Pulpit

Minutes of the September 1837 Conference

Conference record

1837 September General Conference·Whole Conference·1837-09-03

Source note

Preferred witness: Minutes, 3 September 1837, pages 234–236, accessed 27 May 2026. The JSP transcript preserves the full Kirtland conference record, including leadership business, disciplinary proceedings, and reported addresses.

The transcript below follows the Joseph Smith Papers expanded-transcription presentation: original spelling and punctuation are retained; editorial additions appear in brackets; insertions appear in angle brackets; cancellations appear with strikethrough; and manuscript page endings are linked to the corresponding JSP image and transcript page.

Historical introduction

A conference assembled in the Kirtland House of the Lord on 3 September 1837. The surviving minutes focus on church officers and disciplinary matters. They report that Sidney Rigdon gave an address of considerable length but preserve only its subject and effect rather than a full transcript.

This material remains one conference record because the surviving source intermingles proceedings, reported remarks, and institutional business rather than preserving a set of discrete, complete sermon transcripts.

Transcript

Sunday 4th 3rd Sept 1837 Minutes of a conference assembled in the house of the Lord, in committee of the whole1 at 9 O clock A. M. G[eorge] W. Robinson was requested by Joseph Smith Jr to take the proceedings of this meeting, The meeting was opened by prayer by S[idney] Rigdon who then introduced Joseph Smith Jr to the congregation to know if he should still act as their Pres. as the presiding officer of the church,2 was chosen by a unanimous vois [voice] of the same. Pres. Smith then introduced Sidney Rigdon & Frederick G. Williams for councillors to Pres. Smith and together with him to constitute the three first presidents of the church, carried by a unanimous vote, Pres. Smith then introduced O[liver] Cowdery J[oseph] Smith Sen. Hyrum Smith, p. 234

& John Smith for assistant councillors3 & carried by a unanimous voice of the church these last four are allso, together with the first three to be concidered the heads of the Church Voted that N[ewel] K Whitney continue to act as Bishop of this church in Kirtland Voted that R[eynolds] Cahoon & Vinsan [Vinson] Knight be councillors to the Bishop, The question was then asked the church if the Twelve apostles should hold their office of Apostleship They were named by the President individually Voted that Thomas. B. Marsh David W. Patten Brigham Young Heber. C. Kimble [Kimball] Orson Hyde P. P. Prath [Parley P. Pratt] Orson Pratt William Smith Wm E. McLellin should retain their office of apostleship;4 Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson John F Boyngton [Boynton], were rejected5 from serving in that office Privilege was given to those that were rejected of making their confession if they had any to make. Elder Boyngton which was the onley one present at the time arose and parsailly [partially] confessed his sins and partly justifying his conduct by reason of the failure of the bank, his acknowledgments appeared not to be satisfactory, his conduct was strongly protested against, by Elder Brigham Young in a plain and energetick manner stating various reasons why he could not receive him into fellowship untill a hearty repentance6 was manifested, the Elder <​Young​> was followed by Elder Marsh who acquiesed in testimony, and allso disfellowshiped the conduct of Elder Boyngton p. 235

President Rigdon then arose, & made an address of conciderable length, showing the starting point or cause of all the difficulty of Elders Boyngton & Johnson, he allso cautioned all the Elders, concrning leaving their calling to persue any occupation derogatory to that calling,7 assuring them that if persued, God would let them run themselves into difficulties, that he may stop them in their career, that salvation may come unto them,8 Elder Boyngton then arose and still attributed his difficulties & conduct to the failure of the bank, stating that the bank he understood was instituted by the will & revilations of God, & he had been told that it never would fail let men do what they pleased,9 Pres. Smith then arose, and stated that if this had been published, it was without authority, at least from him, he stated that he allways said that unless the institution was conducted upon righteous principles it could not stand,10 The church was then called upon to know whether they were sattisfied with the confession of Elder Boyngton, Voted in the negative Adjourned for one hour.

Congregation assembled at 2 O clock P.M. & called to order by the Pres. & meeting opened by prayer, by Elder [Henry G.] Sherwood, the Pres. then arose and said he should next call upon the church to know if they were satisfied with the high Council & next proceeded to name them individually p. 236

Compiler's notes

Tyler’s collection-level compiler’s note is preserved verbatim.

Notes from Tyler’s compilation

Reading through the minutes of this conference, it is apparent that there were no sermons recorded. Even if there were sermons, it appears that they were not recorded. The only thing close to a sermon that was recorded is this passage about Elders Boynton and Lyman Johnson:

Vault presentation

  • The full three-page record is retained so that the reported address remains in its documentary context.

