[Minutes, Quorum of Twelve] 11 A.M. 22. Jan[uar]y 1848
General Council B[righam]. Y[oung]., H[eber] C. K[imball]., O[rson]. P[ratt]., W[ilford]. W[oodruff]., T[homas] B[ullock]., J[oseph]. Y[oung]., A[lbert]. P. R[ockwood]. Z[iba]. P[eterson]., R[eynolds].
C[ahoon]. & High Council & James Whitehead, Capt[ai]n Stout., A[lmon]. W. Babbit, Hiram Kimball, W[illiam]. Clayton.
A Babbitt[:] The visit of Bro: Kimball & myself here is to have Council [with you], and as to council for the Bre[thren] there & as to the Sales of property in Nauvoo. [B]ut [we] have received papers since starting there that require [an] explanation, [and] as to the incorrect information that has been received about our property transactions, [we] read [a] letter from Joseph Young. [He] thought this [was] a salty document, but the ideas given forth about our transactions lead [led] Joseph & others to have such things in their minds & which I have since received an account of.-[P]assed no writings for the 70s hall [and] Joseph Young left [the] doc[ument] he received from Edward Hunter for the hall which [was] not recorded. [And] it [was] thought advisable that Hunter deed at once to Furnace [and he]-gave Joseph $30 in goods. [A]s to the team, [we] thought it advisable to keep it and come on here with it last Fall.-[And] so [it] was about this time Bro Burdick [was] to be fitted out who had horses stollen & give him the horses ? $300-& H C K $150 goods-Erastus Snow $150-turn this for the 70s hall, made arrangements.-R. C. went for W[illia]m Clayton.
A. W. Babbit [began] reading-Whitehead & McEwans statements.-This we consider a very salty doc[ument and] dont care much about it however-tho I know Mr. Heywood s feelings are bad because of being charged with embezzling the poor s money.
B. Y.[:] If you want to make a statement about the property-do be short.-[T]his Council knows nothing about these transactions and we care as little & there is not a particle ag[ains]t. you in any of these documents & you will just irritate feelings.-
A. W. Babbitt. I will be very short because it would irritate my own feelings to talk about it.
B. Y.[:] I ll get up to be equal with you Mr Babbitt, & you say that that property statement made by Whitehead & McEwan, is known to thousands. & Whiteheads statements are correct. You need not try to brighten your character [or] you will rouse some old lion s hear[t]. [And] you have embezzled money there that ought to have come here & from every body you could. [A]nd you have got from every body you could & you have done what you have a mind to with it & I dont care about it. I told Bro. Fulmer when [he was] here that I cared more for him than all the property in Nauvoo. I did not expect to have the benefits of the property in Nauvoo. [I] knew you were left there to fight the battles-& I want to think more about going to the mountains.
A. W. B.[:] If these implications are personal and apply to us as Individuals-I must be heard and [I] have a good deal to say about it. [He] went on to state when A W. Babbitt called upon Whitehead to state-J. Whitehead [was] going to state when B. Y. objected.
B. Y.[:] We dont want an investigation but if Babbits wants [it]. [T]hen we ll have those widows & women come here who have come from Nauvoo-the property we dont care about-and all that the Trustees were placed for there was to keep the bullets from coming West of Nauvoo.
[B]ut [we are] keeping them there to fight the mobs.-[There was] an instance of a Sister [who] I borrowed $100 from. [I] gave her my note-well, Babbitt has the note-& he debited me with the $1000. [T]his statement of Heywoods [is] not to[o] salty, but the Trustees I have always defended, and they have done the best they could. [At least] as well as I expected-if we can only screen ourselves & get away all we care [about].-[If we] talk of these things & they bring gloom, desolation & gnashing-but talk of these things & they bring desol[ation].-[B]ut the other things we have to talk of-[such as] when [we were] in the temple the last day we clothed ourselves in robes & we gave all the property in Nauv[oo] & the temple into the hands of Israels God. Bro Babbitt [is] an excellent Lawyer, [I will] walk right into the midst of them & tell them [I] ask no odds of them.
