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.
The legion was required to hold an officer drill on the Thursday and Friday preceding a general parade. (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, [date], 12 Mar. 1842, 12.)
Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 1843–1844. Nauvoo Legion, Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 1.
On 12 March 1842, the Nauvoo Legion court-martial passed an ordinance requiring the legion to hold a general parade on the first Saturday of May and September. (Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 12 Mar. 1842, 12.)
Nauvoo Legion Minute Book, 1843–1844. Nauvoo Legion, Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 1.
JS.
Wilford Woodruff added that the wives of the staff also attended the dinner. (Woodruff, Journal, 7 May 1842.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
The “distinguished strangers” included Stephen A. Douglas, James Ralston, Almeron Wheat, and Jacob B. Backenstos. (Jacob B. Backenstos and Stephen A. Douglas, Affidavit, 4 Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 4 Jan. 1843.)
TEXT: “8” in left margin.
Probably Joseph Coolidge, a carpenter. (History of Mills County, Iowa, 674–675.)
History of Mills County, Iowa Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc. . . . Des Moines, IA: State Historical Co., 1881.
On this day a notice was written and signed by the First Presidency, nine members of the Quorum of the Twelve, and bishops Newel K. Whitney, Vinson Knight, and George Miller, stating that they had withdrawn “the hand of fellowship” from John C. Bennett. The notice, asserting that church leaders had labored with Bennett “to persuade him to amend his conduct, apparently to no good effect,” was published the following month in the Times and Seasons. (JS et al., “Notice,” 11 May 1842, JS Collection, CHL; JS et al., “Notice,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842, 3:830.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Probably Vinson Knight, a bishop in Nauvoo.
The correspondence between JS and Rigdon has not been located. Some sources suggest that the difficulties between the two men stemmed from an alleged marriage proposal on the part of JS to Sidney Rigdon’s nineteen-year-old daughter, Nancy. Other evidence suggests that bad feelings developed after JS reproved Nancy for immoral behavior. The nature of the sources precludes any firm conclusions. (See, for example, “6th Letter From Gen. Bennett,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 19 Aug. 1842, [2]; Bennett, History of the Saints, 243–247; John W. Rigdon, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah, 28 July 1905, pp. 6–8, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL; Speech of Orson Hyde, 27–28.)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Bennett, John C. The History of the Saints; or, an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism. Boston: Leland and Whiting, 1842.
Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.
Speech of Elder Orson Hyde, Delivered before the High Priest’s Quorum in Nauvoo, April 27th, 1845, upon the Course and Conduct of Mr. Sidney Rigdon, and upon the Merits of His Claims to the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1845. Copy at CHL.
According to Eliza R. Snow’s minutes of the meeting (which mistakenly were recorded under the date of 13 May), JS said “that in his opinion, all men now considered in good standing” who refused to pay their debts owed to widows “ought to be discountenanc’d by the Relief Society.” (Relief Society Minute Book, [12] May 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.
TEXT: An erasure. Draft notes compiled by the Historian’s Office indicate that this refers to Francis M. Higbee. (Historian’s Office, JS History, draft notes, 13 May 1842.)
Historian’s Office. Joseph Smith History Draft Notes, ca. 1839–1856. CHL. CR 100 92.
Rigdon and his family openly turned against JS six weeks later. (JS, Journal, 28 June 1842.)
“An Ordinance concerning Brothels and Disorderly Characters,” The Wasp, 14 May 1842, [3]; see also Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 14 May 1842, 77.
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book / Nauvoo City Council. “A Record of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo Handcock County, State of Illinois, Commencing A.D. 1841,” ca. 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3435.
Five ordinances were repealed on this date: “An Ordinance in relation to Hawkers, Pedlars, & Public Shows and Exhibitions,” “An Ordinance Regulating Auctions in the City of Nauvoo,” “An Ordinance to regulate Taverns & Ordinaries in the City of Nauvoo,” “An Ordinance in relation to Stores and Groceries,” and “An Ordinance to amend an Ordinance entitled ‘An Ordinance to regulate Taverns and Ordinaries in the City of Nauvoo.’” The ordinance passed on this date, repealing those above, was “An Ordinance repealing certain Ordinances respecting Licenses in the City of Nauvoo.” (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 14 May 1842, 78.)
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book / Nauvoo City Council. “A Record of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Nauvoo Handcock County, State of Illinois, Commencing A.D. 1841,” ca. 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3435.
Fielding, an Englishman, was appointed on 2 April 1841 to “superintend fitting out the Saints from Liverpool to America under the instructions of Elder P[arley] P. Pratt.” (Woodruff, Journal, 5 Apr. 1841.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
A gold coin of the United Kingdom, equal to one pound sterling. (“Sovereign,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 10:488.)
The Oxford English Dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, and C. T. Onions. 12 vols. 1933. Reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970.
Former Missouri governor Boggs was shot by an unknown assailant on the evening of 6 May 1842 while sitting in his home in Independence, Missouri. Although seriously wounded, he recovered. Initial reports received in Nauvoo were that he was mortally wounded. Within a few weeks rumors connected JS with the crime, and later in the year formal attempts were made to extradite JS to Missouri. (Woodruff, Journal, 15 May 1842; “Assassination of Ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri,” Quincy [IL] Whig, 21 May 1842, [3]; JS, Journal, 8 Aug. 1842; see also Appendix 1.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Quincy Whig. Quincy, IL. 1838–1856.