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 letters to Coe and McBride responded to letters each had written to JS on 1 January 1844. In Coe’s letter, he claimed that JS had not fully reimbursed him for money he had given to help purchase four Egyptian mummies in 1835. Coe suggested that JS could pay the debt by allowing him to occupy and manage a farm held in JS’s name and by permitting him to claim the farm’s produce as his own. In his letter, McBride, who had been appointed JS’s business agent in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1843, informed JS that Coe was writing without McBride’s counsel and that he had allowed Coe to occupy the farm “last season” on condition that Coe pay half of the property tax and ninety dollars in rent, which Coe failed to do. McBride further stated that Coe wanted part of the farm sold to pay the taxes rather than raise the money through other means. In his response to Coe, JS wrote that he did not “feel under the necessity of listening” to his “unjust claims,” since he had a deed from Coe “for all the interest” he had held in the mummies. JS told McBride, in turn, to remove Coe from the Kirtland farm and rent it “to some responsible person who will give sufficient securities for the rent, at the same time binding them to keep all the Taxes regularly paid, and also to keep the place in sufficient repair.” JS indicated that he did not want the farm sold “on any pretext whatever” but left McBride to use his own judgment in choosing renters. After receiving JS’s letter, Coe levied an execution against JS’s Kirtland farm and also against property that JS owned in Missouri and denied having given JS a deed for his share of the mummies. (Joseph Coe, Kirtland, OH, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 1 Jan. 1844; Reuben McBride, Kirtland, OH, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 1 Jan. 1844, copy, JS Collection, CHL; “Egyptian Mummies,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835, 2:233–237; JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Joseph Coe, Kirtland, OH, 18 Jan. 1844, copy; JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Reuben McBride, Kirtland, OH, 18 Jan. 1844, copy; Reuben McBride, Kirtland, OH, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1844, JS Collection, CHL.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
JS’s letter to Leal has not been located, but it may have concerned a land transaction—a topic JS and Leal had discussed in May 1842 and would discuss again in April 1844. (JS, Journal, 17 and 18 May 1842; Clark Leal, Fountain Green, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 15 Apr. 1844, Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL.)
William Clayton wrote the letter to Butterfield on behalf of JS. In the letter, Clayton explained that JS had been unable to raise money through land sales or other means and was therefore unable to send money to Butterfield as requested. Clayton did not indicate the amount of money in question or its purpose, though the funds may have been needed to pay Butterfield for representing JS at a habeas corpus hearing at Springfield the previous year. Clayton told Butterfield that JS hoped to have the money for him in the spring. (William Clayton, Nauvoo, IL, to Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, 18 Jan. 1844, copy, Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL; JS, Journal, 9–20 Dec. 1842; 4 Jan. 1843.)
This incident was possibly connected to the 19 November 1843 kidnapping of Philander Avery or to the 2 December 1843 abduction of his father, Daniel Avery. Both Averys lived in Bear Creek Precinct, Hancock County, and each had been incarcerated for a few weeks in Missouri. (JS, Journal, 5 Dec. 1843.)