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Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 4, 1 March–22 June 1844

1 March 1844 • Friday Page 1 2 March 1844 • Saturday Page 2 3 March 1844 • Sunday Page 3 4 March 1844 • Monday Page 4 5 March 1844 • Tuesday Page 7 6 March 1844 • Wednesday Page 8 7 March 1844 • Thursday Page 9 8 March 1844 • Friday Page 26 9 March 1844 • Saturday Page 28 10 March 1844 • Sunday Page 30 11 March 1844 • Monday Page 34 12 March 1844 • Tuesday Page 35 13 March 1844 • Wednesday Page 36 14 March 1844 • Thursday Page 37 15 March 1844 • Friday Page 38 16 March 1844 • Saturday Page 39 17 March 1844 • Sunday Page 40 18 March 1844 • Monday Page 41 19 March 1844 • Tuesday Page 42 20 March 1844 • Wednesday Page 44 21 March 1844 • Thursday Page 45 22 March 1844 • Friday Page 46 23 March 1844 • Saturday Page 47 24 March 1844 • Sunday Page 48 25 March 1844 • Monday Page 49 26 March 1844 • Tuesday Page 50 27 March 1844 • Wednesday Page 51 28 March 1844 • Thursday Page 52 29 March 1844 • Friday Page 53 30 March 1844 • Saturday Page 54 31 March 1844 • Sunday Page 55 1 April 1844 • Monday Page 56 2 April 1844 • Tuesday Page 57 3 April 1844 • Wednesday Page 58 4 April 1844 • Thursday Page 59 5 April 1844 • Friday Page 60 6 April 1844 • Saturday Page 61 7 April 1844 • Sunday Page 65 8 April 1844 • Monday Page 73 9 April 1844 • Tuesday Page 77 10 April 1844 • Wednesday Page 80 11 April 1844 • Thursday Page 81 12 April 1844 • Friday Page 82 13 April 1844 • Saturday Page 83 14 April 1844 • Sunday Page 87 15 April 1844 • Monday Page 88 16 April 1844 • Tuesday Page 89 17 April 1844 • Wednesday Page 90 18 April 1844 • Thursday Page 91 20 April 1844 • Saturday Page 93 21 April 1844 • Sunday Page 94 22 April 1844 • Monday Page 95 23 April 1844 • Tuesday Page 96 24 April 1844 • Wednesday Page 97 25 April 1844 • Thursday Page 98 26 April 1844 • Friday Page 99 27 April 1844 • Saturday Page 101 28 April 1844 • Sunday Page 102 29 April 1844 • Monday Page 104 30 April 1844 • Tuesday Page 105 1 May 1844 • Wednesday Page 106 18 May 1844 • Saturday Page 123 2 May 1844 • Thursday Page 107 3 May 1844 • Friday Page 108 4 May 1844 • Saturday Page 109 5 May 1844 • Sunday Page 110 6 May 1844 • Monday Page 111 7 May 1844 • Tuesday Page 112 8 May 1844 • Wednesday Page 113 9 May 1844 • Thursday Page 114 10 May 1844 • Friday Page 115 11 May 1844 • Saturday Page 116 12 May 1844 • Sunday Page 117 13 May 1844 • Monday Page 118 14 May 1844 • Tuesday Page 119 15 May 1844 • Wednesday Page 120 16 May 1844 • Thursday Page 121 17 May 1844 • Friday Page 122 19 May 1844 • Sunday Page 124 20 May 1844 • Monday Page 125 21 May 1844 • Tuesday Page 126 22 May 1844 • Wednesday Page 127 23 May 1844 • Thursday Page 128 24 May 1844 • Friday Page 131 25 May 1844 • Saturday Page 132 26 May 1844 • Sunday Page 133 27 May 1844 • Monday Page 134 28 May 1844 • Tuesday Page 138 29 May 1844 • Wednesday Page 139 30 May 1844 • Thursday Page 140 31 May 1844 • Friday Page 141 1 June 1844 • Saturday Page 142 2 June 1844 • Sunday Page 143 3 June 1844 • Monday Page 144 4 June 1844 • Tuesday Page 145 5 June 1844 • Wednesday Page 146 6 June 1844 • Thursday Page 147 7 June 1844 • Friday Page 148 8 June 1844 • Saturday Page 149 9 June 1844 • Sunday Page 150 10 June 1844 • Monday Page 151 11 June 1844 • Tuesday Page 152 12 June 1844 • Wednesday Page 154 13 June 1844 • Thursday Page 155 14 June 1844 • Friday Page 156 15 June 1844 • Saturday Page 157 16 June 1844 • Sunday Page 158 17 June 1844 • Monday Page 160 18 June 1844 • Tuesday Page 162 19 June 1844 • Wednesday Page 164 20 June 1844 • Thursday Page 166 21 June 1844 • Friday Page 167 22 June 1844 • Saturday Page 169

