Footnotes
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.
The labels on the spines of the four volumes read respectively as follows: “Joseph Smith’s Journal—1842–3 by Willard Richards” (book 1); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843” (book 2); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843–4” (book 3); and “W. Richards’ Journal 1844 Vol. 4” (book 4). Richards kept JS’s journal in the front of book 4, and after JS’s death Richards kept his own journal in the back of the volume.
“Schedule of Church Records, Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]; “Contents of the Historian and Recorder’s Office G. S. L. City July 1858,” 2; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]–[12], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
Footnotes
Historical Introduction to JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.
Source Note to JS, Journal, 1835–1836; Source Note to JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.
See Appendix 3.
TEXT: Blue ink commences.
Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, to Newel K. Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 7 Mar. 1843, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.
Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.
Other sources identify either 4 or 5 March 1843 as the date for Rockwell’s arrest. (JS, Journal, 13 Mar. 1843.)
A 14 March letter from Joseph Wood, a Mormon lawyer at Bonhomme, Missouri, clarified that upon his visiting St. Louis on a criminal case, he learned that one of his “brethren” was in the local jail charged with the attempted murder of former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. Wood visited the jail, and Rockwell requested legal counsel, whereupon Wood promised to defend him and engaged Blennerhassett to assist in the case. (Joseph Wood, Bonhomme, MO, to JS et al., Nauvoo, IL, 14 Mar. 1843, JS Collection, CHL.)
In his response, JS requested that Blennerhassett work to delay Rockwell’s trial until additional legal counsel could be retained and that Blennerhassett keep Rockwell’s friends in Nauvoo informed of the case’s developments. ([JS], Nauvoo, IL, to Richard Blennerhassett, St. Louis, MO, 17 Mar. 1843, draft, on verso of “Truthiana,” 1843, draft, CHL.)
“Truthiana,” 1843. Draft. CHL. MS 15537.
The first of a series of nine letters to the Boston Daily Bee. Willard Richards was the author of the letters, with possible input from JS, who eleven days earlier requested that Richards write to the Bee. The series, signed “Viator,” was written in the style of a traveler who visited Nauvoo and reported his impressions of JS and Mormonism. The draft versions of the letters include a series title, “Truthiana,” which did not appear in the published versions. It is unclear whether the ninth letter from “Viator” was published in the Bee, but the eighth and ninth letters were later published in the Times and Seasons. Willard Richards’s letters of 17 and 24 March 1843; 1, 8, 15, and 22 April 1843; and 17 and 26 July 1843 were printed in the 12, 18, and 28 April 1843; 11, 20, and 22 May 1843; and 5 and 19 August 1843 issues of the Boston Daily Bee. Drafts of the 17 and 26 July 1843 and the 18 August 1843 letters are in William W. Phelps’s handwriting and contain corrections that were included in the published versions. (Richards, Journal, 19 and 26 Mar. 1843; 1, 9, 15, and 27 Apr. 1843; 17 July 1843; 19 Aug. 1843; JS, Journal, 6 Mar. 1843; “Truthiana,” 1843, draft, CHL; “From the Boston Bee,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1843, 305–307.)
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
“Truthiana,” 1843. Draft. CHL. MS 15537.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
JS’s letter to Bennet was a response to Bennet’s letter dated 20 February 1843. In his letter, JS thanked Bennet for his concern and celebrated his discharge from arrest in Springfield. (JS, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, 17 Mar. 1843, Simon Gratz Autograph Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, PA.)
JS and Emma Smith, together with Eliza R. Snow, a Mrs. Allred, Elizabeth Davis Durfee, and others, attended the closing of Snow’s school. (Eliza R. Snow, Journal, 17 Mar. 1843.)
Snow, Eliza R. Journal, 1842–1844. CHL. MS 1439.
Judge Nathaniel Pope’s decision in January 1843 prevented JS’s extradition to Missouri to face the charge of being an accessory in the shooting of former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. John C. Bennett and others then sought to have JS extradited to Missouri on earlier charges, including treason, stemming from his alleged criminal participation in the 1838 “Mormon War” in Caldwell and Daviess counties in Missouri.a The indictment was handed down at the June 1843 term of the Daviess County Circuit Court, which initiated what was ultimately an unsuccessful extradition attempt later that year.b JS’s enemies made a similar attempt—also unsuccessful—to extradite him to Missouri in 1841.c
(aJohn C. Bennett, Springfield, IL, to Sidney Rigdon and Orson Pratt, Nauvoo, IL, 10 Jan. 1843, Sidney Rigdon, Collection, CHL. bIndictment, June 1843, State of Missouri v. Joseph Smith for Treason [Daviess Co. Cir. Ct. 1843], Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. c“The Late Proceedings,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1841, 2:447–449.)Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.