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.
Afterwards another petition for another writ of Habeas Corpus was presented, and the writ issued and tried; I copy the minutes from the Municipal docket:—
“State of Illinois)
Municipal Court
City of )
vs. on Habeas Corpus.
“May 30th. 1844, came , and upon the reading and filing the petition for a writ of Habeas Corpus to be directed to one to have forthwith before the Municipal Court the body of the said upon said writ. Said writ was granted by the Court in accordance with the prayer of the petitioner.
“The writ of Habeas Corpus was served instanter by the in Court, and petitioner present, which writ, with the ’s return thereon, is on file in the Clerk’s office. [HC 6:420]
“The foregoing petition of <said> , together with a certified copy of the warrant, by virtue of which the said held the said in custody, are on file in the Clerk’s office.
“Present, Joseph Smith, Mayor and Chief Justice, and , , , , and , Aldermen, Associate Justices.
“ was called by the court to answer in the case, who said he had a writ from , and should consider his prisoner until he was compelled to give him up. Wanted an adjournment.
“The Court informed that was their prisoner.
“ and , counsel for , objected to an adjournment, as there had been two weeks adjournment for the government to procure witnesses in another suit which had closed, arising out of the same case, and which had been abandoned by the prosecuting party.
“ appeared before the Court and said: ‘I stand here as an Agent for the government to act in the case of in any State where he may be found, and if we are to go into an investigation on the merits of the case, and go behind the writ, I must have time to send to for witnesses, and I am instructed to consult with Esq., of , and Mr Mc Pherson of .
“The Marshal, , presented the prisoner for trial.
“The Court ordered the to take charge of the prisoner, and have him forthcoming from time to time for trial.
“ asked for an adjournment until afternoon.
“ said if they want to go into the merits of the case, we will give them any time; but we propose to dispense with the merits, and move a discharge on the insufficiency of the papers. has no legal authority to arrest the prisoner, and read from page 51, Revised Statutes of , Sec 399.
“ said he could show the law different, and asked for one weeks adjournment.
“One o’clock P. M., Court adjourned till after dinner to hear the pleas.
“Three o’clock P. M. Court sat, the same as in the morning.
“ and , counsel for , read and filed their plea, moving the Court that said be discharged, and suffered to go at large. [p. 65]
Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book / Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court. “Docket of the Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo,” ca. 1843–1845. In Historian's Office, Historical Record Book, 1843–1874, pp. 51–150 and pp. 1–19 (second numbering). CHL. MS 3434.