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.
On the 21st day of June, 1844, came before me , Clerk of the Mayor’s Court, , and after being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that on Tuesday the 11th inst, he was in , when while speaking of the destruction of the printing press said he was very sorry, for the proprietors had set up that press for the destruction of the , and that he meant to kill Joseph Smith and , and he saith no further.
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“Subscribed and sworn to before me this 21st day of June 1844.
, Clerk M. C.”
“State of Illinois)
City of )
On the 21st day of June, 1844, came before me, , Clerk of the Mayor’s Court for said , , and after being duly sworn deposeth and saith, that on the 19th day of June ins’t, at his residence near Pilot Grove in the afternoon, about twenty-four persons fired about twenty-six guns at him, and that the balls whistled close by his head; thus, this mob, of which John Mc. Kay was one, fired about one hundred guns, but not all at your ; and that this mob was very noisy, cursing and swearing that they would kill every damned Mormon, and he says no further.
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“Subscribed and sworn to before me this 21st day of June, 1844.
, Clerk M. C.”
At 7 P. M., went by order of the Sergeant of the Guard at the Stone House to the , and reported the crew of the “Maid of Iowa” for firing five guns contrary to orders, which were, that any firing of guns was an alarm.
After the news had reached the of the ’s [HC 6:524] arrival at , an express was sent to to stop an express which I had sent to the at before I had learned of his arrival at .
An officer of the army, having arrested a deserter, came to , and staid at my all night. and lady arrived at the about 9 P. M. <also Esq., my attorney, from .> At 10 P. M., Private [blank] Minor gave information that he was passing, an hour since, about two miles out of the to his home, he was fired upon by some unknown person; General ordered out a detachment to proceed to the designated place, scour that part of the country, and see that all was right.