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.
JS’s appeal to citizens of Vermont—the “Green Mountain Boys”—for help in obtaining redress for losses the Saints had suffered in Missouri had been written the previous month. (JS, Journal, 30 Nov. 1843; JS, General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys; JS, “General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys,” Times and Seasons, Extra, Dec. 1843.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Phelps’s “New-Year’s Hymn” celebrated the coming year and was optimistic about the situation of the Saints. A group of musicians and singers sang the hymn under JS’s window on New Year’s Eve. (William W. Phelps, “New-Year’s Hymn,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 3 Jan. 1844, [1]; JS, Journal, 31 Dec. 1843.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
JS’s earliest revelatory experiences on record include his first vision of Deity (spring 1820), visitations by the angel Moroni (September 1823), translating the Book of Mormon “by the gift and power of God” (December 1827–summer 1829), and receiving divine chastisement for his role in losing a portion of the Book of Mormon manuscript (July 1828). (JS History, ca. Summer 1832; JS History, vol. A-1; “Church History,” Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1842, 3:706; Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3]; JS, Journal, 9–11 Nov. 1835.)
This line paraphrases Paul’s statement to Agrippa in Acts 26:29.
An ordinance authorizing the appointment of forty policemen was passed 12 December 1843. In his remarks, JS urged the policemen to study the ordinances of the city and “ferret out” those who broke them. In addition, he told them to “stay at home,” “let Mo [Missouri] alone,” and report anyone who attempted to bribe them. In his address, JS also emphasized the importance of keeping Illinois governor Thomas Ford apprised of threats against the Saints. He also noted that Orrin Porter Rockwell’s recent release from Missouri proved he, JS, was innocent of the charge of being an accessory in the shooting of former Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs. Regarding his own situation, JS said he felt he was in more danger “from some little doe head [doughhead] of a fool in the city than from all the volobulory of enemies abroad” and that if he could escape assassination, he might live as Caesar might have lived “if he had not been for a Brutus.” When this statement became a matter of contention on 3 January, JS explained that his remarks about a “doe head” and “Brutus” were based on Rockwell’s report that the Missourians had a man in the midst of the Saints who would help them capture JS. (JS, Journal, 12 Dec. 1843 and 3 Jan. 1844; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 29 Dec. 1843, 30–31; 3 Jan. 1844, 33.)
On 28 December 1843, R. H. Loomis petitioned the mayor and city council of Nauvoo for a license to “retail Spirits” at the Masonic Hall Hotel. The next day, the council read Loomis’s petition and a similar one from Pulaski S. Cahoon and tabled both. Cahoon eventually withdrew his petition after further discussion at subsequent council meetings. The result of Loomis’s petition is unknown, though an ordinance passed in January 1844 restricted the sale of spirituous liquors to one person from each city ward for medicinal purposes and to the mayor, which suggests Loomis’s petition was rejected. (Petition, R. H. Loomis to the Mayor and City Council, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 29 Dec. 1843, 30–32; 13 and 16 Jan. 1844, 41–46; JS, Journal, 13 and 16 Jan. 1844; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 13 and 16 Jan. 1844, 200–201.)