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.
This meeting continued the discussion from the night before, with those present agreeing “to look to some place” where they could go “and establish a Theocracy either in Texas or Oregon or somewhere in California &c.” They also spoke of creating a constitution “according to the mind of God” that would serve as a “‘standard’ to the people an ensign to the nations &c” and appointed John Taylor, Willard Richards, William W. Phelps, and Parley P. Pratt to draft it. Under JS’s direction, those present also organized themselves into a council—later known as the Council of Fifty or Kingdom of God—with JS as chairman, William Clayton as clerk, and Richards as recorder. Twenty others were present, all of whom became the founding members of the council. After a vote to keep their proceedings secret, JS “laid down the order of organization after the pattern of heaven”: all were expected to be in attendance, all decisions had to be made unanimously, and seating and voting would be by age. “The most perfect harmony prevailed during the whole of this council,” Clayton wrote, “and the brethren all feel as though the day of our deliverance was at hand.” (Council of Fifty, “Record,” title page, 11 Mar. 1844; see also Clayton, Journal, 11 Mar. 1844; and Woodruff, Journal, 11 Mar. 1844.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
In January 1843, the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge began making arrangements to move its meetings from the “lodge room” in JS’s store to a room in Henry Miller’s home on Sidney and Partridge streets. (Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book, 5 and 19 Jan. 1843.)
Nauvoo Masonic Lodge Minute Book. / “Record of Na[u]voo Lodge Under Dispensation,” 1842–1846. CHL. MS 3436
Rather than noting the two separate sessions held on this day, in his diary William Clayton wrote, “in Council again all day.” His entry for this day in the council minutes also reads as if there were a single session. Had he inscribed the entry at the same time the meetings occurred, he might have noted the midday break, as he did for later meetings. Clayton may have therefore written this and other entries through 14 March retrospectively. (Clayton, Journal, 11 Mar. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 11 Mar. 1844.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.