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 Missouri. JS apparently hired James Mulholland as a clerk in late August or early September, at which time Mulholland copied a revelation3 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, George W. Robinson was making the final week of entries for the preceding journal.

On 4 September, JS received legal counsel from Missouri attorney and militia general David R. Atchison regarding efforts then under way to prosecute JS and Lyman Wight for allegedly threatening Daviess County justice of the peace Adam Black. After Latter-day Saints who had come to vote in Gallatin 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 William Peniston—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 Missouri, portending further legal trouble and retribution.4

At the 4 September meeting, Atchison, in addition to urging JS and Wight 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, Mulholland 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.5 This journal may be the result of an assignment to Mulholland to document JS’s presence in Caldwell County and witness JS’s time at home. For the period of overlap with JS’s preceding journal, it complements George W. Robinson’s record of JS’s activity when not at home.

The preceding journal recorded by Robinson demonstrates that even after the 6 August skirmish at Gallatin, JS continued to vigorously and openly prepare to settle additional Latter-day Saints in Daviess County despite mounting opposition to the growing Mormon presence there. Meanwhile, the failure to arrest JS and Wight based on Black’s and Peniston’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 Austin A. King, 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 Far West, but this journal’s skeletal entries give little hint of the gathering storm that soon engulfed the Mormons and their neighbors. With northwestern Missouri in an uproar, General Atchison called out militia, who successfully averted armed conflict in Daviess County in September. But by mid-October an extensive network of vigilantes in northwestern Missouri began to eliminate substantial Mormon settlement outside Caldwell County.6 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 De Witt 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.7

Mulholland’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 Far West to De Witt 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 Lilburn W. Boggs rejected an appeal for aid, JS assisted in evacuating the De Witt settlers to Far West, arriving there by 14 October.8 Any attempt by Mulholland 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.

JS, “Memorandum &c &c,” Journal, Sept.–Oct. 1838; handwriting of James Mulholland; 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, James Mulholland 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 Mulholland (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.1 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.2