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 22> who first issued the writ at we cannot see, for the constitution expressly says no man shall twice be put in jeopardy of life and limb for the same offence, and all you refer to have since the issue of the Habeas Corpus been complied with for the same offence, and tried before , Justice of the Peace for , and after a full investigation were discharged; but notwithstanding this we would not hesitate to stand another trial according to your ’s wish, were it not that we are confident our lives would be in danger. We dare not come. Writs, we are assured, are issued against us in various parts of the country for what? to drag us from place to place, from court to court, across the creeks and prairies, till some blood thirsty villain can find his opportunity to shoot us. We dare not come, though your promises protection; yet at the same time you have expessed fears that you could not control the mob, in which case we are left to the mercy of the merciless. Sir, we dare not come, for our lives would be in danger, and we are guilty of no crime.
“You say ‘it will be against orders to be accompanied by others’ if we come to trial; this we have been obliged to act upon in ; and when our witnesses were sent for by the Court, (as your honor promises to do) they were thrust into prison, and we left without witnesses. Sir, you must not blame us, for ‘a burnt child dreads the fire’; and although your might be well disposed in the matter, the appearance of the mob forbids our coming; we dare not do it.
“We have been advised by legal and high minded gentlemen from abroad, who came on the boat <this evening> to lay our grievances before the federal government, as the appearance of things is not only treasonable against us, but against this on the part of , unless the same has been requested of by the Federal government. And we suppose your is well aware by this time that the mass meetings of the declared utter extermination to the Mormons, and that the Legion was not called out until complaints were made to the Mayor, and the citizens were afraid of their lives, and losing their confidence in the authorities of the , and that nothing on the part of the authorities has been wanting, legally and judiciously, to allay excitement and restore peace. We shall leave the forthwith to lay the facts before the General Government, and as before stated the is left open and unprotected; and by every thing that is sacred, we implore your to cause our helpless women and children to be protected from mob violence, and let not the blood of inno[HC 6:540]cence cry to the heavens against you. We again say, if any thing wrong has been done on our part, and we know of nothing, we will make all <things> right if the government will give us the opportunity. Disperse the mob, and secure to us our constitutional privileges; that our lives may not be endangered when on trial.
“I remain, most respectfully,
Your ’s humble servant,
Joseph Smith, Mayor and Lieut. Genl. N. L.” [HC 6:541]
It appears that the on arriving at , ordered the entire mob into service, adopted the lies and misrepresentations circulated against us by our enemies as the truth, turned Supreme Court, and decided on the legality of our Municipal ordinances and proceedings, which is the business of the Judiciary alone. He charges us in his letter, based upon the most cursed falsehoods, with violations of law and order, which have never been thought of by us. He treated our delegates very rudely; my communications that were read to him were read in the presence of a large number of our worst enemies, who interrupted the reader at almost every line with “that’s a damn’d lie”, and “that’s a God damn’d lie”. He never accorded to them the privilege of saying one word to him only in the midst of such interruptions [p. 145]