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.
<July 22> some of you solely on the business of the late outrages at .
The mode of proceeding to be adopted is a matter for careful consideration. I wish to see some of you to consult on that one subject alone. Can one of you come down? If so come immediately, or let me know.
I am most respectfully
Your obedient Servant
.”
“Dr
Esq.”
To which the annexed was sent in reply:— [HC 7:200]
-[Confidential]-
“, July 22. 1844
“His Excellency .
Sir,— We have, at this late hour, received your letter of the 17th. inst., and would be gratified with an interview, agreeably to your ’s request, but the murder of our best men makes our time precious, and compels us to forego the interview.
“We have delegated our friend Mr , one of the Aldermen of our , to meet your on the arrival of the morning boat, answer any queries, and attend to all necessary business, having the fullest confidence in his ability and integrity to discharge the mission to your ’s satisfaction, and the best interest of our bleeding and long loved country.
We are, Sir, Most respectfully
Your Obt Servants
”
Sister Leonora [Cannon] Taylor wrote as follows:
“ July 22 1844
“To His Excellency .
Sir,— The peculiarity of my situation will I hope, plead my excuse for troubling your on the present occasion.
“, who was severely wounded in the Jail at , is still ill, and obliged to be lifted in and out of bed; his wounds are slowly healing, and we hope he will finally get well if suffered to do so. But, , I am sorry to say the murderers and mobbers are still at large in our neighborhood; as there has been no steps taken to bring them to justice they have taken fresh courage and held meetings to carry out their work of destruction. I have been told they have sent messengers to to collect all the force they can, to come and exterminate the Mormons after Harvest.
“I have enclosed your a communication sent yesterday, which is a sample of many that are daily coming in: he does not know of my writing this letter. Nothing but the urgency of the case could have induced me to remind your of your promise to bring the murderers to justice. If a step of that kind is not taken soon, I much fear that it cannot benefit us as a people. We are without arms, in a great measure, having delivered them up at your ’s request, and <we> are forbid to stand even in our own defence: in this peculiar position, without resources, we can only look [p. 277]