Skip to main content

Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844

15 July 1843 • Saturday Page 1 16 July 1843 • Sunday Page 2 17 July 1843 • Monday Page 4 18 July 1843 • Tuesday Page 5 19 July 1843 • Wednesday Page 6 20 July 1843 • Thursday Page 7 21 July 1843 • Friday Page 8 22 July 1843 • Saturday Page 9 23 July 1843 • Sunday Page 11 24 July 1843 • Monday Page 18 25 July 1843 • Tuesday Page 19 26 July 1843 • Wednesday Page 20 27 July 1843 • Thursday Page 21 28 July 1843 • Friday Page 22 29 July 1843 • Saturday Page 23 30 July 1843 • Sunday Page 24 31 July 1843 • Monday Page 26 1 August 1843 • Tuesday Page 27 2 August 1843 • Wednesday Page 28 3 August 1843 • Thursday Page 29 4 August 1843 • Friday Page 30 5 August 1843 • Saturday Page 31 6 August 1843 • Sunday Page 32 7 August 1843 • Monday Page 38 8 August 1843 • Tuesday Page 39 9 August 1843 • Wednesday Page 40 10 August 1843 • Thursday Page 41 11 August 1843 • Friday Page 42 12 August 1843 • Saturday Page 43 13 August 1843 • Sunday Page 44 14 August 1843 • Monday Page 56 15 August 1843 • Tuesday Page 57 16 August 1843 • Wednesday Page 58 17 August 1843 • Thursday Page 59 18 August 1843 • Friday Page 60 19 August 1843 • Saturday Page 61 20 August 1843 • Sunday Page 62 21 August 1843 • Monday Page 63 22 August 1843 • Tuesday Page 64 23 August 1843 • Wednesday Page 65 24 August 1843 • Thursday Page 66 25 August 1843 • Friday Page 67 26 August 1843 • Saturday Page 68 27 August 1843 • Sunday Page 69 28 August 1843 • Monday Page 77 29 August 1843 • Tuesday Page 78 30 August 1843 • Wednesday Page 79 31 August 1843 • Thursday Page 80 1 September 1843 • Friday Page 81 2 September 1843 • Saturday Page 82 3 September 1843 • Sunday Page 83 4 September 1843 • Monday Page 84 5 September 1843 • Tuesday Page 85 6 September 1843 • Wednesday Page 86 7 September 1843 • Thursday Page 87 8 September 1843 • Friday Page 88 9 September 1843 • Saturday Page 89 10 September 1843 • Sunday Page 90 11 September 1843 • Monday Page 91 12 September 1843 • Tuesday Page 92 13 September 1843 • Wednesday Page 93 14 September 1843 • Thursday Page 94 15 September 1843 • Friday Page 95 16 September 1843 • Saturday Page 96 17 September 1843 • Sunday Page 98 18 September 1843 • Monday Page 100 19 September 1843 • Tuesday Page 101 20 September 1843 • Wednesday Page 102 21 September 1843 • Thursday Page 103 22 September 1843 • Friday Page 104 23 September 1843 • Saturday Page 105 24 September 1843 • Sunday Page 106 25 September 1843 • Monday Page 107 26 September 1843 • Tuesday Page 108 27 September 1843 • Wednesday Page 109 28 September 1843 • Thursday Page 110 29 September 1843 • Friday Page 111 30 September 1843 • Saturday Page 112 1 October 1843 • Sunday Page 113 2 October 1843 • Monday Page 114 3 October 1843 • Tuesday Page 115 4 October 1843 • Wednesday Page 116 5 October 1843 • Thursday Page 117 6 October 1843 • Friday Page 118 7 October 1843 • Saturday Page 119 8 October 1843 • Sunday Page 120 9 October 1843 • Monday Page 121 10 October 1843 • Tuesday Page 123 11 October 1843 • Wednesday Page 124 12 October 1843 • Thursday Page 125 13 October 1843 • Friday Page 126 14 October 1843 • Saturday Page 127 15 October 1843 • Sunday Page 128 16 October 1843 • Monday Page 136 17 October 1843 • Tuesday Page 137 18 October 1843 • Wednesday Page 138 19 October 1843 • Thursday Page 139 20 October 1843 • Friday Page 140 21 October 1843 • Saturday Page 141 22 October 1843 • Sunday Page 142 23 October 1843 • Monday Page 143 24 October 1843 • Tuesday Page 144 25 October 1843 • Wednesday Page 145 26 October 1843 • Thursday Page 146 27 October 1843 • Friday Page 147 28 October 1843 • Saturday Page 148 29 October 1843 • Sunday Page 149 30 October 1843 • Monday Page 150 31 October 1843 • Tuesday Page 151 1 November 1843 • Wednesday Page 152 2 November 1843 • Thursday Page 153 3 November 1843 • Friday Page 154 4 November 1843 • Saturday Page 155 5 November 1843 • Sunday Page 156 6 November 1843 • Monday Page 157 7 November 1843 • Tuesday Page 158 8 November 1843 • Wednesday Page 159 9 November 1843 • Thursday Page 160 10 November 1843 • Friday Page 161 11 November 1843 • Saturday Page 162 12 November 1843 • Sunday Page 163 13 November 1843 • Monday Page 164 14 November 1843 • Tuesday Page 165 15 November 1843 • Wednesday Page 166 16 November 1843 • Thursday Page 167 17 November 1843 • Friday Page 168 18 November 1843 • Saturday Page 169 19 November 1843 • Sunday Page 170 20 November 1843 • Monday Page 171 21 November 1843 • Tuesday Page 172 22 November 1843 • Wednesday Page 173 23 November 1843 • Thursday Page 174 24 November 1843 • Friday Page 175 25 November 1843 • Saturday Page 176 26 November 1843 • Sunday Page 177 27 November 1843 • Monday Page 178 28 November 1843 • Tuesday Page 181 29 November 1843 • Wednesday Page 182 30 November 1843 • Thursday Page 183 1 December 1843 • Friday Page 184 2 December 1843 • Saturday Page 185 3 December 1843 • Sunday Page 186 4 December 1843 • Monday Page 187 5 December 1843 • Tuesday Page 188 6 December 1843 • Wednesday Page 189 7 December 1843 • Thursday Page 190 8 December 1843 • Friday Page 191 9 December 1843 • Saturday Page 192 10 December 1843 • Sunday Page 193 11 December 1843 • Monday Page 194 12 December 1843 • Tuesday Page 195 13 December 1843 • Wednesday Page 196 14 December 1843 • Thursday Page 197 15 December 1843 • Friday Page 198 16 December 1843 • Saturday Page 199 17 December 1843 • Sunday Page 200 18 December 1843 • Monday Page 201 19 December 1843 • Tuesday Page 204 20 December 1843 • Wednesday Page 206 21 December 1843 • Thursday Page 207 22 December 1843 • Friday Page 208 23 December 1843 • Saturday Page 209 24 December 1843 • Sunday Page 210 25 December 1843 • Monday Page 211 26 December 1843 • Tuesday Page 214 27 December 1843 • Wednesday Page 215 28 December 1843 • Thursday Page 216 29 December 1843 • Friday Page 217 30 December 1843 • Saturday Page 218 31 December 1843 • Sunday Page 219 1 January 1844 • Monday Page 220 2 January 1844 • Tuesday Page 221 3 January 1844 • Wednesday Page 222 4 January 1844 • Thursday Page 223 5 January 1844 • Friday Page 224 6 January 1844 • Saturday Page 225 7 January 1844 • Sunday Page 226 8 January 1844 • Monday Page 227 9 January 1844 • Tuesday Page 228 10 January 1844 • Wednesday Page 229 11 January 1844 • Thursday Page 230 12 January 1844 • Friday Page 231 13 January 1844 • Saturday Page 232 14 January 1844 • Sunday Page 233 15 January 1844 • Monday Page 234 16 January 1844 • Tuesday Page 235 17 January 1844 • Wednesday Page 236 18 January 1844 • Thursday Page 237 19 January 1844 • Friday Page 238 20 January 1844 • Saturday Page 239 21 January 1844 • Sunday Page 240 22 January 1844 • Monday Page 241 23 January 1844 • Tuesday Page 242 24 January 1844 • Wednesday Page 243 25 January 1844 • Thursday Page 244 26 January 1844 • Friday Page 245 27 January 1844 • Saturday Page 246 28 January 1844 • Sunday Page 247 29 January 1844 • Monday Page 248 30 January 1844 • Tuesday Page 250 31 January 1844 • Wednesday Page 251 1 February 1844 • Thursday Page 252 2 February 1844 • Friday Page 253 3 February 1844 • Saturday Page 254 4 February 1844 • Sunday Page 255 5 February 1844 • Monday Page 256 6 February 1844 • Tuesday Page 257 7 February 1844 • Wednesday Page 258 8 February 1844 • Thursday Page 259 9 February 1844 • Friday Page 260 10 February 1844 • Saturday Page 261 11 February 1844 • Sunday Page 262 12 February 1844 • Monday Page 263 13 February 1844 • Tuesday Page 264 14 February 1844 • Wednesday Page 265 15 February 1844 • Thursday Page 266 16 February 1844 • Friday Page 267 17 February 1844 • Saturday Page 268 18 February 1844 • Sunday Page 269 19 February 1844 • Monday Page 270 20 February 1844 • Tuesday Page 271 21 February 1844 • Wednesday Page 272 22 February 1844 • Thursday Page 273 23 February 1844 • Friday Page 274 24 February 1844 • Saturday Page 275 25 February 1844 • Sunday Page 276 26 February 1844 • Monday Page 277 27 February 1844 • Tuesday Page 278 28 February 1844 • Wednesday Page 279 29 February 1844 • Thursday Page 280

