Resolutions of the Boston Conference, 12 March 1843
Source Note
Boston conference, Resolutions, , Suffolk Co., MA, to “Authorities at Nauvoo” (including JS), , Hancock Co., IL, with introduction by , 12 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; signatures of , , and ; two pages; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes dockets.
Two leaves, the first measuring 4 × 7½ inches (10 × 19 cm) and the second measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm). The first leaf is ruled with eleven horizontal blue lines, and the second leaf is ruled with twenty-six horizontal blue lines. The upper left corner of the second leaf bears the embossed insignia of a Springfield, Massachusetts, paper mill established by brothers David and John Ames in 1828; the insignia includes a decorative star in a rectangle and reads “D and J. Ames Springfield”. The resolutions were written on the second leaf, which was then signed by the president and chair of a church in . wrote an introduction to the resolutions on the first leaf, which was appended to the second leaf with two red adhesive wafers. The two attached leaves were then folded in quarters, presumably for transmission. At some point, the leaves were detached from each other.
The document was docketed twice—once by and once by . Richards served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854. Bullock served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The document was presumably filed with other papers in JS’s office. It was cataloged as part of the JS Office Papers collection at the CHL in 2012. The early dockets and later cataloging suggest the resolutions have remained in continuous institutional custody.
Whiting, “Paper-Making in New England,” 309; Gravell et al., American Watermarks, 235.
Whiting, William. “Paper-Making in New England.” In The New England States: Their Constitutional, Judicial, Educational, Commercial, Professional and Industrial History, edited by William T. Davis, vol. 1, pp. 303–333. Boston: D. H. Hurd, 1897.
Gravell, Thomas L., George Miller, and Elizabeth Walsh. American Watermarks: 1690–1835. 2nd ed. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2002.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Office Papers, 1835–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 12 March 1843, a of members in passed three resolutions regarding the request of church leaders that return to , Illinois. The conference sent the resolutions to the “authorities at Nauvoo,” including JS. In March 1842, organized a in the Boston area, and by September 1842 the branch reportedly consisted of seventy-seven members, “including 3 and 3 .” Adams began preaching in Boston in 1842 and participated in a highly publicized series of debates with George Montgomery West, a Protestant minister in the area. Adams left for Nauvoo later in 1842 but arrived back in Boston by 19 January 1843. That same month, Adams’s wife, , who was in , informed JS that her husband had engaged in an extramarital affair. In a meeting with the on 10 February 1843 in Nauvoo, JS decided that Adams should “be silencd & called to Nauvoo with his family.” On 10 March 1843, Adams received a letter from and instructing him to return to Nauvoo. Later that day, when Adams responded to Young and Richards, he expressed his gratitude that the direction to return was not printed in the Times and Seasons, apparently because he believed it would have damaged his reputation.
It is unlikely that Latter-day Saints in were aware of the reason for ’s summons to . The 12 March resolutions expressed deep regret that he was required to leave them and requested that church leaders allow Adams to come back to Boston or send and in his place. The local Saints also resolved to provide financial support for whomever leaders sent.
, who had been preaching in and the vicinity since 1841, apparently made a copy of the resolutions after receiving them. He then presented this copy to participants in the Boston conference on 12 March 1843. After they were adopted and signed by , the president of the Boston branch, and , clerk of the conference, they were given to Snow “to be handed over to the authorities at ,” including JS. Snow wrote an explanatory note about the resolutions and then attached the note to the resolutions before they were transmitted to Nauvoo.
The lack of postage on the resolutions indicates that they were hand carried to , perhaps by himself, who was in Nauvoo by the end of May 1843. At a council of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles held on 27 May 1843, JS said that had “come to me and made acknowledgedment, perfect satisfaction” of the charges against him, although JS also explained that Adams’s elder’s would be revoked and he would “act as [a] priest” in the church. The 1 June 1843 issue of the Times and Seasons published an authorization for Adams to accompany on a mission to Russia in which JS stated that Adams was “worthy of the confidence of the saints.” After another hearing before the Nauvoo , the 15 August 1843 issue of the Times and Seasons published a notice stating that Adams had been “honorably acquitted” of all charges. Adams, however, remained in Nauvoo and did not return to or go to Russia.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 1 Sept. 1843; William Marks, “To Whom It May Concern,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1843, 4:303. The 15 August issue of the Times and Seasons was delayed and published after 2 September.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Page [1]
The following resolutions were unanimously adopted by a congregation of about twelve hundred people in on the 12 of March as its date shows and was presented to me to be handed over to the authorities at — Similar resolutions were also passed in
For want of time to prepare the pe[ti]tion as I was starting the signers forwarded the resolutions themselves instead of the petition required— which are now respectfully submitted to the —
These resolutions from the Salem, Massachusetts, branch are apparently not extant. In September 1842, the Salem branch had eighty-three members, “including 3 elders, 3 priests, 2 teachers, 1 deacon.” (Minutes, Salem, MA, 9–11 Sept. 1842, in Times and Seasons, 1 Dec. 1842, 4:31.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.