ERIN B. JENNINGS/JESSE GAUSE 183

life are available. However, more sources have now surfaced in refer­ ence to 's former first counselor, with particularly illu­ minating information coming from his extended family. Perhaps the most exciting development is that a comparison of documents and handwriting samples identifies the hitherto unknown THE CoNSEQUENTIAL CoUNSELOR: Scribe A for joseph Smiths New Translation of the Bible2asJesse Gause. REsTORING THE RooT(S) Fromjune 1830 toJuly 1833 Smith dictated biblical revisions to several scribes-, john Whitmer, Emma Smith, , OF jESSE GAUSE and Frederick G. Williams. Now Jesse Gause's name can be added to their number. Between March 8 and 20, 1832, Gause transcribed the revisions that covered what is now known as New Testament manu­ script 2, folio 4, pages 136-49, in the Joseph Smith Translation. Erin B. Jennings But what else is known about the life ofjesse Gause? Even the pro­ nunciation of his surname has been mysterious. U.S. census takers Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have ap­ spelled it phonetically, yielding the following sounds: 1790: Goss, pointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang Gaws; 1800: Gaus; 1810: Goss, Gauze; 1820: Gause, Gauze, Gam; 1830: down, and strengthen the feeble knees. Gaughs; and 1840: Gauze, Gaus.3 It actually rhymes with "laws." And if thou art faithful until the end thou shalt have a I have traced Gause's paternal line back to his great-grandpar­ crown of immortality, and eternal life in the mansions which I ents, Quakers from . (See Appendix.) His paternal grand­ have prepared in the house of my Father. (LDS D&C 81:5-6; parents also lived in Pennsylvania, and so did his parents, although all RLDS D&C 80:1g-lh) five of his father's surviving brothers and sisters moved out of the state, notably to , where Gause himself would encounter .

THANKS TO PAST RESEARCHERS Mario S. De Pillis, Robert]. Woodford, Lyndon W. Cook, and D. Michael Quinn,Jesse Gause and his brief association with Mormonism have not been forgotten.1 Published 2scott H. Faulring, Kent P.Jackson, and Robert]. Matthews, eds.,Jo­ seph Smith's New Translation ofthe Bible (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies articles have indicated that very few resources and documents on his Center, 2004), 529-47. This book is called, variously, the "Holy Scriptures," the "Inspired Version," the "New Translation," and the 'joseph Smith ERIN B. JENNINGS {[email protected]}, is an independ­ Translation," but they all refer to Joseph Smith's revision of the Bible. He ent historian and serves on the John Whitmer Historical Association board read and dictated revisions on an 1828 Phinney edition of the King james (2006-09). Her article "The Whitmer Family Beliefs and Their Church of Translation, which Oliver Cowdery purchased on October 8, 1829, from E. Christ" appeared in Scattering ofthe Saints: Schism within Mormonism, edited B. Grandin in Palmyra, . It is now on display in the Community of by Newell G. Bringhurst and john C. Hamer(Independence:John Whitmer Christ Museum. Scribes took his changes down as he dictated them. The Books, 2007), and.Jesse Gause is a particular research interest of hers. original manuscript for theJoseph Smith Translation is housed in the Com­ I Mario S. De Pillis, "The Development of Mormon Commun­ munity of Christ Library-Archives. itarianism, 1826-1846" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1960), 170-89, 325- 3This pronunciation was verified by Quaker research expert Thomas 27; Robert]. Woodford, 'jesse Gause, Counselor to the Prophet," BYU Stud­ D. Hamm, college archivist and curator of the Friends Collection, Earlham ies 15, no. 3 (Spring 1975): 362-64; Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations ofthe College, Richmond, Indiana; F. Gregory Gause II (Jesse's great-great­ Prophet joseph Smith (Provo, Utah: Seventy's Mission Bookstore, 1981), grandnephew), telephone conversation with me April 20, 2006; and 171-72; D. Michael Quinn, 'jesse Gause: Joseph Smith's Little-Known Yvonne Shilling (Jesse's great-great-grandniece), telephone conversation Counselor," BYU Studies 23, no. 4 (Fall1983): 487-93. with me April 20, 2006.

lQC) ERIN B. jENNINGS/jESSE GAUSE 185

Handwriting sample ofJesse Gause Handwriting sample ofJesse Gause ("records") with superimposed hand­ ("time") with superimposed hand­ writing samples of the unknown writing samples of the unknown scribe in the Joseph Smith Transla­ scribe in the Joseph Smith Transla­ tion ("record"). Both samples depict tion ("time"). the following traits: straight with right slant (slope) of between 40 and 4 5 degrees; narrow to normal letter spacing; and lack of initial tcRLC~ stroke. /2?~~

tk- ,_~ 'L -'-- Handwriting sample ofJesse Gause Handwriting samples ofJesse Gause ("resignation") with superimposed -61/~~ ("same, " "consider") with superim­ handwriting samples of the un­ posed handwriting samples of the known scribe in the Joseph Smith #&n-u--· unknown scribe in the Joseph Smith Translation ("revelation" and "res­ . Translation (''shame," "aside") . urrection"). Both samples depict the c• ~r. c:"'.::..d