Source Note

JS, “President Joseph Smith’s Journal,” Journal, 4 vols., Dec. 1842–June 1844; handwriting and signatures of ; 1,045 pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes shorthand and illustrations; also includes redactions, use marks, and archival stickers.
kept “President Joseph Smith’s Journal” in four small memorandum books. The paper in book 1 is blue, while the paper in books 2–4 is white. In the first two books, the paper was printed with seventeen blue lines and extra space for page headers, whereas the paper for book 3 was printed with nineteen blue lines and no header space. The first eight gatherings of paper for book 4 were printed with sixteen blue lines and header space, while the last nine gatherings were printed with nineteen blue lines and no header space. The four volumes have 147, 160, 142, and 190 free leaves, respectively, and were sewn with all-along sewing. The leaves in books 1–3 were trimmed to measure 6 × 3¾ inches (15 × 10 cm), while the paper in book 4 measures 6¼ × 3¾ inches (16 × 10 cm). Books 2–4 have matching red-speckled stain on the page edges. All four books were bound with a tight-back case binding and have brown leather over pasteboards. Books 1–3 measure 6¼ × 4 × ¾ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm); book 4 measures 6⅜ × 4 × ¾ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm). The outside covers of book 1 feature an embossed pattern around the borders. The cover of book 4 is red and features a gold pattern around the borders on the front and the back.
inscribed most of the journal entries in these memorandum books with a quill pen in ink that is now brown, although he also used blue ink for several entries. The volumes also include inscriptions written in graphite, some of which are contemporaneous and some that are later redactions. Richards paginated the first 114 of the 285 inscribed pages in book 1—discounting the title page that precedes the pagination—and the first 20 of the 309 inscribed pages in book 2. There is no pagination in books 3–4. In book 2, pages 11, 17, and 20–21 feature illustrations of celestial observations.
The memorandum books include later inscriptions that are not transcribed in this edition. At the end of book 2, added a list of -era plural marriages. A few revisions, additions, or notes are penciled in throughout the volumes. There are also several use marks throughout the volumes—probably made when the journal entries were later revised for inclusion in the “History of Joseph Smith” published in Mormon newspapers in the mid-nineteenth century. The spines of the volumes are now labeled with blue-colored paper stickers that probably date from the early Utah period. Each of the four volumes also bears the mark of a square sticker removed from the upper right-hand corner of the outside front cover. Finally, a “Historian’s Office Archives” self-adhesive paper sticker appears in the front inside cover or on the first flyleaf of each book.
identified himself as the scribe for the journal on the title pages of books 1 and 4. Because Richards kept the journals for JS and kept his own journal in the back of book 4 after JS’s death, the books may have been among “Drs [Richards’s] private books & Papers” listed in the 1846 inventory of church records made in , Illinois. The volumes are listed in inventories made in Salt Lake City, Utah, by the Church Historian’s Office in 1855, 1858, and 1878, as well as in the 1973 register of the JS Collection. These archival records and the physical evidence of archival stickers indicate continuous institutional custody and authenticity.
Note: The journal kept for JS is divided into four physical books. The transcript and annotation here are for book 3, covering 15 July 1843 through 29 February 1844. The transcript and annotation for the other three books are also available on this website; book 1 covers 21 December 1842 through 10 March 1843, book 2 covers 10 March through 14 July 1843, and book 4 covers 1 March through 22 June 1844.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This serialized history drew on the journals herein beginning with the 4 July 1855 issue of the Deseret News and with the 3 January 1857 issue of the LDS Millennial Star.

