Person:Josiah Butterfield (1)

Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 333V-L9 Josiah Butterfield resided at Buxton, York, Maine, from 1820 to 1830. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 1 October 1833 in Maine, being baptized by John F. Boynton. He then moved to Kirland, Geauga, Ohio, where he attended a meeting on 8 March 1835 and was blessed for having assisted in the building of the Kirtland Temple. Josian was ordained an elder, a seventy (1836), and a high priest. He served on the Kirtland high council and worked on the Kirtland temple. He was selected as one of the president of the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 6, 1937 (1838) by Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith. He served in that position until 1844. Josiah helped lead the Kirtland Poor Camp to Missouri. As they traveled to Missouri he was arrested by a county sheriff near Mansfield, Richland, Ohio, and jailed because of his connection with the Kirtland Safety Society. He fled from Missouri because of the Extermination Order and and convenanted to assist the poor to remove from Missouri.

He was called on a mission to Main in April 1844 but "on account of the neglect of duty and for other causes" charged against him, he was expelled from the church. His excommunication resulted in an argument he had with Joseph Smith over the estate of his second wife. (Margaret Lawrence) Due to the money he received he became "lifted up" because of his financial status. Josiah was accused of neglecting his duties as a member of the First Cuncil of Seventies and was excommunicated on 7 October 1844 at a General Conference held at Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. Jedediah M. Grant was apointed to take his place in the Quorum. Josiah was baptized a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 1 May 1865 at Watsonville, Santa Cruz, California, by Glaud Rodger. He was confirmed by Harvey G. Whitlock. He was ordained an elder in Watsonville land served as president of the Watsonville, California Branch. During a journey to California, he stopped at Fort Herriman, Salt Lake, Utah, where he explained to his nephew, Thomas Butterfield, "that his faith in Mormonism was a strong as ever".

Source: Early Reorganized Minutes, 1852-1871, Book A, pp 393,543 Saints" Herald Obituaries, 1871, p.222 The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, pp. 117,125,609 RLDS Church History, volume 2 RLDS Church History, volume 3

This information taken from LDS Family History Suite 2, LDS Vital Records Library.

Early LDS Church Records, Quoted in LDS Collectors's Libary '97 shows his original endowment on January 20, 1846 in the Nauvoo Temple. He resided in Buxton, York, Maine 1820-1830, Kirtland Ohio 1834, Bear Creek, Adams, Illinois 1839, California 1853.

He may have had another wife, Nellie Easterby b. 15 Oct 1861.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Josiah Butterfield.

1. ↑ LDS Vital Records Library. (Infobases).

   Date shown as 3 March 1871 in The Revelations of Joseph Smith, Cook, Lyndon 1981. (Quoted in LDS Collectors Library, Early LDS Church Records)

2.   Josiah Butterfield, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
3. ↑ Dunstable, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Dunstable, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1913)
   p. 18.

   BUTTERFIELD, Josiah, s. Abel and Mercy, [born] Mar. 13, 1795. NR