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.
Harriet Sherwood Parker. The Parkers filed for divorce on 15 August 1845. (Black et al., Property Transactions, 5:2955–2957.)
Black, Susan Easton, Harvey Bischoff Black, and Brandon Plewe. Property Transactions in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois and Surrounding Communities (1839–1859). 7 vols. Wilmington, DE: World Vital Records, 2006.
According to Law, JS told him that he “was injuring” JS “by telling evil of him” and that Law’s wife, Jane Silverthorn Law, and his brother, Wilson Law, were also “injuring him.” JS also said that William Law was no longer a member of the First Presidency or of the group that participated in temple-related ordinances. “Some unpleasant words ensued,” Law recorded. “I told him his cause was not only unjust but dishonourable.” Law failed to record what JS accused him of saying, though Law’s subsequent remarks suggest it was related to plural marriage—a practice Law openly condemned. “I thank God that he opened my understanding to know between truth and error, in relation to plurality & community of wives,” Law wrote, “and that I had fortitude to tell Joseph that it was of the Devil and that he should put it down & I feel that I have opposed a base error and that the eternal God is on my side.” JS’s comments on this day may also have been related to the “hard words” he and Law exchanged four days earlier over rumors that JS had identified Law and William Marks as traitors. For Law, this discussion on 8 January signaled a permanent break with JS: “I feel relieved from a most embarrassing situation,” his journal records. “I cannot fellowship the abominations which I verily know are practiced by this man, concequently I am glad to be free from him, and from so vile an association.” (Law, Record of Doings, 4 and 8 Jan. 1844, in Cook, William Law, 41–42, 46; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 3 Jan. 1844, 35; see also JS, Journal, 3–4 Jan. 1844.)
Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.
JS wrote to his uncle John Smith in December, informing him that the Macedonia branch’s petition to have him ordained a patriarch was approved. JS ordained John Smith two days later, on 10 January 1844. (JS, Nauvoo, IL, to John Smith, [Macedonia, IL], 12 Dec. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; JS, Journal, 12 Dec. 1843 and 10 Jan. 1844.)
Fielding emigrated from the British Isles and arrived in Nauvoo on 14 May 1842. Sometime after, he left for England. On 11 May 1843, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles voted that “elder Amos Fielding come immediately to Nauvoo, or be cut off from the Church.” The record provides no explanation for the decision. In March 1844, the First Presidency appointed Fielding to return to England to transact church business and “receive monies for the Temple in Nauvoo, the poor, or for the Church.” (JS, Journal, 14 May 1842; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 11 May 1843; JS, Journal, 13 Mar. 1844; Letter of Attorney, JS et al. to Amos Fielding, 13 Mar. 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL.)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.
“Sniders” probably refers to John Snider’s hotel on the southeast corner of Sidney and Granger streets. (Hyrum Smith et al., Petition, 8 Mar. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo Books of Assessment, Fourth Ward, 1842, pp. [20]–[21].)
Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.
Eldredge arrested Cook two days earlier in Carthage but was forced to release him when citizens from Carthage came to Cook’s aid. Learning of the resistance Eldredge had encountered in Carthage, Justice of the Peace Robert D. Foster summoned an eleven-man posse to help Eldredge take Cook. Eldredge and the posse found Cook in the same grocery, guarded by “an armed force of about twenty, four of whom stood in the doorway; two with guns and bayonets, and two with pistols.” Following a brief scuffle between men of the posse and the Carthage citizens, Cook was “carried off and secreted” by his defenders. (JS, Journal, 6 Jan. 1844; “Disgraceful Affair at Carthage,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 10 Jan. 1844, [2].)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Artois Hamilton owned a hotel in Carthage. (Gregg, History of Hancock County, 715.)
Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.