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.
With this you will receive a copy of instructions, from to us. You will understand from them what we desire from you in action on your part,— as the only authorities of your now known to the country, of such a character as will pacify the public mind and satisfy the of your determination to sustain the supremacy of the laws, <which> will, we are sure, be gratifying to him, and as much so to
Yours respectfully,
Hart Fellows
A. Jonas”
We copy from the Times and Seasons:—
“At a meeting of the City Council, held in the Council room, in the city of , on the first day of July, 1844, having received instructions from , through the agency of A. Jonas, Esq. and Col. Fellows, it was unanimously,
Resolved, For the purpose of ensuring peace, and promoting the welfare of the county of , and surrounding country, that we will rigidly sustain the laws, and the of the , so long as they, and he, sustain us in <all> our constitutional rights.
“Resolved, secondly, That to carry the foregoing resolutions into complete effect, that inasmuch as the has taken from us the [HC 7:150] public arms, that we solicit of him to do the same with all the rest of the public arms of the .
“Resolved, thirdly, To further secure the peace, friendship and happiness of the people, and allay the excitement that now exists, we will reprobate private revenge on the assassinators of General Joseph Smith and General Hyrum Smith by any of the Latter Day Saints. That instead of ‘an appeal to arms,’ we appeal to the majesty of the law, and will be content with whatever judgment it shall award; and should the laws fail, we leave the matter with God.
“Resolved, unanimously, That this City Council pledge themselves for the City of , that no aggressions by the citizens of said , shall be made on the citizens of the surrounding country, but we invite them, as friends and neighbors, to use the Savior’s golden rule, and ‘do unto others as they would have others do unto them,’ and we will do likewise.
“Resolved, lastly, That we highly approve of the present public pacific course of the to allay excitement, and restore peace among the citizens of the country, and while he does so, and will use his influence to stop all vexatious proceedings in law, until confidence is restored, so that the citizens of can go to , or any other place, for trial, without exposing themselves to the violence of assassins, we will uphold him, and the law, by all honorable means