Minutes, , Caldwell Co., MO, 7 Nov. 1837. Featured version copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, pp. 82–85; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
Historical Introduction
On 7 November 1837 members in , Missouri, gathered to vote on church leaders and conduct other matters of church business. A similar meeting had been held in , Ohio, on 3 September 1837, during which several men were removed and replaced as church leaders. In his remarks on 7 November, discussed the 3 September reorganization of the church, after which moderator read the minutes of that meeting to the congregation.
In a departure from earlier church voting practices, which usually included only men who had been to the , all those in attendance were asked to vote, including women and unordained men. Some members of the assembled congregation objected to several individuals, including , , , and , who held leadership positions within the church. Ultimately, however, only Williams was removed from his position, as a counselor to JS in the ; was unanimously approved to replace him. Despite some objections raised against two members of the , other church leaders were unanimously chosen to retain their current positions, including the members of the who had been objected to in on 3 September.
him, and . Pres’t. then spake a few words by way of confession, and was followed by .
The vote was called and carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned for one hour.
Meeting convened according to adjournment, a hymn was sung and a prayer offered up by the . was nominated for an assistant President, for this , by Pres’t. Joseph Smith jr. He rose and made certain remarks on the subject of the charges refered to above, by way of confession also. when the vote was put by Pres’t. , and passed unanimous.
Elder , , , , , , and , were unanimously chosen , and was objected by , who went aside to converse. was unanimously chosen. was nominated and was objected by Elder , because he was too noisy— By because of his military office, and by because he was a merchant— made a few remarks, the vote was called and was unanimous. and were unanimously chosen. then took the stand and made his objections to , after which also spake the vote was called and he unanimously chosen.
The were then called viz: , , , , , , , , , , and . [p. 84]
The document is not extant. While the charges read by Marsh are not specified, they may have been related to allegations of earlier mismanagement of affairs in Far West by John Whitmer and Phelps. Marsh borrowed money from Saints in Tennessee and Kentucky in summer 1836, which was then used by Whitmer and Phelps to purchase land in Caldwell County. Marsh may have personally borrowed the money, and thus been liable for its repayment, or he may have felt a responsibility for the money to be used solely for the benefit of Zion and then repaid to the Kentucky and Tennessee Saints. Although the council ruled that Whitmer and Phelps were to transfer the original town plat and a portion of common land to BishopEdward Partridge, the two men remained involved with selling land in Far West. (“History of Thomas Baldwin Marsh,” 5 [draft 4], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861, CHL; Minute Book 2, 68–73; Historical Introduction to Revelation, 4 Sept. 1837.)
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
TEXT: The text from this point forward was written at a later time. Hinkle was a commissioned colonel in the Missouri state militia. (Document Containing the Correspondence, 34, 73–74, 100; Baugh, Call to Arms, 101–102.)
Document Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &c., in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons; and the Evidence Given before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-House in Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12, 1838, on the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others, for High Treason and Other Crimes against the State. Fayette, MO: Boon’s Lick Democrat, 1841.
Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).
At the 3 September 1837 meeting in Kirtland, the congregation voted to reject Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson, and John F. Boynton as members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Unlike other men who were removed from their church positions at that meeting, the three members of the Twelve were not replaced on 3 September. A week later, each of the men confessed his errors and was restored to full fellowship in the church as well as his position within the Twelve, as their inclusion in the voting on 7 November suggests. (Minutes, 3 Sept. 1837.)