JS, Memorial, to Nauvoo high council, , Hancock Co., IL, 18 June 1840; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, docket, redaction, and archival marking.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 8 inches (31 × 20 cm). The document was trifolded in letter style. It was later refolded for filing and docketed. Some of the folds are weakened and partially separated. The top three lines of writing on the second leaf were cut off at some point; remnants of words remain on the surviving leaf, indicating that writing existed on at least a portion of the excised part.
After being considered by the on 20 June 1840, the document may have been returned to JS. A docket in the handwriting of , an employee in the Church Historian’s Office in the 1850s, indicates that the document remained in the church’s custody after the Saints moved to the Salt Lake Valley. The document was included in the Historian’s Office inventory circa 1904, and it was cataloged in the JS Collection in 1973 by Church Historical Department staff. The docket and later church records indicate continuous institutional custody.
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 8; see also the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection in the CHL catalog.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
Historical Introduction
On 18 June 1840, JS composed a memorial addressed to the requesting he be relieved from his duties pertaining to the development of Nauvoo, Illinois. In spring and summer 1839, the bought land where the Saints could gather, but the purchases left JS and his counselors in the over $150,000 in debt. To obtain the money to pay off these debts, JS and church leaders focused on selling land to church members. In 1839 approximately one thousand acres were divided into town lots. The Nauvoo high council appointed to oversee the sale of lots and instructed him to bring matters to the attention of JS and when necessary. The high council also appointed JS as the treasurer of sales and as clerk for land contracts. However, Mulholland died in early November 1839, and JS apparently spent a considerable amount of time on land sales and related business thereafter.
Believing that these practical considerations took away from the time he could devote to spiritual matters, JS requested in this memorial that the high council assign as clerk over land sales, which would free up some of JS’s time. JS also asked that the high council appoint someone to ensure that his and his family’s monetary needs were met. , who served as JS’s scribe for the memorial, presented it to the high council on 20 June 1840. The high council also discussed the memorial on 27 June and 3 July 1840.
Two copies of the memorial exist. Both were apparently made around the same time and are in ’s handwriting. Some of the language in the two copies differs, suggesting that one may have been a draft for the other. The version featured here appears to be the finished copy, in part because it contains an address block to the high council. Significant differences between the two copies are noted in the annotation herein.
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195; Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, pp. 31–32, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Agreement with George W. Robinson, 30 Apr. 1839; Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds (South, Keokuk), vol. 1, pp. 507–509, microfilm 959,238; vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Cook, “Isaac Galland,” 270–275; Leonard, Nauvoo, 58; Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 21 Oct. 1839, 25–26; “Obituary,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:32. JS was also responsible for ensuring that town plot rails—lengths of wood used in constructing fences—were apportioned properly and that anyone who took the rails without authorization either returned the rails or paid for them. Meanwhile, in March 1840, the Nauvoohigh council designated JS and his counselors in the First Presidency as the proper body “to Superintend the affairs of the Ferry” over the Mississippi River. (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 15 Mar. and 2 May 1840, 50, 58.)
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Thompson made a third copy of the memorial, which closely follows the copy featured here, in JS Letterbook 2 sometime before he died in August 1841. (JS, Memorial, 18 June 1840, in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 148–149; “Death of Col. Robert B. Thompson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:519.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
which he has had to attend to the present time which has greatly engaged his mind and taken up much of his time.
That your Memorialist feels it a duty which he owes to God as well as to the to give his attention more particularly to those things connected with the Spiritual welfare of the Saints, (which have now become a great people) so that they may be built up in their most holy faith and be eneabled to go on to perfection——
That the church having erected an where he can attend to the affairs of the church without distraction, he thinks and very verily believes that in the time has now come when he should devote himself exclusively to those things which relate to Spiritualities of the church and commence the work of the ejyptian Records— the Bible— and wait upon the Lord for Such revelations as may be suited to the condition and circumstances of the church and in order to attend to those things, prays that your honorable body will relieve him from the anxiety and trouble necessarily attendant on business transactions by appointing some one of the to take charge of the City Plot and attend to the business transactions which have heretofore rested upon your Memorialists
That should your Honors deem it, propper to do so, your memorialist would respectfully suggest, that he would have no means for of support whatever and therefore would request that some one might be appointed to see that all his necessary wants be provided for as well as sufficient means or appropriations for a Clerk or Clerks which he may require to aid him in his important work [p. [2]]
This paragraph in the other Thompson copy reads: “That your Memorialist feels it a duty which he owes to God as well as to the Church to exert his Energies in those things which relate to the spiritual welfare of the people of God which have now become ‘A great people’ such as Translating the antient records— retranslating the Bible receiving revealtions &c &c which would undoubtedly be of great value to the Church of God.” (JS, Memorial, [18] June 1840, JS Collection, CHL.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
This office had been under construction since at least October 1839, but its location is unclear. At a 28 October 1839 meeting, the Nauvoohigh council directed Alanson Ripley to occupy the office “for the present.” (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 28 Oct. 1839, 28–29.)
