Minutes, 4 June 1833
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Source Note
Minutes, , Geauga Co., OH, 4 June 1833. Featured version copied [ca. 4 June 1833] in Minute Book 1, p. 13; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
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Historical Introduction
In early 1833, church leaders decided to purchase land in , Ohio, to help fulfill a revelation dictated by JS eighteen months earlier that said Kirtland should become “a strong hold” for the . To further comply with this directive, church members also planned to build the , a multipurpose religious structure that could, among other functions, serve as a schoolhouse for educating church leaders and missionaries in both secular and spiritual matters. and met on 23 March 1833 to discuss acquiring lands in Kirtland in order to prepare for constructing the house and other buildings for church use. On 10 April 1833, , a church , purchased the 103-acre parcel of land belonging to , a key property that included the lot on which the House of the Lord would eventually be built.In anticipation of the purchase, on 2 April a council of high priests assigned “to be an agent to super[in]tend and employ some person or persons to carry on the brick yard on the french farm” and to parcel the farmland to church members. At the time of the 4 June described in the minutes below, a planning committee (which consisted of JS, , and Williams—the ) intended to build the aforementioned schoolhouse out of brick by using the existing brickyard near the Chagrin River on the French farm. Although church leaders initially determined that Williams would oversee the French property and its brickyard, the minutes indicate that the assembled high priests did not agree on the best way to oversee and distribute the land and that more discussion on the long-term disposition of the French property was needed. Subsequently, they resolved “to enquire of the lord” for guidance. On 4 June, JS dictated a revelation directing the council to replace Williams as superintendent of the farm with . The task may have been delegated to Whitney, a member of the , because his duties as bishop included overseeing the church’s financial obligations in Kirtland and issuing certificates for land inheritances to church members; Whitney’s property also sat adjacent to the French farmlands.The 4 June revelation also instructed that , a prosperous church member in , Ohio, who had provided lodging for JS and his family in 1831 and 1832, be made a member of the United Firm and that he be “unto this blessing.” The conference thus formally admitted Johnson to the United Firm, making him the second addition to the firm in two and a half months, and ordained him a high priest. Soon after, Johnson moved from Hiram to . Johnson later superintended the inn located on the land purchased from , and in 1836 he obtained the deed to the entire French property. Later in June, JS and other church leaders in Kirtland sent a letter informing the leadership of Johnson’s new role.
Footnotes
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1
Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:21]; see also Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96:1].
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2
Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:119].
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3
Minutes, 23 Mar. 1833–A; see also Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm,” 19–22.
Parkin, Max H. “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834.” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66.
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4
Minutes, 2 Apr. 1833. Just two and a half weeks before the 2 April council meeting, Williams had been admitted to the United Firm, which was responsible for overseeing church property. (Revelation, 15 Mar. 1833 [D&C 92].)
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5
The building committee, consisting of Hyrum Smith, Jared Carter, and Reynolds Cahoon, eventually decided to use sandstone, not brick, for the edifice. (Johnson, Reminiscences and Journal, 17–18; see also Robison, First Mormon Temple, 32–34.)
Johnson, Joel Hills. Reminiscences and Journals, 1835–1882. 3 vols. Joel Hills Johnson, Papers, 1835–1882. CHL. MS 1546, fds. 1–3.
Robison, Elwin C. The First Mormon Temple: Design, Construction, and Historic Context of the Kirtland Temple. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1997.
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6
Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–A [D&C 72:2, 8]; see also Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96]; Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:30–34]; Revelation, 20 May 1831 [D&C 51:3]; and Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:7].
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7
Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96:9].
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8
Frederick G. Williams, admitted to the United Firm on 15 March 1833, was the first person added to the firm after its initial organization. All members of the United Firm were also high priests. Johnson’s immediate ordination as a high priest followed a precedent set more than a year earlier when Sidney Gilbert was ordained a high priest on 26 April 1832, the same day a revelation called him to be a member of the United Firm. Johnson had previously been ordained an elder by JS at a conference of elders in Kirtland on 17 February 1833. (Revelation, 15 Mar. 1833 [D&C 92]; Note, 15 Mar. 1833; Minutes, 26–27 Apr. 1832; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1832 [D&C 82:11]; Minutes, 17 Feb. 1833.)
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9
In a letter to the leaders in Missouri dated 25 June 1833, JS noted that Johnson “has just come to Kirtland to live.” (Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 25 June 1833.)
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10
Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 22, pp. 497–498, 23 Sept. 1836, microfilm 20,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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