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 20> I here insert affidavits of Hiram B. Mount and John Cunningham:—
State of Illinois,)
Hancock County,)
City of .)
“June 20th; 1844.
Personally appeared before me, , an acting Justice of the Peace in and for the County of , Hiram B. Mount and John Cunningham, who being duly sworn, depose and say, that , , , and two others, came to your deponents on Saturday the 15th inst, at in said , and demanded our arms; we replied that we had none, when they required of us to go with them to , to take Joseph Smith and others prisoners, and they promised to supply us with arms; second, if we would not do so, that we were required to leave our homes and go to ; we must either go against Smith, or take part with him. They then told us they intended to go to to take Smith, and if they could not take him they would take some of the head men of Smith’s clan, and hold them under bonds of death until Smith was delivered up to them; and your deponents further say, that [HC 6:508] told them if they could not get volunteers enough, they would get a force that would take him.
Hiram B. Mount,
X <his mark> John Cunningham
“Subscribed and sworn to this 20th day of June, 1844, before me,
L. S.
, J. P.”
Also the affidavit of Allen T. Wait:—
“State of Illinois,)
Hancock County,)
City of .)
“June 20th, 1844.
Personally appeared before me, , an acting Justice of the Peace in and for said county, Allen T. Wait, of in said , and being first duly sworn deposeth and saith that on Saturday morning he was at the house of Colonel , when he told me that I must take up arms, and go and fight against Joseph Smith, or I must leave the place immediately, or else I must give up my arms, and stay at home. He also said they would take Smith by law if they could, or if the would not grant a writ to take him, they would take him any how; he also said that if the people would not give Smith up, they would lay the whole City of in ashes. I enquired what they would do with those people of who would not fight; he said they must make some signal or else they must share the same fate, they must all perish, men women and children. I then left in order to go home, when Captain Harrison P. Crawford overtook me, and told me if the would not help them they did not care for the any how. He said was an unconstitutional man, he had issued two illegal writs, and they were done so on purpose; and any such man ought not to hold any office whatever, and they intended to proceed against the Mormons, whether they got any authority from the or not.
Allen T. Wait.
“Subscribed and sworn to this 20th day of June, 1844, before me,
L. S.
, J. P.”
Likewise the affidavit of , , John Edmiston & :— [HC 6:509]
“State of Illinois)
Hancock County)
City of .)
“June 20th, 1844.
Personally appeared before me, , an acting Justice of the Peace in and for said , , , John Edmiston, and , all of aforesaid, and being first duly sworn, depose and say, that on Saturday the 15th of June, 1844, at in said , certain persons, to wit; , Farmer; , Esqr.; Luther Perry, Constable; , Farmer; and another person whose name we do [p. 124]