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Minutes and Discourse, 13 January 1840

Source Note

Minutes, and JS, Discourse, , Philadelphia Co., PA, 13 Jan. 1840. Featured version copied [between 18 Oct. 1840 and Apr. 1842] in Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854, pp. [2]–[4]; handwriting of ; CCLA.
The record book in which the featured document is contained is a medium-size blank book measuring 12½ × 7⅞ × ⅝ inches (32 × 20 × 2 cm). The book consists of five gatherings of eighteen leaves each. The front and back covers of the volume are pasteboard, and the spine and edges of the covers are covered in brown leather. The leather on the spine is worn due to age, with parts of the leather pulling away from the volume. The front and back covers are adorned with shell marbled paper, with a brown body and veins of yellow and black. The front cover includes a rectangular black box outlined with yellow and black lines and “CHURCH OF L. D. SAINTS PHILA” stamped in yellow lettering. The paper is unlined. Page numbers for the odd-numbered pages appear in the top right-hand corner of each such page, while the even-numbered pages are unnumbered throughout the volume.
The minutes cover approximately 101 pages of the volume, or roughly half the book. At some point, the clerks of the branch used the reverse side of the book to record names of members, marriages, and deaths in the branch. The back cover includes a table of contents for the volume. Following the table of contents, the first page of the reverse side functions as a title page, and a list of members appears on pages 2–39.
Judging from the content of the minutes, was the first clerk to make entries in the volume. He likely began writing in the volume around 18 October 1840, following his appointment as clerk of the conference, and likely copied the earliest minutes (covering the meetings from December 1839 through April 1840) from loose minutes written by an unspecified clerk. Nicholson continued keeping minutes in the volume through 16 January 1842. Following that meeting and prior to 6 April 1842, Nicholson evidently transferred the volume to J. Moses, and the volume then went through a succession of clerks.
At some point after 1854, the minute book came into the possession of Samuel M. Reeve of Mount Holly, New Jersey, who retained the book until his death in 1885. Reeve’s son, Samuel A. Reeve, presented the volume to the branch—by then affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ)—in March 1906, requesting that it “be held in trust” until it was “practical” to transfer the volume to the custody of the RLDS church’s historian. Walter W. Smith of the Philadelphia branch, and later historian of the RLDS church, presumably transferred the minutes to the custody of the RLDS church sometime prior to July 1918, when he first began publishing excerpts from the volume in a church periodical, the Journal of History. The volume has remained in the custody of the Community of Christ since that time.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Walter W. Smith, Note, 1 Apr. 1906, on front flyleaf of Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854, CCLA.

    Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854. CCLA.

  2. [2]

    Smith, “History of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Branch,” 358–373; Smith, “History of Philadelphia Branch,” 111–118; Smith, “Philadelphia Branch,” 509–537.

    Smith, Walter W. “The History of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Branch.” Journal of History 11, no. 3 (July 1918): 358–373.

    Smith, Walter W. “History of Philadelphia Branch.” Journal of History 12 (Jan. 1919): 111–118.

    Smith, Water W. “Philadelphia Branch.” Journal of History 13, no. 4 (Oct. 1920): 509–537.

Historical Introduction

On 13 January 1840, JS presided over a meeting in that covered several issues, the most prominent of which was a proposal to publish a new edition of the Book of Mormon. Three weeks earlier, on 23 December 1839, JS had organized a of the in Philadelphia. He then went to , New Jersey, with but evidently returned to Philadelphia the first week of January 1840.
The 13 January continued a discussion begun in a November 1839 conference held in , which was attended by representatives from several branches in the area as well as , , and —three members of the on their way to to serve a mission. At that conference, participants discussed printing more copies of the Book of Mormon to distribute in New York City and the surrounding area. The conference appointed Parley P. Pratt, , and as a committee “to raise means for the publication” of a newly proposed edition of the Book of Mormon printed in New York City. On 22 November 1839, Pratt wrote a letter to JS, but because JS had left for and Pratt sent the letter to , JS had not seen it by the time of this 13 January 1840 conference. In that letter, Pratt asked JS, who held the copyright for the Book of Mormon, to authorize the New York committee to proceed with printing another edition of the book, stating that the committee would give JS “the proffits which may arise.” Pratt already had a printer and bookbinder in mind for the work and had requested financial assistance from Ivins.
At this conference, again recommended another printing of the Book of Mormon. Conference participants considered Pratt’s proposal and conducted other necessary church business, such as appointing as of the Philadelphia branch. According to one account, JS took the opportunity to testify about “the coming forth of the book of mormon which was the means of doing much good.” JS also provided instruction on offices and the relationship between traveling and standing ministers.
As secretary of the conference, likely took the minutes. copied the minutes into a record book of branch minutes sometime after 18 October 1840 and before April 1842.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 2; see also Fleming, “Story of Early Mormonism in Philadelphia,” 3–9. Lorenzo Barnes and Benjamin Winchester preached in the city in the latter part of 1839. By the end of December 1839, Winchester had baptized forty-five individuals, and there were “several more” requesting baptism. (Lorenzo Barnes, Wilmington, DE, 8 Sept. 1839, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:28; John P. Greene, Monmouth Co., NJ, 10 Sept. 1839, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:28–29; Benjamin Winchester, Philadelphia, PA, 10 Feb. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:104; Orson Pratt to Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt, 6 Jan. 1840, in Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:61; Letter to Robert D. Foster, 30 Dec. 1839.)

    Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854. CCLA.

    Fleming, Stephen J. “Discord in the City of Brotherly Love: The Story of Early Mormonism in Philadelphia.” Mormon Historical Studies 5, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 3–27.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  2. [2]

    Orson Pratt to Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt, 6 Jan. 1840, in Times and Seasons, Feb. 1840, 1:61. In a letter to Robert D. Foster, JS indicated that he planned to leave for Philadelphia on either 4 January or 6 January 1840. (Letter to Robert D. Foster, 30 Dec. 1839.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 Nov. 1839. Pratt may have conveyed this information to JS in person once they both arrived in Philadelphia for the conference.

  4. [4]

    Benjamin Winchester, Philadelphia, PA, 10 Feb. 1840, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, May 1840, 1:104.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  5. [5]

    Nicholson was appointed as clerk to the Philadelphia branch at an 18 October 1840 conference and recorded minutes of branch meetings until the 6 April 1842 minutes. (Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 18 Oct. 1840 and 6 Apr. 1842.)

    Philadelphia, PA, Minutes and Records, 1840–1854. CCLA.

Page [2]

Minutes of a held at . January. 13th. 1840.
The conference was organized by appointing Brother Joseph Smith Jr President & Sec.y Brother introduced the project of Printing the Book of Mormon he mentioned that at a Conference held in . a resolution was agreed upon and a committee appointed to print the same in . subject however to the consent of the proprietor of the Copyright. and that he now submitted the matter for reconsideration. Brother stated that he had considered the matter and that he had come to the conclusion that the most prudent course would be to print the same in the west among the brethren and thereby keep the profits in the Society. and especially to nurture the new printing establishment. Was willing however to submit the will of the conference. thoug[ht] the delay necessarily arising out the distance between the supply & the principal source of consumption an objection to printing in the West. Brother [Addison] Everett wished to ask what the expense of fitting up the establishment in the West would be thought it would not exceed the sum [p. [2]]
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Source Note

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Page [2]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Discourse, 13 January 1840
ID #
508
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:111–115
Handwriting on This Page
  • James B. Nicholson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The conference was held in a building located in north-central Philadelphia on the northeast corner of Seventh and Callowhill streets. (Smith, “History of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Branch,” 364.)

    Smith, Walter W. “The History of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Branch.” Journal of History 11, no. 3 (July 1918): 358–373.

  2. [2]

    JS took steps to secure the copyright of the Book of Mormon in 1829. (Historical Introduction to Copyright for Book of Mormon, 11 June 1829.)

  3. [3]

    Although the response likely had not reached Pratt by this time, Hyrum Smith had replied to Pratt’s November 1839 letter to JS. Smith stated that any new edition of the Book of Mormon needed to be printed near church headquarters in Commerce, “where it can come out under the immediate inspection of Joseph and his councillors, so, that no one may be chargeable with any mistakes that may occur.” (Hyrum Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, New York City, NY, 22 Dec. 1839, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 80.)

  4. [4]

    In Commerce, Don Carlos Smith and Ebenezer Robinson were publishing the Times and Seasons, a monthly church periodical. In an issue of the Times and Seasons, Smith and Robinson noted that they needed subscription payments in advance to fund the printing operation. The Nauvoo high council also voted to provide monetary support. ([Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith], “A Word to the Saints,” Times and Seasons, Nov. 1839, 1:11–12; Minutes, 27 Oct. 1839.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  5. [5]

    Pratt noted in his November 1839 letter that publications from “the west” were “slow and uncertain in coming from there to us.” Although copies of the Book of Mormon were clearly needed in the New York region, Hyrum Smith noted in December that “there is truly a famine throughout the Union.” (Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 Nov. 1839; Hyrum Smith, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, New York City, NY, 22 Dec. 1839, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 80.)

  6. [6]

    Everett was a member of the New York City branch. (Pratt, Autobiography, 328; Letter from Parley P. Pratt, 22 Nov. 1839.)

    Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels, with Extracts, in Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Edited by Parley P. Pratt Jr. New York: Russell Brothers, 1874.

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