Textual and contextual notes

Notes

  1. This is one of the earliest uses of the phrase “committee of the whole” to reference the church. In the 7 November 1837 reorganizational meeting in Far West, Missouri, both the men and women in the congregation were asked to vote on leadership positions. That may have been the case at this conference as well, though the minutes do not specify. (Minutes, 7 Nov. 1837.) ↩

  2. The 4 September copy of the minutes replaces this section with the following: “S[idney] Rigdon then presented Joseph Smith Jr to the Church to know if they still looked upon & would still receive & uphold him as the Prest. of the whole Church.” (Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837.) ↩

  3. The titles “assistant counselor” and “assistant president” seem to have been used synonymously. Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith Sr., and Hyrum Smith were ordained as assistant presidents on 5 and 6 December 1834 and had been serving in that capacity since that time. Before this 3 September meeting, John Smith had acted as the president of the Kirtland high council. In the meeting, JS appointed him an assistant counselor and member of the presidency of the church. (Account of Meetings, Revelation, and Blessing, 5–6 Dec. 1834.) ↩

  4. Despite their earlier discontent, both Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt had reconciled their differences with JS by this time and were in full fellowship and proselytizing in New York. Orson Hyde, who may have had some involvement with dissenters, had repented before leaving to preach in England with Heber C. Kimball. Although William E. McLellin was elected here, he was absent from Kirtland and would later claim that he was disaffected from the church at this time. (Julia Smith and Mary Jane Smith, Kirtland, OH, to Elias Smith, Shinnston, VA, Aug. 1837, Elias Smith Correspondence, CHL; V. Kimball to H. Kimball, ca. 10 Sept. 1837; see also Historical Introduction to Revelation, 23 July 1837 [D&C 112].) Smith, Elias. Correspondence, 1834–1839. In Elias Smith, Papers, 1834–1846. CHL. Kimball, Heber C. Collection, 1837–1898. CHL. MS 12476. ↩

  5. The 4 September copy of the minutes adds “& cut off” after “rejected.” (Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837.) ↩

  6. The 4 September copy adds “conffession” to Young’s requirements for Boynton being received back into fellowship. (Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837.) ↩

  7. Rigdon may be referring to the mercantile store run by Boynton and Lyman Johnson as an “occupation derogatory” to their calling in the Twelve. According to Heber C. Kimball and Ira Ames, Boynton and Johnson borrowed “considerable money” from Saints in Boston including Polly Vose, and purchased thousands of dollars’ worth of goods for their Kirtland store, which they were never able to repay. (Kimball, “History,” [48]; Ames, Autobiography and Journal, [13].) Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2. Ames, Ira. Autobiography and Journal, 1858. CHL. MS 6055. ↩

  8. The synopsis of Rigdon’s address is not included in the 4 September copy of the minutes. (Letter to John Corrill and the Church in Missouri, 4 Sept. 1837.) ↩

  9. Disparaging newspaper articles printed in 1837 and Warren Parrish writing in 1838 echoed the claim that the society had been established by revelation and, therefore, should have been incapable of failure. Dissenters and detractors used the failure of the society to further question JS’s prophetic role. (“How Have the Mighty Fallen!!,” Western Reserve Chronicle [Warren, OH], 7 Feb. 1837, [3]; “About Matters in Kirtland,” Ohio Observer [Hudson], 2 Mar. 1837, [2]; Warren Parrish, Kirtland, OH, 5 Feb. 1838, Letter to the Editor, Painesville [OH] Republican, 15 Feb. 1838, [3].) Western Reserve Chronicle. Warren, OH. 1816–1854. Ohio Observer. Hudson. 1827–1855. Painesville Republican. Painesville, OH. 1836–1841. ↩

  10. In contrast to Boynton’s insistence, other extant statements from JS about the bank are more conditional. Wilford Woodruff wrote on 6 January 1837 that JS told him and others assembled in the Safety Society office that he “had receieved that morning the Word of the Lord upon the Subject of the Kirtland Safety Society.” According to Woodruff, “He did not tell us at that time what the Lord said upon the subject but remarked that if we would give heed to the Commandments the Lord had given this morning all would be well.” Mary Fielding wrote in June 1837 that “so many of the Bank directors are become unfaithful that Brother J. S says he does not know that it will rise again.” (Woodruff, Journal, 6 Jan. 1837; Mary Fielding, Kirtland, OH, to Mercy Fielding, [Upper Canada], ca. June 1837, Mary Fielding Smith, Collection, CHL.) Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.Smith, Mary Fielding. Collection, ca. 1832–1848. CHL. MS 2779. ↩

Cite this talkConference record, "Minutes of the September 1837 Conference," 1837 September General Conference, Whole Conference (1837-09-03). Pulpit Vault, 1837-09-conference-record-september-conference. Fragmentary text from josephsmithpapers.org.Pulpit Vault, edition of 23 September 2026 (commit 4bdc6ac627).
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