Skip to main content

Journal, September–October 1838

  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Journal, September–October 1838

3 September 1838 • Monday Page 3 4 September 1838 • Tuesday Page 3 5 September 1838 • Wednesday Page 3 6 September 1838 • Thursday Page 3 7 September 1838 • Friday Page 3 8 September 1838 • Saturday Page 3 9–13 September 1838 • Sunday–Thursday Page 3 14 September 1838 • Friday Page 3 15 September 1838 • Saturday Page 3 16 September 1838 • Sunday Page 3 17 September 1838 • Monday Page 3 18 September 1838 • Tuesday Page 3 19 September 1838 • Wednesday Page 4 20 September 1838 • Thursday Page 4 21 September 1838 • Friday Page 4 22 September 1838 • Saturday Page 4 23 September 1838 • Sunday Page 4 24 September 1838 • Monday Page 4 25 September 1838 • Tuesday Page 4 26 September 1838 • Wednesday Page 4 27 September 1838 • Thursday Page 4 28 September 1838 • Friday Page 5 29 September 1838 • Saturday Page 5 30 September 1838 • Sunday Page 5 1 October 1838 • Monday Page 5 2 October 1838 • Tuesday Page 5 3 October 1838 • Wednesday Page 5 4 October 1838 • Thursday Page 5 5 October 1838 • Friday Page 5 6 October 1838 • Saturday Page 5

Source Note

JS, “Memorandum &c &c,” Journal, Sept.–Oct. 1838; handwriting of ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes redactions and archival marking.
Makeshift notebook, 10 x 4 inches (25 x 10 cm). Six 10 x 8 inch (25 x 20 cm) sheets of canary-yellow endpapers folded lengthwise to make this notebook of twelve leaves (twenty-four pages). On pages 1 and 2, wrote notes and indexlike references to the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants—probably for personal use. On pages 3 through 5, Mulholland kept JS’s journal in black ink that later turned brown. Upside down at the bottom of page 5 is a personal notation by Mulholland: “An acct of my labors last fall [autumn 1838] I have received pay for 2 month at $20 pr— $40”. The back cover of the manuscript bears two inscriptions in black ink, now turned brown. Near the top, the following is written in large characters in Mulholland’s handwriting: “James Mulholland | M —— | Joseph Smith | S — | Joural”. The characters symbolically transcribed here as dashes are Mulholland’s ditto marks, with “M ——” standing for Mulholland and “S —” for Smith. Above this, in much smaller characters, is written “Septr. 3. 1838”. Written sideways in the middle of the page near the outside edge is the notation “James Mulholland | vs | Joseph Smith | 1838”. These two inscriptions may also be in Mulholland’s handwriting. Creases in the document show that it has been evenly folded in two places to reduce it to pocket size. Having the document on his person would have facilitated Mulholland’s ability to track JS’s whereabouts to within the hour.
The first page of the notebook bore a small, round seal of orange wax (now removed). When folded, the inscriptions noted above were evidently the outside cover titles. Needle holes along the spine indicate that at some point the document was sewn. Perhaps this journal, like the second JS journal kept by (see next journal in this volume), was not sewn at the time of its original use. On pages 6 to 11, Mulholland later recorded his own activities in 1839. Textual redactions and use marks made in graphite pencil were added by later scribes who used the journal to produce the multivolume manuscript history of the church. The notebook also bears archival marking on page 18: “Mulholland, James | Journal kept for | Joseph Smith jun. | 1839” in ink and “A. J”—late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century assistant church historian Andrew Jenson—in graphite pencil.
This thin, unbound journal was probably among the miscellaneous documents collectively listed in Nauvoo and early Utah inventories of church records. Early inventories, Jenson’s archival notation, and recent archival records indicate that this journal—like the other JS journals—has remained in continuous church custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1]; “Inventory,” [2]; “Historian’s Office Inventory,” [3], Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  2. [2]

    See Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.

