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.
August 7 successor of Joseph. The kingdom is to be built up to Jesus Christ through Joseph: there must be revelation still. The martyred prophet is still the head of this Church; every quorum should stand as you stood in your washings and consecrations. I have been consecrated a spokesman to Joseph and I was commanded to speak for him: the Church is not disorganized though our head is gone. We may have a diversity of feelings on this matter, I have been called to be a spokesman unto Joseph, and I want to build up the Church unto him, and if the people want me to sustain this place, I [HC 7:229] want it upon the principle that every individual shall acknowledge it for himself. I propose to be a guardian to the people— in this I have discharged my duty, and done what God has commanded me, and the people can please themselves whether they accept me or not.”
Prest. said:—
“I do not care who leads the Church, even though it were Ann Lee, but one thing I must know, and that is what God says about it. I have the Keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the subject. I know there are those in our midst who will seek the lives of the Twelve as they did the lives of Joseph and . We shall ordain others and give the fulness of the priesthood, so that if we are killed the fulness of the Priesthood may remain. Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away, and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve in this world or the world to come. How often has Joseph said to the Twelve, I have laid the foundation, and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests. The Twelve as a quorum will not be permitted to tarry here long; they will go abroad and bear off the kingdom to the nations of the earth and baptise the people faster than mobs can kill them off. I would like, were it my privilege to take my valise and travel and preach till we had a people gathered who would be true. My private feelings would be to let the affairs of men and women alone; only go and preach and baptise them into the Kingdom of God: yet whatever duty God places upon me, in his strength I intend to fulfil it. I want to see this people, with the various quorums of the Priesthood, assembled together in Special Conference on Tuesday next at 10 a. m., which was carried unanimously, by vote. [HC 7:230]
8 Thursday 8.
“At a special meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints held in , at 10 a. m. on Thursday Aug 8. 1844, by the request of President , (who was then presiding over that Stake of Zion,) to choose a guardian, or President and Trustee, took his position in a wagon, about two rods in front of the , and harangued the Saints for about one and a half hours, upon choosing a guardian for the Church. The meeting was then dismissed when President gave out an appointment for the brethren to assemble at 2. p. m.
“At the appointed time, the brethren came together:— Present of the Twelve, , , , , , . The several quorums were organized on and around the according to order. [p. 296]
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