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 obtained a writ of habeas corpus from the Nauvoo Municipal Court two days earlier after being arrested on a warrant issued by the Hancock County Circuit Court for defaming Higbee. Higbee, who had been invited to the hearing to defend the charges, did not appear. At the hearing, JS stated that he had said nothing against the character of Higbee since the two men had reconciled before the Nauvoo City Council on 16 January 1844. JS then explained some of his earlier remarks about Higbee, saying that prior to John C. Bennett’s departure from Nauvoo, he and Bennett had visited Higbee and found him ill with “the Pox.” JS also said that Higbee had told Bennett—who then told JS—that he had seduced a girl. Later, when JS tried to tell the girl’s family of the seduction, both Bennett and Higbee “perjured themselves” by lying about JS under oath in order to “blind the family.” Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Cyrus Wheelock, Joel Miles, Henry G. Sherwood, Heber C. Kimball, and Brigham Young provided testimony supporting JS’s statements. After hearing the evidence, the court was “convinced the suit was instituted through malice. & ought not to be countenanced” and ordered that JS be discharged “on the illegality of the writ.” The court also ordered Higbee to pay the costs of the court, amounting to $36.13¾; these costs had not been paid by 6 November 1844. This same day, 8 May 1844, the clerk of the Hancock County Circuit Court issued a summons for JS to appear before the court on 20 May 1844 “to answer the complaint of Francis M. Higbee.” On 20 May 1844, JS’s lawyers asked that the summons be dismissed. (JS, Journal, 16 Jan. 1844; 6 and 20 May 1844; Minutes of Court Proceedings, 6–8 May 1844, Higbee v. JS on Habeas Corpus [Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1844], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; “Municipal Court,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 15 May 1844, [3]; Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 95–96.)
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.
Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book / Nauvoo, IL, Municipal Court. “Docket of the Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo,” ca. 1843–1845. In Historian's Office, Historical Record Book, 1843–1874, pp. 51–150 and pp. 1–19 (second numbering). CHL. MS 3434.