Footnotes
The page numbers on pages 19–71, 86–90, and 122–125 are in the handwriting of Willard Richards; on pages 72–85, 91–121, 126–167, and 171–477, in the handwriting of William Clayton; and on pages 168–170, in the handwriting of Erastus Derby. There are two pages numbered 453. Pages 476–477 constitute the last leaf of lined paper. The headers generally consist of a year or a month and year. The headers inscribed on pages 26–27, 29–71, 88–95, 119, and 121–126 are in the handwriting of Richards; the headers inscribed on pages 28, 72–87, 96–118, 120, 127–167, and 172–215 are in the handwriting of Clayton; pages 168–171, which were inscribed by Derby, have no headers. A few other pages are missing headers.
For example, page 135 points the reader to page 164, which begins by noting the continuation from page 135.
This serialized history drew on the journals herein, beginning with the 4 July 1855 issue of the Deseret News and with the 3 January 1857 issue of the LDS Millennial Star.
Most of these now-erased graphite inscriptions are recoverable with bright white light and magnification. Pages 209–215, which were not erased, represent the state of the journal entries generally when they were used for drafting the “History of Joseph Smith.”
Tithing and Donation Record, 1844–1846, CHL; Trustee-in-trust, Index and Accounts, 1841–1847, CHL.
Trustee-in-Trust. Index and Accounts, 1841–1847. CHL.
Historian’s Office, “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]; Historian’s Office, “Inventory. Historians Office. G. S. L. City April 1.1857,” [1]; Historian’s Office, “Historian’s Office Inventory G. S. L. City March 19. 1858,” [1]; Historian’s Office, “Historian’s Office Catalogue Book March 1858,” [11], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Emmeline B. Wells, “Salt Lake Stake Relief Society Conference,” Women’s Exponent, 1 July 1880, 9:22.
Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.
“Inventory of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s Safe,” 23 May 1970, First Presidency, General Administration Files, CHL.
“Inventory of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s Safe,” 23 May 1970. First Presidency, General Administration Files, 1921–1972. CHL.
Letter of transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 8 Jan. 2010, CHL.
Letter of Transfer, Salt Lake City, UT, 8 Jan. 2010. CHL.
| Date | Manuscript Page | Page in JSP, J2 |
| December 1841 | 26, 31, 33, 36, 39, 43–44 | 10–21 |
| Dec. 1841 | 36 | 16 |
| 11–13 Dec. 1841 | 33 | 14–15 |
| 13 Dec. 1841 | 26, 33 | 10–11, 15–16 |
| 14 Dec. 1841 | 26 | 11 |
| 15–16 Dec. 1841 | 31 | 13–14 |
| 17 Dec. 1841 | 26 | 11 |
| 22 Dec. 1841 | 36 | 16–17 |
| 24–28 Dec. 1841 | 39 | 17–19 |
| 29–31 Dec. 1841 | 43–44 | 19–21 |
| January 1842 | 31, 43–44, 48, 56–60, 66–67 | 14, 21–32, 36–38 |
| 1 Jan. 1842 | 44 | 21 |
| 4 Jan. 1842 | 48 | 23–24 |
| 5 Jan. 1842 | 31, 44 | 14, 21 |
| 6 Jan. 1842 | 57 | 25–26 |
| 12–16 Jan. 1842 | 48 | 24 |
| 15 Jan. 1842 | 58 | 26–27 |
| 16 Jan. 1842 | 48, 58 | 24, 27 |
| 17 Jan. 1842 | 43, 56, 58 | 20–21, 24–25, 27 |
| 18–22 Jan. 1842 | 58 | 27–30 |
| 23 Jan. 1842 | 59, 66 | 30, 36–37 |
| 24 Jan. 1842 | 59 | 30 |
| 25 Jan. 1842 | 59, 66 | 30, 37 |
| 26–27 Jan. 1842 | 59 | 30–31 |
| 28 Jan. 1842 | 59, 67 | 31, 38 |
| 29–31 Jan. 1842 | 60 | 31–32 |
| February–July 1842 | 60–61, 88–95, 122–128 | 32–36, 38–80 |
| August 1842 | 128–135, 164–167, 179–184 | 80–99, 115–124 |
| 3–15 Aug. 1842 | 128–135 | 80–92 |
| 16 Aug. 1842 | 135, 164–165 | 93–96 |
| 17–21 Aug. 1842 | 165–167 | 96–99 |
| Copied Correspondence | 168–178 | 100–114 |
| 23–31 Aug. 1842 | 179–184 | 115–124 |
| September–December 1842 | 184–215 | 124–183 |
Footnotes
One of Richards’s entries records that he was ill “& did not take notes.” Other entries, such as those dictated by JS to William Clayton while in hiding, are clearly copies of previously inscribed notes. (JS, Journal, 17 June 1842; 16 and 23 Aug. 1842.)
Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 16; Brigham Young et al., “Baptism for the Dead,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:626.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18; Clayton, Journal, 10 Feb. 1843.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
JS, Kirtland, OH, to William W. Phelps, [Independence, MO], 27 Nov. 1832, in JS Letterbook 1, pp. 1–2 [D&C 85:1–2, 5]; 2 Chronicles 17:9; 34:14; Nehemiah 9:3.
JS Letterbook 1 / Smith, Joseph. “Letter Book A,” 1832–1835. Joseph Smith Collection. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 1.
