13. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Circular, to the Whole Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Nauvoo, Oct. 1845.

On Sunday October 5, 1845 the Saints gathered formally for the first time in the unfinished Nauvoo temple where the Twelve Apostles called the first companies that would begin the trek west the following spring. The next day a general conference of the church was convened and the formal proposition to move the church west was given to the membership of the church. The following Sunday William Clayton, who had acted as scribe for the conference with Thomas Bullock, met with the Twelve at the home of John Taylor to help prepare the publication that would announce to the whole church the decision to move west.

This circular provides a variety of interesting information: a short description of that first meeting in the temple on October 5th and a list of the captains of companies called that day, extracts from the general conference of the 6th -- 8th including the report that "On motion, it was unanimously resolved that this people move, en masse, to the West." Also included in this report of the conference is a summary of a discourse by Parley P. Pratt giving the reasons to finish the temple even though they knew they were going to leave Nauvoo, a list of committees appointed to dispose of property in Hancock County, and a circular To the brethren of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, scattered abroad throughout the United States of America in which the Twelve:

"invite the saints abroad generally so to arrange their affairs as to come with their families in sufficient time to receive their endowments, and aid in giving the last finish to the house of the Lord, previous to the great imigration [sic] of the Church in the spring... Let all wagons that are hereafter built be constructed to the track of five feet width from centre to centre. Families may properly travel to this place during winter in their wagons. There are said to be many good locations for settlement on the Pacific, especially at Vancouver's Island, near the mouth of the Columbia."

The details for removing the church to the West evolved over time. This broadside clearly shows that the initial plans for the migration west were somewhat different than what eventually came to pass. The Saints first intended to leave Nauvoo in the spring of 1846 not in February. They also intended to complete the temple before leaving. But anti-Mormon activities forced church leaders to change their timetable. Also, it is apparent that in the fall of 1845 their final destination was the Pacific coast not the Great Basin. It would not be until late January 1846 before the decision was made to settle "in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains."