it provided the means to govern such a large population of nearly twelve thousand people. Ford also indicated that a full repeal would be anti-republican because it would strip the Saints of their entire governing structure.[52] Nevertheless, on 19 December 1844 the Illinois Senate passed a bill repealing the Nauvoo charter in its entirety, though debate in Springfield continued deep into January 1845, when it was eventually signed into law on 29 January. Young and his associates considered how best to respond.
In the days before inscribing his 15 January 1845 journal entry, Brigham Young was quite busy. On 13 January he met with the Nauvoo City Council, which passed resolutions against “the impunity thus far granted the murderers by the Senate and other authorities of the State of Illinois.” The city council, responding to efforts to repeal the city charter, feared that “anarchy and bloody misrule” would befall the city. The city council reiterated what had been a long-standing mantra in Nauvoo: we are a peaceable people loyal to the Constitution “and ever willing to join hands with the honest, virtuous, and patriotic in suppressing crime and punishing criminals.”[53]
Brigham Young and the Council of the Twelve penned an epistle to the church on 14 January 1845. In it Young, as the document’s signatory, informed the church that work on the temple “has progressed very rapidly since the death of our beloved Prophet and Patriarch.”[54] The leader of the Twelve further remarked that work had moved froward so much so that they would be prepared to commence giving the Saints their endowments by fall 1845.
The epistle reflected some of Young’s instruction to the Saints in Nauvoo at the general conference in October: the temple and tithing. Pertaining to the temple, he made an impassioned request. After stating that the Saints of Nauvoo had “to combat mobs and to wade through blood” to fulfill the work of the Lord, Young and the apostles asked for other Saints to come in and help share in the labor and expense of the temple. Specifically, they asked that all “the young, middle aged, and able bodied men who have it in their hearts to stretch forth this work with power, to come to Nauvoo, prepared to stay during the summer; and to bring with them means to sustain themselves with, and to enable us to forward this work to bring with them teams, cattle, sheep, gold, silver, brass, iron, oil, paints and tools; and let those who are within market distance of Nauvoo bring with them provisions to sustain themselves and others during their stay.” Brigham Young and his associates also appealed to church members to “send all the money, cloth, and clothing, together with the raw matereal for manufacturing purposes; such as cotton, cotton yarn, wool, steel, iron, brass &C., &c., as we are preparing to go into extensive manufacturing operations, and all these things can be applied to the furtherance of the Temple.”[55] The temple was on track, the apostles told the Saints, but workers and resources would be needed to finish it right and on time for sacred ordinance work to happen that coming fall.
After explaining the needs for the temple, Young and his fellow apostles reminded the Saints about the principle of tithing. They remarked that “Joseph the Prophet” through revelation declared to the Saints their duty to “tithe themselves one tenth of all they posses when thy enter into the new and everlasting covenant; and then one tenth of their interest, or income, yearly afterwards.” The president of the Twelve and his quorum then stated, “If the brethren will attend to this strictly, and send up the sum by agents appointed by us, whose names you will see in this paper, then we shall hold ourselves responsible for all monies and properties delivered to those agents that the names of the several individuals who send their tithing by the legal agents may be entered upon the book of the law of the Lord.”[56] For Young, as for the apostolic quorum, temple building and tithing were commands from the Lord. It was Young’s duty now to see the Lord’s commandments carried out.
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9 December 1844 • Monday
[57] Ormel Bats [Ormus E. Bates][58]
Andrew Perkans [Perkins]
John Lytle
Andrew Lytle
Charles Shumway
William L. Cutler
Cummins[59]
James H. Glynes [Glines]
Howard Egan
Joseph Kelton [Kelting]
Loveland[60]
P[arley]. P. Pratt
Cyrus Daniels
Edmond Elsworth [Edmund Ellsworth]
Joseph <W> Johnson
Jessey [Jesse] D. Hunter
G[eorge]. D. Watt
Jacob Wilder
Alexander Williams
Daniel S. Thomas
Tarelton [Tarlton] Lewis
David Lewis
Milow Andrews [Milo Andrus]
Isreal [Israel] Barlow
Lorenza [Lorenzo] Clark
George W Langley
James Clemenson[61] 5 00
Marget Clemenson 5 00
Da[n]iel Stark 5 00
Dolley Bissell 5 00
[62] Cr [Credit] on Book Decr 9th 1841
[63] Mr Green[64] who keeps the Land agincy for selling real Estate Said at the foot of Main Street, to Dr Ciprus That W[illia]m Law was an honorable upright man, and that Joseph Smith would lie a little, and if a man would lie he would do worse. The above was testified to by two witnesses
Loren Farr[65]
Aaron Farr
Charles Patten
Fouts[66]
Aderson Everet [Addison Everett]
15 January 1845 • Wednesday
ME
[67] Wensdy 15th of January 1845 went to the temple & ston Quarry[68] at Br J[oseph]. B. Nobles Saw Sister Mary Ann Clark.[69] and went to seventis haul [Seventies Hall] in the evening[70] and at Br Aaron Jo[h]nson went to the high counsel was there visiting
16 January 1845 • Thursday
16 ◊ went to the temple spent the most of the day with B[ro] H[eber]. C. Kimball in coricting his history[71] went to Robert Pearces [Pierce’s] in the after noon with H. C. K
17 January 1845 • Friday
17 went to the temple and to doctors <Richards> [Willard Richards] to see about the record of the church.[72] in the evening Brs [Heber C.] Kimball J[ohn]. Taylor & G[eorge] A Smith was at my uper room in the evening
18 January 1845 • Saturday
Jan 18th 1845 went to the temple eat supper at Br Joshaway Hotmans [Joshua Holman]
19 January 1845 • Sunday
19 at the temple went to see sister Snivelys[73] famely Spent som time with Doct Richards also at W. R som time[74]
20 January 1845 • Monday
Jan 20
Mary Snively[75] Crd [Credit] for temple 5.00
Mary A[nn] Snively 5.00
Susan[n]ah Snively Crd for temple 1 stock 1.00
21 January 1845 • Tuesday
21 the new Poles [police] was organized last saterday[76] this morning roat [wrote] a letter to Br P[hineas]. H[owe] young to Kirt[l]and[77] Brs L[orenzo]. D. young & H[eber]. C. K[imball] with me at Br W[illard]. Richards[78] the Quoram of 12 had a councel in the evening Br H. C. Kimball Orson Pratt G[eorge]. A Smith Amasa Lyman Present Br E. Fordam [Elijah Fordham] was with us[79]
22 January 1845 • Wednesday
Janury 22th 1845 went [to] Br [Willard] Richards Printing office[80] at Br Woodardvisiting[81]
yesterday John McCuing [McEwan] ran aganst Br R. Persons [Robert Peirce] Daughter[82]
23 January 1845 • Thursday
23 went to Doc Richards[83] rote to Br Benson[84] & Sister A. C. went to the temple from there to Doct R.[85] to H[eber]. C K[imball]. N[ewel]. K. W[hitney]. A. Lymons [Amasa Lyman’s] T. Turles [Theodore Turley’s] John Taylors Br Patrick home then to O[rson]. Hydes got a box for sister Hadlock[86] come home. Br John Scott was at my house said Br Aaron Smith[87] had jest returned from Apernos [Appanoose, Hancock County, Illinois] he said Wilson Law[88] was up there lectord [lectured] to the mob he told them they must dr[i]ve the mormons from Nauvoo before the temple was don[e] or they never could
24 January 1845 • Friday
Frida 24 the 1845 Brs H[eber]. C. Kimball and N[ewel]. K. Whitney was at my house we washed and anointed and Praied had a good time.[89] I inquaired of the Lord whether we should stay here and finish the templ the ansure was we should.[90] Br [Orson] Hyde arived from St Lewis thurs[d]ay 24[91] had good succes there[92]
25 January 1845 • Saturday
Saterday 25 Br Cambel[93] is ingraven [engraving] our Privet seal for the Twelve[94] ben to the temple this morning
26 January 1845 • Sunday
Sunday 26 I was sick in the morning went to the high Priest corum [quorum] they agread to finish the upper part of [the] temple next summer[95] then I went to the temple store had a meeting in the high Quorum[96]
27 January 1845 • Monday
monday 27 attended to sending the Brothern of[f] on there mision[97]
28 January 1845 • Tuesday
28 went to the temple herd a letter from Wm P. Richards Maccomb concerning emagratin to some other place[98]
29 January 1845 • Wednesday
29 went to the temple had a councel with the trustes & committy I think good will result from it[99] Came to Elder [Heber C.] Kimballs assisted him to prepare his jurnal for the paper.[100] Br Kimball namd his son Brigham Willard[101] & I Blesed him[102]
30 January 1845 • Thursday
thursday Jan 30th 1845 went to the temple and other places held a councel with the citty concel high councel old Poles [police][103] & others - had a good meeting[104] was at Br snows[105] in the evening stoped at Br Woodars[106] she gave me a purse
31 January 1845 • Friday
31 thursday [Friday] had visiters at my house, a bout 25 visited till after midnight
1 February 1845 • Saturday
Feb the first had my famely at my hause on a visit. Br J[107] & L[orenzo] young Str◊◊y and others of our famely
2 February 1845 • Sunday
2 I Preached in the Consert Haul [to] a ful hause & a good meeting[108] spent the evening at home with my famely[109]
3 February 1845 • Monday
monday 3 went to the election of the Citty Cauncel there was a bout 9 hundred vot[e]s without eney opesision [opposition].[110] went to Br Gleseson[111] on the prarira [prairie] staed all night
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Editorial Note
On 4 February 1845, Brigham Young reorganized the Council of Fifty, which had not met for over eight months. This was the first time the Council of Fifty had met since 31 May 1844, the date of its last meeting before Joseph Smith was killed in late June 1844. According to the minutes of the renewed council, the purpose of the 4 February meeting was to determine if the council should be reorganized “according to the rules in the beginning” and if the places of members who had left the council should be filled. Young also wanted to know if the council members were willing that he be appointed the council’s chairman in the place of Joseph Smith. At the meeting, which was held in the Seventies Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the council was reorganized and the twenty-five men who were present—all of whom had been members of the council earlier—voted unanimously that Young succeed Smith as the standing chairman of the council. Each person present was then received individually into the reorganized council by unanimous vote, as were fifteen others who had also been part of the original council but were not present at the meeting. Eleven men who had been part of the original council were then dropped, including Sidney Rigdon, William Marks, Lyman Wight, Samuel James, and James Emmett. The reorganized council consisted of forty men; those present voted to “fill up” the council later. The council added more members at a second meeting held the following month and began to revive its efforts to locate a new place of gathering for the church somewhere in the West.[112]
Two of the men dropped from the Council of Fifty at the 4 February 1845 meeting, Lyman Wight and James Emmett, had ideas regarding the move west that were increasingly at odds with those of Young and the entire Council of Fifty. Though Young and the Council of Fifty supported the Texas overtures authorized under Joseph Smith’s leadership in 1844, nothing was concrete before Smith’s death. After Young took the reins, he and most church leaders became increasingly concerned with any endeavor to leave Nauvoo before the completion of the sacred temple and the opportunity for the Saints to receive the endowment.[113] Emmett believed it impossible to finish the temple and did not want to wait to leave Illinois and the American nation until the Saints were endowed. Wight believed similarly. More than that, Wight remained intent on fulfilling his own conception of an assignment he had received from the Council of Fifty before Joseph Smith’s death: to settle a group of Saints in Texas. Wight left Nauvoo for Wisconsin in fall 1844 to prepare for the move to Texas the following year.