Joseph L Heywood-[A] good tender feeling man, & good man to this day [is] John S
Fulmer, a perfect true [?]. I have wanted Bro Babbitt & the Trustees to help Bro. Joseph Young-if they can with something to outfit. [I] prayed all the time that the Trustees could not sell the temple- who is there here that has not passed thro too much to quarrel for a farm[?]-Bre[thren], if we rake up our feelings-we will see plenty of evils in each other, but I say let them alone, [say] not a word spoken ag[ains]t. a Brother but let us go hand in hand & build up the kingdom. [I] feel like a little child about quarreling-&c but feel like a lion for truth & righteousness.
A. W. Babbitt-I now wish to resign my office as Trustee in the Church & can go and now make a living on the world or even among the Brethren go to plough/g [inserted about "h"]/ & planting. I am poor, and if the church pay me $.50 c[en]ts a $ I will be content. [A]nd [I will] do whatever [the] council will say to me or go to [the] Mountains. [And] when these statements made by Jos. Young & Whitehead are justified on the floor of this Council. I have feelings about it. [And] I feel I am a man, & humanity is weak.
J. Y.[: I] dont want to have hard feelings ag[ains]t. Babbitt. [I] felt [I was the] chief man there, [but] Brigham said to me that B[ro]. [Babbi]-tt had risked his life for the Bre[thren] many a time.-I lay 6 weeks at the Bluff-but /I/ could not get [a] team.-If I had known that things went as they have [I] would never have said what I have on that line.-[I] supposed Bro Babbitt had scatter[ed] the money round about but /I/ want Bro Babbitt not to consider that church property.-[I]t was sold for to help Pioneers away, but I thought it was right I should have the Bal[ance].-I have defended Bro B[abbitt s] property & defend[ed] for him & stood up for him all the time but [if] I have said anyt[h]ing that is out of the way-I say I feel to fellowship Bro Babbitt. [And] if he meats [meets] me on equal ground & says I have no feelings-then I will say the same-I am willing to have that that by for ever.
B. Y.[:] I fathered that concern, but I ll say to Bro Joseph if he had known what I did he would not have wrote you for I told him to get the Bre[thren] here to help & not to seek after help from that quarter. I dont justify the spirit of the letter written by Whitehead & McEwan-[though some] statements [are] true however.
James Whitehead-I wrote that at the request of O[rson] Hyde.
H C K[:] Inasmuch as Bro: Babbitt has sold the Seventys hall. & appropriated the proceeds for church debt & that is the greatest blessing ever conferred on you [as]_a Latter day Saint, [i]t would have been eternally cast up to you by the Seventys, [but] Brigham has sustained the Trustees all the time & parried off the blows-[the] 70s would have thorned you to death.-
B. Y.[:] If the temple sold for $200..000 there would be such an eruption among the Bre[thren] that they would all want help & those who have advanced for the church would want liquidation. [And] they would use all the power or faith of their priesthood ag[ains]t. us unless satisfied.-If we descend to picking quarrels & pick[ing] at each other this is a mean spirit, & Gentile law & customs & it will be a mean thing. [W]e will want to pick [up] each other, & that until we use each other up & destroy all the influence we have got-but I am above such feelings.
W[illard]. R[ichards]. came in.
J. Whitehead, [I] don t pretend to be perfect, but I feel since I [have] come here, when [I] go & see Bro[s] Young, Kimball, & Richards, & I felt the good spirit, & [it is] as tho I had come out of midnight darkness. [And I] feel [as] if [I am] doing wrong by writing that letter at the request of Bro Hyde. I ll confess & do just what you want me, [for I] want to take a right course & have a part in my fathers Kingdom. [And] I dont want to do wrong, but with th
e help of the Lord I mean to do right & be with this p[eo]pl[e] & go where they go.
W. R. said he heard Bros. Young & Kimball sustain the Trustees all the time. [A]s to that document written by Whitehead & McEwan. nobody [has] scarcely ever seen it.
T. B. read [a] letter from Mr. Sirrine to O Hyde.
David Rogers [is] naturally a good man but [he] had the spirit of an opposer to contend with.
[H]e had not boldness enough to say to his wife-if you dont follow the Lord & go with me-I l[l] bid you good bye.
