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Affidavit, 21 June 1844

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Affidavit, 21 June 1844

Source Note

JS, Affidavit, before , , Hancock Co., IL, 21 June 1844; sealed by . Featured version copied [21 June 1844]; handwriting of and ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets, redactions, use mark, notations, and archival marking.
Single leaf measuring 9⅝ × 7¾ inches (24 × 20 cm) and ruled with twenty-six printed horizontal lines (now faded) on the recto and twenty-seven on the verso. The recto is also ruled vertically with a single line on the left side. A rectangular embossment containing a shield with horses on either side appears in the top left corner of the recto. The document was folded and was later refolded for filing. There is some separation along one of the folds.
A docket and filing notation were inscribed on the affidavit by , who served as a clerk for JS in 1844. The affidavit was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. The notation “A. J” was added to the document by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. By 1973 the affidavit had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets, its notations, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. See JS History, vol. F-1, 133; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 213–214; Source Note for Ordinance, 10 June 1844; and Source Note for Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844.

  2. Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.

    Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 21 June 1844, JS swore an affidavit before , the city recorder in , Hancock County, Illinois, declaring that had warned him of a plot against his life. JS created this affidavit in response to a letter governor sent him earlier that day. Ford had traveled to , Hancock County, to investigate the troubles surrounding the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor’s press on 10 June. After arriving in Carthage, Ford wrote the Nauvoo City Council, acknowledging that he “ought to hear the allegations and defences of all parties” and requesting that it send “one or more well informed and discreet persons, who will be capable of laying before me your version of the matter.”
In response to ’s request, the City Council met on 21 June and compiled a number of affidavits, each of which referenced threats against JS, other individual members of the , or the citizens of Nauvoo generally. Because the governor’s messengers were anxious to return to , the city council sent Ford only the affidavits that had been prepared before 21 June, along with an explanatory letter from JS. Although originally intended to accompany the governor’s emissaries to , he instead remained in Nauvoo to prepare additional documents, including the 21 June 1844 affidavit given by JS.
In his affidavit, JS recounted that warned him during the previous month about a plot to take his life. On 27 May, JS traveled from to to answer indictments for perjury and adultery. , who was also JS’s “private se[c]retary & historian,” recorded in JS’s journal that Foster joined JS’s group on the way to Carthage and had “consderabl [considerable] conversati[o]n” with JS. Foster, who had previously been hostile toward JS, “appeared more mild than he had done and as though he was almost persuaded. he had been influen[ce]d by false reports. to some extent.” Once in Carthage, JS and his party stopped at ’s , where Foster took JS aside “in a private room” and cautioned him that “there was a conspiracy again[s]t [his] life.”
presumably carried JS’s affidavit to on 22 June, but it is unclear if Ford read it. JS’s original affidavit is not extant. and , clerks for JS, made a copy of the affidavit that was apparently retained among JS’s papers. This retained copy is featured here.

Footnotes

  1. Letter from Thomas Ford, 21 June 1844.

  2. Minutes, 21 June 1844.

  3. William Clayton, Daily Account of JS’s Activities, 14–22 June 1844; JS, Journal, 21 June 1844; Letter to Thomas Ford, 21 June 1844; Clayton, Journal, 21 June 1844.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  4. On the same day he recorded JS’s affidavit, Richards also recorded an affidavit by John P. Greene. In this document, Greene related a conversation he had with Robert D. Foster on 27 May 1844 at Artois Hamilton’s hotel during which Foster warned him that JS’s life was in danger. It is likely that both JS’s and Greene’s affidavits were sworn after seven o’clock in the evening, when John Taylor and John M. Bernhisel left for Carthage with the first batch of affidavits. (JS, Journal, 21 June 1844; Minutes, 21 June 1844; Richards, Journal, 21 June 1844; John P. Greene, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 21 June 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL; John Taylor, Statement, 23 Aug. 1856, 17, Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, CHL.)

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  5. Clayton, Journal, 23 May 1844; JS, Journal, 25 and 27 May 1844.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  6. JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.

  7. JS, Journal, 27 May 1844.

  8. Letter to Thomas Ford, 22 June 1844. Richards was going to carry the second batch of affidavits, which likely included JS’s, to Carthage, but Woodworth carried them in his stead. (JS, Journal, 22 June 1844.)

  9. See JS History, vol. F-1, 133; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 213–214; Source Note for Ordinance, 10 June 1844; and Source Note for Military Order to Jonathan Dunham, 10 June 1844. A docket on the verso of the retained copy indicates it was filed on 21 June.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
Affidavit, 21 June 1844
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page [1]

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Copy
June 20 21th 1844
State of Illinois)
County of Hancock)
City of )
Personally appeared Joseph Smith, before me Recorder of the city of and after being duly sworn deposeth and saith that while at at in the aforesaid on or about the 27th. day of May 1844, whither deponent had gone to transact business in the circuit court of the aforesaid, took deponent into a [illegible] <​private​> room and told deponent there was a conspiracy against the life of deponent, and that deponent had not better go out if he did his blood would be shed. said he was deponents friend, and did not want to see blood shed.
Joseph Smith.
Sworn & subscribed this 21st. May <​day​> of June 1844, before me.
Recorder of the city of
L. S [1/4 page blank] [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Affidavit, 21 June 1844
ID #
1429
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • John McEwan
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. John McEwan handwriting begins.

  2. John McEwan handwriting ends; Willard Richards begins.

  3. Willard Richards handwriting ends; John McEwan begins.

  4. JS’s journal confirms that this event took place on 27 May 1844. (JS, Journal, 27 May 1844.)

  5. Carthage was the seat of Hancock County and the location of the county circuit court. The Illinois legislature mandated that the Hancock County Circuit Court convene for its May term on the third Monday of May each year. In 1844 the third Monday fell on 20 May. The May term concluded on 30 May. (Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 236; “We Have Just Returned from Carthage,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 29 May 1844, [2]; Clayton, Journal, 23 May 1844; JS, Journal, 25 and 27 May 1844; An Act to Change the Time of Holding Courts in the Fifth Judicial Circuit [4 Mar. 1843], Laws of the State of Illinois [1842–1843], p. 136, sec. 1; “Circuit Court,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [3].)

    Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    General Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eighteenth General Assembly, Convened January 3, 1853. Springfield: Lanphier and Walker, 1853.

  6. Foster’s relationship with JS in 1844 was tumultuous. (See Historical Introduction to Pleas, ca. 27 May 1844.)

  7. John McEwan handwriting ends; Willard Richards begins.

  8. Willard Richards handwriting ends; John McEwan begins.

  9. John McEwan handwriting ends; Willard Richards begins.

  10. TEXT: “L. S” (which stands for locus sigilli, Latin for “location of the seal”) is enclosed within a hand-drawn representation of a seal.

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