Emmett, similarly, had left Nauvoo with a small group of Saints in early September 1844, making their way up the Iowa River to near Marshalltown, where they spent the winter. Seeing an opportunity to reclaim the company in February 1845 after a disaffected member of the group showed up in Nauvoo, Young sent Amasa Lyman and Orson Spencer to persuade them to abandon any designs they had of continuing west under Emmett’s leadership.[114] While involving relatively few members of the church, both Wight’s and Emmett’s companies illustrate the tendency among some to strike out on their own after Joseph Smith’s death and the need Young saw during this time to continually urge church members to remain in Nauvoo and finish the temple.
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4 February 1845 • Tuesday
tusday 4 had a councel with the fifty righted up & organized we droped a number of the members[115]
5 February 1845 • Wednesday
5 went to the temple to sister Fanys[116] took diner with L[orenzo] Young
6 February 1845 • Thursday
thursday 6 Br Lorenzo Young started for Ohio with Lorenzo Snow Br Folk took them in his caredge to Lyma [Lima] I Preached Br [Alonzo W. N.] Whitney[117] furnal surman [sermon] in the consert hall [to] a large congrtion [congregation][118] took diner with Br Orson Spencer Supper with Saria [Sarah] Whitney[119]
8 February 1845 • Saturday
Saterdy 8 attended citty councel the old councel desolved & the new councel took there place they p[roc]eeded to apo[i]nt there officers for the citty[120] Br [Heber C.] Kimball took dinner with me jest at night we went to Br Chases[121] on the Praira staed all night
9 February 1845 • Sunday
9 Br [Heber C.] Kimball and myself Preached at Br Horners[122] mill had a first [rate] meeting withe the Bretherin and a large congr[eg]ation Came hom Spent the evening with Br J. Young[123] at Doct Richards[124]
11–13 February 1845 • Tuesday–Thursday
tausday 11 Eliot [John C. Elliott] one of the murder[er]s of Joseph & Hyram came in tow[n] was taken up and braught before square [squire] [Daniel H.] wells and [Aaron] Johnson proved gilty sent to Ca[r]thage on thursday morning the 13th[125] - Spent my time at the temple did not attend the triel
The Subject of the dispensa[t]ion of the fulness of times[126] - EPHESIANS I.9-10
9= Having made known unto us <the> mystery of his will, acording to his good pleasur which he hath purposed in himself.
10= that in the dispe[n]sation of the fulness of times, he might gether together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on Erth even in him -
Gen 3-9-10
9 and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou?
10 and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Gen 4= 4
and Abel, he also braught of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. and the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering:
21 February 1845 • Friday
Frida 21th 1845 I Priched the funarel sermon of Br Mor[r]is Whitesid[e]s[127] at Rob[e]rt Pi[e]rce
22 February 1845 • Saturday
Saterday 22 attended the high councel Br Elester [Lester] Brooks was tried and cleard[128]
23 February 1845 • Sunday
Sunday 23 Preached at Hiram Kimball had a good meeting[129]
24 February 1845 • Monday
on monday 24 went to Masadona [Macedonia] in company with H[eber]. C. Kimball G[e]orge Miller O[rson]. Pratt. A[masa]. Lymon [Lyman] W[illia]m Clayton G[e]orge D. Grant E[dwin]. D. Wo[ol]ley John Key [Kay] J[ohn]. L. Smith[130] we came in 6 ours found all well[131]
25 February 1845 • Tuesday
25 Spent the day with the Brotherin settleing up the church affairs[132] had a meeting in the evening Br O[rson]. Pratt A. Lymon [Amasa Lyman] G[eorge]. Miller and my self spoak we had a first rate time in Meeting[133]
The names of the Twelve as chosen[134]
1 - Lyman E Johnson
2 - Brigham Young
3 Heber C. Kimball
4 Orson Hyde
5 Luke Johnson
6 David W. Patten
7 William E McLallin
8 John F Boynton
9 Wm Smith
10 Orson Pratt
11 Thomas B. Marsh
12 Parley P. Pratt
Febuary 25 - 1845 at Br Bengeman [Benjamin] Johnson Rames [Ramus] after meeting we set up till late. I set up till betwene one & two o.c. in the morning Br G[e]orge Grant Siras Daniles [Cyrus Daniels] and John Key [Kay] was watching[135] a bout 1/
26 February 1845 • Wednesday
we returned home to Nauvoo wensday the 26. 22 of the Ramos Brotherin came out part way with us. we met a smart snow storm in a bout 6 miles from town arived safe home found all well, and on the whole we had a first rate visit to Ramos[137]
27 February 1845 • Thursday
Feb- thursday 27th 1845 this morning went down to the river Bank whare the grate dam is to be built to dedacate the ground. I cauld upon Br J[ohn]. E. Page to make the prayer dedacation Prayer[138] then went to Br W[illard]. Richards was in councel till a bout 3 o.c. P.M. we aupointed Br A. Lymon [Amasa Lyman]to goe to visit James Emets [Emmett’s] company to try to reclame them Br D[aniel]. Spencer goes with him.[139] in the evening went to Fathers John smiths to Pray for him we drest and prayed and had a good meeting and he was blest[140]
28 February 1845 • Friday
28 went to the temple saw the trusttes all things going well viseted Br Truman Angel and Mother Angel[141] and Br Woodards[142] folkes in the evening
1 March 1845 • Saturday
Saterday March 1th 1845 this day I cauld the councel of 50 to gether admited of som others taking seats in the room of absent members Brs J[ohn]. D. Lee & J[ohn]. Pack seated. we had a good meeting it lasted all day.[143]
2 March 1845 • Sunday
2 Sunday I did not leve the house till jest evening Cauld on Father John Smith a fue minuts.[144] came home went with my wife [Mary Ann Angell Young] to mother [Lucy Mack] smith
3–8 March 1845 • Monday–Saturday
monday 3 I was stil more unwell Br Kimball[145] came to my house wanted I shauld goe with him on to the hill. I went with him to see Br Beach[146] came home quite sick went to bed did not setup till thursday [6 March], walked out to Br Joseph Youngs on frida [7 March], rode on to the hill Saterday the 8 I had no docter in my sickness but the Lord and my wife [Mary Ann Angell Young] and the laing on of the hands of the Elders[147]
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Editorial Note
Although Brigham Young’s journal is silent from 9 to 28 March 1845, the nearly three weeks were filled with councils and meetings documented in other sources. He convened four very important Council of Fifty meetings. The council met on 4 March with Heber C. Kimball presiding, while Young lay ill. In his absence the council “all voted to sustain Prest Young in his place as standing chairman, Prophet, Priest, and King &c.,” ratifying a vote that had already occurred for Young to step into the role of his predecessor, Joseph Smith.[148]
Young felt well enough to return to the council’s 11 March meeting in which the council continued to discuss possible sites for exploration and resettlement, including eastern portions of the Mexican territory of New Mexico, among the Comanche living in northwestern Texas, or in Oregon or California. The discussion of relocating also pervaded the 18 and 22 March meetings of the Council of Fifty. According to the Council of Fifty minutes, at the 11 March meeting Young “said in regard to going beyond the rocky mountains, he dont feel like it.”[149] Even so, Brigham Young seemed to favor California and its access to sea navigation, which would enhance global proselytizing, but he later noted, “If we go to California it is only to answer our present purposes and to have a place of rest for a little season.”[150] One thing appeared clear: Young wanted to move beyond the borders of the United States. On 18 March he declared, “If we can get one hundred miles beyond the jurisdiction of the United States we are safe, for the present, and that is all we ask.”[151] The council head further expressed his desire to concentrate missionary efforts among Native Americans, who he felt would be more receptive to the gospel message and would be willing to join them.[152] By the end of March, the council had agreed to send exploring missionaries out to scout potential settlement sites and preach along the way; the final destination for the Saints remained unknown at that time.
During March 1845, members of the Council of Fifty also discussed the effect of the Illinois government’s revocation of the Nauvoo charter and the need to communicate the Saints’ plight to state and federal governments in hopes that some government official would act to aid the beleaguered religionists. Although past experience caused them not to hold out much hope for assistance, council members felt obligated to give those in power another opportunity to help. As council member Orson Spencer had previously said, “They will enhance the bitterness of their own cup if they dont listen to us.” Of this measure, Spencer further stated, “The object is to draw out of these governors their feelings that they may commit themselves.”[153] Brigham Young and the other council members sought to make a final effort for government assistance and redress knowing that they could then clean their hands of the United States if no assistance was rendered.