    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

This enigmatic document covers the period from early September to early October 1838, a month of mounting difficulties for JS and the Latter-day Saints living in northwestern . JS apparently hired as a clerk in late August or early September, at which time Mulholland copied a revelation into the preceding journal, which covers March to September 1838. At the beginning of the present journal Mulholland noted that he “Commenced to write” for JS on 3 September 1838, which may refer to the date he began various clerking responsibilities or to the date of his first journal entry. Because the datelines of the first two entries, 3 and 4 September, appear to have been inscribed at the same time, Mulholland evidently began keeping the journal on the evening of 4 September or sometime on 5 September. Meanwhile, was making the final week of entries for the preceding journal.
On 4 September, JS received legal counsel from attorney and militia general regarding efforts then under way to prosecute JS and for allegedly threatening justice of the peace . After Latter-day Saints who had come to vote in on 6 August were attacked, JS had led more than one hundred men to Black’s home, demanding that he sign a statement promising to uphold the law and protect the Mormons in their civil rights. An affidavit made by Daviess County citizen —which accused JS and Wight of unlawfully leading a group of armed Mormons in Daviess County and threatening Black’s life—resulted in the issuance of arrest warrants against the two Mormon leaders. Moreover, Black and Peniston ignited a wildfire of rumors about what JS and his vigilantes had done and intended to do in Daviess County. The rumors spread throughout northwestern , portending further legal trouble and retribution.
At the 4 September meeting, , in addition to urging JS and to submit to a preliminary hearing, may have counseled JS to keep a daily record that could be used in a court of law to document his whereabouts. Whether or not JS was so counseled, this or something similar appears to be the purpose of the present “Memorandum.” Except for a five-day gap spanning 9 to 13 September, recorded an entry for each day of this monthlong journal. The terse entries document little more than JS’s comings and goings from his home, noting the time of day when Mulholland saw him. Mulholland enjoyed a vantage point from within JS’s home, where Mulholland lived, apparently as one of the many boarders that JS kept over the years. This journal may be the result of an assignment to Mulholland to document JS’s presence in and witness JS’s time at home. For the period of overlap with JS’s preceding journal, it complements ’s record of JS’s activity when not at home.
The preceding journal recorded by demonstrates that even after the 6 August skirmish at , JS continued to vigorously and openly prepare to settle additional Latter-day Saints in despite mounting opposition to the growing Mormon presence there. Meanwhile, the failure to arrest JS and based on ’s and ’s accusations led to the marshaling of volunteers from surrounding counties to take the pair by force if necessary. JS and Wight signaled their willingness to submit to the legal process by appearing soon afterward before Judge , but their appearance failed to quell the anti-Mormon vigilantism already in motion.
The present journal reports on four additional weeks of JS’s activities in , but this journal’s skeletal entries give little hint of the gathering storm that soon engulfed the Mormons and their neighbors. With northwestern in an uproar, called out militia, who successfully averted armed conflict in in September. But by mid-October an extensive network of vigilantes in northwestern Missouri began to eliminate substantial Mormon settlement outside . Some of the anti-Mormon forces that had been disbanded in Daviess County through militia intervention regrouped in Carroll County, where, after issuing an ultimatum to the Mormons to evacuate by 1 October, they and local anti-Mormons laid siege to the village. A militia force sent there to preserve peace proved unreliable for that purpose because many of its members sympathized with anti-Mormons. Learning of the plight of the De Witt Saints, JS mobilized two small companies of men that left Far West on 5 October to offer relief. JS led the second group, consisting of about twenty men, which arrived in De Witt the following day.
’s entry for 5 October reported: “did not see him [JS] all the afternoon, understood that he went from home.” Mulholland then added a dateline under which to write an entry for the following day—suggesting that he expected JS to return by then. However, a round-trip journey from to and back would inevitably have taken more than one day, suggesting that Mulholland was not privy to JS’s thoughts and plans. The journal entry for 6 October remained blank, concluding Mulholland’s record.
After Governor rejected an appeal for aid, JS assisted in evacuating the settlers to , arriving there by 14 October. Any attempt by to observe and record JS’s movements in the following weeks would have been largely futile, given JS’s extended absences from home as events spiraled out of control.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 23 July 1837, in JS, Journal, 23 July 1837 [D&C 112].

