JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. C-1, addenda, created 18 Oct.–ca. 20 Nov. 1854; 75 pages in volume bearing three labels reading “Historical Notation,” “From 1841 to 1851,” and “Addenda to C1;” handwriting of , Jonathan Grimshaw, Robert Campbell, and John L. Smith; CHL.
Historical Introduction
On 11 June 1839, while residing at , Illinois, JS began dictating what his journal simply referred to as his “history.” (An earlier draft was begun by JS and in April 1838, but that draft is no longer extant; see JS, Journal, 27 Apr. 1838.) However, substantial progress on the history was not made until assumed responsibility for the project and was appointed as JS’s “private se[c]retary & historian” in December 1842 (JS, Journal, 11 June 1839; 21 Dec. 1842). Work on this endeavor came to span eighteen years and included frequent stops and starts. The longest lull, of over seven years, was occasioned by the Saints’ exodus from followed by the challenges of settling the Salt Lake Valley. After the death of Willard Richards in 1854, the project was brought to a conclusion in Utah by and in 1856. By that time the history had swelled to six volumes and over 2,400 pages. It subsequently came to be known as the “Manuscript History of the Church” (in The Joseph Smith Papers it bears the editorial title “History, 1838–1856”).
As part of that enterprise, “History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842]” was begun on or just after 24 February 1845 and its basic narrative was completed by 3 May of that year, although work continued on the volume through that July (Richards, Journal, 24 and 28 Feb. 1845; Historian’s Office, Journal, 3 May 1845; 3 and 4 July 1845). was the scribe for the volume, which contains 512 pages of primary text, plus 24 pages of addenda, and covers the period 2 November 1838 through 31 July 1842.
On 10 April 1854, less than five weeks after the death of , assumed the role of church historian and with it responsibility for the completion of JS’s history. He subsequently observed in a letter to :
I commenced to perform the duties of Historian by taking up the History of Joseph Smith where Dr. had left it when driven from on the 4th day of February 1846. I had to revise and compare two years of back history which he had compiled, filling up numerous spaces which had been marked as omissions on memoranda by Dr. Richards.
I commenced compiling the history of Joseph Smith from April 1st 1840 to his death on June 27th 1844. I have filled up all the reports of sermons by President Joseph Smith and others from minutes or sketches taken at the time in long hand by Dr. , , , , Miss &c. which was an immense labor, requiring the deepest thought and the closest application, as there were mostly only two or three words (about half written) to a sentence.” (George A. Smith, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, 21 Apr. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Historical Record Book, 218.)
In October 1854 and his clerks began compiling a separate, extensive list of addenda to volume C-1. The Church Historian’s office journal entry for 13 October 1854 noted, “ engaged on history papers all da[y] found many that will have to be inserted in 40 & 41” (Historian’s Office, Journal, 13 Oct. 1854). Apparently these addenda represented some of the revising and comparing of “two years of back history” with the “filling up numerous spaces” Smith had mentioned in his 1856 letter to . In support of that effort, the 19 October 1854 issue of the Deseret News carried the following item that also explained why the serialization of the History of Joseph Smith was being temporarily interrupted:
The History of Joseph Smith is necessarily omitted in this number; and from one to two columns a number will probably be all that can be furnished for some time, as the Historian has come to a period which requires hunting up many facts, and preparing them for embodying, which the hurry of the times obliged to pass over by simply writing on the margin, “note to be supplied” (”History and Sermons,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 19 Oct. 1854, [2]).
At that time, Joseph Smith’s history had been reported through October 1840 in the Deseret News.
The addenda to volume C-1 presented here are labeled “Addenda to Book C1. By . Octr. 18th. 1854.” They are in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw, , Robert L. Campbell, and John L. Smith, all of whom worked under the direction of . These addenda provide supplemental material for the period from 19 October 1840 to 15 July 1842 and consist of seventy-five pages copied into a separate ledger that also contains a chronological inventory of material employed in compiling the manuscript history. Many entries from George A. Smith’s “Addenda” were incorporated under their respective dates into the text of the version of Joseph Smith’s history published in the Deseret News, a fair copy identified as C-2, and the later account edited by B. H. Roberts as History of the Church.
Among the significant items included in the addenda to volume C-1 are sermons, editorials, and records of events. Of particular note are entries regarding the October 1840 creation of stakes at , , and , Illinois; the January 1841 acknowledgement of the mission of the Twelve to ; the 7 August 1841 death of JS’s brother ; JS’s 12 August 1841 meeting with Sac and Fox Indians from ; a November 1841 description of the construction of a temporary wooden font for the performance of baptisms for the dead within the rising Nauvoo ; the February 1842 appointment of as superintendent of the church printing office, and of as head of the Times and Seasons editorial department; and four accounts of JS’s instructions to the Female Relief Society.
<1842 June 15> unto every man to profit withall. For to one is given, by the spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same spirit; to another faith by the same spirit; to another the gifts of healing, by the same spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the self same spirit, dividing to each man severally as he will. “There are several gifts mentioned here, yet which of them all could be known, by an observer, at the imposition of hands? The word of wisdom, and the word of knowledge, are as much gifts as any other, yet if a person possessed both of these gifts, or received them by the imposition of hands, who would know it? Another might receive the gift of faith, and they would be as ignorant of it. Or suppose a man had <the> gift of healing, or power to work miracles, that would not then be known; it would require time and circumstances to call these gifts into operation. Suppose a man had the discerning of spirits, who would be the wiser for it? Or if he had the interpretation of tongues, unless some one spoke in an unknown tongue, he of course would have to be silent; there are only two gifts that could be made visible— the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy. These are things that are <the> most talked about, and yet if a person spoke in an unknown tongue, according to Paul’s testimony, he would be a barbarian to those present. They would say that it was gibberish; and if he prophesied they would call it nonsense. The gift of tongues is the smallest gift perhaps of the whole, and yet it is— one that is the most sought after. So that according to the testimony of scripture and the manifestations of the spirit in ancient days, very little could be known about it by the surrounding multitude; except on some extraordinary occasion as on the day of Pentecost. The greatest, the best, and the most useful gifts would be known nothing about by an observer. It is true that a man might prophecy which is a great gift; and one that Paul told the people— the church— to seek after and <to> covet, rather than to speak in tongues; but what does the world know about prophecying? Paul says that it “serveth only to those that believe.”— But does not the scriptures say that they spake in tongues and prophecied? Yes; but who is it that writes these scriptures? Not the men of the world or mere casual observers, but the Apostles— men who knew one gift from another, and [p. 68]