Source Note

JS, “President Joseph Smith’s Journal,” Journal, 4 vols., Dec. 1842–June 1844; handwriting and signatures of ; 1,045 pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes shorthand and illustrations; also includes redactions, use marks, and archival stickers.
kept “President Joseph Smith’s Journal” in four small memorandum books. The paper in book 1 is blue, while the paper in books 2–4 is white. In the first two books, the paper was printed with seventeen blue lines and extra space for page headers, whereas the paper for book 3 was printed with nineteen blue lines and no header space. The first eight gatherings of paper for book 4 were printed with sixteen blue lines and header space, while the last nine gatherings were printed with nineteen blue lines and no header space. The four volumes have 147, 160, 142, and 190 free leaves, respectively, and were sewn with all-along sewing. The leaves in books 1–3 were trimmed to measure 6 × 3¾ inches (15 × 10 cm), while the paper in book 4 measures 6¼ × 3¾ inches (16 × 10 cm). Books 2–4 have matching red-speckled stain on the page edges. All four books were bound with a tight-back case binding and have brown leather over pasteboards. Books 1–3 measure 6¼ × 4 × ¾ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm); book 4 measures 6⅜ × 4 × ¾ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm). The outside covers of book 1 feature an embossed pattern around the borders. The cover of book 4 is red and features a gold pattern around the borders on the front and the back.
inscribed most of the journal entries in these memorandum books with a quill pen in ink that is now brown, although he also used blue ink for several entries. The volumes also include inscriptions written in graphite, some of which are contemporaneous and some that are later redactions. Richards paginated the first 114 of the 285 inscribed pages in book 1—discounting the title page that precedes the pagination—and the first 20 of the 309 inscribed pages in book 2. There is no pagination in books 3–4. In book 2, pages 11, 17, and 20–21 feature illustrations of celestial observations.
The memorandum books include later inscriptions that are not transcribed in this edition. At the end of book 2, added a list of -era plural marriages. A few revisions, additions, or notes are penciled in throughout the volumes. There are also several use marks throughout the volumes—probably made when the journal entries were later revised for inclusion in the “History of Joseph Smith” published in Mormon newspapers in the mid-nineteenth century. The spines of the volumes are now labeled with blue-colored paper stickers that probably date from the early Utah period. Each of the four volumes also bears the mark of a square sticker removed from the upper right-hand corner of the outside front cover. Finally, a “Historian’s Office Archives” self-adhesive paper sticker appears in the front inside cover or on the first flyleaf of each book.
identified himself as the scribe for the journal on the title pages of books 1 and 4. Because Richards kept the journals for JS and kept his own journal in the back of book 4 after JS’s death, the books may have been among “Drs [Richards’s] private books & Papers” listed in the 1846 inventory of church records made in , Illinois. The volumes are listed in inventories made in Salt Lake City, Utah, by the Church Historian’s Office in 1855, 1858, and 1878, as well as in the 1973 register of the JS Collection. These archival records and the physical evidence of archival stickers indicate continuous institutional custody and authenticity.
Note: The journal kept for JS is divided into four physical books. The transcript and annotation here are for book 4, covering 1 March through 22 June 1844. The transcript and annotation for the other three books are also available on this website; book 1 covers 21 December 1842 through 10 March 1843, book 2 covers 10 March through 14 July 1843, and book 3 covers 15 July 1843 through 29 February 1844.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    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.

