, “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.
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over all things. In fact there was so much tyrrany and oppression exercised, that for several weeks many persons durst not speak their minds nor let them be known; and I have learned of late that a constitution was formed savoring of all the spirit of Monarchy and adopted by the leaders and some others of this society, and <but> I conclude that but few knew about it, for I never heard one lisp <on the subject,> aboutit untill exposed it after he was arrested. Some persons individuals went so far as to state that they would kill any pe[r]son if the presidency should say it was it the will of God; for these things were necessary sometimes to save the church from corruption and destruction. All the while it was preached to them that they must purify themselves from all evil, for the time was now at hand when every thing that offended in the Kingdom of God must be cast out. This they detemined to do, whether by fair means or foul, regardless of consequences. They sometimes went by the name of the Big Fan; this, I supposed, was figurative of their intentions to cleanse the chaff from the wheat. They also assumed the name of the Daughter of Zion, and afterwards were called Danites. Why they assumed these last names, I never knew, but always supposed that <they> took it from the scripture, which speaks of them, the <first> prophetically and the last historically (see Mich. 4.13 read the whole chapter, also Judges 17 & 18 chapters)
This society increased, as near as I could learn, to the number of three hundred. <x> Thechurch celebrated the fourth of July by raising a liberty pole on which they hoisted the American flag. They also [p. 58]