  2. [2]

    The labels on the spines of the four volumes read respectively as follows: “Joseph Smith’s Journal—1842–3 by Willard Richards” (book 1); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843” (book 2); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843–4” (book 3); and “W. Richards’ Journal 1844 Vol. 4” (book 4). Richards kept JS’s journal in the front of book 4, and after JS’s death Richards kept his own journal in the back of the volume.

  3. [3]

    “Schedule of Church Records, Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. [4]

    “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]; “Contents of the Historian and Recorder’s Office G. S. L. City July 1858,” 2; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]–[12], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

    Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.

Historical Introduction

took over the responsibility of keeping JS’s journal from on 21 December 1842, the same day JS “made a particular request” that Richards “act as his private se[c]retary & historian.” This was the second time Richards kept JS’s journal; he had also kept it between 13 December 1841 and 29 June 1842 before leaving for , Massachusetts, to bring his family to , Illinois. During Richards’s absence, Clayton kept JS’s journal, inscribing entries, as Richards had done, in the large Book of the Law of the Lord, which also contained records of donations for the . Clayton continued keeping the journal—JS’s first Nauvoo journal—even after Richards returned to Nauvoo on 30 October 1842, probably because, as temple recorder, Clayton was the custodian of the Book of the Law of the Lord. When Richards resumed keeping JS’s journal on 21 December 1842, he began using a much smaller memorandum book. This second Nauvoo journal was kept by Richards through 22 June 1844 and eventually comprised four such memorandum books.
Several pieces of evidence indicate that these four memorandum books were considered volumes of the same journal rather than separate journals themselves. For example, whereas JS’s journals kept during the 1830s were recorded in bound books or notebooks labeled with different titles—such as “Sketch Book” or “The Scriptory Book”—the first and last of ’s memorandum books bear virtually identical titles, with the fourth explicitly identified as “vol 4”. Similarly, that books 2 and 3 lack titles suggests that each was simply a continuation of the previous book. This suggestion is made even stronger in book 2, in which the first entry commences at 4:00 p.m. on 10 March, with the events of the earlier part of the day recorded at the end of book 1. All four memorandum books are virtually the same size, and the bindings on the first three are similar.
As with nearly all the entries in JS’s previous and journals, JS neither wrote nor dictated the text of the entries in the memorandum books; they are based on ’s observations. For example, the entry for 22 September 1843 records only that Richards “saw Joseph pass in a waggon with Hiram.” Despite the secondhand nature of the entries, however, Richards, a close associate and frequent companion of JS, was able to capture in detail JS’s words and actions on many occasions.
The shift of ’s office from temple recorder and scribe to JS’s “private se[c]retary & historian,” as well as the transfer of the journal out of the Book of the Law of the Lord, may have influenced what events Richards recorded in the memorandum books. At least some of the material Richards, as JS’s private secretary, included in this journal—such as the detailed record of a medical malpractice suit over which JS presided—probably would have received much less emphasis had Richards, in the capacity of temple recorder and scribe, been keeping JS’s journal in the book that also contained records of donations for the temple. Similarly, although the ledger-size Book of the Law of the Lord likely remained in the recorder’s office and most journal entries were probably made there, each of the memorandum books was small enough that Richards could easily carry it with him, allowing him to record many of JS’s activities closer to the actual event—both temporally and spatially—than was possible earlier.
’s new title of historian was significant as well. On 1 December 1842, he began working on the “History of Joseph Smith” that was being serially published in the Times and Seasons, and by August 1843 he was drawing on JS’s earlier journals for that history. Richards therefore likely expected that the contemporaneous journal entries he was keeping for JS would eventually be used as the basis for JS’s history.
employed various techniques in keeping the journal. For a few entries, he made lightly penciled notes and returned later with a quill pen to expand the entry. In other entries, the morning or afternoon portion of an entry was written in one ink and the evening portion of the entry in a different ink that matches that of the following entry. These changes in writing media and in other aspects of the inscribed text indicate that many entries—or parts of entries—were made on the very day of the events they described. The textual evidence in other entries indicates that they were written several days after the date they bear. Still other entries are a hybrid. Richards’s notes of sermons and legal proceedings, for example, bear evidence of both contemporaneous inscription and later revision. In some instances, Richards left blank spaces and even blank lines, apparently intending to add details later. Hurried note taking often resulted in missing words, informal abbreviations, inconsistent spelling, and poorly formed characters. Richards revisited some difficult passages to mend or rewrite characters, revise spelling and punctuation, and add interlineations. Some of the blanks were filled while others were left standing. Richards’s notes include both immediate emendations, such as wipe-erasures made while his ink was still wet, as well as later revisions, such as knife-erasures of words written in ink that had dried. The various ways in which Richards wrote and revised entries resulted in the journal’s uneven texture but also contribute to its wealth of immediately recorded information and clarifying additions.
Over time, settled somewhat into a pattern of generally recording the events of one day on one page—some pages largely empty and others filled with cramped writing—with weather reported at the bottom of the page. He made an entry for almost every day during the last year and a half of JS’s life. The journal ended when JS left on 22 June 1844, five days before he was killed at the jailhouse at , Illinois. Richards accompanied JS to Carthage and, during the final days of JS’s life, kept extensive notes of JS’s activities in his personal journal.
Note: The journal kept for JS is divided into four physical books. The transcript and annotation here are for book 3, covering 15 July 1843 through 29 February 1844. The transcript and annotation for the other three books are also available on this website; book 1 covers 21 December 1842 through 10 March 1843, book 2 covers 10 March through 14 July 1843, and book 4 covers 1 March through 22 June 1844.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Historical Introduction to JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Source Note to JS, Journal, 1835–1836; Source Note to JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 22 Sept. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842 and 20 Jan. 1843; see also “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:726–728.