Perhaps most significantly for the Saints, the Council of Fifty determined to resume construction on the Nauvoo temple. Building the temple walls had been delayed, and on 11 March 1845 Young “wanted to know of this council whether the building of the Temple shall be delayed any longer, or shall the hands begin work immediately.”[154] Workers quickly recommenced their efforts on that sacred structure. Brigham Young refused to abandon another major building project in Nauvoo. He wanted to see the Nauvoo House, called for by a January 1841 revelation, finished as well. On 18 March he said, “There is a Revelation wherein we are commanded to build the Nauvoo House and we have sent out men to fetch in the means to do it.” Young remained committed to continuing “all the measures of Joseph,” including completing work on these two structures.[155]
Brigham Young also participated in other meetings and councils in March 1845. On 16 March he made comments in a public meeting in Nauvoo reiterating his interest in preaching to American Indians and declaring his lack of interest in proselytizing to “Gentiles.”[156] On 27 March, the day before this journal resumes, Young met with “H. C. Kimball, O. Hyde, O. Pratt, W. Richards, J. E. Page, R. Cahoon, A. Fielding, A. Cutler, G. Miller, N. K. Whitney, L. Young, J. Taylor, A. Lyman, G. A. Smith,” and William Clayton to learn the “secret movements” of their enemies. According to Clayton’s account of that meeting, though concern about a mob remained high, Brigham Young proclaimed that “we shall not be attacked by the mob this year.” Instead of expending energy on potential vigilante activities, he urged the leaders present to build the temple and Nauvoo House.[157] Those two structures, but especially the temple, remained at the forefront of Young’s thoughts and efforts in 1845.
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28 March 1845 • Friday
March 28th 1845 went to Br [John] Packs took supper there was a bout 90 took s[u]pper[158]
30 March 1845 • Sunday
30 Su[n]day I went to the stand made preperations for the confrence[159]
31 March 1845 • Monday
31 I recived a letter from T. Craig mo [Missouri][160]
1 April 1845 • Tuesday
Apriel 1th 1845 this day I comencd revising the History of the church Br G[eorge]. A. Smith was with me, we took grate delight in perusing the history of the Church in i[t]s infency[161]
I cauld at Br L[orenzo] youngs in the morning sister Dianita [Dionitia] Walker was there
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Notes
[1] “October Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 October 1844, 5:691–92.
[2] “October Conference Minutes,” 1 November 1844, 5:691–92, 696.
[3] In referring to “the best people of their age,” Young was referring to the Saints in a church that was a mere fifteen years old. “October Conference Minutes,” 1 November 1844, 5:691–92, 696.
[4] “October Conference Minutes,” 1 November 1844, 5:696.
[5] Again, it is uncertain to whom in particular this notation meaning “married for eternity” applies, but both Clarissa Blake and Rebecca Holman (the latter mentioned in the next entry) are plural wives of Brigham Young. This may be a reference to one or both women.
[6] The conference ran for three days, from 6 to 8 October 1844. On the first day, which was attended by an estimated ten thousand people, Brigham Young and John Taylor spoke on revelation and continuing the work Joseph Smith began, respectively, while the second day was largely spent sustaining men to various offices in the church.
On the third day, the conference voted that all worthy and willing men under the age of thirty-five in the elders quorum should be ordained seventies, with men from other quorums also being selected for the office. Different records give different numbers, but by the end of the day between four and five hundred men had been ordained as seventies, resulting in eleven quorums “filled and properly organized” with seven presidents and sixty-three members each, and a twelfth quorum partly filled with “about 40” men. The seven presidents for each of the second through tenth quorums were also members of the first quorum, which (along with the second and third quorums) had been organized earlier under Joseph Smith’s direction and which itself was presided over by seven additional presidents.
An additional fifty to sixty elders were ordained high priests, and eighty-five high priests were selected “to go abroad in all the congressional districts of the United States to preside over the branches of the church,” pursuant to plans laid by the Twelve on 12 August. Fifty of these high priests and the presidents of the seventies had been identified in a council of the Twelve held on 24 September. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 87, 89; “October Conference minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 October 1844, 5:682–85; “October Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 November 1844, 5:691–97; Clayton, Journal, 8 October 1844, CHL; Seventies, Book B, 15–30, CHL; Seventies, Book A, CHL; Brigham Young, Journal, 4, 29 September; 6–8 October 1844, pp. XXX, XXX, XXX above; and George A. Smith, Journal, 24 September, 8 October 1844, CHL.)
[7] Sarah Alley had been sealed in a plural marriage to Joseph Bates Noble a year earlier. (Quinn, “Practice of Rebaptism at Nauvoo,” 131 )
[8] Clarissa Blake became a plural wife of Brigham Young, possibly on this date.
[9] Rebecca Holman became a plural wife of Brigham Young, possibly on this date.
[10] Young apparently means here that Kimball accompanied him to Decker’s, a visit Kimball also noted. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 89.)
[11] Probably Erastus Snow.
[12] This marker at the top of the page perhaps indicates Brigham Young’s plural marriage to Diana Chase on this date.
[13] Heber C. Kimball recorded that Brigham Young sealed Ezra Chase to his wife Tirzah Wells Chase. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90.)
[14] Charlotte Chase was a plural wife of Heber C. Kimball, perhaps married during this meeting.
[15] Diana Chase was a plural wife of Brigham Young, perhaps married during this meeting.
[16] For more details on this journey, see Brigham Young, Office Journal, 14 October 1844, p. XXX herein.
[17] Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball reportedly left Nauvoo to locate “another place of gathering for the Saints of God in a short time,” with the understanding that Nauvoo would continue to be “the head Stake for the Saints to come to and receive their endowment” and that there would be “many More stakes or places of gathering for the Saints of God.” Three days earlier, on 12 October, Kimball reported in his journal that he was “complained of”—possibly referencing a formal charge or complaint against him—and on 14 October Kimball wrote that he and Young “went Over to Esra Chase and stade all nite. . . . No one knew whare we ware gon.” His language in these two entries, and his and Young’s departure from the area immediately afterward, raise the possibility that the trip was also an effort to avoid arrest.
The October term of the circuit court that opened on Monday, 21 October, in Carthage may have influenced the timing of their departure. Among its other items of business, the grand jury was scheduled to consider handing down indictments against church members accused of riot in the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor on 10 June 1844 and those who killed Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith on 27 June. Both cases, and especially opposition to the latter, had resulted in numerous rumors of possible violence against the Saints and Nauvoo. (Brigham Young, Office Journal, 14 October 1844, p. XXX herein; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90; “Mormon Affairs” and “Latest From Hancock,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 November 1844, [3]; and Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 46–50.)
[18] Kimball reported that they arrived at Bingham’s at 8:00 p.m. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90.)
[19] Phillip Hammond Busard, whom Brigham Young ordained a high priest and set apart as a counselor in the Norwegian branch presidency a few days later. (Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 9 August 1844–30 June 1845, 23 October 1844, 48, CHL.)
[20] Jacob Anderson. Busard was in the Nauvoo area when Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball left on 15 October. The two men were apparently hoping to travel with him and “Br. Dikes” (probably George P. Dykes) but were unable to for lack of space. According to Kimball, he and Brigham Young “started in company” with Busard, Anderson, and “Dikes,” with “the Teames and thare wives,” from Bingham’s on 16 October. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90; and Peterson, Autobiography, 14, CHL)
[21] Heber C. Kimball writes the name “Gillet.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90.)
[22] Kimball reported the snowfall to be four inches. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90.)
[23] The Ottawa branch numbered “16 members, 2 elders” as of May 1844. Kimball reported that they arrived at Busard’s home in Ottawa at 11:00 p.m., and that the community was composed of two hundred houses. (“Communications,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, 5:557; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90–91.)
[24] The afternoon meeting, and possible the evening meeting as well, appear to have been held at Busard’s home. Heber C. Kimball reported that he, Brigham Young, and Parley P. Pratt were together for the evening meeting, as well as twenty-one “Brethren.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90–91.)
[25] Probably Reuben Miller, who was ordained to be the bishop of the Norwegian Saints two days later. (Brigham Young, Journal, 23 October 1844 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; and Miller, James J. Strang, Weighed in the Balance of Truth, 1.)
[26] Kimball says that they spent the night “at an inn, at Wm. Dunavan.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91.)
[27] In 1834 a small group of Norwegian immigrants settled near the Fox River in La Salle County, Illinois, about nine miles northeast of Ottawa. Other settlers, both Norwegians and American, arrived in the ensuing years, and by 1843 some six hundred people lived in the area. In early 1842 Mormon missionary George P. Dykes visited the area, baptized several people, and organized a branch of the church. In May 1843, Dykes reported, the branch numbered fifty-eight people “in good standing”; a conference the following year, May 1844, put the number at “46 members, 2 elders.” Most of these members were Norwegian. (Erekson and Newell, “‘Gathering Place for the Scandinavian People,’” 21–23; Peterson, Autobiography, 10–13, CHL; “To the Editor of the Times & Seasons,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1843, 4:195; and “Communications,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1844, 5:557.)
[28] Kimball recorded that he and his companions “went and looked out a Location fore a meeting hous and Center of the City” and that the evening meeting was held at “Br. Andersons”—probably Jacob Anderson’s home. Kimball noted that “the church of the Norwegan Number 50.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91; and Peterson, Autobiography, 14, CHL.)
[29] “Norway” was the name Brigham Young and other church leaders selected for the city they proposed to build in the area. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91.)
[30] The conference began at 10:00 a.m. Miller reported that he was ordained a high priest and bishop by Young, Kimball, and Pratt. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91; and Miller, James J. Strang, 1.)
[31] Evidently Gudman Hougas [Goodman Hougus]. (Peterson, Autobiography, 14, CHL; “To the Editor of the Times & Seasons,” 15 May 1843, 4:195; and Woodruff, Journal, 17 May 1844, CHL.)
[32] According to a reminiscent account by Canute Peterson, Brigham Young, Kimball, and Pratt “made and arrangement” to purchase eighty acres from both Hougas and Anderson—or a hundred and sixty acres total—suggesting the possibility that Young may have intended to ultimately purchase more than a hundred acres from the two men. Peterson also reported that the church leaders “laid out a city and named it Norway,” while Kimball reported that after they had “concluded [to] set of[f] a town, and call it Norway,” they “dedicated it to the Lord.” (Peterson, Autobiography, 14, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91.)
