Algernon Sidney Gilbert

There is another photo under the Media Tab above which was found on the following website. It is described as the home of Algernon Sidney Gilbert..."Log Courthouse, Kansas Avenue...This building was constructed as the first county courthouse in 1827 by slave labor. It served as the home and store of Mormon merchant Algernon Sidney Gilbert in 1832. The building was moved to this location in 1918."

http://www.farwesthistory.com/indep/default.asp

From the following blog:http://asidneygilbert.blogspot.com/

Algernon Sidney Gilbert, of Kirtland Ohio and Jackson County, Missouri:

Algernon Sidney Gilbert is one of the noble servants of God, whose accomplishments and service to others have been largely unnoticed by historians and students of Church History. This was pointed out by William Grant Bangeter in his preface to an excellent History of Brother Gilbert, published in 1989, by his wife Geraldine Hamblin Bangeter and Susan Easton Black. This book, entitled MY SERVANT ALGERNON SIDNEY GILBERT: PROVIDE FOR MY SAINTS, is available at the LDS Family History Center; but not widely available otherwise.

Elder Bangeter pointed out four aspects or situations of Sidney's life that may have contributed to his being over looked by historians:

■First, that his role in the church was relatively brief; from the first part of February 1831, to June 29, 1834, just three years and four months.

■Second, that he and his wife Elizabeth Van Benthuysen Gilbert, were childless and had no posterity to perpetuate their memory. However they took into their home a various times, Elizabeth's Sister, Keziah Keturah Van Benthuysen Rollins, and her children, James Henry, Mary Elizabeth, and Caroline Amelia. The first named author, of the above book, Geraldine Hamblin Bangeter, is a descendant of James Henry Rollins.

■Third, When the Gilbert and Whitney Store in Kirtland, Ohio was restored, it was restored as the Newel K. Whitney Store. When I asked Sister Florence Smith Jacobsen, who was involved with the restoration, why the "Gilbert" was left off the name, she indicated that a great deal was known about Bishop Newel K. Whitney, but not much was know about Brother Gilbert. Newell K. Whitney stayed in Kirtland to operate the store in Kirtland, Brother Girlbert was called to Missouri to operate the Lord's Storehouse in Missouri; hence Gilbert was associated with Missouri and Whitney was associated with Kirtland in the minds of historians.

Fourth, When Zions Camp traveled with the Prophet Joseph Smith from Kirtland to Missouri in 1834 the Storehouse in Missouri had been ransacked. Joseph called A. Sidney Gilbert to go on a mission to preach the gospel to the gentiles.

It is said that A. Sidney Gilbert was a gifted writer but was not one to be a public speaker, and that he replied, "Oh Joseph, I would rather die." He soon afterward died of Cholera. One of the brethren suggested that "the Lord took him at his word".

These circumstances seem to have suggested to some that Brother Gilbert was a less than faithful member of the church. One of the purposes of the above book was to "portray the devotion and faithfulness of Brother Gilbert" in service to the church.

From the following website: http://www.mormonwiki.com/Sidney_Gilbert

Algernon Sidney Gilbert was a leader in the LDS Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in the early days of the restoration. He was born on December 28, 1789, in New Haven, Connecticut, to Eli Gilbert and Lydia Hemingway. After owning a store in Michigan, Gilbert purchased a 2,500 square foot store in Mentor, Ohio, in 1820. Newell K. Whitney worked in the store and learned the business, until some time in 1821.

Gilbert married Elizabeth van Benthuysen of Chagrin in 1823, and the store failed shortly thereafter. Gilbert lost the store, but rented it back. By 1827, he had relocated in Kirtland, Ohio. Gilbert moved into N. K. Whitney's red store in Kirtland as partner in N. K. Whitney and Company.

Gilbert and his wife were Methodists at the time, but they joined the LDS Church in 1831. Gilbert was ordained an Elder in the Church and called to be a church agent to travel to Missouri with the Prophet, Joseph Smith. Gilbert moved to Independence, Missouri, and he operated a store there. In December of 1832 Gilbert wrote a letter to Kirtland that offended church leaders. In January, Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith replied on behalf of a conference of high priests that included the presidency of the High Priesthood. They reproved Sidney Gilbert for "blind insinuations," "pretensions to holiness," and "covetousness." Gilbert is mentioned several times in the Doctrine and Covenants. In section 90, the Lord said, "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."

