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.
again, and told him that I wanted cloth for some shirts <December 17th. ’s Letter continued> to the amount of four or five dollars. I told him that I would pay him in the Spring and sooner if I could. He let me have it. Not long after my school was established, and some of the hands who labored on the attended, and wished to pay me at the , for their tuition. I called at the to see if any negociation could be made, and they take me off where I owed them, but no such negociation could be made. These with [HC 2:335] some other circumstances of a like character called forth the following reflections. In the first place I gave the committee $275. in cash, besides some more, and during the last season have travelled through the middle and eastern states to support and uphold the , and in so doing have reduced myself to nothing in a pecuniary point. Under these circumstances this establishment refused to render me that accommodation which a worldling’s establishment gladly would have done, and one too, which never received a donation from me, nor in whose favor I never raised my voice or exerted my influence. But after all this, thought I, it may be right, and I will be still:— until not long since I ascertained that Elder could go to the and get whatever he pleased, and no one to say why do ye so, until his account has amounted to seven hundred dollars, or there abouts and that he was a silent partner in the concern, yet not acknowledged, as such, fearing that his creditors would make a haul upon the store.
While we were abroad this last season, we strained every nerve to obtain a little something for our families, and regularly divided the moneys equally for ought I know, not knowing that had such a fountain at home, from whence he drew his support. I then called to mind the Revelation, in which myself, , and were chastened, and also the quotation in that revelation of the parable of the twelve sons; as if the original meaning referred directly to the twelve Apostles of the church of the Latter Day Saints. I would now ask if each one of the twelve has not an equal right to the same accommodations from that , provided they are alike faithful? If not; with such a combination, mine honor be not thou united. If each one has the same right, take the baskets off from our noses, and put one to ’s nose, or if this cannot be done, reconcile the parable of the twelve sons, with the superior privileges that has. Pardon me if I speak <Parable> in parables or parody. A certain shepherd had twelve sons, and he sent them out one day to go and gather his flock, which were scattered upon the mountains and in the vallies afar off. They were all obedient to their father’s mandate, and at evening they returned with the flock. And one son received wool enough to make him warm and comfortable, and also received of the flesh and milk of the flock; the other eleven [p. 665]