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Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft
Source Note
Source Note
Historian’s Office, martyrdom account, draft; handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw, , and ; 57 pages plus several inserted pages; CHL.
For more information on the History Drafts, see Introduction to History Drafts, 1844–1856.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
The “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft,” and the “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account” are the two complete, extant iterations of efforts by later church historians to record the murder of JS and , including the events leading up to their deaths and the immediate aftermath. As stated at the beginning of both accounts, the information was compiled from a number of different sources, including other journals, letters, and various other documents. It was put into a cohesive narrative during the 1850s by Church Historian’s Office clerks , Jonathan Grimshaw, and , presumably under the direction of the church historian, .
was the initial scribe for approximately the first half of “Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account, Draft,” and Grimshaw was the primary scribe for the remainder. Sometimes slips of paper were attached to pages of the draft with additional or alternative text to be included with a specific page. Page 12 of the draft has a notation by Grimshaw indicating that previously drafted text was to be added to the draft; instead of copying the text, he simply inserted a whole leaf into the draft. This leaf, in ’s handwriting, contains various numbered vignettes. It appears to be part of a larger collection of vignettes, as it is paginated “5” and “6,” and is likely the surviving portion of an earlier iteration of the martyrdom account by Thomas Bullock. The remainder of Bullock’s effort is not extant.
“Historian’s Office, Martyrdom Account,” which is a more final copy written primarily by Grimshaw in the mid-1850s, similarly has slips of papers attached. It also includes several leaves that were physically removed from “Martyrdom Account, Draft”; these leaves were renumbered to match the pagination of the copy: pages 7–10 in the draft became pages 11–14 in the more final copy; pages 13–14 became 19–20; most extensively, pages 19–52 became 27–60; and finally, page 57, the last page of the draft, became page 73 in the new version. Although these leaves are cataloged with the more final copy, this website presents the pages both in the draft, as originally paginated, and in the more final copy, with the new pagination. Two additional items were added at the end of the more final copy. A bifolium paginated as “75” and “2” and written on the back of a printed Utah Territory legal form gives an account of the arrival of the bodies of JS and Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo as well as the funeral and burial. It was written by Grimshaw and edited by from information given by . On the final leaf, which is torn and is paginated “76,” Bullock drafted an introduction to a passage from ’s History of Illinois, with instructions to include the passage from Ford’s history in the martyrdom account.
Both the draft and the more final copy were edited by , Grimshaw, and . It is not clear when the edits were made. The more final copy of the account appears to be what was used in 1856 when the final version was copied into the last volume of the Joseph Smith’s multivolume manuscript history (JS History, vol. F-1, 147, 151–204).
with the illegal detention of
<(T&S)> Next morning the prisoners voluntarily surrendered themselves to the constable , who held the writ against them on a charge of riot for destroying the press, type, and fixtures of the Nauvoo Expositor, the property of and , and others, charged to have been destroyed on the 10th inst. The was at Head Quarters in person, and had pledged his own faith, and the faith of the State of , that the Smiths, and <the> other persons <prisoners> concerned with them should be protected from pers[onal] violence, and should have a fair and impartial trial, if they would surrender themselves to be dealt with according to law. During the <the ’s> two succeeding days <stay in >, his Excellency <he> repeatedly assured expressed to the legal counselors of the Smiths, his determination to protect the prisoners and to see that they should have a fair and impartial examination.
Tuesday. June 25. At 8. A.M. President Smith had an interview with William G. Flood of , <U.S. Receiver of Public Moneys> soon after the surrender of the prisoners on the charge of riot while in conversation with him Constable arrested Joseph for Treason against the [p. 7]
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [9]
TEXT: At some point, pages 7–10 were removed from this martyrdom account draft and placed into the more final copy of the martyrdom account. The pages were renumbered as 11–14 to conform to the pagination of that copy. The pages are included here with their original pagination.
This and all other insertions on this page are in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw. It is unknown whether these insertions were made when this page was part of this martyrdom account draft or after it was moved into the more final copy of the martyrdom account.
Jonathan Grimshaw wrote “is” over Leo Hawkins’s “er” in “Bettersworth”, thus changing “Bettersworth” to “Bettissworth”.
Cancellation in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw.
- [10]
TEXT: Ink smudge on page, obscuring the text; text supplied from JS History, vol. F-1.
Jonathan Grimshaw wrote “is” over Leo Hawkins’s “er” in “Bettersworth”, thus changing “Bettersworth” to “Bettissworth”.