JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, created 9 Apr.–7 June 1856 and 20 Aug. 1856–6 Nov. 1856; handwriting of and Jonathan Grimshaw; 304 pages, plus 10 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the final volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This sixth volume covers the period from 1 May to 8 Aug. 1844; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1 through E-1, go through 30 Apr. 1844.
Historical Introduction
History, 1838-1856, volume F-1, constitutes the last 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 May 1844 to the events following his 27 June 1844 death, and it was compiled in Utah Territory in 1856.
The material recorded in volume F-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , who was JS’s cousin, and also assistant church historian . Smith collaborated with in collecting material for the volume and creating a set of draft notes, which Smith dictated to Bullock and other clerks. Woodruff gathered additional material concerning the death of Joseph Smith as a supplement to George A. Smith’s work recording that event. Jonathan Grimshaw and , members of the Historian’s Office staff, transcribed the draft notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents.
According to the Historian’s Office journal, Jonathan Grimshaw initiated work on the text of volume F-1 on 9 April 1856, soon after Robert L. Campbell had completed work on volume E-1. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 5 and 9 Apr. 1856.) Grimshaw’s scribal work begins with an entry for 1 May 1844. Unlike previous volumes in which the numbering had run consecutively to page 2028, Grimshaw began anew with page 1. He transcribed 150 pages by June 1856, and his last entry was for 23 June 1844. Though more of his writing does not appear in the volume, he continued to work in the office until 2 August, before leaving for the East that same month. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 2 and 10 Aug. 1856.)
assumed the role of scribe on 20 August 1856. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 20 Aug. 1856.) He incorporated ’s draft notes for the period 24–29 June 1844 on pages 151–189, providing an account of JS’s death and its immediate aftermath. He next transcribed a related extract from ’s 1854 History of Illinois on pages 190–204. Pages 205–227 were left blank.
provided the notes for the final portion of the text. This account begins with an entry for 22 June 1844 and continues the record through 8 August 1844, ending on page 304. (The volume also included ten pages of addenda.) The last specific entry in the Historian’s Office journal that captures at work on the history is for 6 November 1856. A 2 February 1857 Wilford Woodruff letter to indicates that on 30 January 1857, the “presidency sat and heard the history read up to the organization of the church in , 8th. day of August 1844.” (Historian’s Office, Journal, 6 Nov. 1856; Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 2 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 410; see also Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, 28 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, pp. 430–431.)
The pages of volume F-1 contain a record of the final weeks of JS’s life and the events of the ensuing days. The narrative commences with and arriving at , Illinois, on 1 May 1844 from their lumber-harvesting mission in the “” of Wisconsin Territory. As the late spring and summer of 1844 unfold, events intensify, especially those surrounding the suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor in mid-June. Legal action over the Expositor leads to a charge of riot, and subsequently JS is charged with treason and is incarcerated at the jail in , Illinois. The narrative of volume F-1 concludes with an account of the special church conference convened on 8 August 1844 to consider who should assume the leadership of the church.
“And whereas, has within the last week publicly threatened the life of one of our valued citizens— , the editor of the Signal.
“Therefore, be it solemnly Resolved, By the citizens of in Public Meeting assembled,
“That, we view the recent ordinance of the City of , and the proceedings thereunder, as an outrage, of an alarming character, revolutionary and tyrannical in its tendency, and being under color of law, as calculated to subvert and destroy in the minds of the community, all reliance on the law.
“Resolved, That as a Community, we feel anxious, when possible, to redress our grievances by legal remedies; but the time has now arrived, when the law has ceased to be a protection to our lives and property; a mob at , under a city ordinance, has violated the highest privilege in our Government; and to seek redress in the ordinary mode would be utterly ineffectual.
“Resolved, That the public threat made in the Council of the , not only to destroy our Printing Press, but to take the life of its , is sufficient, in connexion with the recent outrage, to command the efforts and the services of every good citizen, to put an immediate stop to the career of the mad Prophet and his demoniac coadjutors. We must not only defend ourselves from danger, but we must resolutely carry the war into the enemy’s camp. We do therefore declare, that we will [HC 6:463] sustain our Press and the , at all hazards. That we will take full vengeance,— terrible vengeance, should the lives of any of our citizens be lost in the effort. That we hold ourselves at all times in readiness to co-operate with our fellow citizens in this , and , to exterminate, utterly exterminate, the wicked and abominable Mormon Leaders, the authors of our troubles.
“Resolved, That a Committee of five be appointed forthwith to notify all persons in our suspected of being the tools of the Prophet, to leave immediately on pain of instant vengeance. And we do recommend the inhabitants of the adjacent Townships to do the same, hereby pledging ourselves to render all the assistance they may require.
“Resolved, That the time, in our opinion has arrived, when the adherents of Smith, as a Body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements, into . That the Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then be demanded at their hands, and if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged, to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his adherents. And we do hereby recommend this resolution to the consideration of the several Townships, to the Mass Convention to be held at ; hereby pledging ourselves to aid, to the utmost, the complete consummation of the object in view, that we may thereby be utterly relieved of the alarm, anxiety, and trouble, to which we are now subjected.
“Resolved, That every citizen arm himself to be prepared to sustain the resolutions herein contained.
“Mr. Rooselvelt rose and made a brief but eloquent speech; and called upon the citizens throughout the country to render efficient aid in carrying out the spirit of the resolutions. Mr. Roosevelt then moved a Committee of seven be appointed by the Chair to draft resolutions expressive of our action in future.
“Mr. Catlin moved to amend the motion of Mr. Roosevelt, so that the Committee should consist of one from each precinct, which motion, as amended, was adopted.
The Chair then appointed the following: Col. , Rocky Run. [p. 95]