[33] According to Peterson’s reminiscent account, Brigham Young and his companions selected sites for a temple and “other public buildings such as tabernacles, tithing house etc.” on Hougas’s farm. Peterson remembered Young telling the assembled Saints that this would be a gathering place for Scandinavian people and that they would build the temple and participate in its ordinances in their native language. (Peterson, Autobiography, 14, CHL.)
[34] Brigham Young evidently left the Norwegian Saints after the conference and returned to Ottawa since both Busard and Nurse lived there. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 90–91.)
[35] Heber C. Kimball recorded the distance as forty-two miles. Kimball included the trip to Pratt’s farm in his 23 October entry, although Brigham Young’s journal and the improbability that they could have traveled forty-two miles after an evening meeting make it clear that they spent the night of 23–24 October in Ottawa. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91.)
[36] Anson Pratt, born on 9 January 1801, was Parley P. Pratt’s oldest brother. His first wife, Sarah (Sally) Barber Pratt, died in December 1841, leaving him with five children—Mary Ann (b. 1828), Sariah (b. June 1833), Jane Elizabeth (b. October 1835), Joseph Anson (b. March 1838), and Caroline Amelia (b. January 1840). It is unclear when he married his second wife, Lucy Ann Lord, although it may have been before Brigham Young’s visit. Anson managed Parley’s farm while Parley was absent on a mission to England in 1839–1843. (Jared Pratt Family Association, “Anson Pratt: Wives and Children,” http://
[37] Heber C. Kimball reported that they were awakened during the night “by six men waching the hous” and that they “got up” and loaded their guns. Kimball dated the event to the night of 23–24 October, having mistakenly recorded that they left Ottawa and traveled over forty miles to Pratt’s farm after the conference with the Norwegian Saints on 23 October. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91; note XXX above << Heber C. Kimball recorded the distance . . . . October in Ottawa>>.)
[38] Probably meaning northeast of Peoria. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 91.)
[39] The party traveled around one hundred miles between 26 and 28 October. They arrived back in Nauvoo on 28 October 1844. (Brigham Young, Office Journal, under 14 October 1844, p. XXX herein.)
[40] Likely marking a “marriage for eternity” sealing of Brigham Young to Susannah Snively on 31 October 1844.
[41] The Snively sisters lived near Parley P. Pratt’s home on Young Street. (Givens and Grow, Parley P. Pratt, 227; and JSP, J3:382–83.)
[42] Likely a notation marking “married for time” to Olive Frost on 7 November 1844. Frost had previously been sealed to Joseph Smith.
[43] Mary Ann Pratt stated that Olive Frost was sealed to Brigham Young after Joseph Smith’s death. (Jenson, Historical Record, 6:235.)
[44] The Nauvoo Temple grove, see JSP, J3:362.
[45] The “Trustees in Trust,” indicating that the “Bishops” in attendance were Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, who had been appointed as the trustees on 9 August and sustained as first and second bishop, respectively, on 7 October. (Brigham Young, Journal, 9 August, 11 November 1844, pp. XXX and XXX herein; and “October Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 November 1844, 5:693.)
[46] The following men were sustained as members of the high council on 7 October 1844: Samuel Bent, James Allred, Dunbar Wilson, George W. Harris, William Huntington Sr., Newel Knight, Alpheus Cutler, Aaron Johnson, Henry G. Sherwood, Thomas Grover, Ezra T. Benson, and David Fulmer. (See “October Conference Minutes,” 5:692.)
[47] This meeting, which was held in the Masonic Hall, began at 9:00 a.m. and continued until dark, with a one-hour adjournment from noon to 1:00 p.m. How many of the forty policemen authorized by law were in attendance is unknown; according to Hosea Stout, “some officers of the Legion” were also present. Stout reported that the meeting was to “take into consideration the general welfare of the City and regulate the Police &c.” The meeting decided that the church trustees should pay the police and also that the police force be increased to four hundred—perhaps in response to continued threats by anti-Mormons against the city. (Brigham Young, Office Journal, 11 November 1844, p. XXX herein; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 12 December 1843, CHL; and Brooks, Diary of Hosea Stout, 9)
[48] Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball.
[49] Kimball had been sick since leaving Nauvoo for Quincy on 5 November. He was still sick when he returned to Nauvoo on 9 November, after which he took to his bed “and sufferd about ten days pain.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 92.)
[50] William Marks, “Notice,” 9 December 1844, in Times and Seasons, 15 December 1844, 5:742.
[51] “The City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 December 1844, 5:744.
[52] Ford, Message of the Governor of the State of Illinois, 21.
[53] “The Voice of Nauvoo! Proceedings of the Nauvoo City Council,” 13 January 1845, in Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:773–74.
[54] “An Epistle of the Twelve, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the World,” 14 January 1845, in Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:779–80.
[55] “Epistle of the Twelve,” 6:779–80.
[56] “Epistle of the Twelve,” 6:779–80.
[57] TEXT: The following list of names was inscribed in graphite.
[58] Although many of the names here were members of the Nauvoo police force and Nauvoo Legion or workers at the Nauvoo temple, it is unclear what this list represents.
[59] Possibly James Cummings.
[60] Possibly Chester Loveland.
[61] The following names and amounts appear to be donations received from Boston area members of the Church. The Clemensons, Stark, and Bissell all resided in Boston in December 1844.
[62] TEXT: This line was written in ink by an unknown writer.
[63] TEXT: This paragraph was written in graphite by an unknown writer.
[64] Likely Ephraim S. Green. In November 1844, Green had greatly offended Orson Hyde by allegedly using shady practices to oust two Latter-day Saint families from their shared property (Tamma Durfee Miner and her husband Albert Miner and one of Tamma’s brothers jointly shared the property) using a delayed payment on their part as a pretense to take over their mortgage and compel them under threat to trade their well-improved property near Nauvoo for an unimproved plot twenty-four miles away. Hyde wrote a letter to the editor of the Nauvoo Neighbor condemning Green. He said, “Thus has Green disinherited two faithful, hard working, and respectable citizens – thrown them out of house and home to line his pockets with the fruits of their hard labor. He professes to be a Latter Day Saint: but we should advise him to go to Pittsburgh or to Hampton and mingle with his own kindred. He is not wanted here.” The Nauvoo High Council took Green’s case under consideration on 30 November 1844 and recorded that Green “seemed to manifest a desire to act in conformity to the rules of the church, and the wishes of the authorities of the same[,] but owing to some matter of consideration between him and Elder Hyde, his case was laid over for the present.” Several months later, Green, apparently now out of the Church, was reportedly confronted in Nauvoo by group of men and boys whistling and whittling around him in an attempt to intimidate him and hasten his removal from the city. The highly antagonistic Warsaw Signal published the alleged interactions between Green and the townspeople by way of an anonymous letter to the editor. The author alleged that Green directly asked Stephen Markham why he was being targeted for such treatment and was told because he was a “d___d dirty apostate son of b___h.” (Orson Hyde, “Caution,” Letter to the Editor, Nauvoo Neighbor, 27 November 1844; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 30 November 1844, CHL; “Communications,” Warsaw Signal, 23 April 1845; and Curtis, Autobiography, CHL.)
[65] It is unclear what this list represents, or if it is possibly a continuation of the preceding list that started with “Ormel Bats.”
[66] Possibly Jacob Foutz.
[67] TEXT: Graphite ends; brown ink in Brigham Young’s handwriting recommences.
[68] According to Albert P. Rockwood, sixty-two men and six teams were engaged at the quarry. The day before, 14 January 1845, Brigham Young and the Twelve had written a letter to church members indicating that the capitals for the temple were all in place and that by spring they anticipated “that every stone will be cut to complete the temple.” In addition, they wrote, “as soon as the stone cutters get through with the cutting of the stone for the walls of the Temple, they will immediately proceed to cut the stone for and erect a font of hewn stone” to replace the temporary wooden font the Saints had been using in the temple’s basement to perform baptisms for the dead. (Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 15 January 1845, Historian’s Office, CHL; and “An Epistle of the Twelve, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the World,” 14 January 1845, in Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:779.)
[69] Mary Ann Clark was a plural wife of Brigham Young; their sealing likely took place on this date.
[70] Three days earlier, on 12 January 1845, Brigham Young selected twenty-four members of the Seventy and forty-seven high priests to serve short missions in Illinois and Iowa to defend the church against recent accusations that church members in Nauvoo were harboring “bogus makers thieves & black legs” in their midst. At this 15 January meeting, held in the Seventies Hall and attended by the Twelve, the Nauvoo high council, trustees, high priests, and seventies, those who had been selected to go were assigned their respective fields of labor, with the expectation that they would be gone until about the first of April. Forty-six of the high priests who were to serve these missions were also appointed as official agents for the church to collect tithing and donations to help finish the Nauvoo temple. Both Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball addressed the meeting. The effort coincided with the adoption and publication of a series of resolutions by both the Nauvoo City Council and the citizens of Nauvoo denouncing the accusations and affirming the city’s efforts to maintain peace and good order. (Jessee, “John Taylor Nauvoo Journal,” 12, 15 January 1845, 21–23, 30; Clayton, Journal, 12, 15 January 1845; selected material from Seventies Book B, 14 [15] January 1845, 56, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 15 January 1845, CHL; Historian’s Office Journal, 15 January 1845, CHL; “To Whom It May Concern,” Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:780; “The Voice of Nauvoo,” Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 13 January 1845, CHL; “The Voice of Nauvoo!” and “Meeting of the Citizens,” Times and Seasons 15 January 1845, 6:773–75; and “The Voice of Nauvoo!” and “Meeting of the Citizens,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 13 January 1845, [2–3].)
