| 1830 convert, church agent, keeper
of the Lord's storehouse, member of the United Firm, one of six to offer
themselves as a ransom to the Jackson county mob. |
| Born |
|
Algernon Sidney ("Sidney") Gilbert, December 28, 1789 in
New Haven, Connecticut |
|
Who's who
Who's Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, Susan Easton Black. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, Inc., 1997).
,
104n1. |
| Died |
|
June 29, 1834 near Fishing River, Clay county, Missouri. |
|
|
| Father |
|
Eli Gilbert |
|
|
| Mother |
|
Lydia Hemingway |
|
|
| Store
in Michigan |
|
September 10, 1818 purchases a small lot for a store near
the harbor in Monroe, Michigan. |
|
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
78, 123n8. |
| |
|
June 10, 1820 sells Monroe store. |
|
|
| Store in Mentor |
|
October 28, 1820 purchases an acre in Mentor,
at the edge of Painesville, and near a prosperous tavern. Builds a store
estimated at 2,500 square feet.
N. K. Whitney works in the store and
learns the business, until some time in 1821. |
|
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
80. |
| Marries |
|
September 29, 1823 marries Elizabeth van Benthuysen of Chagrin. |
|
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
81. |
| Mentor store fails |
|
January 29, 1824 arranges to transfer store and property to mortgage holder,
rents from them until April 1825. |
|
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
81–82. |
| Sells two-story brick home in Mentor |
|
[September 8, 1826]
The subscriber is authorized by Messrs. Vanderwootand Van Winkle, merchants
in the city of New York, to sell a new two-story brick house and one acre of
land situated near Mr. James Old’s Inn Mentor township, about three miles
from this village … call on subscriber or on A. S. Gilbert on the premises … J.
H. Paine |
|
PT
Painesville [Ohio] Telegraph, Eber D. Howe, ed.
, September 8, 1826. |
| Store
in Kirtland |
|
[Early 1827] moves into N. K. Whitney's red store in Kirtland as partner
in N. K. Whitney and Company. |
|
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
93.
¶ Newel K. Whitney |
| Rollins family |
|
1828 Elizabeth Gilbert's widowed sister, Keziah Rollins,
and her three children move to Kirtland and live with the Giliberts in the
Red Store. |
|
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
93–94.
children: James Henry, Mary Elizabeth, and Caroline. Mary Elizabeth
(1818–1913) would become a plural wife of Joseph in 1842. |
| Baptism |
|
[Early 1831]. Mary Rollins Lightner recalled that when
John Whitmer arrived in Kirtland (mid-January), she got permission to
read one of the Books of Mormon he brought. "Uncle and Aunt [Sidney and Elizabeth] were
Methodists, so when I got into the house, I exclaimed, "Oh, Uncle,
I have got the 'Golden Bible' … |
|
"Autobiography," Utah
Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1926: 193.
Whitney in Ohio
"Thou Art the Man: Newel K. Whitney in Ohio," Mark L. Staker in BYU Studies 42, no. 1 (2003): 75-138.
,
98 has "spring 1831." However,
Papers
Papers of Joseph Smith, Volume 2: Journal, 1832-1842, edited by Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992).
2:548 has 1830;
Revelations
Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Lyndon Cook (Provo: Seventy’s Mission Bookstore, 1981).
, 84 has "about December 1830." |
| Church
agent |
|
June [6], 1831 called to be church agent in Kirtland and
to travel to Missouri with Joseph Smith, Sidney
Rigdon. |
|
D&C
53 |
| Elder |
|
June [6], 1831 ordained by Joseph Smith. |
|
¶
Minutes of June [3–6], 1831 reports Joseph ordained Sidney on
the 6th. However, it also reports W. W. Phelps was ordained on this date,
and he did not arrive in Kirtland until the middle of the month. |
| To
Missouri |
|
June 19, 1831 accompanies Joseph Smith, Sidney
Rigdon, Martin Harris,
Edward Partridge, W.
W. Phelps, Ezra Booth, and others to
Independence. |
|
in
Papers
Papers of Joseph Smith, Volume 1: Autobiographical and Historical Writings, edited by Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1989).
1:356; also
TS
Times and Seasons
5 no. 4 (Feb. 15, 1844): 434;
HC
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, edited by B. H. Roberts, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1902-1912, 1932).
1:188. |
| Church
agent |
|
July 20, 1831 in Independence, called as church
agent and store operator (the latter partly as means to gain access to Indians
for proselyting). |
|
D&C
57:6, 8–10 |
| Store |
|
1831–1833 operates store in Independence. |
|
|
| High
priest |
|
April 26, 1832 ordained a high priest by Joseph Smith. |
|
¶
Minutes of April 26, 1832 |
| United
Firm |
|
April 26, 1832 United Firm is organized in Independence by
revelation and covenant between Joseph Smith, Sidney
Ridon, Oliver Cowdery,
A. Sidney Gilbert,
Edward Partridge, N.