See also the entry for 29 June 1842, in which Richards transferred “this Journal” to his assistant William Clayton.
Pages 207–209, for example, contain such inscriptions. Willard Richards’s entry for 10 March 1842 also indicates contemporaneous inscription.
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842.
Brigham Young et al., “Baptism for the Dead,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:626.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
JS, Journal, 8 Aug. 1842; see also Appendix 1.
JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.
Wilford Woodruff noted that a procession celebrating the lodge’s organization formed at JS’s store and marched to the grove in front of the temple. Woodruff estimated three thousand people were present. The lodge minutes add that “at the Grove, after the ceremonies of installation the Grand Master delivered a highly creditable and finished address on the subject of Ancient York Masonry, after which the lodges returned to the lodge room in Masonic order.” By the end of 1842, the Nauvoo lodge was the largest Masonic lodge in Illinois. (Woodruff, Journal, 15 Mar. 1842; List of Members, Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book, 15 Mar. 1842; Hogan, Vital Statistics of Nauvoo Lodge, 4.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book. / “Record of Na[u]voo Lodge Under Dispensation,” 1842–1846. CHL. MS 3436
Hogan, Mervin B. Vital Statistics of Nauvoo Lodge. Salt Lake City: By the author, 1976.
At this evening meeting JS and Sidney Rigdon were initiated as Entered Apprentice Masons. (Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book, 15 Mar. 1842.)
Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book. / “Record of Na[u]voo Lodge Under Dispensation,” 1842–1846. CHL. MS 3436
In the morning JS and Sidney Rigdon were received as Fellow Craft Masons and, later that day, as Master Masons. (Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book, 16 Mar. 1842.)
Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book. / “Record of Na[u]voo Lodge Under Dispensation,” 1842–1846. CHL. MS 3436
A few weeks earlier, a group of women in Nauvoo drafted a constitution for a proposed charitable “Sewing Society.” When they showed the document to JS, he told them he had “something better” for them and called this meeting. Twenty women, JS, Willard Richards, and John Taylor attended. (Relief Society Record, 29; Relief Society Minute Book, 17 Mar. 1842.)
Relief Society Record / “Record of the Relief Society from First Organization to Conference Apr 5th 1892. Book I.,” 1880–1892. CHL. CR 11 175.
Relief Society Minute Book / “A Book of Records Containing the Proceedings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo,” Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
The general business office or “Lodge Room” was located on the second floor of JS’s store.
A revelation dated July 1830 refers to Emma Smith as an “elect lady.” (Revelation, July 1830–C, in Doctrine and Covenants 48:1, 1835 ed. [D&C 25:3]; see also 2 John 1:1.)
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).
JS explained that Emma was “ordain’d at the time, the Revelation was given [July 1830], to expound the scriptures to all; and to teach the female part of community.” (Relief Society Minute Book, 17 Mar. 1842.)
Relief Society Minute Book / “A Book of Records Containing the Proceedings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo,” Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Sarah M. Kingsley Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney. (Relief Society Minute Book, 17 Mar. 1842.)
Relief Society Minute Book / “A Book of Records Containing the Proceedings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo,” Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Prior to these baptisms, JS spoke to a large audience in the grove on baptism, death, and the Resurrection. Following the baptisms in the river, JS returned to the grove, where those who had been baptized were confirmed. The same afternoon, members of the Quorum of the Twelve baptized church members for their deceased relatives in the font in the Nauvoo temple. (Wilford Woodruff, “Sabbath Scene in Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1842, 3:751–753; Woodruff, Journal, 20 Mar. 1842.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
This could be the settlement between JS and Marks that was closed two weeks later. (JS, Journal, 4 Apr. 1842.)
The recorder, Willard Richards.
At the organizational meeting of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo on 17 March 1842, JS charged the society with “correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the female community.” To this end, the organization regularly took roll, voted on the worthiness of its members, and investigated charges of improper behavior. Marvel was here accused of spreading “scandalous falsehoods on the character of Prest Joseph Smith,” concerning his relationship with Agnes Coolbrith Smith (wife of his deceased brother Don Carlos), “without the least provocation.” On 2 April 1842, following the Relief Society’s investigation of the charges, Marvel wrote a statement that she had never “at any time or place, seen or heard any thing improper or unvirtuous in the conduct or conversation” of either JS or Agnes, and that she had never “reported any thing derogatory to the characters of either of them.” The report of the Marvel investigation, presented at the meeting of 14 April 1842, cleared Marvel of charges and stated that her testimony of innocence was satisfactorily received. Mary Ann West, who lived with Agnes in Nauvoo, reported fifty years later that Agnes told her that she (Agnes) had become a plural wife of JS following the death of her husband, Don Carlos. (Relief Society Minute Book, 17 Mar. 1842; 24 Mar. 1842; [31] Mar. 1842; 14 Apr. 1842, 89; Mary Ann West, Testimony, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, ca. 22 Mar. 1892, pp. 499–500, questions 141–144, pp. 521–522, questions 676–687, 696–699, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ Independence, Missouri, et al. [C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894], typescript, Testimonies and Depositions, CHL.)
Relief Society Minute Book / “A Book of Records Containing the Proceedings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo,” Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844. CHL. Also available at josephsmithpapers.org.
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Church of Christ of Independence, Missouri, et al. (C.C.W.D. Mo. 1894). Typescript. Testimonies and Depositions, 1892. Typescript. CHL.