In July, 1833, a gathering of Jackson county citizens declared that Mormons must leave the county immediately. They presented their demands to W. W. Phelps, Sidney Gilbert, and Bishop Edward Partridge, who asked for time to consult with other leaders in Missouri and Ohio. The mob razed the printing press office and forced Sidney to close the store. They tarred and feathered Edward Partridge and Charles Allen. W. W. Phelps, Edward Partridge, John Corrill, John Whitmer, Isaac Morley, and Sidney Gilbert met a few days later with the Jackson County citizens' committee and offered themselves as a ransom for the Church. They said they were "willing to be scourged or die, if that would appease their anger toward the church." Instead, the citizens agreed to stop the violence, and the Mormons agreed to leave the county by April 1, 1834.

But the Missouri citizens pre-empted the leave date promised by the Saints and agreed to by the committee. On November 4, 1833, a mob destroyed a portion of Sidney's home, and they threw store goods into the street. Gilbert intervened, restraining one citizen. The mobber then filed a complaint for assault and false imprisonment. Sidney and others were jailed for a day, then released. Sidney fled to Liberty in Clay County, where he established another store.

The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith (Doctrine and Covenants, section 101) that the Saints driven out of Independence should not sell the property they owned there, but that they should retain it. Gilbert had abandoned his store in Independence. In June of 1834 Gilbert was called to receive the endowment ordinance in the Kirtland Temple, help gather the Saints, and proclaim the gospel until Zion was redeemed, but Gilbert said he couldn't do it. Many of the men who led the Church repeatedly made huge sacrifices to fulfill the Lord's requests through His Prophet, but Gilbert stopped short of this one.

That summer, the Prophet organized Zion's Camp at the command of the Lord. The brethren who were willing to participate left their families in Kirtland during planting season and set off with the Prophet to reclaim Zion in Missouri. The Lord absolved them of the duty at the last minute, but those who went not only sat at the Prophet's feet to be taught for weeks, but faced all sorts of trials that the Lord called an "Abrahamic sacrifice," qualifying themselves for the greatest blessings and responsibilities of the kingdom.

On June 25, 1834, Zion's Camp reached Sidney Gilbert's property in Liberty, Missouri, and camped on the low lands of Rush Creek. That night the camp was struck by cholera. Several died in agony, those being dissenters against the authority of Joseph Smith. Sidney Gilbert himself had become a dissenter. 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). Gilbert died on June 29, 1834, near Fishing River, Clay County, Missouri.

Elder B. H. Roberts wrote of Brother Gilbert, “The remarks in the body of the history, and this expression from Elder Kimball’s journal are liable to create a misunderstanding concerning Brother Algernon Sidney Gilbert, than whom the Lord has had few more devoted servants in this dispensation” ( History of the Church, 2:118n). Gilbert had sacrificed his property more than once, but he had a fear of preaching the gospel.

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From this website: http://saintswithouthalos.com/b/gilbert_as.phtml

Algernon Sidney Gilbert (1789–1834): 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. Died June 29, 1834, near Fishing River, Clay county, Missouri.

Father: Eli Gilbert, Mother: Lydia Hemingway. September 10, 1818, purchases a small lot for a store near the harbor in Monroe, Michigan. 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.

Marries September 29, 1823, Elizabeth van Benthuysen of Chagrin. Mentor store fails.

January 29, 1824, arranges to transfer store and property to mortgage holder, rents from them until April 1825.

Sells two-story brick home in Mentor September 8, 1826. The subscriber is authorized by Messrs. Vanderwoot and 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

September 8, 1826. Store in Kirtland [Early 1827] moves into Newell K. Whitney's red store in Kirtland as partner in N. K. Whitney and Company.

Rollins family: 1828 Elizabeth Gilbert's widowed sister, Keziah Ketura Van Benthuysen Rollins, and her three children, James Henry, Mary Elizabeth and Caroline, move to Kirtland and live with the Gilbert's in the Red Store belonging to Newell K. Whitney.

Mary Elizabeth Rollins (1818–1913) would become a plural wife of The Prophet Joseph Smith 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: has "spring 1831." However, Papers 2:548 has 1830; Revelations, 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.

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, Missouri.

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).

 	 1831–1833 operates store  in Independence, Missouri. 	  	 April 26, 1832 ordained a high priest by Joseph Smith.  Minutes of April 26, 1832.

April 26, 1832 United Firm is organized in Independence by revelation and covenant between Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, A. Sidney Gilbert, Edward Partridge, N. K. Whitney, John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps, and Martin Harris.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

June 23, 1834 called to receive the Kirtland endowment, help gather the Saints, and proclaim the gospel until Zion is redeemed but says he "cannot do it."

