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.
Wilford Woodruff noted that he and his wife “had an interesting time of instruction” at this meeting. Law’s absence may have reflected his strained relationship with JS, which apparently developed because of Law’s opposition to plural marriage, JS’s reported refusal to seal Law to his wife “in consequence of his being an adulterer,” and recent rumors that JS had identified Law and Marks as traitors. This “prayer meeting” was likely the occasion when those present decided to exclude Law from attending such meetings in the future. According to a reminiscent account by Bathsheba Bigler Smith, the decision was reached by a unanimous vote after JS “showed clearly that it would be doing a serious wrong to retain him [Law] longer.” Law was informed of the decision the following day. Law also did not attend a similar meeting held eight days earlier. (Woodruff, Journal, 7 Jan. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” June 1844; JS, Journal, 30 Dec. 1843 and 3–5 Jan. 1844; Law, Record of Doings, 2–5 and 8 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 38–46; Smith, “Recollections of the Prophet,” 345.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.
Smith, Bathsheba W. “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Juvenile Instructor, 1 June 1892, 27: 344–345.