  2. [2]

    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.

  3. [3]

    “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.

  4. [4]

    “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.

Historical Introduction

took over the responsibility of keeping JS’s journal from on 21 December 1842, the same day JS “made a particular request” that Richards “act as his private se[c]retary & historian.” This was the second time Richards kept JS’s journal; he had also kept it between 13 December 1841 and 29 June 1842 before leaving for , Massachusetts, to bring his family to , Illinois. During Richards’s absence, Clayton kept JS’s journal, inscribing entries, as Richards had done, in the large Book of the Law of the Lord, which also contained records of donations for the . Clayton continued keeping the journal—JS’s first Nauvoo journal—even after Richards returned to Nauvoo on 30 October 1842, probably because, as temple recorder, Clayton was the custodian of the Book of the Law of the Lord. When Richards resumed keeping JS’s journal on 21 December 1842, he began using a much smaller memorandum book. This second Nauvoo journal was kept by Richards through 22 June 1844 and eventually comprised four such memorandum books.
Several pieces of evidence indicate that these four memorandum books were considered volumes of the same journal rather than separate journals themselves. For example, whereas JS’s journals kept during the 1830s were recorded in bound books or notebooks labeled with different titles—such as “Sketch Book” or “The Scriptory Book”—the first and last of ’s memorandum books bear virtually identical titles, with the fourth explicitly identified as “vol 4”. Similarly, that books 2 and 3 lack titles suggests that each was simply a continuation of the previous book. This suggestion is made even stronger in book 2, in which the first entry commences at 4:00 p.m. on 10 March, with the events of the earlier part of the day recorded at the end of book 1. All four memorandum books are virtually the same size, and the bindings on the first three are similar.
As with nearly all the entries in JS’s previous and journals, JS neither wrote nor dictated the text of the entries in the memorandum books; they are based on ’s observations. For example, the entry for 22 September 1843 records only that Richards “saw Joseph pass in a waggon with Hiram.” Despite the secondhand nature of the entries, however, Richards, a close associate and frequent companion of JS, was able to capture in detail JS’s words and actions on many occasions.
The shift of ’s office from temple recorder and scribe to JS’s “private se[c]retary & historian,” as well as the transfer of the journal out of the Book of the Law of the Lord, may have influenced what events Richards recorded in the memorandum books. At least some of the material Richards, as JS’s private secretary, included in this journal—such as the detailed record of a medical malpractice suit over which JS presided—probably would have received much less emphasis had Richards, in the capacity of temple recorder and scribe, been keeping JS’s journal in the book that also contained records of donations for the temple. Similarly, although the ledger-size Book of the Law of the Lord likely remained in the recorder’s office and most journal entries were probably made there, each of the memorandum books was small enough that Richards could easily carry it with him, allowing him to record many of JS’s activities closer to the actual event—both temporally and spatially—than was possible earlier.
’s new title of historian was significant as well. On 1 December 1842, he began working on the “History of Joseph Smith” that was being serially published in the Times and Seasons, and by August 1843 he was drawing on JS’s earlier journals for that history. Richards therefore likely expected that the contemporaneous journal entries he was keeping for JS would eventually be used as the basis for JS’s history.
employed various techniques in keeping the journal. For a few entries, he made lightly penciled notes and returned later with a quill pen to expand the entry. In other entries, the morning or afternoon portion of an entry was written in one ink and the evening portion of the entry in a different ink that matches that of the following entry. These changes in writing media and in other aspects of the inscribed text indicate that many entries—or parts of entries—were made on the very day of the events they described. The textual evidence in other entries indicates that they were written several days after the date they bear. Still other entries are a hybrid. Richards’s notes of sermons and legal proceedings, for example, bear evidence of both contemporaneous inscription and later revision. In some instances, Richards left blank spaces and even blank lines, apparently intending to add details later. Hurried note taking often resulted in missing words, informal abbreviations, inconsistent spelling, and poorly formed characters. Richards revisited some difficult passages to mend or rewrite characters, revise spelling and punctuation, and add interlineations. Some of the blanks were filled while others were left standing. Richards’s notes include both immediate emendations, such as wipe-erasures made while his ink was still wet, as well as later revisions, such as knife-erasures of words written in ink that had dried. The various ways in which Richards wrote and revised entries resulted in the journal’s uneven texture but also contribute to its wealth of immediately recorded information and clarifying additions.
Over time, settled somewhat into a pattern of generally recording the events of one day on one page—some pages largely empty and others filled with cramped writing—with weather reported at the bottom of the page. He made an entry for almost every day during the last year and a half of JS’s life. The journal ended when JS left on 22 June 1844, five days before he was killed at the jailhouse at , Illinois. Richards accompanied JS to Carthage and, during the final days of JS’s life, kept extensive notes of JS’s activities in his personal journal.
Note: The journal kept for JS is divided into four physical books. The transcript and annotation here are for book 4, covering 1 March through 22 June 1844. The transcript and annotation for the other three books are also available on this website; book 1 covers 21 December 1842 through 10 March 1843, book 2 covers 10 March through 14 July 1843, and book 3 covers 15 July 1843 through 29 February 1844.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Historical Introduction to JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Source Note to JS, Journal, 1835–1836; Source Note to JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 22 Sept. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842 and 20 Jan. 1843; see also “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:726–728.

