History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844]
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Source Note
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.
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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.
July 14 all nations
“Sunday 14 Held three meetings, ordained 28 elders: we enjoyed ourselves well, and had an excellent conference.”
Elders and went to meeting in and read the account of the massacre, to the Saints, who all felt very sorrowful, and agreed to dress in mourning in token of their love and respect for the martyred Prophets.
recorded “O Lord how can we part with our dear brethren.— O Lord save thy servants the Twelve.”
The Saints in met in the Franklin Hall: the house was crowded to overflowing, and many could not get into the room. Numbers who had not been in the habit of attending the meetings came to see what course the Saints would pursue, now their leaders were slain. Elder , being the only one of the Twelve in the , addressed the Saints during the day, and also in the evening. He preached in the forenoon from Rev. 6th chap. 9. 10 and 11 verses; in the afternoon from Rev. 14 chap. 6. 7. and 8 verses; and in the evening on the Parable of the Fig tree, as recorded by Luke in 21st chap., and in connection read some of the revelations given through the martyred prophet of our day. The spirit of the Lord rested powerfully upon the speaker and the Saints, and their hearts were comforted.
15 Monday 15. Elders , , , and the Bishops with many brethren, assembled to organize a [HC 7:185] company of fishermen to supply the with fish: 28 volunteered, with 8 boats and skiffs.
was appointed President, John S. Higbee and Peter Shirts counselors.
The Times and Seasons has the following Editorial:—
“The Murder
“Gen. Joseph Smith, who was murdered in cool blood, in Jail, on Thursday, the 27th day of June, was one of the best men that ever lived on the earth. The work he has thus far performed, towards establishing pure religion, and preparing the way for the great gathering of Israel, in the short space of twenty years since the time when the angel of the Lord made known his mission and gave him power to move the cause of Zion, exceed anything of the kind on record. Without learning, without means and without experience, he has met a learned world, a rich century, a hard hearted, wicked and adulterous generation, with truth that could not be resisted, facts that could not be disproved, revelations, whose spirit had so much God in them that the servants of the Lord could not be gainsaid or resisted, but like the rays of light from the sun; they have tinged every thing they lit upon with a lustre and livery which has animated, quickened and adorned.
“The pages of Gen. Smith’s history, though his enemies never ceased to persecute him and hunt for offences against him, are as unsullied as virgin snow; on about fifty prosecutions for supposed criminal offences, he came out of the legal fire, heated like Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, seven times hotter than it was wont to be, without the smell of fire, or a thread of his garments scorched. [p. 267]
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