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.
This passage was adapted from Mark 16:15–16.
Probably Austin A. King, judge of Missouri’s fifth judicial circuit court, which met in Daviess County in June 1843 and indicted JS for treason. (Daviess Co., MO, Circuit Court Record, June 1843, bk. A, p. 372, Daviess Co. Circuit Court, Gallatin, MO; Indictment, June 1843, State of Missouri v. JS for Treason [Daviess Co. Cir. Ct. 1843], Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.)
This sentence may refer to JS’s interaction with his lawyers, including Walker, while they were en route to Quincy to go before Judge Stephen A. Douglas. JS convinced them that “writs of Habeas Corpus could be heard and determined” in Nauvoo. For some time, both the charter granting the municipal court the authority to issue writs of habeas corpus and the ordinances the city council had passed in relation to such writs had been subjects of discussion and debate among state leaders and lawmakers. The Nauvoo city charter, which was ratified by the Illinois legislature in December 1840, granted authority to the municipal court to issue writs of habeas corpus “in all cases arising under the ordinances of the City Council.” Anticipating attempts by “Enemies” to subject the citizens of Nauvoo to “illegal Process,” the Nauvoo City Council passed ordinances relating to writs of habeas corpus in July, August, and September 1842 in an effort to prevent the legal system from being used for “religious or other persecution.” This legislation culminated in an ordinance passed 14 November 1842 that declared anyone arrested “for any criminal or supposed criminal matter” could apply to the Nauvoo Municipal Court for a writ of habeas corpus. Like the August ordinance, the November ordinance stipulated that at a habeas corpus hearing the Nauvoo Municipal Court could inquire into both the procedure and cause of an arrest, and if the court found either to be defective, it could order the discharge of the prisoner. (JS History, vol. D-1, 1585–1586, 1591; An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840, sec. 17; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 5 July 1842, 86–87; 8 Aug. 1842, 98–99; 9 Sept. 1842, 101; 14 Nov. 1842, 119–129; see also “Illinois Legislature,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 Dec. 1842, [2]; “Report of the Committee on the Judiciary,” Reports Made to Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, Senate, 13th Assembly, 1st Sess., p. 4; and Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois [1842], 8 Dec. 1842, p. 33.)
Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.
Reports Made to Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, at Their Session Begun and Held at Springfield, December 5, 1842. Springfield, IL: William Waters, 1842.
Journal of the Senate of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Convened By Proclamation of the Governor, Being Their First Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, November 23, 1840. Springfield, IL: Wm. Walters, 1840.