The following
is a list of the
scribes who penned or revised documents in Revelation
Books 1 and 2. Other people
who inscribed
material not associated with the original purpose of the manuscript
books are not identified in this directory. These entries identify
scribes by complete name (correctly spelled), along with birth and death
dates. The entries also have links to individual biography pages
with additional information, such as parentage and
birthplace, migrations and places of residence, dates of marriage and
names of spouses, occupation and denominational affiliation, religious
and civic positions, and place of death.
Because
unverified and sometimes incorrect data has been recirculated for
decades, professional genealogists on the staff of the Joseph Smith
Papers Project have utilized original sources whenever
possible.
Following each scribe who penned substantial
sections of the manuscript is a description of his most problematic
handwriting characteristics. Ambiguous or unusual habits of the scribes
are explained to help readers understand how certain characteristics
have been transcribed. These descriptions refer to specific lines in the
manuscript books that contain examples of these handwriting
characteristics. The line numbering starts with the first line of text,
not with the page number, and the page numbers refer to original
manuscript page numbers.
No such description is included for scribes who simply made editorial
corrections.
(3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850).
Handwriting characteristics: The shape of
Cowdery’s s often indicates whether it is
uppercase or lowercase (see “Servant,” line 24, and “servant,” line 25,
p. 113, Revelation Book
1). Comparing the size of the letter to surrounding letters
also helps distinguish the two (see “Sidney,” line 6, and “spirit,” line
29, p. 124, Revelation
Book 1). The difference between C and
c is also determined by comparing the size of
the letter to surrounding letters (see “Comforter,” line 15, and
“churches,” line 16, p. 169, Revelation
Book 1).
(8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878). Handwriting characteristics: Hyde does not always
break a word at the end of the line, but rather forces the word in by
writing small and illegibly. If counting the strokes of such words
accounts for the correct number of letters in the word, the words are
transcribed as if Hyde used all the correct letters (see “because,” line
18, p. 56, and
“temples,” line 1, p. 58, Revelation Book
2). His o and a
are at times indistinguishable, as are his r and
e (see “continue,” line 10, p. 60, and
“obtained,” line 15, p. 110, Revelation
Book 2; see “there,” line 24, p. 59, and
“Behold,” line 19, p. 110, Revelation
Book 2). The transcription renders these ambiguous characters
according to the sense of the word.
(17 Feb.
1792–7 Mar. 1872).
(19 Feb. 1793–14 July
1876).
Smith, Joseph (23 Dec. 1805–27 June 1844); for biographical
information, see “Joseph Smith and His Papers: An
Introduction” and Timeline of Joseph Smith’s
Life. Handwriting characteristics: JS’s handwriting is
similar to that of Frederick G. Williams. His J
and j are indistinguishable; modern usage
prevails when the difference is unclear (see “Jr,” line 34, p. 1, “judge,”
line 25, p. 14, and
“justifyable,” line 11, p. 67, Revelation Book
2).
(27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878).
Handwriting characteristics: Whitmer’s a and o are usually
indistinguishable; modern usage prevails when the difference is unclear
(see “spoken,” line 2, p. 27, and
“command,” line 21, p. 33, Revelation Book
1). At times his s and r are also indistinguishable (see “treasures,”
line 22, p. 107, and
“creatures,” line 6, p. 146, Revelation
Book 1). The difference between S and
s is usually determined by comparing the size
of the letter to surrounding letters (see “should,” line 3, “Servent,”
line 4, and “Sidney,” line 4, p. 62, Revelation Book
1). The difference between C and c is usually determined by the shape of the
letter (see “Church,” line 4, “Christ,” line 5, and “continue,” line 11,
p. 104, Revelation Book
1). Occasionally Whitmer writes what looks like a backwards
comma. This mark sometimes functions as a comma or a period but other
times is simply a random mark. When the mark serves as punctuation, it
has been transcribed; when it is random, it has not been included in the
transcription.
(28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842). Handwriting
characteristics: Williams’s handwriting is similar to JS’s.
Some words, such as those ending in er, are not
finished (see “fathe,” line 5, p. 4, and
“neithe,” line 8, p. 5, Revelation Book
2). However, small strokes written for letters are transcribed
as if they were letters (see “neither,” line 27, p. 27, “over,”
line 1, p. 34, and “the,”
line 1, p. 35, Revelation Book
2). The s ending certain words is
sometimes written only as a slight mark but is rendered herein as the
s it would represent in standard usage (see
“things,” line 15, p. 11, and
“priests,” lines 30 and 32, p. 5, Revelation Book
2). The long ʃ often used in
nineteenth-century handwriting to represent the first s of a double s is sometimes used as a
single s (see “Jesus,” line 36, p. 6, and
“Joseph,” line 3, p. 18, Revelation Book
2). No attempt has been made to typographically represent
these letters. Williams’s J and j are indistinguishable (see “Jesus,” line 14, p. 5, “just,”
line 16, p. 5, and “Jews,”
line 3, p. 23, Revelation Book
2), as are, at times, his J and I (compare “I,” line 4, and “I,” line 14, p. 52, Revelation Book
2, with “Jews,” line 28, and “Joseph,” line 31, p. 52, Revelation Book
2). Modern usage prevails in such cases. His C and c are often very similar, usually
distinguishable only by a tail at the bottom of the C that spirals back on itself before forming the next letter
(compare “church,” line 9, and “Church,” line 11, p. 16, Revelation Book
2, with “Councellor,” line 25, and “counceller,” line 26, p. 32, Revelation Book
2).