JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, created 9 Apr.–7 June 1856 and 20 Aug. 1856–6 Nov. 1856; handwriting of and Jonathan Grimshaw; 304 pages, plus 10 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the final volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This sixth volume covers the period from 1 May to 8 Aug. 1844; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1 through E-1, go through 30 Apr. 1844.
Historical Introduction
History, 1838-1856, volume F-1, constitutes the last of six volumes documenting the life of Joseph Smith and the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series is also known as the Manuscript History of the Church and was originally published serially from 1842 to 1846 and 1851 to 1858 as the “History of Joseph Smith” in the Times and Seasons and Deseret News. This volume contains JS’s history from 1 May 1844 to the events following his 27 June 1844 death, and it was compiled in Utah Territory in 1856.
The material recorded in volume F-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , who was JS’s cousin, and also assistant church historian . Smith collaborated with in collecting material for the volume and creating a set of draft notes, which Smith dictated to Bullock and other clerks. Woodruff gathered additional material concerning the death of Joseph Smith as a supplement to George A. Smith’s work recording that event. Jonathan Grimshaw and , members of the Historian’s Office staff, transcribed the draft notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents.
According to the Historian’s Office journal, Jonathan Grimshaw initiated work on the text of volume F-1 on 9 April 1856, soon after Robert L. Campbell had completed work on volume E-1. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 5 and 9 Apr. 1856.) Grimshaw’s scribal work begins with an entry for 1 May 1844. Unlike previous volumes in which the numbering had run consecutively to page 2028, Grimshaw began anew with page 1. He transcribed 150 pages by June 1856, and his last entry was for 23 June 1844. Though more of his writing does not appear in the volume, he continued to work in the office until 2 August, before leaving for the East that same month. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 2 and 10 Aug. 1856.)
assumed the role of scribe on 20 August 1856. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 20 Aug. 1856.) He incorporated ’s draft notes for the period 24–29 June 1844 on pages 151–189, providing an account of JS’s death and its immediate aftermath. He next transcribed a related extract from ’s 1854 History of Illinois on pages 190–204. Pages 205–227 were left blank.
provided the notes for the final portion of the text. This account begins with an entry for 22 June 1844 and continues the record through 8 August 1844, ending on page 304. (The volume also included ten pages of addenda.) The last specific entry in the Historian’s Office journal that captures at work on the history is for 6 November 1856. A 2 February 1857 Wilford Woodruff letter to indicates that on 30 January 1857, the “presidency sat and heard the history read up to the organization of the church in , 8th. day of August 1844.” (Historian’s Office, Journal, 6 Nov. 1856; Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 2 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 410; see also Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, 28 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, pp. 430–431.)
The pages of volume F-1 contain a record of the final weeks of JS’s life and the events of the ensuing days. The narrative commences with and arriving at , Illinois, on 1 May 1844 from their lumber-harvesting mission in the “” of Wisconsin Territory. As the late spring and summer of 1844 unfold, events intensify, especially those surrounding the suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor in mid-June. Legal action over the Expositor leads to a charge of riot, and subsequently JS is charged with treason and is incarcerated at the jail in , Illinois. The narrative of volume F-1 concludes with an account of the special church conference convened on 8 August 1844 to consider who should assume the leadership of the church.
<June 26> copies of communications forwarded to ; also his letter of the 21st June <which> was sent by and Mr , and his letter of the 22nd, which was sent by and .
Marshall explained about giving passes to persons going in and out of the , and denied that any arrests had been made.
Marshalled the Legion
had no power any thing further
brought here
acted on the State of the Habeas Corpus, and referred to the trial before , which did not satisfy the feelings of the people in and about . The admitted that sufficient time had not been allowed by the posse for the Defendants to get ready or to gather their witnesses, and it can be very safely admitted that your statements are true, and was satisfied now that the people of had acted according to the best of their judgment.
said that it was very evident from the excitement created by Mr Smith’s enemies it would have been unsafe for him to come to , for under such circumstances he could not have had an impartial trial. [HC 6:578]
The said he came here to enforce the laws on all the people whether Mormons or not; and then expressed his feelings about the destruction of the “Expositor Press.”
Joseph Spoke of his imprisonment in , and of the shameful kidnapping of his witnesses, and their being thrust into prison to prevent them from giving their testimony in his favor.
spoke of the Constitution.
Joseph said we were willing to pay for the press, as he did not want the owners to suffer any loss by it, neither did he wish such a libellous paper to be published in . As for calling out the Nauvoo Legion; if it was intended to resist the Government of the it would be treason, but as they believed they were endeavoring to defend themselves, and had no such intention as to resist the Government it was all right.
10¼ A. M. The left, after saying that the prisoners were under his protection, and again pledging himself that they should be protected from violence, and telling them that if the troops marched the next morning to as he then expected, they should probably be taken along, in order to insure their personal safety; with how much sincerity may be seen by the following affidavits:
Territory of Utah)
SS
Great Salt Lake County)
“Personally appeared before me, , Recorder of Great Salt Lake County, , who deposes and says that about ten o’clock on the morning of the (26) twenty-sixth of <day> June one thousand eight hundred and forty four he was in , Hancock County, Illinois, and as the troops under Governor were in squads round the square, he went up to several of them, and heard one of the Soldiers say ‘when I left home I calculated to see old Joe dead before I returned’, when several others said ‘so did <I>’, ‘so did I,’ and ‘I’ll be damned if I don’t’ was the general reply. One fellow then [p. 164]