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.
<June 17> and forbid him; door was opened by , as witness thought; the press and fixtures were destroyed; some paper and a desk belonging to containing several thousand dollars of property, $4000 auditor’s warrants, and other valuable papers.
“Cross-examined— Did not know the amount of warrants and papers; presumed they were destroyed. Did not know whether they were destroyed; was from the office long enough to have them taken out. Said , , , , , and helped move the press. Never knew any thing against Joseph Smith personally.
“ sworn— Was present at the council when the bill passed to destroy the press.
“Joseph Smith objected to calling in question the doings of the city council, and referred to the proceedings of Congress to show that all legislative bodies have a right to speak freely on any subject before them; and that Congress is not responsible for a riot which might arise on the execution of their order by the Marshal; that the execution of such order could not be a riot, but a legal transaction; that the doings of the city council could only be called in question by the powers above them; and that a magistrate had not that power; that the city council was not arrayed here for trial; but individuals were arraigned for a riot;— if the city council had transcended their powers they were amenable to the supreme court, and that had decided that an action could not lie if no riot had been committed.
“ said if the act was committed under an ordinance of the they might show it in justifiation. [HC 6:489]
“Court decided that the gentlemen arraigned <were arraigned> in their individual capacities, and could not be recognized by the Court in their official capacity.
“ said that all he heard the prisoners say, was said as councilors.
“Testimony on the prosecution closed.
“ moved that the prisoners be dismissed for want of a case being made out.
“ read the riot act, and plead a case had been made out.
“Motion overruled by the court.
“, , and Edward Wingett sworn.
“Dr. , (of ) said he went on the hill after the order passed the Council, saw some portion of the Legion collected, walking quietly along as though they were walking to the ‘dead march in Saul’; there was no noise or tumult. asked the his authority; stated his authority from the Mayor for abating the nuisance. set them all at defiance; some twelve men were called out who went up stairs and opened the door, did not know how the door was opened, there was not more than one thump; asked one of the officers if anything was destroyed except what belonged to the Press and the officer replied, no! All was done in perfect order, as peaceably as people move on a Sunday; was present all the time; all that was done, was done in their official capacity as officers of the .
“ objected to the testimony, as it was not before the court that there was any city.
“Court decided that any knowledge in possession of the Court was testimony in the Court.
“E. Wingott, (of ) concurred in ’s statements, was by the door when it was opened, and knew that nothing more than a knee was put against it; all was done quietly; was present in the city council when the order passed, nothing said in council [p. 112]