JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. B-1, created 1 Oct. 1843–24 Feb. 1845; handwriting of and ; 297 pages, plus 10 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the second volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This second volume covers the period from 1 Sept. 1834 to 2 Nov. 1838; the subsequent four volumes, labeled C-1 through F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
This document, volume B-1, is the second of the six volumes of the “Manuscript History of the Church.” The collection was compiled over the span of seventeen years, 1838 to 1856. The narrative in volume B-1 begins with the entry for 1 September 1834, just after the conclusion of the Camp of Israel (later called Zion’s Camp), and continues to 2 November 1838, when JS was interned as a prisoner of war at , Missouri. For a fuller discussion of the entire six-volume work, see the general introduction to the history.
, serving as JS’s “private secretary and historian,” completed the account of JS’s history contained in volume A-1 in August 1843. It covered the period from JS’s birth in 1805 through the aftermath of the Camp of Israel in August 1834. When work resumed on the history on 1 October 1843, Richards started a new volume, eventually designated B-1.
At the time of JS’s death in June 1844, the account had been advanced to 5 August 1838, on page 812 of volume B-1. ’s poor health led to the curtailment of work on B-1 for several months, until 11 December 1844. On that date, Richards and , assisted by , resumed gathering the records and reports needed to draft the history. Richards then composed and drafted roughed-out notes while Thomas Bullock compiled the text of the history and inscribed it in B-1. They completed their work on the volume on or about 24 February 1845. Richards, , and Jonathan Grimshaw later added ten pages of “Addenda,” which provided notes, extensive revisions, or additional text to be inserted in the original manuscript where indicated.
Though JS did not dictate or revise any of the text recorded in B-1, and chose to maintain the first-person, chronological narrative format established in A-1 as if JS were the author. They drew from a variety of primary and secondary sources including JS’s diaries and letters, minutes of meetings, the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, church and other periodicals, reports of JS’s discourses, and the reminiscences and recollections of church members. As was the case with A-1, after JS’s death, , , , and others modified and corrected the manuscript as they reviewed material before its eventual publication.
Beginning in March 1842 the church’s Nauvoo periodical, the Times and Seasons, began publishing the narrative as the “History of Joseph Smith.” It was also published in England in the church periodical the Millennial Star beginning in June 1842. Once a press was established in Utah and the Deseret News began publication, the “History of Joseph Smith” once more appeared in print in serialized form. Beginning with the November 1851 issue, the narrative picked up where the Times and Seasons had left off over five years earlier.
The narrative recorded in B-1 continued the story of JS’s life as the prophet and president of the church he labored to establish. The account encompasses significant developments in the church’s two centers at that time—, Ohio, and northwest —during a four-year-span. Critical events included the organization of the Quorums of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy, the dedication of the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, the establishment of the Kirtland Safety Society, dissension and apostasy in Kirtland and Missouri, the first mission to England, JS’s flight from Kirtland to Missouri in the winter of 1838, the Saints’ exodus from Kirtland later that year, the disciplining of the Missouri presidency, and the outbreak of the Missouri War and arrest of JS. Thus, B-1 provides substantial detail regarding a significant period of church expansion and transition as well as travail.
situated and its soil as fertile as any in this region of country <December 2.> and its inhabitants wealthy even blessed above measure, in temporal things, and fain would God bless them with spiritual blessings even eternal life [HC 2:323] were it not for their evil hearts of unbelief; and we are led to mingle our prayers with those saints that have suffered the like treatment before us, whose souls are under the altar crying to the Lord for vengeance upon those that dwell upon the earth, and we rejoice that the time is at hand when the wicked, who will not repent, will be swept from the earth with the besom of destruction, and the earth become an inheritance for the poor and the meek. When We arrived at we called at Sister ’s and left and family to visit her while we rode into town to do some business. Called and visited : dined with , and returned home. Had a fine ride; sleighing good, weather pl[e]asant
<3.> Thursday 3d. at home. Wrote a letter to , , Michigan; another to , , Clay Co. Missouri. At evening, visited with at ’s. A respectable company waited our arrival. After Singing and prayer, I delivered an address on matrimony, and joined in marriage, and . closed by singing and prayer; and after refreshment, returned home having spent the evening very agreeably.
<4> Friday 4th. In company with , drew three hundred and fifty dollars out of , on three months credit for which we gave the names of and Co.— , , and . <Settled> with Brother , and , and paid two hundred and forty five dollars; also have it in my power to pay , for which blessing I feel heartily thankful to my Heavenly Father, and ask him in the name of Jesus Christ to enable us to extricate ourselves from all embarrassments whatever, that we may not be brought into disrepute, in any respect, that our enemies may [HC 2:324] not have any power over us: Spent the day at home a part of the time studying Hebrew. Warm, with some rain, snow fast melting. This evening a Mr , of , Ohio, called to see me on the subject of religion, and I spent the evening in conversing with him. He tarried over night with me and acknowledged in the morning, that although he had thought he knew something about religion, he was now sensible that he knew but little, which was the greatest trait of wisdom I could discover in him.
<5> Saturday 5.th. Weather cold and freezing, with a moderate fall of snow. In the forenoon studying Hebrew with and . I am laboring under some indisposition [p. 658]