JS, License, for , , Hancock Co., IL, 18 Dec. 1841; printed form with manuscript additions in the handwriting of ; two pages; JS Materials, CCLA. Includes notations.
Single leaf measuring 3⅜ × 7½ inches (9 × 19 cm). The document was folded once horizontally and once vertically. On an unknown date, the license came into the custody of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ).
Historical Introduction
On 18 December 1841 JS’s clerk filled out a preaching for and signed it on behalf of JS. The license certified that Haws was a member of the , that he had been a high priest, and that he was authorized to preach the gospel. JS authorized hundreds of such licenses every year after church leaders adopted an April 1838 resolution requiring every license to be signed by at least one member of the . Haws’s license is featured here as an example of this type of document issued during this period.
was ordained a high priest on 3 October 1841. Haws’s license may have been issued in December because he was relocating to the church’s lumbering and milling operations in . The license was later recorded in a record book of licenses.