Note, 15 March 1833
Source Note
Note, Kirtland Township, OH, 15 Mar. 1833. Featured version copied [ca. 15 Mar. 1833] in Minute Book 1, p. 11; handwriting of Frederick G. Williams; CHL. For more information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.
Historical Introduction
This notation is an unusual entry in Minute Book 1—the church’s major administrative record for Kirtland, Ohio—for several reasons. Williams inscribed this 15 March 1833 note concerning a JS revelation as a separate entry following the council minutes that bear the same date.1 Though multiple entries appear under the same date later in Minute Book 1, recording more than one entry for a particular date was rare at this earlier time. Also, Minute Book 1 rarely mentions the reception of revelations. While Revelation Books 1 and 2 were the primary repositories for the texts of revelations, Minute Book 1 mainly contains entries on conference and council proceedings, ordinations, and receipt or removal of ecclesiastical licenses. Minute Book 1 does, however, contain a few brief notations regarding significant events that occurred outside of meetings. Approximately one month earlier, for example, Williams recorded that JS completed his revision of the New Testament.2 The 15 March notation pertains to the United Firm, and Williams may have decided to record it in Minute Book 1 under JS’s direction because a discrete set of minutes or other administrative record was apparently not kept for the United Firm in Kirtland; the revelation was also significant to Williams personally.3
Kirtland March 15th 1833
This day4 received a revelation5 making known that F,G,W. [Frederick G. Williams] should be received into the United firm in full partnership agreeable to the specification of the bond [p. 11]
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^1. Revelation, 15 Mar. 1833 [D&C 92].
^2. Minute Book 1, 2 Feb. 1833.
^3. Occasional entries in Minute Book 1 provide minutes and details of the firm’s activities. Initial minutes of United Firm meetings in Missouri were recorded in Minute Book 2, but no minutes concerning later activities are extant.
^4. The text here was later redacted to include an additional “s” after the terminal “s” in “This,” thereby changing the reading of the phrase from “This day" to “Thirsday.” When this redaction was made is unknown, but it appears to be an error as 15 March 1833 was a Friday. All manuscript versions of the revelation bear the date 15 March 1833. (See Revelation, 15 Mar. 1833 [D&C 92]; and Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson Co., MO, 21 Apr. 1833.)