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
In summer 1835, JS acquired four mummies and some rolls of papyrus found with the mummies. According to William W. Phelps, JS believed the papyri contained “a sacred record kept by Joseph in Pharoah’s court in Egypt and the teachings of Father Abraham.” Thereafter, according to a later JS history, JS began “the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics” on the papyri. Over the course of the next several months, JS—aided by his scribes Phelps, Oliver Cowdery, Frederick G. Williams, and Warren Parrish—produced portions of what would later be referred to as the Book of Abraham. After 1835 JS and his associates discussed publishing the translation and JS recommencing his translation of the papyri. JS may have devoted some time to translating in summer or early fall 1839; in her October 1839 letter reporting on that month’s general conference of the church, Elizabeth Haven stated that JS “related some very interesting facts which he has lately translated from the reccords which came with the Mummies.” (William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, to Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, 20 July 1835, in Historical Department, Journal History of the Church, 20 July 1835; JS History, vol. B-1, 595–596; Record of Seventies, 27 Sept. 1837, 35; Minute Book 1, 5 Nov. 1837; Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 25; Elizabeth Haven, Quincy, IL, to Elizabeth Howe Bullard, Holliston, MA, 21, 28, and 30 Sept. 1839; 6–9 Oct. 1839, Barlow Family Collection, 1816–1969, CHL; see also Historical Introduction to Book of Abraham Manuscript, ca. Early July–ca. Nov. 1835–A [Abraham 1:4–2:6].)
Historical Department. Journal History of the Church, 1896–. CHL. CR 100 137.
Record of Seventies / First Council of the Seventy. “Book of Records,” 1837–1843. Bk. A. In First Council of the Seventy, Records, 1837–1885. CHL. CR 3 51, box 1, fd. 1.
Swartzell, William. Mormonism Exposed, Being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August, 1838, Together with an Appendix, Containing the Revelation concerning the Golden Bible, with Numerous Extracts from the ‘Book of Covenants,’ &c., &c. Pekin, OH: By the author, 1840.
From 1830 to 1833, JS worked on a project that involved revising, clarifying, and augmenting the text of the King James Version of the Bible, an undertaking that was sometimes termed the “New Translation.” Since 1833 church leaders had discussed publishing the translation, but it remained unpublished. According to the July 1840 issue of the Times and Seasons,Samuel Bent and George W. Harris had been appointed to collect money to print, among other things, “the new translation of the scriptures.” (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 3–6; Letter to Church Brethren, 15 June 1835; “Books!!!,” Times and Seasons, July 1840, 1:140.)
Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
This paragraph in the other Thompson copy reads: “That as the Church has erected an office where he can attend to such things without distraction he thinks and verily believes that the time has come when he should devote his time exclusively to these subjects and be free from the Anxiety and trouble necessarily belonging to business transactions and desires that your honorable body will so far relieve him in that respect as to appoint some one to take charge of the City plot and attend to the temporalities of the Church.” (JS, Memorial, [18] June 1840, JS Collection, CHL.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
Some of the proceeds from city lot sales apparently were used to support JS, perhaps in connection with his appointment as treasurer. Relieving JS of the treasurer responsibility may have meant he no longer could claim such funds. (See, for example, Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840.)
This paragraph in the other Thompson copy reads: “That should your honorable body deem it propper to do so your memorialist would respectfully suggest that he would have no means whatever of support, and therefore would request that some one whom your honors might mention or select might be instructed to see that all his necessary wants be provided for as well as sufficient means or appropriations for a Clerk or Clerks which he might want to aid him in his undertakings.” At this time, Robert B. Thompson, Howard Coray, and George W. Robinson were providing JS with at least some clerical assistance. (JS, Memorial, [18] June 1840, JS Collection, CHL; “Death of Col. Robert B. Thompson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:519; Coray, Autobiographical Sketch, 17, 19; License for George Snyder, 25 May 1840, in Far West and Nauvoo Elders’ Certificates, 40.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Coray, Howard. Autobiographical Sketch, after 1883. Howard Coray, Papers, ca. 1840–1941. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2043, fd. 1.