[71] Young and Kimball met in the office William Clayton used to collect and record tithing donations. This office was located in “the new and commodious brick store of Elder Parley P. Pratt,” as Clayton described it, “situated one block north from the west end of the temple.” Their efforts included Clayton’s “read[ing] considerable” to the two men from Kimball’s journal in an effort to prepare a portion of it for publication. Two days later, on 18 January 1845, Clayton recorded that he “wrote an abstract from brother Kimballs journal for the ‘Times & Season.’” Five extracts were eventually published in the Times and Seasons between the 15 January and 15 April 1845 issues. The extracts commenced with Kimball’s account of the organization of the high council on 17 February 1834 and ended with the newly called Quorum of the Twelve leaving Kirtland on their first mission to the East on 4 May 1835. (Clayton, Journal, 16, 18 January 1845; “A Voice from the Temple,” Times and Seasons, 1 December 1844, 5:728; “Extract from the Journal of Elder Heber C. Kimball,” Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:771–73; “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 February 1845, 6:787–90; “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 15 February 1845, 6:803–5; “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 15 March 1845, 6:838–40; and “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 15 April 1845, 6:866–69.)
[72] A reference to Joseph Smith’s History, which Richards was compiling at the time with the help of Thomas Bullock. Bullock recorded that he and Richards were “preparing dates &c for Church History” on this day and that Brigham Young, in company with John Taylor, was with Richards between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and had lunch with him. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 17 January 1845, 2:4, CHL; and Willard Richards, Journal, 17 January 1845, CHL.)
[73] Referring to either Susannah Snively or her mother, Mary Heavenor [or Havenor] Snively. (Brigham Young, Journal, 31 October 1844, 20 January 1845 and accompanying notes, pp. XXX and XXX herein.)
[74] If Brigham Young visited “Dr. Richards and W. R,” then this probably means Dr. Levi Richards and Willard Richards, brothers and both Thompsonian doctors. The fact that Young recorded temple donations from members of the Snively family under the date of 20 January 1845 above, and that in his own journal Willard Richards recorded a visit from Young on 20 January but not on 19 January (when he was “quite unwell”), raises the possibility that Young misdated his journal at this point and that some or all the events under this 19 January entry actually occurred on 20 January. (Brigham Young, Journal, 20 January 1845, p. XXX herein; and Willard Richards, Journal, 19, 20 January 1845, CHL.)
[75] Likely Mary Heavenor [or Havenor] Snively, mother of Susannah, Hannahette, and Mary Ann Snively.
[76] That is, on Saturday, 18 January 1845, three days earlier, when “some 200 police just raised” met in the Seventies Hall at 1:00 p.m. for instruction. The Twelve, Nauvoo High Council, trustees, and others decided to increase the city’s police force from forty to four hundred policemen at a meeting held on 11 November 1844. (Brooks, Diary of Hosea Stout, 9, 16; Brigham Young, Journal, 11 November 1844 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; and Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 12 December 1843, CHL.)
[77] Brigham Young’s letter to his brother Phineas Young was in response to a letter he had received from Kirtland, dated 31 December 1844, in which Phineas and three others in Kirtland had informed him that the presiding elder in Kirtland, Hiram Kellogg, was supporting Sidney Rigdon and speaking against the Twelve. Other “spirits” abounded in the area as well, the men wrote, leaving them at their “wits end” regarding the welfare of “some forty or fifty good brethren” in the area. Phineas and the others also told the Nauvoo brethren that they had the keys of the Kirtland Temple and control of the building, and concluded by asking the Twelve to “dispose of us as you think proper.” In his response, Brigham Young updated Phineas and the others on the progress of the Nauvoo Temple and other developments in Nauvoo, including ongoing discussions on the part of some to revoke the Nauvoo charter. He also counseled his brother and others to dispose of their property in Kirtland as well as they could and move to Nauvoo, and either rent the Kirtland temple out or give the keys of it “to the best man that is obliged” to stay behind. (Phineas H. Young et al., Kirtland, OH, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 31 December 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, to “Brethren,” Kirtland, OH, 21 January 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)
[78] Richards wrote that at 10:00 a.m. “Bros Young & Kimball visited in my bed room.” (Willard Richards, Journal, 21 January 1845, CHL.)
[79] This council, which was held in Willard Richards’s office, lasted from 6:00 p.m. to almost 10:00 p.m. In addition to the men listed above, Willard Richards and George Miller were also present, making six of the Twelve (and others) in attendance. During the council, the members of the Twelve, with Fordham serving as scribe, wrote a letter to Jedediah M. Grant, who had recently published an essay against Sidney Rigdon. The Twelve advised Grant against writing such pieces on the grounds that such tactics only served to feed Rigdon’s cause and that saying nothing about him would lessen his influence more quickly than defending church leadership in Nauvoo would. They also instructed him to encourage people in the eastern United States to pay their tithing and, if possible, to move to Nauvoo in the spring to help finish the temple. Young and his associates directed that similar letters be written to William Smith and Parley P. Pratt, who were also in the East at the time. (Willard Richards, Journal, 21 January 1845, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 92; Historian’s Office, Journal, 21 January 1845, 1:24, CHL; The Twelve, Nauvoo, IL, to Jedediah M. Grant, PA[?], 21 January 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and George A. Smith, Journal, 21 January 1845, CHL.)
[80] According to Thomas Bullock, Brigham Young visited Willard Richards’s office at 2:00 p.m. in company with Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor and “read the letters, &c &c”—probably referring to the letters to William Smith and Parley P. Pratt that he and others had asked to be written the previous day. Bullock reported then making copies of those two letters, as well as a copy of the letter written to Jedediah M. Grant the day before. The letters to Smith and Pratt were similar to the one written to Grant, instructing the two men regarding the collection of tithing and asking that they urge those who lived in the East to move to Nauvoo in the spring to help finish the temple. Young may have also gone to the printing office to oversee the printing of an extra from the Times and Seasons press entitled “Circular of the Twelve, and Trustees in Trust,” which included an “Epistle of the Twelve” that had been published in the 15 January 1845 issue of the paper. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 22 January 1845, 1:24, CHL; The Twelve, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, New York, NY, 22 January 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Circular of the Twelve, and Trustees in Trust, Times and Seasons, Extra, 22 January 1845; and “An Epistle of the Twelve, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in all the World,” 14 January 1845, in Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:779.)
[81] Though Kimball also has “Wooderds,” this is probably George Woodward. John Taylor’s journal states that he had “supper at Bro. Woodward’s” this evening. George A. Smith referred to the evening gathering at Woodward’s as a “party.” Others in attendance included Heber C. Kimball, William W. Phelps, John Taylor, and “sevral others,” and the men’s wives were also present. The meal included turkey, pork, quail, and “so[m]e other fixings,” all of which Smith pronounced “firstrate.” (Jessee, “John Taylor Nauvoo Journal,” 34; George A. Smith, Journal, 22 January 1845, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 92–93.)
[82] “Ran against” was a common nineteenth-century way to describe running into someone or something head-on. It seems that John McEwan ran over Robert Peirce’s eight-year-old daughter, Edith Evelina, with his horse. While it is unclear what exactly happened, the encounter let to “Mr Pirs” leveling a formal complaint against “Mr Maguin” to Nauvoo mayor and justice of the peace Daniel Spencer “for riding on his daughter.” (Spencer, Diaries, 22 January 1845, CHL.)
[83] Probably Willard Richards; alternatively, his brother Levi Richards, both of whom were physicians.
[84] Possibly Ezra Taft Benson.
[85] Probably Willard Richards.
[86] Probably Lydia Fox Hedlock, wife of Reuben Hedlock, who was presiding over the English mission at the time. The box was evidently sent from England. (Brigham Young, Journal, 23 May 1843, 5 January 1844 and accompanying notes, pp. XXX and XXX herein; Reuben Hedlock, Liverpool, England, to Joseph Smith et al., Nauvoo, IL, 10–21 January 1844, Joseph Smith Collection, CHL; and Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, to Wilford Woodruff, Liverpool, England, 11 February 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)
[87] Aaron Smith was no relation to Joseph Smith. Aaron Smith was himself impressed by the leadership arguments made by James Strang in opposition to both Brigham Young and William Law and would be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a year later. (Jensen, “Witness to the Plates.”)
[88] Wilson Law was the brother of William Law. Both were excommunicated from the church in 1844, and William founded his own denomination in opposition to Joseph Smith and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
[89] Heber C. Kimball noted that he and the others “spent the after noon” engaged in these ordinances. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 93.)
[90] Finishing the temple had been a high priority for Young and the Twelve since 8 August 1844, one they stressed repeatedly. The day before this ritual prayer, Young learned of (and noted in his journal) an increased prospect of violence as former Latter-day Saints sought to stir up enemies to stop them from finishing the temple. This threat likely formed the backdrop for seeking renewed confirmation. The following day, similarly, Heber C. Kimball reported that he “inquired of the Lord” about finishing the temple and received his own answer in the affirmative. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 93.)
[91] If Hyde returned on Thursday, it would have been 23 January; if he returned on 24 January, it would have been Friday, the date of this journal entry.
[92] Hyde had gone to St. Louis around the end of December 1844 or the beginning of January 1845 “to preach to the saints and strengthen and encourage them,” as well as to “raise something for paints and oil to finish” building his house in Nauvoo. Hyde reported that the church members in St. Louis, numbering between three and four hundred individuals, were strong in the faith and supportive of the Twelve in Nauvoo. (Orson Hyde to Brigham Young, 29 December 1844, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and “Communications,” Times and Seasons, 1 February 1845, 6:790–91.)
[93] Possibly Jonathan Campbell.
[94] Three days earlier, on 22 January, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and John Taylor had met in Willard Richards’s office and “prepared a draft for a private seal for the 12.” The seal was to be used to identify legitimate church agents authorized to collect donations for building the Nauvoo temple. (Willard Richards, Journal, 22 January 1845, CHL; and “An Epistle of the Twelve, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the World,” 14 January 1845, in Times and Seasons, 15 January 1845, 6:780.) The following day, Thursday, 23 January, John Taylor wrote in his journal, “In company with Bros. Smith, Hyde, and Major, at the engravers and helped Bro. Major to draw a design for a seal for the Twelve, designed by Bro. Young and myself.” The seal had a crown over an all-seeing eye encircled by a sun with the capital letters P S T A P C J C L D S [L] D A O W in its rays. The letters stood for “private Seal of the Twelve apostles, Priests of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Last Dispensation All Over the World.” (Jessee, “John Taylor Nauvoo Journal,” 34.)