K. Whitney, John
Whitmer,
W. W. Phelps, and Martin Harris. |
|
¶
D&C 82 |
| Offending
letter |
|
December 10, 1832 writes a letter
to Kirtland that offends church leaders. In January, Orson
Hyde and Hyrum
Smith reply on behalf of a conference of high priests that includes the
presidency of the High Priesthood. They reprove Sidney Gilbert for "blind
insinuations,"
"pretensions to holiness," and "covetousness.". |
|
Minutes
of January 13–14, 1833 |
| Lord
not pleased |
|
[March 3, 1833] Nevertheless, I am not well pleased with many
things; and I am not well pleased with my servant William E. McLellin,
neither with my servant Sidney Gilbert; and the bishop also, and others
have many things to repent of. |
|
¶ D&C
90:35 |
Citizens'
ultimatum
Home, press destroyed |
|
July 20, 1833 a gathering of Jackson
county citizens declares Mormons must leave the county immediately. They
present their demands to W. W. Phelps, Sidney Gilbert, and Bishop Edward
Partridge, who ask for time to consult with other leaders in Missouri and
Ohio. The mob razes the printing press office and force Sidney to close
the store, and tar and feather Edward Partridge and Charles Allen. |
|
¶
Missouri Persecutions (2)
¶ Edward Partridge |
| One
of six to offer themselves as ransom |
|
July 23, 1833 W.
W. Phelps, Edward Partridge, John
Corrill, John Whitmer, Isaac
Morley, and Sidney Gilbert meet with the Jackson county citizens' committee
and offer themselves as a ransom for the church "willing to be scourged
or die, if that would appease their anger toward the church." Instead,
the citizens agree to stop the violence and the Mormons agree to leave the
county by April 1, 1834. |
|
EMS
The Evening and the Morning Star
2,
no.15 (Dec. 1833): 114.
¶ Missouri Persecutions (2)
|
| Mob
in Independence |
|
November 4, 1833 mob destroys brick portion of Sidney's home,
throws store goods into the street. He intervenes, restraining a Mr. McCarty.
McCarty then files a complaint for assault and false imprisonment. Sidney
and others are jailed for a day, then released. Sidney flees to Liberty
in Clay county, where he starts another store. |
|
Missouri
Persecutions (3) |
| May
not sell store |
|
December 16, 1833 revelation that Sidney is not to sell the
store he was forced to abandon in Independence (nor are any other Mormon
properties to be sold). |
|
¶ D&C
101:96 |
| Declines
mission |
|
June 23, 1834 called to receive the Kirtland endowment, help gather the
Saints, and proclaim the gospel until Zion is redeemedm but says he "cannot
do it." |
|
¶
Minutes of June 23, 1834 |
| Cholera
in Zion's Camp |
|
June 25, 1834 Zion's Camp reaches Sidney Gilbert's in Liberty
and camp on the low lands of Rush Creek. That night the camp is struck by
cholera. Several die in agony. |
|
¶ Heber's
Accounts of Zion's March (2) |
| Death |
|
On the 26th, Algernon Sidney Gilbert,
keeper of the Lord's Store House, signed a letter to the Governor, in connexion
with others, which was his last public act, for he had been called to preach,
and he said he would rather die than go forth and preach the gospel to the
Gentiles. The Lord took him at his word; he was attacked with the cholera
and died about the 29th. |
|
Minutes
of June 23, 1834
¶ Heber's Accounts
of Zion's March (2)
Sidney's brother also died of cholera, on Oct. 26, 1832, in St. Louis. "Cholera,"
EMS
The Evening and the Morning Star
1, no. 6 (Nov. 1832): [6]. |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Letter
from Kirtland High Priests |
|
Gilbert's
letter low, dark, blind
Pretentious |
|
Brother Gilbert's letter of December 10th [1832] has been received and
read attentively, and the low, dark, and blind insinuations, which were
in it, were not received by us as from the fountain of light, though his
claims and pretensions to holiness were great. |
|
HC
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, edited by B. H. Roberts, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1902-1912, 1932).
1:319. |
| Can't
understand |
|
We are not unwilling to be chastened or rebuked for our faults, but we
want to receive it in language that we can understand, as Nathan said to
David, "Thou art the man." |
|
|
| Frown
of the Lord on him |
|
We are aware that Brother Gilbert is doing much, and has a multitude of
business on hand; but let him purge out all the old leaven, and do his business
in the spirit of the Lord, and then the Lord will bless him, otherwise the
frown of the Lord will remain upon him. |
|
|
| He
is uneasy, fearful, covetous |
|
There is manifestly an uneasiness in Brother Gilbert, and
a fearfulness that God will not provide for His Saints in these last days,
and these fears lead him on to covetousness. |
|
|
Do
as Lord commands
Lord will bss |
|
This ought not so to be; but let him do just as the Lord has commanded
him, and then the Lord will open His coffers, and his wants will be liberally
supplied. |
|
|
|
|
But if this uneasy, covetous disposition be cherished by him, the Lord
will bring him to poverty, shame, and disgrace. |
|
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| |
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| |
|
Family |
|
|
| Wife |
|
Elizabeth Van Benthusen, md. September 30, 1823 |
|
|
| Son |
|
Loyal
|
|
|
|
|
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