-- Mar 1, 1831
Some months since, a young lawyer living in the western part of the state of New York, who probably had nothing else to do, and being acquainted with stenography, or the short hand, wrote the wonderful Mormon bible in stenographick characters. After having safely lodged his sacred deposite in the bowels of the earth, he marvellously appeared in disguise, in the form of an angel, to a man named Smith, and revealed to him where he would find the sacred treasure. Smith accordingly went, found the Mormon manuscript, and in his researches to find some one to interpret it, he fell in with his angel lawyer, who readily unravelled the mystery. Smith being an unlettered, ignorant man, sold his possessions in order to acquire the means for publishing his work. "Mormonism," Cleveland Advertiser, Mar. 1, 1831, reprint of article from as yet unlocated issue of the Ashtabula Republican. (1)
We have received a pamphlet of 12 pages, containing a review of the "Book of Mormon" from the able pen of Alexander Campbell, of Va. It unequivocally and triumphantly sets the question of the divine authenticity of the "Book" forever at rest, to every rational mind. We shall endeavor to lay it before our readers in two or three subsequent numbers. PT, Mar. 1, 1831. (1)
[Pratt, Parley Parker] Returned to Kirtland, Ohio, before 1 March 1831. (2)
-- Mar 3, 1831
[Joseph Smith] Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph Smith wrote a letter to his brother Hyrum Smith, living in Colesville, New York, asking that he come to Kirtland and bring Joseph Smith Sr. from Fayette. (3)
[Lucy Mack Smith] Joseph tells Hyrum in Colesville to bring the Saints to Kirtland. Hyrum, Joseph Sr., and others move to Ohio, leaving Newel Knight to organize the Colesville Saints and Lucy to lead the Fayette Saints. (4)
-- Mar 3, 1831-4
Joseph to Hyrum: Devil tries to overthrow churches in Ohio. Oliver's letter from Independence. Met with Delaware chief. Joseph urges Hyrum to come quickly. Joseph performs exorcism. Samuel and Orson Pratt arrived a few days ago. Joseph Sr. is threatened with suit. Avoid Buffalo (enemy ambush). Joseph to Hyrum, Mar. 34, 1831 (1)
-- Mar 4, 1831
Parley reaches Cincinnati after a one-week steamboat voyage from St. Louis. (1)
-- Mar 5, 1831
After walking 250 miles on muddy roads, Parley reaches the Coltrin home in Strongsville, Ohio, 40 miles from Kirtland. The Coltrins were among those baptized by the Lamanite missionaries en route to Missouri. Sick, he remains two weeks before leaving for Kirtland. Parley P. Pratt, 67. Arrival date is based on 9 days from February 25, estimating 250 miles in mud would take approximately same amount of time-9 days-as his 300-mile walk from Independence to St. Louis. (1)
-- Mar 6, 1831-7
D&C 45 (Kirtland): City of Enoch, signs of second coming, millennium, gather to Zion. Commandment to translate the New Testament. (1)
-- March 6 or 7, 1831
[Revelations] Kirtland, Ohio. Doctrine and Covenants 45. The Son reminds the Father of his blood and suffering. Believers become his sons, perform miracles. Reasons with followers. City of Enoch. Jews to gather to Jerusalem. Fulness of gospel revealed at beginning of the times of the Gentiles. Scourge and desolation at end of times of the Gentiles. Signs of second coming. Resurrection followed by destruction , conversion of the Jews, who weep for persecuting their king. Satan bound , Jesus' return. Wicked will be cast into the fire, righteous receive earthly reward. Joseph to translate the New Testament. Wars begin soon in America. Gather out of the east. Collect funds to purchase inheritance. New Jerusalem a land of peace, safety.
Manuscripts in the Church Archives, one in the hand of Edward Partridge and another in the hand of William E. McLellin, date the revelation March 6, 1831. (5)
-- Mar 7, 1831
some hundreds of the rabble and a few intelligent citizens of the western part of New York and the eastern part of Ohio, have, with the wildest enthusiasm, embraced a feigned revelation purporting to be literally new. this new religion called Mormonism, "Something New.-Golden Bible." Evangelical Enquirer (Dayton, Ohio) 10, no. 1 (Mar. 7, 1831): 217-220.
For a long time in the vicinity of Palmyra, there has existed an impression, especially among certain loose classes of society, that treasures of great amount were concealed near the surface of the earth, probably by the Indians, whom they were taught to consider the descendants of the ten lost Israelitish tribes, by the celebrated Jew who a few years since promised to gather Abraham's sons on Grand Island, thus to be made a Paradise. The ignorance and superstition of these fanatics soon conjured up a ghost, who they said was often seen and to whom was committed the care of the precious deposit. One Joseph Smith, a perfect ignoramus, is to be a great prophet of the Lord, the fabled ghost the angel of his presence, a few of the accomplices the apostles or witnesses of the imposition, and, to fill up the measure of their wickedness and the absurdity of their proceedings, the hidden golden treasure, is to be a gold bible and a new revelation. (1)
[Joseph Smith] Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph Smith received Doctrine & Covenants 45, a lengthy revelation concerning the salvation of mankind and the calamities of the last days. He also completed his translation work on the book of Genesis through chapter 24. (3)
-- Mar 8, 1831
D&C 46 (Kirtland): Admit all to public meetings, all members to sacrament meetings, transgressors not to partake of sacrament, honest seekers to sacrament and confirmation meetings; gifts of the Spirit. (1)
Footnotes:
1 - http://saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml
2 - Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelation of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985
3 - BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith
4 - Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, Edited by Lavina Fielding Anderson, 2001, Signature Books
5 - http://saintswithouthalos.com/s/_dc.phtml
LDS History
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Clair Barrus
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