	 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. 	  	

On the 26th, Algernon Sidney Gilbert, keeper of the Lord's Store House, signed a letter to the Governor, in connection 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.

Sidney's brother also died of cholera, on Oct. 26, 1832, in St. Louis.

 	  	 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. 	  	

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."

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.

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.

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.

 		 	  	 Wife:  Elizabeth Van Benthusen, married September 30, 1823, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

More information can be found on this website:

http://institute.lds.org/manuals/Doctrine-and-Covenants-institute-s...

The following info was taken from this website:

http://josephsmithpapers.org/person/algernon-sidney-gilbert

Gilbert, Algernon Sidney

Biography

28 Dec. 1789–29 June 1834. Merchant. Born at New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Eli Gilbert and Lydia Hemingway. Moved to Huntington, Fairfield Co., Connecticut; to Monroe, Monroe Co., Michigan, by Sept. 1818; to Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio; and to Mentor, Geauga Co., ca. Oct. 1820. Married Elizabeth Van Benthusen, 30 Sept. 1823, in Chagrin (later Willoughby), Geauga Co. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., 1826.7 Partner with Newel K. Whitney in N. K. Whitney & Co. store at Kirtland, by 1827. Appointed elector, 8 Oct. 1827, in Kirtland. Baptized into LDS church, spring 1831. Ordained an elder by JS, 6 June 1831, in Kirtland. Moved to Independence, Jackson Co., Missouri, 1831, and opened a store. Appointed bishop’s agent, 1831. Ordained a high priest by JS, 26 Apr. 1832, in Kirtland. Appointed one of seven high priests to preside over church affairs in Missouri, 26 Apr. 1832. Served mission to eastern U.S., June–Dec. 1832. Arrested, 4 Nov. 1833, and imprisoned for seven days at Independence. Among Latter-day Saints driven from Jackson Co. into Clay Co., Missouri, Nov. 1833. Hosted men of Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri, 1834. Died of cholera near Rush Creek, Clay Co.

From the following website: http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/dc-in/dc-in-051.htm

A Call to Sidney Gilbert to Forsake the World

There is little information on Algernon Sidney Gilbert before he was introduced to the gospel in 1830. He was then the senior partner in the successful mercantile firm of Gilbert and Whitney in Kirtland, Ohio.

Sometime after he joined the Church, he was ordained an elder and sent to Missouri to buy land and operate a small store. When mob violence broke loose, Sidney Gilbert closed his store upon request and helped appease the mob temporarily. On 23 July 1833 he, with others, offered himself as a ransom for the Saints.

He was devoted and faithful and sacrificed all of his goods during the persecutions in Missouri. He lacked confidence in his ability to preach, however, and, according to some reports, he said he “would rather die than go forth to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.” Ironically, he later contracted cholera and died. Heber C. Kimball recorded in his journal that “the Lord took him at his word.” Elder B. H. Roberts wrote of Brother Gilbert, “The remarks in the body of the history, and this expression from Elder Kimball’s journal are liable to create a misunderstanding concerning Brother Algernon Sidney Gilbert, than whom the Lord has had few more devoted servants in this dispensation”.

Joseph Smith received section 53 in answer to the request of Sidney Gilbert, who desired to know what he was to do in the Church. The revelation came during a time of great excitement. A spiritual conference had ended, and many were assigned to go to Missouri and there receive further instructions from the Lord. In this revelation Algernon Sidney Gilbert was also called to go to Missouri and help with the work there as the bishop’s agent over the storehouse.

Sidney Gilbert was directed to become an elder and then to use that office in preaching faith, repentance, and the remission of sins, but his feelings of inadequacy in preaching the gospel prevented him from fully responding to the call. There is, however, an account of his successful missionary labors among his friends and family in Huntington, Connecticut (see History of the Church, 2:119).

From the following website: http://www.gospeldoctrine.com/DoctrineandCovenants/DC%2053.htm

Biographical Sketch: Algernon Sidney Gilbert - Algernon Sidney Gilbert… was in the Church for only four years. He became a member in the year 1830 and died June 1834. Before he joined the Church he was a merchant in Painesville, Ohio, but later in Kirtland, he was the business partner of Newel K. Whitney. It was into their store that the Prophet Joseph Smith entered and introduced himself to Brother Whitney.

