JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. D-1, created 4 July 1845–4 Feb. 1846 and 1 July 1854–2 May 1855; handwriting of , Robert L. Campbell, and ; 275 pages, plus 6 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the fourth volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This fourth volume covers the period from 1 Aug. 1842 to 1 July 1843; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1, B-1, C-1, E-1 and F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
History, 1838–1856, volume D-1, constitutes the fourth of six volumes documenting the life of Joseph Smith and the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series is also known as the Manuscript History of the Church and was originally published serially from 1842 to 1846 and 1851 to 1858 as the “History of Joseph Smith” in the Times and Seasons and Deseret News. This volume contains JS’s history from 1 August 1842 to 1 July 1843, and it was compiled after JS’s death.
The material recorded in volume D-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , with the assistance of . After Richards’s death in 1854, continued work on the volume as the new church historian with Bullock’s continued help. The process adopted by Richards and Bullock involved Richards creating a set of rough draft notes and Bullock transcribing the notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents (such as letters and meeting minutes). George A. Smith followed a similar pattern, though he dictated the draft notes to Bullock and other scribes.
According to the Church Historian’s Office journal, finished the third volume of the series, volume C-1, on Thursday, 3 July 1845, in , Illinois. He began work on the fourth volume, D-1, the next day, beginning on page 1362 with the entry for 1 August 1842. (The pages in volumes A-1–E-1 were numbered consecutively.) Bullock continued work on the record, drawing upon ’s draft notes, until 3 February 1846—the day before D-1 and the other volumes were packed up in preparation for the Latter-day Saints’ exodus from Nauvoo. At that point he had reached page 1485 with the entry for 28 February 1843. Subsequently, apparently after the collection had arrived in Utah, Bullock added a brief comment beneath that entry: “end of W. Richard’s compiling[.] the books packed Feby. 4— 1846 in Nauvoo[.] Miles Romney— present. The records carried by T Bullock from Winter Quarters to G S L [Great Salt Lake] City in 1848.”
A notation at the top of page 1486 reports that “the books were unpacked in G. S. L. City by and . June 7. 1853. J[onathan] Grimshaw & Miles Romney present.” Vertically, in the margin, is a poignant epitaph: “Decr. 1 1853 Dr. Willard Richards wrote one line of History—being sick at the time—and was never able to do any more.” With Richards’s death on 11 March 1854, JS’s cousin was called to the office of church historian. The notation on the top of page 1486 acknowledges this change in officers, noting, “commencement of George A. Smith’s compiling as Historian. April 13. 1854[.] [C]ommenced copying July 1. 1854.” From mid-April to the end of June 1854, George A. Smith, in collaboration with Thomas Bullock, worked on the draft notes for the history before a new scribe, , resumed writing in D-1 on 1 July 1854, beginning with the entry for 1 March 1843.
continued transcribing intermittently into the late fall of 1854, when he was assigned other duties in the Historian’s Office. He had reached page 1546 with the entry for 5 May 1843. Work resumed in February 1855 in the hand of Robert L. Campbell, recently returned from a mission. He concluded volume D-1 on the morning of 2 May 1855 and began writing in E-1 that afternoon.
The 274 pages of volume D-1 contain a record of much that is significant in the life of JS and the development of the church he founded. Among these events are
• JS’s 6 August 1842 prophecy that the Saints would become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.
•JS’s 8 August 1842 arrest on a warrant for being “an accessory before the fact” to an attack on former governor .
• ’s 17 August 1842 letter to governor , pleading for the humane treatment of her husband and family.
•JS’s 1 and 6 September 1842 instructions regarding the proper procedures for performing baptisms for the dead.
• JS’s 15 November 1842 “Valedictory” as he stepped down as editor of the Times and Seasons.
• The 26 December 1842 arrest of JS on a “proclamation” by former governor , and subsequent hearing in , Illinois.
• The 7 February 1843 recovery of a volume of patriarchal blessings given by , which had been stolen in , Missouri.
• JS’s 21 February 1843 remarks regarding the and .
• JS’s 2 April 1843 instruction at , Illinois, on the nature of God and other subjects.
• JS’s 16 May 1843 remarks at , Illinois, on the everlasting covenant and eternal marriage.
• The account of JS’s 23 June 1843 arrest and his hearing the following week at .
<April 13> but for the Providence of God through me: We can beat all our competitors, in lands, price and everything; we have the highest prices and best lands, and do the most good with the money we get. Our system is a real smut machine, a bolting machine, and all the shorts, bran and smut runs away and all the flour remains with us. Suppose I sell you land for $10 per acre, and I gave 3, 4 or $5 per acre then some persons may cry out you are speculating; yes, I will tell you how. I buy other lands and give them to the widow and the fatherless. If the speculators run against me they run against the buckler of Jehovah; God did not send me up as he did Joshua; in former days God sent his servants to fight, but in the last days he has promised to fight the battle himself. God will deal with you himself and will bless or curse you as you behave yourselves. I speak to you as one having authority, that you may know when it comes; and that you may have faith and know that God has sent me. [HC 5:356]
Some persons may perhaps enquire which is the most healthy location? I will tell you the lower part of the Town is most healthy; in the upper part of the Town are the merchants, who will say that I am partial &c, but the lower part of the Town is much the most healthy, and I tell it you in the name of the Lord. I have been out in all parts of the , and at all hours of the night, to learn these things. The Doctors in this region don’t know much; and the Lawyers when I speak about them, begin to say we will denounce you on the stand, but they don’t come up and I take the liberty to say what I have a mind to about them. Doctors won’t tell you where to go, to be well, they want to kill or cure you, to get your money. Calomel Doctors will give you Calomel to cure a sliver in the big toe, and the<y> do not stop to know whether the stomach is empty or not; and Calomel on an empty stomach will kill the patient, and the Lobelia Doctors will do the same. Point me out a patient and I will tell you whether Calomel or Lobelia will kill him or not, if you give it.
The is more healthy to drink than the spring water, but you had better dig wells from 15 to 30 feet, and then the water will be healthy. There are many sloughs on the , from whence Miasma arises in the summer, and is blown over the upper part of the ; but it does not extend over the lower part of the . All those persons who have not been accustomed to living on a river, or lake, or large pond of water, I do not want they should stay on the banks of the — get away to the lower part of the , or back to the hill, where you can get good well water; if you feel any inconvenience take some mild physic 2 or 3 times and follow that up with some good bitters: if you cannot get any thing else, take a little salts and cayenne pepper, if you cannot get salts, take ipecacuan<h>a, or gnaw down a butternut tree, or use boneset or horehound.
Those who have money come to me and I will let you have lands, and those who have not money, if they look as well as I do, I will give <them> advice that will do them good. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”
made some remarks concerning the prophets. Every report in circulation not congenial to good understanding, is false; false as the dark regions of hell. [p. 1531]