  7. [7]

    See Appendix 3.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 13 August 1843–B, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 13 August 1843–B, as Reported by William Clayton
20 October 1843 • Friday
Friday October 20 1843. heard that Joseph went to yesterday has not retur[n]ed.
’s Mormonism exposed were fou[n]d in the streets of [England] in great numbers. [5 lines blank]
retur[n]ed from a mission to the east. . with about 100— emigra[n]ts. some of them from — which he fell in with on the way.
warm smoky & strong wind
very dark even[i]ng.— [p. [140]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844
ID #
7999
Total Pages
289
Print Volume Location
JSP, J3:59–185
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [268]

    In March 1843, Olney, an excommunicated member of the church, published a pamphlet entitled The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed. Olney’s exposé—which claimed to offer an “impartial account” of the Latter-day Saints—attacked the church’s practice of rebaptism, which he said “speaks loud to me of degraded minds; that is if a person or persons have been in any kind of iniquity, if ever so bad, they have a remedy for it, by being baptised over anew.” He also commented extensively on what he labeled “unlawful intimacy between the two sexes,” accusing male church members of plural marriage, widespread seduction and abuse of women, fornication, and adultery. Olney’s account also included excerpts of letters to show the character of members of the church and to establish his own character. In a separate letter to the authorities of the church, Olney said that the publication had not been motivated by his excommunication. (Olney, Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed; Oliver Olney, Nauvoo, IL, to “The Authoritys of the Church,” 1 July 1842, Oliver H. Olney Papers, Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; see also “The Mormons,” Vermont Chronicle [Windsor], 2 Nov. 1842, 175.)

    Olney, Oliver H. The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed. Hancock Co., IL: By the author, 1843.

    Vermont Chronicle. Bellows Falls, VT. 1826–1828; Windsor, VT. 1828–1862.

  2. [269]

    On 30 August 1842, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith gave Greene a letter of commendation as a “worthy brother and Elder minister of Jesus Christ” for his upcoming mission. Greene visited branches and held conferences in several places, including Kirtland, Ohio, and Batavia, Utica, and Buffalo, New York. (Letter of Commendation for John P. Greene, Evan M. Greene Papers, CHL; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1842, 4:36–37; “Minutes of the Genesee Conference,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1843, 4:207; “General Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Aug. 1843, 4:300–302; “Minutes of a Conference Held in Buffalo, N.Y.,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1843, 4:334–335; John P. Greene, Buffalo, NY, to “Dear and Loved Children,” Nauvoo, IL, Feb. 1843, typescript, CHL; John P. Greene, Buffalo, NY, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 18 Mar. 1843, JS Collection, CHL.)

    Greene, Evan M. Papers, 1833–1881. CHL. MS 789.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Greene, John P. Letter, Buffalo, NY, to “Dear and Loved Children,” Nauvoo, IL. Feb. 1843. Typescript. CHL. MS 3137.

Go to page