[95] At this meeting, which was held at 2:00 p.m. in the Masonic Hall, the high priests discussed building a hall or building in which they could meet, much as the Seventies had done when they built the Seventies Hall. After various plans were suggested and discussed, Brigham Young proposed that instead of building their own building, the high priests should work to finish the upper story of the temple—not only would it cost less, he argued, but then they would have a place to receive their temple ordinances, “certain branches” of which, he explained, “must be done in an upper room.” The high priests voted unanimously to support Young’s proposal. At the time, all of the capitals on the columns of the temple walls had been put in place, and church leaders were expecting that by spring “every stone will be cut to complete the Temple.” Their hope was to enclose the building and have enough rooms completed by 1 December 1845 to begin performing the ordinance of the endowment. Young also spoke about elders going east to collect men and means to finish the temple, the importance of not embarrassing people publicly, Sidney Rigdon, and the recent repeal of the Nauvoo charter. (High Priests Quorum Record, 26 January 1845, CHL; Allen, No Toil nor Labor Fear, 432; and “Epistle of the Twelve,” 6:779.)
[96] At this meeting, which was held in a room or rooms above Parley P. Pratt’s store, John E. Page, Joseph C. Kingsbury, Eliza R. Snow, and several others received ordinances that would later be performed in the Nauvoo temple. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 93; see also George A. Smith, Journal, 26 January 1845, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 26 January 1845, CHL.)
[97] Earlier in the month, Brigham Young and other church leaders had selected some seventy high priests and seventies to serve short missions in Illinois and Iowa to defend the church against slanderous reports and to collect men and means to finish the Nauvoo temple. (Brigham Young, Journal, 15 January 1845 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; and George A. Smith, Journal, 27 January 1845, CHL.)
[98] Brigham Young met with Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, John E. Page, William Clayton, George Miller, Newel K. Whitney, Reynolds Cahoon, and Elias Smith at 11:00 a.m. in the “council room”—probably the upper room in Joseph Smith’s brick store—where Clayton read Richards’s 14 January 1845 letter to George Miller. Invoking his “past acquaintance” with Miller and the importance of the subject as excuses for writing, Richards, “an old resident” of McDonough County, Illinois, expressed his dismay at the deteriorating relationship between church members and their neighbors. Richards suggested, as a solution to the problem, that the Latter-day Saints obtain from congress a piece of land twenty-four miles square bordering the Mississippi River in the “pineries” of Iowa or Wisconsin territories where they could govern themselves, provided that the laws they passed were “not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the United States.” Settlement on this “Mormon Reserve” would be limited to church members “in full communion” only, Richards proposed; no one else would be allowed to settle “either within the said Reserve, or within five miles of any part of the boundaries thereof.” Richards drew up his proposal in the form of an act of congress, feeling it would convey his general ideas “more clearly and succinctly” than otherwise. Feeling that the letter was well written, those present decided “to notice it and set the think [thing?] in gitation in order to turn off the attention of the mobocrats” until the temple was completed. Miller, accordingly, wrote to Richards asking permission to publish his proposal in the Nauvoo Neighbor and requesting Richards to broach to subject with state and territorial officials “preparatory to obtaining their sanction to the project.” In his response, dated 3 February 1845, Richards gave Miller permission to publish his proposal in the Nauvoo paper and asked that Miller then send him copies of the paper that he could send to people in other states whom he thought “likely to take an interest and exert an influence” in the project. On 4 February 1845, the Council of Fifty read Richards’s proposal, and possibly Miller’s response and Richards’s subsequent letter, and within the next few weeks some members of the council decided to publish the entire correspondence and the council’s “views on the subject,” which would be written by Orson Spencer. Accordingly, Richards’s and Miller’s letters, including the mock “An Act for the Relief of the People Called Mormons, or Latter Day Saints,” was published in the 26 February 1845 issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor, followed by the lengthy note written by Spencer praising Richards’s idea but also arguing that the Saints would need two hundred miles square rather than just twenty-four. Miller also offered other sites that the church would consider acceptable in addition to one in Wisconsin, including Oregon, Texas, and somewhere west of Missouri, and assured readers that most church members would support any formal effort to “set off a territory as proposed in the above.” Although written by Spencer, the published note appeared under Miller’s name “inasmuch,” as the Council of Fifty minutes explained, “as the correspondence passed between him & Mr. Richards.” (Clayton, Journal, 28 January 1845, CHL; Correspondence between William P. Richards, Macomb, IL, and George Miller, Nauvoo, IL, January–February 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Council of Fifty Minutes, 4 February 1845, in JSP, A1:215–44; Brigham Young Journal, 4 February 1845 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; and “Great Western Move,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 26 February 1845, [1].)
[99] This council met during the afternoon in the “council room” above William Clayton’s office in Parley P. Pratt’s store. Those present included Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Orson Hyde of the Twelve; trustees Newel K. Whitney and George Miller; temple committee members Reynolds Cahoon and Alpheus Cutler; and temple recorder William Clayton. At Cahoon’s request, the council decided to credit Cahoon and Cutler in full for their labor tithing in consequence of the extra time and effort they devoted to fulfilling their committee assignment. Invoking the same principle, the council also credited Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith as having paid a full tithe, as well as Whitney, Miller, Clayton, and each member of the Twelve except for John E. Page and Lyman Wight. (Minutes of Council held in Nauvoo, 29 January 1845, Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Documents, CHL; and Clayton, Journal, 29 January 1845, CHL.)
[100] Earlier in the month, Brigham Young and William Clayton had helped Heber C. Kimball prepare parts of his journal for publication, and one extract had already been published in the Times and Seasons. As before, Clayton assisted Young and Kimball on this day and “wrote part of H. C. Kimballs journal” the following day, 30 January. Presumably, the three men at this time were working on the second extract, which was published in the 1 February 1845 issue of the paper. (Brigham Young, Journal, 16 January 1845 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein; Clayton, Journal, 29 January 1845, CHL; and “Extracts from H. C. Kimball’s Journal,” Times and Seasons, 1 February 1845, 6:787–90.)
[101] TEXT: Brigham Young had apparently accidently written his own last name following the first name Brigham and quickly tried to wipe-erase the ink. He wrote “Willard,” the middle name of Kimball’s son, correctly over the top of the error. Brigham Willard Kimball was born early in the morning of 29 January 1845. (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 93, 95, 101.)
[102] According to Kimball, Young blessed Kimball’s son as follows: “Verly thus saith the Lord the Lad shall be great like unto his Father even a Prophet Seer and Revalater from his youth on whom the Preasthood shall rest from his burth to all Eternity. Even so Amen.” (Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 101.)
[103] A reference to the forty policemen who were sworn in on 29 December 1843 pursuant to a 12 December 1843 ordinance by the city council authorizing their appointment. On 11 November 1844 a council of church and city leaders decided to increase the number of policemen to four hundred, and on 18 January 1845 some two hundred of these “new Poles [police]” were organized and received instructions. (Willard Richards, Journal, 30 January 1845, CHL; Joseph Smith, Journal 29 December 1843, in JSP, J3:153; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 12 December 1843, CHL; and Brigham Young, Journal, 11 November 1844 and 21 January 1845, pp. XXX and XXX herein.)
[104] The meeting was called to order at twenty minutes to 3:00 p.m. in the Masonic Hall; in addition to those Brigham Young listed, the trustees and members of the Twelve were also present. Some of those present had just learned “through the medium of the public journals,” according to John Taylor, that the Illinois legislature had voted to repeal the Nauvoo charter. (The bill to repeal the charter originated in the Illinois Senate, which passed it 19 December 1844. It passed the House on 24 January 1845.) Several days earlier, Young had written to Parley P. Pratt informing him that “the State Legislature are determined to take away our Charter . . . but we still feel that the Lord baffles them, and will, so that all things will work together for our good.” This hopeful tone had evaporated with reports Young had received in the days that followed that the charter had indeed been repealed. Those present at this meeting decided to challenge the constitutionality of the legislature’s action and appointed a committee of seven, which included Young, to write to several men “of erudition, and of legal attainments” for advice on how to proceed. As they had received no official word from the legislature, those present also decided to hold the regularly scheduled municipal elections the following Monday, 3 February 1845, pursuant to the provision in the Nauvoo charter directing that municipal elections be held biennially on the first Monday of February, beginning in 1841. (Willard Richards, Journal, 30 January 1845, CHL; George A. Smith, Journal, 30 January 1845, CHL; Church Historian’s Office, Journal, 30 January 1845, CHL; Jessee, “John Taylor Nauvoo Journal,” 30 and 31 January 1845; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 30 January 1845, CHL; Brigham Young to Parley P. Pratt, 22 January 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Brooks, Diary of Hosea Stout, 18; Leonard, Nauvoo, 467; and Journal of the House of Representatives of the Fourteenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, 1844, 276–77; An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 December 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], 53–54, sections 6 and 11.
[105] Probably either Lorenzo Snow or Erastus Snow, both of whom were in Nauvoo at the time.
[106] Likely George Woodward. See Brigham Young, Journal, 22 January 1845 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein.
[107] Probably his brothers Joseph Young and Lorenzo Young.
[108] According to Daniel Spencer, Brigham Young “spok on th importan of looking to our own conduct in the room of othrs &c.” (Spencer, Diaries, 2 February 1845, CHL.)
[109] George A. Smith also may have been with Brigham Young and his family. (George A. Smith, Journal, 2 February 1845, CHL.)