  2. [2]

    LeSueur, 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, 65–80; Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 103, 107–119.

    LeSueur, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987.

    Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

  3. [3]

    Emma Smith, Sally Hinkle, Caroline Clarke, and James Mulholland, Statement, ca. Mar. 1839, in JS History, vol. C-1, 906.

    JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856. Vols. A-1–F-1 (original), A-2–E-2 (fair copy). Historian’s Office, History of the Church, 1839–ca. 1882. CHL. CR 100 102, boxes 1–7. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death of Joseph Smith.

  4. [4]

    Anderson, “Clarifications of Boggs’s Order,” 37–41.

    Anderson, Richard Lloyd. “Clarifications of Boggs’s ‘Order’ and Joseph Smith’s Constitutionalism.” In Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Missouri, edited by Arnold K. Garr and Clark V. Johnson, 27–83. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1994.

  5. [5]

    Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 154–155, 163–173.

    Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

  6. [6]

    JS, “Bill of Damages against the State of Missouri on Account of the Sufferings and Losses Sustained Therein,” Quincy, IL, 4 June 1839, JS Collection, CHL; see also Perkins, “Prelude to Expulsion,” 276; and Baugh, “Call to Arms,” 163–181.

    Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

    Perkins, Keith W. “De Witt—Prelude to Expulsion.” In Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Missouri, edited by Arnold K. Garr and Clark V. Johnson, 261–280. Provo, UT: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1994.

    Baugh, Alexander L. “A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.” PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996. Also available as A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, Dissertations in Latter-day Saint History (Provo, UT: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000).

19 September 1838 • Wednesday
Wednesday 19th— At home in the morning for breakfast, about 8 oclock.— also in for dinner about 1 oclock and in the evening before bed time.
20 September 1838 • Thursday
Thursday 20th— At home from morning untill about 10 oclock went out on horseback & returned at about sunset or rather before it— at home all evening
21 September 1838 • Friday
Friday 21rst— Saw him at home at breakfast
22 September 1838 • Saturday
Saturday 22nd— At home early in the morn[in]g & at breakifast about 1/2 past 7 oclock saw him ride out a horseback about 9 oclock.
23 September 1838 • Sunday
Sunday 23rd— At home & at meeting all the day also saw him <​at home​> evening about 9 oclock.
24 September 1838 • Monday
Monday 24th— At home at breakfast and before, Saw him ride out on horseback about 1/2 past 8 oclock morn[in]g.
Returned home about 5 oclock ev[en]ing
25 September 1838 • Tuesday
Tuesday 25th— At home for breakfast about 8 oclock saw him go out a horseback saw him again between 11 & 12 oclock at which he was untill about 1/2 past 5 even[in]g Saw him at home in evening about 1/2 past 6.
26 September 1838 • Wednesday
Wednesday 26th— At home morning early also at breakfast between 7 & 8 oclock. Saw him ride out on between 10 & eleven oclock and saw him at home again 9 oclock evening
27 September 1838 • Thursday
Thursday 27th— At home before & at breakfast 8 oclk saw him again at 4 oclock in the even[i]ng & between 5 and 6 oclock in the . [p. [4]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Journal, September–October 1838
ID #
6665
Total Pages
3
Print Volume Location
JSP, J1:321–330
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Mulholland

Footnotes

  1. [4]

    As JS resided within the boundaries platted for Far West, James Mulholland apparently meant that he had seen JS in or around the public square in the center of town.

Go to page