A few months after the arrival of the Prophet and his party in Ohio, Brother Gilbert requested that the Prophet inquire of the Lord concerning his place in the kingdom. Section 53 was received in reply to this request. After this revelation was received, in which Brother Gilbert was commanded to accompany the Prophet and others to Missouri, these brethren left Kirtland on June 19, 1831, for the west. By this same revelation Brother Gilbert was appointed keeper of the Lord's storehouse. Later this call was to receive ‘moneys, to be an agent unto the Church, to buy land in all the regions about . . . in righteousness and . . . wisdom.’ In addition, he was to establish a store, the profits of which were to be used for the building up of Zion.

In July 1833, a mob of about five hundred threatened the Saints of Independence, Missouri, with whippings, the same cruel treatment which they had administered to a number of the brethren not long before this. Six of the leading brethren, including Algernon S. Gilbert and William W. Phelps, offered themselves as a ransom for the Church, even to allow themselves to be whipped to death, if necessary. These six brethren agreed that they would arrange for the Saints to leave Jackson County as soon as possible. In this transaction, Brother Gilbert and John Corrill were to remain longer than the rest of the Saints to finish the business of the Church in that area.” (Roy W. Doxey, The Doctrine and Covenants Speaks [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1964], 1: 387-388.)

B. H. Roberts

The New Dispensation has had few men more devoted to its interests than Algernon Sidney Gilbert; and few men of keener intellect and larger capacity. He was a man of rare good sense, conservative and of sound judgment. All of which appears in the many communications drawn up in Missouri by him during the troublous times through which the church passed in those days. Much of the correspondence between the Missouri brethren and Governor Dunklin was the work of Elder Gilbert, and it bears witness to the truth of what is here said of him… Such a character and such a career as that of Algernon Sidney Gilbert dignifies the cause to which he devoted the energies of his manhood, and is worthy of honorable mention in the pages of its history. (A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930], vol. 1, chap. XXIX, footnote 7)

If one has his calling and election made sure, then certainly another can be unsure about his calling and election. If one can speak by the more sure word of prophecy, then certainly another can speak by the less sure word of prophecy. Like all of us, Sidney Gilbert had received his calling and election in the church. He had been both called and chosen to serve in the Church. However, at this stage of his discipleship, that calling and election would have been unsure—meaning that his receipt of the promised reward still depended upon his faithfulness.

When Joseph Smith departed for Missouri, Sidney Gilbert, with his wife and five others, went with him and labored in that land as an agent assisting the bishop.” (Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 1: The Doctrine and Covenants [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989], 229.)

Sidney Gilbert was called to serve as a land agent for the Saints; he was to establish a merchandising store in that community and use the profits from this business to purchase land upon which the Saints could settle.” (Milton V. Backman, Jr., The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830-1838 [Salt Lake City: Desert Book Co., 1983], 67 - 69.)

Although Sidney Gilbert was faithful in many things (at one point he, along with Isaac Morley, offered his life as a ransom for his fellow Saints), he lacked confidence in his ability to preach the gospel and died soon after turning down a mission call. The Lord had previously counseled Brother Gilbert, ‘Ye should learn that he only is saved who endureth unto the end.’

The Prophet Joseph commented on Brother Gilbert's turning down his mission call and on his subsequent death by saying, ‘He had been called to preach the Gospel, but had been known to say that he would rather die than go forth to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Elder Heber C. Kimball remarked, The Lord took him [Sidney Gilbert] at his word. (Daniel K. Judd in Doctrines for Exaltation: The 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants, Susan Easton Black et al., [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989], 118.)

Yet Elder Gilbert's remark did not arise out of any lack of faith in the truth of God's great latter-day work, but from a native diffidence and lack of confidence in his ability to preach the gospel; and, of course, a dread of the hardness of heart and the unbelieving minds of those to whom he would be sent. (A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930], vol. 1, chap. XXIX, footnote 7)

George Q. Cannon:

It was about the 22nd day of June, 1834, when the cholera appeared in Zion's Camp at Fishing River. During the next week it raged in the midst of the party. Sixty-eight of the Saints were attacked and thirteen of them died. Among the fatal cases was that of Algernon Sidney Gilbert, a man of talent and many good works, though not always able to subdue self. Just before the destroyer seized him, the Prophet called him to journey to Kirtland to receive there his endowments and from there to proclaim the everlasting gospel of redemption. Elder Gilbert's answer was: “I would rather die than go forth to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.” When he thus answered the Prophet of God he was full of strength and health; but in a few hours after the scourge had breathed upon him he was dead. (The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986], 182 - 183.)