[110] On 8 January 1845, a meeting of the Twelve, high council, and city council met as a political caucus and appointed Orson Spencer and the Twelve as a committee to nominate candidates for the upcoming municipal election. The caucus unanimously accepted the committee’s nominations for mayor, aldermen, and city council. Six days later, on 14 January 1845, a general meeting of Nauvoo citizens also accepted the candidates. According to Hosea Stout, one of the election officials, “about 850 votes” were cast at the election, “and the persons nominated by the Twelve on the 8th of January was unanimously elected without a dissenting voice.” Orson Spencer was elected mayor; Daniel Spencer, Newel K. Whitney, Charles C. Rich, and George W. Harris were elected aldermen; and Samuel Bent, William W. Phelps, George Miller, Edward Hunter, Phineas Richards, David Fulmer, Jonathan C. Wright, James Sloan, and John Pack were elected councilmen. (Willard Richards, Journal, 8 and 14 January 1845, CHL; Brooks, Diary of Hosea Stout, 14–16, 19; and Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 7 February 1845, 233, CHL.)
[111] Possibly John S. Gleason, a member of Brigham Young’s 1847 pioneer company.
[112] Brigham Young, Journal, 4 February, 1 March 1845, pp. XXX and XXX herein; Council of Fifty, Minutes, 4 February and 1 March 1845, in JSP, A1: 215–44, 251–75; and Clayton, Journal, 4 February, 1 March 1845, CHL.
[113] Brigham Young, Journal, 11 August and 12 September 1844 and accompanying notes, pp. XXX and XXX herein.
[114] Brigham Young, Journal, 27 February 1845 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein.
[115] This was the first time the Council of Fifty had met since 31 May 1844. In addition to reorganizing the council around Brigham Young’s leadership, Young chastised council member David Yearsley for not trusting church leaders to purchase goods from him on credit, and the council listened to letters from former Illinois attorney general and the lead prosecutor in the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Josiah Lamborn, Almon Babbitt, and William Richards—the last being a proposal (noted in Young’s 28 January diary entry) that the Latter-day Saints petition Congress for a grant of land north of Illinois where they could move and govern themselves. (Council of Fifty Minutes, 4 February 1845, in JSP, A1:215–44; Clayton, Journal, 4 February 1845, CHL; and Brigham Young, Journal, 28 January 1845 and accompanying note, p.XXXherein.)
[116] Fanny Young Murray, Brigham Young’s older sister.
[117] Twenty-six-year-old Whitney died of “lung fever” on 4 February 1845. (Woods, “Cemetery Record,”151.)
[118] Daniel Spencer wrote that Brigham Young “spoke at length on the resurection on the exaltation the works of man following him at death.” According to Spencer, Young taught that “the Spirit goes into the world of Spirits there to increes in Know[ledge] and prepare for the resurtn of the body as prepaird by friends on the Earth.” (Spencer, Diaries, 6 February 1845, CHL.)
[119] Sarah Ann Whitney was a plural wife of Joseph Smith; according to Heber C. Kimball, he and Brigham Young “took Tea” with her. Sarah married Kimball as a plural wife on 17 March 1845. (Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, 314–15] .)
[120] The municipal election for the city of Nauvoo took place on 3 February pursuant to the provisions governing such elections in the Nauvoo charter. They proceeded despite news of the charter’s repeal, having received no official notice. In this meeting the new city council elected the outgoing mayor, Daniel Spencer, to preside over the council until mayor-elect Orson Spencer “should be qualified”—meaning, probably, that he had not yet taken the required oath of office. Daniel Spencer then organized the council into several standing committees, after which the council elected a city marshal, treasurer, and other officers; passed several ordinances; and determined compensation for outgoing councilmen and officers. Although several members of the Twelve, including Brigham Young, had served on the outgoing council, none were members of the new council. After recording the day’s proceedings, apostle Willard Richards, who had been reelected city recorder by the new council, resigned his office and was replaced by Thomas Bullock. This meeting took place in Joseph Smith’s red brick store. (Brigham Young, Journal, 3 February 1845, p. XXX herein and accompanying note; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 February 1845, 234–39, CHL; Spencer, Diaries, 8 February 1845, CHL; Church Historian’s, Journal, 8 February 1845, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 96.)
[121] Probably Ezra Chase, the father of his plural wife Diana Chase. (Brigham Young, Journal, 10 September, 10 October 1845, pp. XXX and XXX herein.)
[122] Possibly William E. Horner.
[123] Likely Joseph Young.
[124] Probably Willard Richards, but possibly Levi Richards, both of whom were physicians.
[125] Elliott, who was currently serving as a deputy sheriff of Hancock County, was arrested on the morning of 11 February in Nauvoo, where he was ostensibly carrying out some “legal business partaining to the sheriffality.” He was arrested on the strength of an affidavit by Nauvoo citizen John Scott, who admitted that while he knew nothing of Elliott’s alleged involvement in the murders of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith personally, he knew “sufficient upon which to found an affidavit for arrest.” Elliott requested a hearing at 7:00 p.m. that evening, but it was postponed until the following morning, 12 February, to give the prosecution sufficient time to gather witnesses from Iowa territory and other parts of Illinois. The hearing commenced at 8:00 a.m. in the Masonic Hall before Nauvoo justices of the peace Aaron Johnson, Daniel H. Wells, and Isaac Higbee. After hearing testimony from several witnesses, Wells ruled that “enough has been proven here, to-day, to fix very, very strongly upon the prisoner the certainty of guilt” and committed Elliott to the jail at Carthage “for trial at the next term of the Circuit Court.” Elliott later escaped, however, and the grand jury of the May 1845 circuit court did not indict him for the murders. (“Examination of John C. Elliott,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 February 1845, [2–3]; and Oaks and Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, 67, 81.)
[126] Nothing in the journal explains why Young copied these scriptural references into his journal here.
[127] Whiteside, aged twenty-three years, eight months, died on 20 February 1845 of consumption. (Woods, “Cemetery Record,” 151.)
[128] On 8 February 1845, Horace Burgess charged Lester Brooks with “unchristianlike conduct” for defrauding several people out of their property. The trial was held in the Seventies Hall, with Brigham Young, John Smith, and Charles C. Rich presiding in connection with council president Samuel Bent. According to the minutes of the meeting, Brooks was “dismissed from the charges preferred” following “much deliberation” and “impressive remarks by the presidents and council.” (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 22 February 1845, CHL.)
[129] The meeting was held at the home of Hiram and Sarah Granger Kimball. According to George A. Smith, who attended the meeting and helped administer the sacrament, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball “gave much good instruction” to the assembled Saints. (George A. Smith, Journal, 23 February 1845, CHL.)
[130] George A. Smith had intended to go with those listed in the journal entry but remained in Nauvoo on account of his father’s poor health. (George A. Smith, Journal, 24 February 1845, CHL.)
[131] According to Clayton, Brigham Young and his companions left Nauvoo at 10:00 a.m. and arrived in Macedonia around 4:30 p.m. “The day was very fine,” Clayton wrote, “but the roads bad and very heavy travelling.” The group “spent the evening very pleasantly” at Benjamin F. Johnson’s home. (Clayton, Journal, 24 February 1845, CHL.)
[132] According to William Clayton, Brigham Young and his companions “went to Wm. G. Perkins and settled the church business with B[enjamin]. F. Johnson, received all the papers and gave up his receipt. There had been suspicions concerning B[enjamin]’s management but he has made a satisfactory report.” The questions probably related to Johnson’s management of church property in Macedonia, where had been serving as an agent for Joseph Smith since 1842. (Clayton, Journal, 25 February 1845, CHL; and Johnson, My Life’s Review, 81.)
[133] The meeting, which took place in the schoolhouse, was attended by “a large audience.” (Lyman, Journal, 25 February 1845, CHL.)
[134] The following list presents the names of the men called on 14 February 1835 to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The list is evidently intended to represent the order in which they were called, although the minutes of that meeting place Patten ahead of (rather than following) Luke Johnson, and Orson Pratt ahead of William Smith. By February 1845 only Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, and Parley P. Pratt remained from those apostles originally called. The following men had joined the quorum in the intervening years: John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Willard Richards, Lyman Wight, and Amasa Lyman. (Minutes, Discourse, and Blessings, 14–15 February 1835, in JSP, D4:219–29.)
[135] According to William Clayton, George Grant and John Kay stood guard first and were relieved by Cyrus Daniels and Benjamin F. Johnson. (Clayton, Journal, 25 February 1845, CHL.)
[136] According to Hosea Stout, “suspicious characters” had been seen in Nauvoo the evening of 25 February, giving at least one resident the impression that they intended to form a mob and “waylay” Brigham Young and his companions on their return home from Macedonia that night. A rumor was even afloat that Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others had already been taken to Carthage jail. Upon the advice of John Taylor, who told Stout that Young was not planning to return to Nauvoo that night, Stout selected seven men to accompany him to Macedonia to “see if all was right with the brethren” there and to invite them to leave Macedonia in time to have breakfast in Nauvoo. Young “concluded not to start until morning,” however, giving Stout and his men time for “a short sleep” after their ride. (Brooks, Diary of Hosea Stout, 23–24; Willard Richards, Journal, 25 February 1845; George A. Smith, Journal, 25 February 1845, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 97; and Historian’s Office, Journal, 26 February 1845, CHL; see also Clayton, Journal, 25 February 1845, CHL.)
[137] Clayton recorded the names of twenty-three men from Macedonia who accompanied Brigham Young’s party “about seven miles through the timber, not knowing but the mob might be waiting for us in the Timber.” Hosea Stout estimated that the Macedonia men escorted Young’s group “about five miles” before turning back. The storm began as rain when Young was still some ten miles from Nauvoo, while the snow was “accompanied by a driving west wind” that blew in the men’s faces. Having left Macedonia around 10:00 a.m., Brigham Young and his companions arrived in Nauvoo at about 3:00 p.m. Stout and his men escorted each one to his respective home. (Clayton, Journal, 26 February 1845, CHL; Brooks, Diary of Hosea Stout, 24; and Willard Richards, Journal, 26 February 1845, CHL.)
