, “Brief History,” Manuscript, ca. 6 April 1838– ca. 26 January 1839; handwriting of and an unidentified scribe; seventy pages numbered 20–90, plus three unnumbered pages; John Fletcher Darby Papers, Missouri History Museum Archives, St. Louis.
, a careful observer, had enjoyed a close association with Mormon leaders, and consequently his account provides valuable insights into the development and structure of the early church. He summarized many of the doctrines taught by JS and provided a detailed description of the conflict between the Latter-day Saints and other settlers. But his chronicle also related the story of a personal spiritual journey into and then out of the church as came to disapprove of the church’s course in 1838 in Missouri. Yet despite his estrangement from the church and his excommunication in 1839, he retained a degree of sympathy for the Saints and maintained some contact.
apparently began compiling portions of his account while serving as an officially appointed church historian in . He probably completed his narrative by 11 February 1839, when he secured a copyright with the district federal copyright office. He arranged for Thomas Watson & Son of to print A Brief History. The entire print run may have included up to twelve hundred copies.
The document presented here, ’s circa 1838–1839 rough draft of his history, is incomplete. It includes the title page, copyright notice, and preface but is missing twenty-one pages, including the nineteen pages that constitute chapters 1 through 6. The manuscript is almost entirely in Corrill’s handwriting, though some of the chapter summaries (added after he drafted the narrative) were written in a different hand, possibly that of the printer.
’s published version of A Brief History receives comprehensive treatment in volume 2 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers and is available on this website as part of the history series.
Page 57
for it seemed that they felt justified, and thought it was the will of God to use any measures whatever, whether lawful or unlawful, to accomplish their purpose and put down those that opposed them. In this they perverted the former belief and notions of the church; for the church always previous to the o believed that judgments, pestilence disease, famine, great troubles and vexations were sooner or later to be pourd out upon all the wicked and cut them off in the course of time, and this they supposed would be done by God himself; and the object of gathering together was that they might purify themselves and stand in Holy places appointed of God for that purpose, and thus escape these Judgments. But now it began to be taught that the church, instead of God, or rather the church in the hands of God, was to bring about these things. And I was told, but I cannot vouch for the truth of it, that some of them went so far as to contrive plans how they might scatter poison, pestilence and disease among the inhabitants and mak[e] them thing think it was judgments sent from God; but here let me remark that this was not known only to some half dozen of or so of the leaders and not to the church nor even the great majority of this secret society. I accused Smith and of it, but they both denied it promptly. Be this as it may, it was clearly evident to me that the leaders of this faction intended to set up a monarchial government in which the Presidency should tyranize and rule [p. 57]