More McLellin material found

A notebook apparently owned by former Mormon Apostle William McLellin has been obtained by Mormon document collector Brent Ashworth.  The "McLellin Collection" has had an interesting history starting with Mark Hoffman's claims to have obtained the collection.  Since then, some of it was  uncovered in the 1st Presidency's vault and published by BYU Studies.  Signature Books has also published some of the McLellin materials.  Now a 3rd document has come to light.

Excerpt from Early LDS Church apostle's journal bought by Provo collector by Cody Clark - of the Daily Herald

Ashworth said the notebook is inscribed by Hanson, an RLDS apostle, and was handed down to his descendants. Following the death of its most recent owner, the family wanted to sell it. "It kind of walked in the door" at his Provo store, B. Ashworth's, Ashworth said. A friend who'd helped him locate rare items in the past tipped him off, and Ashworth paid what he said was a substantial sum to acquire it.

Excerpts from McLellin journal finally is located by Local Book Dealer - Brent Ashworth , a Deseret News article by Michael De Groote

There was a record of two partial pages of one McLellin notebook. Those pages had been photographed probably in the 1920s. An excerpt from those same pages appeared in an RLDS Church newspaper in 1929. But by the time "The William E. McLellin Papers" was published it was thought the notebook was "not extant."

Ashworth, however, was always on the lookout for McLellin materials and hoped to find the lost notebook. After about 20 years he finally did so.

The notebook is about 6 by 8 inches and 266 pages long. It is filled from binding to page edges with the fine and clear handwriting of a teacher of penmanship. McLellin wrote in it in 1871 and 1872. The notebook has a detailed index of the many subjects it contains.

"My opinion is he was trying to write a book. And this is written with more care than some of his other notebooks. I think he was actually trying to put a book together," Ashworth said.

Another surprise is McLellin's description of Joseph Smith as a student in McLellin's "High school" he taught during the winter of 1834. McLellin wrote: "I learned the strength of his mind as to the study and principles of science. … And I here say that he had one of the strongest and well-balanced, penetrating and retentive minds of any man with whom I ever formed an acquaintance."