[138] The Latter-day Saints and others had long been interested in the possibility of somehow harnessing the Mississippi River’s flow to provide power for mills and other machinery, and on 8 December 1843 the city council passed an ordinance authorizing Joseph Smith and “his successors” to build a dam that would divert water into Nauvoo for that purpose. By January 1844, the plan was to build a wing dam, “upwards of a mile long, . . . to commence some distance below the Nauvoo House, and intersect with an island above; so as not to interfere with the main channel of the river.” A year later, January 1845, steps were taken to finance the construction of the dam, “which would consist of fifty three [stone] piers, each forty feet long, ten feet wide, and fifteen feet apart, and averaging twelve feet in depth, planks to be put down between the priers, and the spaces covered with plank also, the whole forming a permanent dam, and a bridge forty feet wide and eighty rods long.” The Nauvoo Water Power Company was eventually created to oversee the project, and John E. Page was made the company’s president. In his prayer, Page “dedicated the land, water, men, and means, to Almighty God, with a firm reliance that he will order all things in wisdom for the good of such as act according to his will.” Sources differ as to the time of the dedication; the account published in the Nauvoo Neighbor said it took place “about 9 in the morning,” while Willard Richards gave the time as 11:00 a.m. “About 100” men were present for the dedication, including Brigham Young, John E. Page, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, and John Taylor of the Twelve. Work on the dam ended after only nineteen days, and the project was never completed. (Enders, “Dam for Nauvoo,” 246–54; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 8 December 1843, 192–93, CHL; “Editorial Address,” Times and Seasons, 1 January 1844, 5:392–93; Jessee, “John Taylor Nauvoo Journal,” 14 and 28 January 1845; Willard Richards, Journal, 27 February 1845, CHL; Historian’s Office, Journal, 27 February 1845, CHL; “Attention the Whole Kingdom of Saints,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 March 1845, [3]; and “Commencement,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 5 March 1845, [2].)
[139] The meeting in Willard Richards’s office included other members of the Twelve, George Miller, Newel K. Whitney, members of the city council (including mayor Orson Spencer), and “others, mostly of the Council,” referring to the Council of Fifty. Other accounts report that it began at 10:00 a.m. and lasted until about 2:00 p.m., although the start was delayed somewhat until Brigham Young and other members of the Twelve arrived from dedicating the site for the dam. The meeting was prompted by the arrival in Nauvoo of one of James Emmett’s followers, Moses Smith, a few days earlier. Smith had left Emmett earlier in the month near Marshalltown, Iowa Territory, where Emmett and his company were spending the winter after leaving Nauvoo in early September 1844. In the meeting, Smith described the hardships Emmett’s followers were enduring and expressed his belief that most of them would follow any counsel the Twelve might give them. Along with sending Lyman and Spencer to visit the group, Young and others spoke against Emmett’s course and his disregard for the Twelve’s authority and asked Orson Pratt and Orson Spencer to “write a fatherly letter – for the council to. the company” on behalf of the Council of Fifty inviting them to return to Nauvoo “or otherwise locate according to the Counsel of Br Amasa Lyman.” A second letter from the Twelve “& some other of the authorities of the church” warned them more directly of Emmett’s unauthorized actions and invited them to follow Lyman’s counsel. Lyman and Spencer, with Smith serving as a guide, left Nauvoo with both letters the following day and reached Emmett’s camp on 9 March. After rebuking Emmett and counseling him and his followers to remain where they were rather than moving farther west, Lyman and Spencer started back to Nauvoo, where they arrived on 15 March and reported on their visit. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 27 February 1845, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 27 February, 15 March 1845, CHL; Lyman, Journal, 27 February–15 March 1845, CHL; Daniel Spencer, Journal, 27 February–15 March 1845, CHL; George A. Smith, Journal, 27 February 1845, CHL; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 27 February 1845, CHL; Brigham Young “in behalf of the Council of fifty,” Nauvoo, IL, to “Beloved Brethren,” 27 February 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Brigham Young and “We, the twelve, & some other of the authorities of the church,” Nauvoo, IL, to “Dear brethren,” 27 February 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Council of Fifty, Minutes, 27 February 1845, in JSP, A1: 245–50; Bennett, “Mormon Renegade,” 219–24; and Hartley, History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, 150–54.)
[140] John Smith, George A. Smith’s father, had been sick since at least 23 February 1845. The day after Brigham Young’s visit, 28 February, George A. Smith reported that “father is Better and able to set up.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 23 and 28 February 1845, CHL.)
[141] Truman O. Angell and Phoebe Ann Morton Angell, Mary Ann Angell Young’s mother.
[142] Probably George Woodward.
[143] This meeting of the Council of Fifty, which was held in the “Library Room” above the Seventies Hall, was held in two sessions—the first from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the second from 2:30 p.m. until an undisclosed time later in the day. Seven men were admitted to the council, and another three were “selected” for admittance to bring the number of members up to fifty, although their absence precluded their admittance at this time. In addition, John D. Lee, John Pack, and Lewis Dana—a member of the Oneida nation—were chosen to fill in for Ezra Thayer, Wilford Woodruff, and Amos Fielding, respectively, who were “absent on business” and who would “probably be gone some length of time.” Following the induction of the new members, the council’s discussion revolved around the question of sending out a small company of men with Lewis Dana to preach the gospel to Indians in the West and to find a healthy place where the church could move and live without fear of mobs. Several council members spoke in favor of the proposal, after which Brigham Young, as chairman, nominated eight men to accompany Dana on the expedition. Most were not members of the council at the time, but all were admitted within the next six weeks. The possibility of sending a group with Dana to the West, “and especially to Texas,” had been discussed in a prayer meeting two weeks earlier. (George A. Smith, Journal, 1 March 1845, CHL; Clayton, Journal, 14 February and 1 March 1845, CHL; and Council of Fifty Minutes, 1 March 1845, in JSP, A1:251–75.)
[144] Smith had been sick for several days, and Young had visited him on 27 February 1845. (Brigham Young, Journal, 27 February 1845 and accompanying note, p. XXX herein.)
[145] Probably Heber C. Kimball.
[146] Probably Rufus Beach, a merchant in Nauvoo.
[147] These may have included Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball, who visited Brigham Young on 6 March. (Willard Richards, Journal, 6 March 1845, CHL.)
[148] Council of Fifty Minutes, 1 and 4 March 1845, in JSP, A1:251, 278.
[149] Council of Fifty Minutes, 11 March 1845, in JSP, A1:303.
[150] Council of Fifty Minutes, 22 March 1845, in JSP, A1:356.
[151] Council of Fifty Minutes, 18 March 1845, in JSP, A1:328.
[152] Council of Fifty Minutes, 11 March 1845, in JSP, A1:296, 299, 303.
[153] Council of Fifty Minutes, 4 March 1845, in JSP, A1:294.
[154] Council of Fifty Minutes, 11 March 1845, in JSP, A1:321.
[155] Council of Fifty Minutes, 18 March 1845, in JSP, A1:344.
[156] Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 16 March 1845, CHL.
[157] Clayton, Journal, 27 March 1845, CHL.
[158] John Pack had rented Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo Mansion from Emma Smith on 1 March 1845 and moved into it two days later. The party on 28 March was “for the benefit of the house” and included band music, singing, and “a comic speaker or two.” Estimates on the number who attended ranged from ninety to a hundred people, or “about fifty couple[s].” (Council of Fifty Minutes, 1 March 1845, in JSP, A1:268; Willard Richards, Journal, 3 and 28 March 1845, CHL; “Life and music,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 2 April 1845, [2–3]; Spencer, Diaries, 28 March 1845, CHL; Clayton, Journal, 28 March 1845, CHL; and Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 100.)
[159] The meeting at the stand began about 10:00 a.m. Almon W. Babbitt spoke on gathering the Saints to receive the priesthood ordinances. Brigham Young then addressed the assembled church members about preparing for the church’s upcoming fifteenth annual general conference, which was held 6–8 April 1845. His remarks dealt mostly with practical matters, such as accommodating the large numbers of people and horses that would be coming to Nauvoo and keeping order. He also announced that an election would be held the following Saturday, 5 April, to organize Nauvoo into a town, the Illinois legislature having revoked the city of Nauvoo’s charter in January 1845. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 30 March 1845, CHL; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 30 March 1845, CHL; Spencer, Diaries, 30 March 1845, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 102; and Brigham Young, Journal, 30 January 1845 and note, p. XXX herein.)
[160] In his letter, written from Livingston County, Missouri, and dated 13 March 1845, Craig refers to Brigham Young as a “stranger” and references some sort of an “affair” that he, Craig, was involved with before and after “the Death of ------ and --------,” probably referring to Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith. He asked Young to give the letter to “Mr Jemison,” who was boarding in Nauvoo and told him that he would “lay all open” when he came to Nauvoo. Craig closed his letter by saying that “Galland”—probably Isaac Galland—“has written here I am a Mormon from N-----I shall avoid the Issue at present.” Willard Richards said Craig’s letter was “about Missouri – or galland or something.” (T. Craig, Livingston County, MO, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 13 March 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; and Willard Richards, Journal, 31 March 1845, CHL.)
[161] Brigham Young worked on revising and correcting Joseph Smith’s history “for copy” three different times on this day. He and George A. Smith, along with Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and John Taylor, began in Richards’s office at noon, with Richards reading to the others. They began on page 42 of the history, which deals with events in Colesville, New York, during the summer of 1830—the point in the history, according to Kimball, that Joseph Smith had reached in his correction of the history before his death. After breaking for lunch, Young, Kimball, and George A. Smith (and presumably Richards) worked from 3:00 p.m. “till dark,” after which Young and Smith (and again, presumably, Richards) returned and read from 8:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. At some point Orson Hyde was reportedly involved as well. By the time Young finished, he had read through page 180 of the history, which deals with the January 1832 conference in Amherst, Ohio.
A significant portion of Joseph Smith’s history was published in installments, sequentially, in the Times and Seasons beginning with the 15 March 1842 issue. In the issue dated 1 April 1845—the date of this entry in Brigham Young’s journal—pages 338–55 of the history were published, covering events from August and September 1833. The history was still being compiled during this time as well; Thomas Bullock recorded finishing the year 1840 on 22 March 1845, and 1841 on 4 April 1845. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 22 March, 1 and 4 April 1845, CHL; Willard Richards, Journal, 1 April 1845, CHL; Kimball, Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, 100; Historian’s Office, History of the Church, A-1, 42–180, 338–55; “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 March 1842, 3:726–28; and “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 1 April 1845, 6:848–54.)