  7. [7]

    See Appendix 3.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Discourse, 7 March 1844–B, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 7 March 1844–B, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff *Discourse, 7 March 1844–A, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 7 March 1844–A, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff *Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by Thomas Bullock *Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff *Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons

Page [98]

25 April 1844 • Thursday
Thur[s]day April 25— 1844 Retur[n]ed from
A brothr of the Gazetts came up at the same time and wantd to know by what principle I got so mu[c]h power— how many inhabitants & soldier armd men we had &[c]. I told him on the pricipls [principles] of truth & virtue.— which would last when I was dead &c
Coun[c]il from 10 [a.m.] to 12— & from 2 to 5—— adjou[rne]d sine die— appointd a state conv[e]ntion at friday after th[e] 2d monday in may the coun[c]il to disperse— abr[o]ad in the nation.
Inst[r]ucted my clerk to make out a writ of .— for a of who was expecti[n]g to be arrestd by the U.S. Marshal for getting money which was his due as he says at .
A play of on Rational amusemnt was to comence this eve— but a tremendo[u]s thunderous & rain comencd about 6— P.M.
. very high hi[g]her than known by th[e] old[e]st inhabit[a]nts about [p. [98]]
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Source Note

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Page [98]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 4, 1 March–22 June 1844
ID #
8118
Total Pages
172
Print Volume Location
JSP, J3:185–302
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [225]

    Emma Smith evidently left Nauvoo on 21 April 1844. (JS, Journal, 20 Apr. 1844.)

  2. [226]

    At this meeting of the Council of Fifty, two men were admitted as members of the council and William W. Phelps and Sidney Rigdon spoke on issues related to Oregon Country. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 Apr. 1844.)

  3. [227]

    In this afternoon meeting, the Council of Fifty discussed how JS’s supporters might best campaign for his election to the presidency of the United States. JS told the council that they must suspend their meetings “for the time being and keep silence on the subject, lest by our continual coming together we raise an excitement,” and that they would meet again “when necessary.” JS then presented the council with a revelation that explained “the whole matter about the constitution,” evidently referring to the constitution that John Taylor, Willard Richards, William W. Phelps, and Parley P. Pratt had been appointed to draft for the council on 11 March 1844. “Verily thus saith the Lord,” the revelation read, “ye are my constitution, and I am your God, and ye are my spokesmen. From henceforth do as I shall command you. Saith the Lord.” The council voted unanimously to receive the constitution. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Mar. and 25 Apr. 1844; JS, Journal, 11 Mar. and 23 Apr. 1844.)

