John Corrill, “Brief History,” Manuscript, circa 1838–1839
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Source Note
, “Brief History,” Manuscript, ca. 6 April 1838– ca. 26 January 1839; handwriting of and an unidentified scribe; seventy pages numbered 20–90, plus three unnumbered pages; John Fletcher Darby Papers, Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.
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Historical Introduction
Even while the embers of the 1838 Mormon War smoldered in , labored on the manuscript for his 1839 publication, A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons;) Including an Account of Their Doctrine and Discipline; with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church. Corrill had begun serving the church as a historian after ’s excommunication in March 1838, replacing Whitmer in that role in April. Whatever his initial labors as historian, Corrill completed A Brief History after distancing himself from JS and the Saints, as the full title implies., a careful observer, had enjoyed a close association with Mormon leaders, and consequently his account provides valuable insights into the development and structure of the early church. He summarized many of the doctrines taught by JS and provided a detailed description of the conflict between the Latter-day Saints and other settlers. But his chronicle also related the story of a personal spiritual journey into and then out of the church as came to disapprove of the church’s course in 1838 in Missouri. Yet despite his estrangement from the church and his excommunication in 1839, he retained a degree of sympathy for the Saints and maintained some contact.apparently began compiling portions of his account while serving as an officially appointed church historian in . He probably completed his narrative by 11 February 1839, when he secured a copyright with the district federal copyright office. He arranged for Thomas Watson & Son of to print A Brief History. The entire print run may have included up to twelve hundred copies.The document presented here, ’s circa 1838–1839 rough draft of his history, is incomplete. It includes the title page, copyright notice, and preface but is missing twenty-one pages, including the nineteen pages that constitute chapters 1 through 6. The manuscript is almost entirely in Corrill’s handwriting, though some of the chapter summaries (added after he drafted the narrative) were written in a different hand, possibly that of the printer.’s published version of A Brief History receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website as part of the history series.
and does not shew the precise order in that respect of the Apostolic church every man is left to judge for himself.
Chap 14
Smiths charge to the elders. Their return. Gathering continues. Mormons leave and settle in . In debt. Pride. Merchantdizing. Banking. Dissentions and its effects. Elders go to England.
At the Close of the solem assembly meetings in Smith told the elders that they were now endowed with power to go forth and build up the Kingdom, that they must now call upon God for themselves, and do that which the spirit directed them to do, and every man was accountable to God for his own doings, and he charged them to be careful and avoid contention; not to meddle with other orders of Christians, nor proclaim against their doctrines, but to preach the Gospel in its simplicity, and let others alone. The elders that lived in Upper returned to their homes in in the spring of 1836, but had not been there long before a portion of the people who had been peacable during their absence, began now to be uneasy. The church also continued to gather in , till the appearance was that they would sooner or later be overun by the Mormons, and this uneasy portion of the people, either because they hated our religion, or were afraid we [p. 44]
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