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Source: Church History Vol. 2 Chapter 21 Page: 466 (~1837-1840)

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466 "He then paused for some time, being exhausted. After which he said, in a tone of surprise, 'I can see and hear, as well as ever I could.' A second pause, of considerable length. 'I see Alvin.' Third pause. 'I shall live seven or eight minutes.' Then straightening himself, he laid his hands together, after which he began to breathe shorter, and in about eight minutes his breath stopped without even a struggle or a sigh, and his spirit took its flight for the regions where the justified ones rest from their labors. He departed so calmly that for some time we could not believe but that he would breathe again.

"Catharine did not arrive until the evening of the second day; still we were compelled to attend to his obsequies the day after his decease, or run the risk of seeing Joseph and Hyrum torn from their father's corpse before it was interred, and carried away by their enemies to prison. After we had deposited his last remains in their narrow house, my sons fled from the city, and I returned to my desolate home; and I then thought that the greatest grief which it was possible for me to feel had fallen upon me in the death of my beloved husband. Although that portion of my life, which lay before me seemed to be a lonesome, trackless waste, yet I did not think that I could possibly find, in traveling over it, a sorrow more searching or a calamity more dreadful than the present. But as I hasten to the end of my story, the reader will be able to form an opinion with regard to the correctness of my conclusion." 1 -Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors, pp. 285-289.

On September 15,1840, Governor Boggs of Missouri made a requisition on Governor Carlin of Illinois for the arrest of Joseph Smith, Jr., Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight,

1 There is a discrepancy in the date of the ordination of Joseph Smith Sen., as Patriarch of the church. Joseph Smith. Jr.. his son in the body of history states that he was ordained January 21, 1836. See page l6 of this volume, but when his obituary was published in Times and Seasons it was stated that he was ordained December 18, 1833. See page 631 of volume one of this work. This last date is probably a typographical error, as there is no record of his officiating in the office until long after; while frequent mention is made of his officiating after January, 1836,

We think it is safe to say that the date of his ordination was January 21, 1836.

(page 466)

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