Judge Phelps read a vew [few] verses which he translated from Lukes Gospel. [The] Nauvoo Library [was] talked of.-
B. Y. wants the Bre[thren] in moving for an expression in favor of the Trustees. That we are satisfied with the dealings of the-Trustees /left at Nauvoo Babitt Heywood & Fulmer/ & that they have done the best they could under [the] existing circumstances, & that they are in full fellowship in the Church. [It was v]oted that the motion read by T. B. be accepted which was carried unanimously.
A. W. B. have [has] 2.000 vol[ume]s 'T & S bound in Nauvoo [and he] want[s] council what to do with them, also in relation to some pending lawsuits.-
B. Y.[:] I motion we have no right to receive Bro Babbitts resignation, [for] the p[eo]pl[e] en masse gave it to him, but Babbitt [should] have to stay there until Heywood & Fulmer get off then take a tour to the East & come West. A.W. B.[:] [I have] 9 or 10 sets of T & S from the beginning beautifully bound in Morocco for the Council. B.Y.[: P]reserve them. [The] temple at Kirtland can be disposed [of] only by [the] President of the Church or his Presidential successor, for the use of the members of the Church of Christ of LDS, Jesus left out.-[B]ut the Nauvoo temple deed to Joseph Smith as Trustee in Trust for the Church & his successor as Trustee for the Church, judgement now ag[ain]st the Temple for a note of $1.000 given by B H & F. [W]hen the corporation neglects to defend & to stand in Law & represent it, the court of chancery will appoint a Commissioner who will see to the liquidation of the debts on [the] temple & all expenses & if [there are] no other debts ag[ains]t. it then the rest of the avails [will] go to the State.-[T]hey assessed the temple but A. W. B. appeared & got it cleared thro the religious corporation act & as many acres freed as that act allows.
B. Y.[:] Its a poor temple, it wont be 20 years until it can t contain a congregation.-[I] dreamed before we left that Bro. Kimball & I went back & on to the roof, & [we were] stepping on it carefully lest [we would] fall thro.-[T]he wall presses in & the timbers [were] bend, & rot[t]ed.
[W]e have been gone I says 20 years & its rooted [rotted] so that we have got to make all new timbers.
B. Y.[: W]e never shall go back to possess that temple until [the] right shall take place-& I don t care what is done to preserve the temple.-We ll rent the Temple, and get property enough to help out Heywood & Fulmer.
H Kimball-[T]hought if he could have some of the Land warrants from the Bre[thren] who were in Bat[tle]. [he] could turn it to liquidate his Eastern debts. Jesse D Hunt is now [an] Indian /Indian agent/ in the California.
[At] 3 P.M. B. Y. [said] I declare this meeting dismissed.
"At a Council /meeting/ of the Twelve, /Presidency of Seventies,/ High Council, High Priests, and Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints /in the Council House/ at Winter Quarters, the 22nd day of January 1848, in Council /assembled/ with Almon W. Babbitt and others from Nauvoo. Resolved /moved, seconded, and carried, It was resolved/ unanimously, That we have the utmost confidence in the faithful discharge of their duties as Trustees in Trust in Nauvoo, namely Babbitt, Heywood, and Fulmer, and we tender to them our thanks; and pray Our Father in Heaven in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to bless them and prosper them in all things pertaining to the building up of His Kingdom on the Earth." /A true excerpt from the minutes W[illard]. Richards Recorder
/George W. Harris, motioned "I move that it pass" Heber C. Kimball seconded and carried unanimously by the uplifted hand Thomas Bullock Clerk of Council Brigham Young President Willard Richards Clerk Thomas Bullock Scribe [S]end Morroco bound Times & Seasons 2 sets.
At a meeting of the Twelve, Presidency of Seventies, High Council, High Priests, and Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, in the Council House at Winter Quarters, the 22nd. day of january 1848 in Council assembled with Almon W. Babbitt and others from Nauvoo, It was resolved unanimously, That we have the utmost confidence in the faithful discharge of their duties as Trustees in Trust in Nauvoo, namely Babbitt, Heywood, and Fulmer, and we tender to them our thanks; and pray our Father in Heaven in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to bless them and prosper them in all things pertaining to the building up of His Kingdom on the Earth.-
The above resolution is A true extract from the Minutes.
Willard Richards G. C. Recorder [S]end two sets of Morocco bound Times and Seasons, for Recorder s Office.-
[Minutes; Minutes; Minutes]
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