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.
Bedell, a non-Mormon justice of the peace and quartermaster of the Warsaw militia, published four issues of the Hancock Democrat between 18 March and 11 April 1844. In the first issue, Bedell indicated that the paper would be short lived because its purpose was to uphold Democratic Party principles during the 1844 campaign. The paper advocated the candidacy of Richard M. Johnson for United States president and Jacob C. Davis for Congress. (Hancock Democrat [Warsaw, IL], 18 and 25 Mar. 1844, 1 and 11 Apr. 1844; Scott, “Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814–1879,” 349.)
Hancock Democrat. Warsaw, IL. 1844.
Scott, Franklin William. “Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814–1879.” PhD diss., University of Illinois, 1910.
Winchester’s publication experience included editing the Gospel Reflector, a semimonthly periodical published in Philadelphia from 1 January 1841 to 15 June 1841 and dedicated to explaining and defending Latter-day Saint doctrine. Whether Winchester edited Bedell’s Hancock Democrat is unclear, as no editor is explicitly named in the paper. Two days later, on 31 January, Winchester was directed to preach basic gospel principles at Warsaw. (Winchester, Gospel Reflector; Hancock Democrat [Warsaw, IL], Mar.–Apr. 1844; JS, Journal, 31 Jan. 1844.)
Gospel Reflector. Philadelphia. Jan.–June 1841.
Hancock Democrat. Warsaw, IL. 1844.
TEXT: At this point, a square bracket in the left margin extends down five lines.
Clayton remained in the Nauvoo area except for a brief trip to Dixon in May 1844 to attend the proceedings of JS’s court case against Joseph H. Reynolds and Harmon T. Wilson. (JS, Journal, 8 and 23 Sept. 1843; Clayton, Journal, 2–13 May 1844.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
This document, which became JS’s presidential platform, was read to JS on 5 February 1844. The published document is dated 7 February 1844 and was first read publicly on 8 February. (JS, General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States; “General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 8 May 1844, [2]; JS, Journal, 5 and 8 Feb. 1844.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Millerites were followers of William E. Miller, a Baptist who maintained that a thorough examination of the books of Daniel and Revelation revealed that the second advent of Christ would occur in or before 1843. Miller did not claim the gift of prophecy but based his conclusions on his understanding of existing revelations in the Bible. His views became widely known after he published Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, about the Year 1843 in 1836, and his message was accepted by thousands of premillennial Christians in the early 1840s. Though Miller affirmed many times that he had never set a precise date for the second coming of Christ, many Millerites predicted specific days or times for the event, even after 1843. JS found no validity in Miller’s claims, and he had told some young male visitors in Nauvoo the year before of the “fallacey of Mr Millers data. concerni[n]g the Millnim [Millennium].” (Doan, Miller Heresy, Millennialism, and American Culture, 47–48; “The Time of the End,” Christian Secretary [Hartford, CT], 13 Jan. 1843, [3]; “The Christian Secretary of Hartford,” Christian Secretary [Hartford, CT], 27 Jan. 1843, [3]; “The Time of the End,” Signs of the Times, 4 Jan. 1843, 121; “The Christian Secretary,” Signs of the Times, 18 Jan. 1843, 141; see also “Spring,” Vermont Chronicle [Bellows Falls], 5 Apr. 1843, 55; Stuart, Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy, 173; and JS, Journal, 12 Feb. 1843.)
Doan, Ruth Alden. The Miller Heresy, Millennialism, and American Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.
Christian Secretary. Hartford, CT. 1838–1896.
Signs of the Times and Expositor of Prophecy. Boston. 1840–1844.
Vermont Chronicle. Bellows Falls, VT. 1826–1828; Windsor, VT. 1828–1862.
Stuart, Moses. Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy. 2nd ed. Andover, MA: Allen, Morrill, and Wardwell, 1842.