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.
<August 1> and bore a strong testimony to the truth of the work of God: he assisted the brethren upon their journey.
“In September 1840, received the following blessing from under the hands of his Father, , upon his dying bed:
“‘, you have been a faithful and obedient son. By your faithfulness you have brought many into the Church. The Lord has seen your diligence, and you are blessed, in that he has never chastised you, but has called you home to rest; and there is a crown laid up for you, which shall grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
“‘When the Lord called you; he said, ‘, I have seen thy sufferings, have heard thy cries, and beheld thy faithfulness; thy shirts are clear from the blood of this generation.’ Because of these things, I seal upon your head all the blessings which I have heretofore pronounced upon you <and this my dying blessing I now seal, upon you>. Even so. Amen.’
“His bore to him four children, viz:— Susannah B., Mary B., Samuel H<arrison Bailey>, and Lucy B. His wife died January 25. 1841.
“In April 1841 he was sent on a mission to preach the gospel in Scott <and adjoining> Co<unties> Ills. May 3rd, he married Levira Clark, daughter of Gardner and Delecta, born in , Livingston Co., New York, July 30. 1815: he preached in Scott Co., during the summer and fall, <his wife remaining> staying principally with his Father in Law.
“In the month of November he returned to , taking his family with him, where he remained during the winter, and also the summer of 1842 during which time he worked mostly for Joseph, and harvested in the Country.
“In the fall of 1842 he removed to his brother ’s tavern at . In the summer of 1843, he was often at . In the fall he chopped wood and prepared his farm by making fences and clearing off the timber, preaching the gospel in the vicinity as he had opportunity.
“In the spring of 1844 he cultivated his farm, and upon hearing of the imprisonment of his brothers in Jail, he repaired thither [HC 7:221] on horseback to see them. While on the way he was pursued by the mobocrats, but in consequence of the fleetness of his horse, he was enabled to reach in safety, from whence he went to in company with the bodies of his martyred brothers Joseph and .
“His wife Levira bore to him 3 daughers viz Levira A. C., Louisa C., and Lucy J. C.
“He was soon after taken sick of bilious fever, and died on the 30th of July, aged 36 years.
“The following extract is from his obituary notice published in the Times and Seasons:—
“‘The exit of this worthy man, so soon after the horrible butchery of his brothers, Joseph and in jail, is a matter of deep solemnity to the family, as well as a remediless loss to all. If ever there lived a good man upon the earth, was that person. His labors in the church from first to last, carrying glad tidings to the eastern cities; and [p. 292]