Minutes, 6 September 1831
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Source Note
Minutes, , OH, 6 Sept. 1831. Featured version, titled “Minutes of a conference held in Nelson Portage Ohio, Sept. 6. 1831,” copied [between ca. 6 Apr. and 19 June 1838] in Minute Book 2, p. 6; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 2.
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Historical Introduction
On 6 September 1831, JS and other church disciplined during a in , Ohio. A former Methodist minister, Booth had joined the church in February 1831. Booth was to the at the conference held in , Ohio, in early June 1831 and received a commission in a subsequent June revelation to travel to with , preaching along the way. Although he reluctantly fulfilled this assignment, he became increasingly disillusioned with JS while in Missouri. On 8 August, JS dictated a revelation commanding Booth and others to return to , proclaiming the gospel as they did so. Booth later recalled that he “violated the by not preaching” on his journey home, but he accused JS of neglecting the same commandment.After reached on 1 September, he “had several interviews with Messrs. [Joseph] Smith, and ” to discuss his belief that Mormonism was “nothing else than a deeply laid plan of craft and deception.” These interviews may have taken place in the few days leading up to this conference; a later JS history states that JS spent “the forepart of september” preparing to move to , Ohio, which may have necessitated a trip there. Ezra Booth was apparently living in , and since Nelson was just a few miles from Hiram, JS and others could have met with Booth at his home at that time. Although the minutes are not clear, it is possible that this conference took place directly after such a meeting, since the conference itself was held in Nelson. Whatever the case, the 6 September conference had prohibited Booth “from preaching as an Elder in this Church,” five days after another conference had disciplined two other men in . Within a few days, Booth began writing a series of letters critical of JS and the church. The letters were soon published in the Ohio Star, a newspaper in Ravenna, Ohio, with the announced intent “to prevent the spread of a delusion.” Another newspaper in the area reported that Booth publicly renounced Mormonism at a camp meeting held in Shalersville, Ohio, later in the month.As clerk of the conference, kept the minutes. In 1838, copied the minutes into Minute Book 2.
Footnotes
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1
“History of Luke Johnson,” 1, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL; JS History, vol. A-1, 153; Hayden, Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, 250.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
Hayden, Amos Sutton. Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio; with Biographical Sketches of the Principal Agents in Their Religious Movement. Cincinnati: Chase and Hall, 1875.
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2
See Minutes, ca. 3–4 June 1831; and Revelation, 6 June 1831 [D&C 52:23].
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3
Booth was disappointed with several developments, including the small number of converts he found in Missouri and his inability to preach the gospel with the same spirit and liberty he had experienced as a Methodist preacher. Booth recounted that before leaving Ohio for Missouri, JS stated that he had been shown in a vision a great church that Oliver Cowdery had raised up in Missouri, consisting of “several hundred” converts—far more than the few members Booth found upon his arrival. There is no extant account of such a vision, nor is there any reference to this vision in other sources. Booth also resented having to walk to Missouri while JS, Sidney Rigdon, and others received money to travel by other means. Furthermore, Booth said that he regarded JS’s “spirit of lightness and levity, a temper of mind easily irritated, and an habitual proneness to jesting and joking” as unbecoming a prophet. (Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. V,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 10 Nov. 1831, [3]; Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star, 24 Nov. 1831, [1].)
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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4
Revelation, 8 Aug. 1831 [D&C 60:8].
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5
Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star (Ravenna), 24 Nov. 1831, [1].
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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6
Ezra Booth, Nelson, OH, to Ira Eddy, 12 Sept. 1831, in Ohio Star (Ravenna), 13 Oct. 1831, [3]; JS History, vol. A-1, 151.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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7
See Minutes, 1 Sept. 1831. The conference may have been held in the home of Charles Hulet, where other gatherings occurred. Booth is not listed as one of the “Elders present” and so was probably not in attendance. In a 20 September 1831 letter to Edward Partridge, Booth stated that he was “no longer a member of the Mormonite Church.” (Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, 13:489; Dibble, Reminiscences, [6]; Ezra Booth, “Mormonism—No. VII,” Ohio Star [Ravenna], 24 Nov. 1831, [1].)
Carter, Kate B., comp. Our Pioneer Heritage. 20 vols. Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1937–1977.
Dibble, Philo. Reminiscences, no date. Typescript. CHL. MS 15447.
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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8
Ezra Booth, Nelson, OH, to Ira Eddy, 12 Sept. 1831, in Ohio Star (Ravenna), 13 Oct. 1831, [3].
Ohio Star. Ravenna. 1830–1854.
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9
“Renunciation of Mormonism,” Observer and Telegraph (Hudson, OH), 29 Sept. 1831, [3].
Observer and Telegraph. Hudson, OH. 1830–1833.
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