Footnotes
Richards, Journal, 27 Feb. 1845. In his journal Heber C. Kimball erroneously dated this meeting to 28 February but recorded, “Held a council at Elder Richards on the case of Emit and Smith.” (Kimball, Journal, 28 Feb. 1845.)
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
Kimball, Heber C. Journals, 1837–1848. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL.
Emmett was disfellowshipped on 3 September 1844 “for not following Counsel.” (George A. Smith, Journal, 3 Sept. 1844.)
Smith, George A. Journal, 22 Feb. 1841–10 Mar. 1845. George Albert Smith, Papers, 1834–1877. CHL. MS 1322, box 2, fd. 4.
See Matthew 18:12–14; and Luke 15:4–7.
Both Emmett and Wight were dropped from the council on 4 February 1845. (See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Feb. 1845.)
In his autobiography Butler explained that Emmett attempted to get the Butlers to leave with his company in September 1844, but they refused. After receiving negative reports about the company in December 1844, Young reportedly told Butler that “there is some good people in the company and I hate to see him carrying them to distructian and it must not be[,] for you must go and save them from distructian.” Butler explained that he followed the instructions and “went up the river to the camp and stayd with them.” (Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 407.)
Hartley, William G. My Best for the Kingdom: History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman. Salt Lake City: Aspen Books, 1993.
It is unclear where these population estimates originated, but they are highly exaggerated. A U.S. government report estimated that there were fewer than three hundred thousand American Indians in the entirety of Oregon territory and all the land west of the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains. The Flathead tribe was estimated to have a population of only eight hundred. (Congressional Globe, Appendix, 28th Cong., 2nd Sess., pp. 180–181 [1845].)
The Congressional Globe, Containing Sketches of the Debates and Proceedings of the Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. Vol. 14. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1845.
Phelps is likely referring to the federal report referenced in the prior footnote.
Other members of Emmett’s company also later claimed that they believed Emmett had been acting under the authority of the Quorum of the Twelve. (James Nelson and Rebecca Nelson, “A Memorandom of the Proceedings of Emets Company,” 10 May 1847, CHL; Bennett, “Mormon Renegade,” 219–220.)
Nelson, James, and Rebecca Nelson. “A Memorandom of the Proceedings of Emets Company,” 10 May 1847. CHL.
Bennett, Richard E. “Mormon Renegade: James Emmett at the Vermillion, 1846.” South Dakota History 15, no. 3 (Fall 1985): 217–233.