  4. [228]

    Delegates from several counties and states attended the convention, which selected JS and Sidney Rigdon as its candidates for president and vice president, respectively. It also laid plans for a national convention to be held in Baltimore. (JS, Journal, 17 May 1844; “Minutes of a Convention,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 22 May 1844, [2]; see also “To the Editor of the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 1 May 1844, [2].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  5. [229]

    No writ of habeas corpus for Jeremiah Smith dated near this time has been located. Smith was charged in March 1843 with obtaining money under false pretenses after he gave a receipt for congressional funds that had been set aside to reimburse a relative, also named Jeremiah Smith, for losses he had sustained when a house he had contracted to build burned.a At a trial held in February 1844 before Charles Mason, judge of the First Judicial District in Iowa Territory, “no legal cause” was found, perhaps because of a private settlement between the two Jeremiah Smiths.b Smith was later arrested two more times for the same offense, based on a warrant issued by Hancock County justice of the peace William Bennum, dated 13 May 1844, and one by Nathaniel Pope, judge of the United States Circuit Court for the District of Illinois, dated 21 May 1844.c The Nauvoo Municipal Court issued Smith writs of habeas corpus for each of these arrests, and Smith was discharged at hearings for both arrests on 30 May 1844.d

    (aWarrant for Jeremiah Smith, 21 May 1844, United States v. Smith [C.C.D. Ill. 1844], copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; History of Des Moines County, Iowa, 392–393. bJohn S. Dunlap, Affidavit, Des Moines Co., IA, 21 May 1844, copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. cWarrant for Jeremiah Smith, 13 May 1844, State of Illinois v. Smith [J.P. Ct. 1844], copy; Warrant for Jeremiah Smith, 21 May 1844, United States v. Smith [C.C.D. Ill. 1844], copy, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. dSee JS, Journal, 16, 23, 29, and 30 May 1844.)

    The History of Des Moines County, Iowa, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &c., a Biographical Directory of Citizens . . . Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1879.

  6. [230]

    The “rational amusemnt” was a performance of Pizarro, or the Death of Rolla, a popular German play scheduled for performance in the Nauvoo Masonic hall. The play was meant to raise money to help JS discharge a debt “contracted through the odious ‘Missouri persecutions’ and ‘vexatious law suits.’” The play starred George J. Adams and Thomas Lyne, with several others, including George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, and Brigham Young, in supporting roles. The play was canceled, however, because of a storm. Thomas Bullock, who had migrated from England in 1843, recorded that the storm was the “heaviest” he had experienced since arriving in America and that “hailstones [were] as big as marbles . . . the brook rose about four feet high—swept away fences.” (“For the Warsaw Signal,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 15 May 1844, [3]; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:252–253; Historian’s Office, Journal, 25 Apr. 1844, 1:8; JS, Journal, 9 Apr. 1844; “Nauvoo Theatre,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 1 May 1844, [2].)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

    Historian’s Office. Journal, 1844–1997. CHL. CR 100 1.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  7. [231]

    The winter runoff and continual spring rain made 1844 the year of “the Great Flood” in the Midwest. In July, the water in the Mississippi had reportedly risen thirty-eight feet and seven inches above the low water mark—“higher than at any other time since its discovery by the Europeans.” The flood was regarded as “one of the greatest calamities that have ever visited any portion of the Union.” (“The Red River Flood,” New York Daily Tribune, 4 July 1844, [4]; “The Great Flood,” New York Daily Tribune, 6 July 1844, [2]; “The Floods in the West,” New York Herald, 3 Aug. 1844, [2]; see also “The River,” Alton [IL] Telegraph and Democratic Review, 29 June 1844, [1]; and “The Flood,” Daily Globe [Washington DC], 8 July 1844, 643.)

    New-York Daily Tribune. New York City. 1841–1924.

    New York Herald. New York City. 1835–1924.

    Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review. Alton, IL. 1841–1850.

    Daily Globe. Washington DC. 1831–1845.

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