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.
Although Snider was appointed on 22 December 1841 to serve a mission to Europe, he had not left by 28 January 1842, at which time the Quorum of the Twelve directed him to go. He returned from England 23 January 1843. (JS, Journal, 22 Dec. 1841; 28 Jan. 1842; 23 Jan. 1843.)
Wilford Woodruff reported that JS said on this occasion that the Bible supported the concept of baptism for the dead and that if persons living could be baptized, those who were deceased could receive the same privilege. Although JS’s discourse was on baptism for the dead, at least some of the baptisms performed this day were rebaptisms for living people—including Woodruff and John Taylor. Following the baptisms, the Saints assembled, as on the 20 March occasion, near the temple for confirmations. (Woodruff, Journal, 27 Mar. 1842.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
According to The Wasp, the Aeriel carried “some hundred and fifty or two hundred emigrants . . . from Eng[l]and, accompanied by Elder Lyman Wight and eighty or ninety more from Mississippi.” Wight later recalled returning to Nauvoo with “47,500 lbs of sugar & molasses and 10 sacks of coffee, a small quantity of dry goods and 100 mormon passengers.” (“Emigration,” The Wasp, 16 Apr. 1842, [2]; Lyman Wight, Mountain Valley, TX, to Wilford Woodruff, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 24 Aug. 1857, p. 11, Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, ca. 1858–1880, CHL.)
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.
Pratt, who was presiding over the church’s congregations in England, forwarded by the hand of Stephen Nixon seven donations, totaling $250, from church members there. (Book of the Law of the Lord, 103.)
The minutes of the Female Relief Society mistakenly indicate that the meeting was held on 30 March. The “Epistle,” recorded following the minutes of the Relief Society meeting on 28 September 1842, cautioned the sisters to be wary of immoral individuals who claimed authority from JS or other church leaders to commit sin. The epistle may have been the “article” that the minutes report Emma Smith as reading during the afternoon meeting. In JS’s afternoon discourse, he explained that the society should be “separate from all the evils of the world, choice, virtuous and holy” and that they should be careful to determine the worthiness of those admitted into the society. (Relief Society Minute Book, [31] Mar. 1842, 86–88.)
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.
TEXT: “April” is triple underlined.
Possibly the final payment for 153½ acres of land in the northeast quarter of Section 8 and northwest quarter of Section 9 within Township 6 North, Range 8 West, that JS contracted to buy from Erie Rhodes on 16 September 1841 for $3,000. Hugh Rhodes was the administrator for the estate of Erie Rhodes, who died October 1841. (Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, vol. 1, pp. 228–229, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Hancock Co., IL, Probate Record, vol. A, p. 119, microfilm 954,481, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
After the death of Edward Lawrence in November or December 1839, JS was appointed on 4 June 1841 as guardian of the Lawrence children and received title to their assets. Margaret Lawrence, Edward’s widow, married Butterfield on 24 December 1840. (Madsen, “Joseph Smith as Guardian,” 172–173, 179, 181–187.)
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith as Guardian: The Lawrence Estate Case.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 3 (2010): 172–211.
A promissory note written by JS on this date stated he would “pay Wm Marks or bearer Two hundrd and eighty nine dollars in goods at the brick store from time to time as my circumstances will admit.” (Promissory note, JS to William Marks, 4 Apr. 1842, JS Collection, CHL.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
William Niswanger paid $800 on this date for land in block seventy-one of the Hotchkiss purchase. (Trustees Land Book A, Hotchkiss Purchase, block 71, lot 2, [124].)
Trustees Land Books / Trustee-in-Trust, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Land Books, 1839–1845. 2 vols. CHL. MS 3437.
This was the first day of a three-day conference held 6–8 April 1842. The conference was not termed a “general conference” because JS announced in October 1841 that there would not be another “general” conference until the completion of the temple in Nauvoo. (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1842, 3:761–763.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
In April 1840, Hyde and Page were appointed to serve a mission to London, Amsterdam, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and “other places” to “converse with the priests, rulers and Elders of the Jews, and obtain from them” the “present views and movements of the Jewish people.” After “obtain[ing] from them all the information possible,” they were to “communicate the same to some principal paper for publication, that it may have a general circulation throughout the United States.” The two men started their mission together but separated after a time—Hyde continuing on to Jerusalem and Page eventually returning to Nauvoo. At the April 1842 conference, Page explained that he and Hyde separated during their fund-raising activities and Hyde left for Europe earlier than they had originally intended. After Page’s remarks, JS stated there was no great harm done in the separation, and a vote of the conference affirmed that Page was to remain in full fellowship. (JS, “To All People unto Whom These Presents Shall Come,” Times and Seasons, Apr. 1840, 1:86; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1842, 3:761–763.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Hyde and Page evidently made a covenant of secrecy with each other, although the conference minutes do not record a statement by Page to that effect. JS responded that such a covenant was wrong, as it “created a lack of confidence for two men to covenant to reveal all acts of secrecy or otherwise to each other.” (“Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1842, 3:762.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.