| 722 Reorganization, where he occupied an honorable position in the councils of the church, a "blessing unto many people."
According to the Millennial Star, volume 16, page 183, a revelation was given to William Marks and N. K. Whitney, on July 8,1838, commanding them to settle up their business in Kirtland, Ohio, speedily, and remove to Missouri.
Of William Marks, this communication says: "Let my servant William Marks be faithful over a few things, and he shall be made ruler over many. Let him preside in the midst of my people in the city Far West, and let him be blessed with the blessings of my people."
After the church was driven from Missouri, Elder Marks, with others, believed it unwise to again settle in a body, and advocated the propriety of scattering abroad and building up homes individually, where each one should choose.
In February, 1839, a twenty thousand acre tract of land was offered the church in Iowa Territory, between the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers, at two dollars per acre, to be paid in twenty annual installments, without interest. A committee was appointed, who reported favorably on the propriety of making the purchase, but the proposition was defeated through the opposition of Elder William Marks, Bishop Edward Partridge, and Judge Elias Higbee. Had this tract of land been purchased at that time it is probable that the history of Nauvoo would never have been written. What effect the influence of William Marks had upon the destinies of the church, at this critical moment, whether for weal or for woe, eternity alone can disclose.
On October 8, 1839, a stake of Zion was organized at Commerce (afterwards Nauvoo), Illinois, and William Marks was chosen president of the stake, and of the High Council, which position he held through all the peaceful and troublous times in Nauvoo until after the death of Joseph Smith, in 1844.
February 1, 1841, at the first election held under the new and famous Charter of Nauvoo, William Marks was elected an alderman. He acted as Chief Justice of the Municipal Court of Nauvoo, in the memorable habeas corpus trial of
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