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 rode with William Clayton and Alexander Neibaur to the home of Robert D. Foster, who had recently told Merinus G. Eaton and others that someone had visited Foster’s home while he was away, attempted to “prejudice” his wife—Sarah Phinney Foster—against him, taught her “the spiritual wife doctrine,” attempted to seduce her, and dined with her. While Foster did not tell Eaton the name of the individual, rumors evidently implicated JS. Finding Foster away, JS and his companions rode to a neighbor’s home where they found Sarah. In the presence of Neibaur, Clayton, and the neighbor, JS asked her if she had ever known him to commit an immoral act; if he had ever used indecent language toward her; if he had ever taught “anything like the spiritual wife doctrine to her, only what he had preached in public”; and if he had “ever proposed to have illicit intercourse with her and especially when he took dinner during the Docters absence.” She answered in the negative to each question. (Clayton, Journal, 23 Mar. 1844; Merinus G. Eaton, Affidavit, Hancock Co., IL, 27 Mar. 1844, Nauvoo Neighbor, 17 Apr. 1844, [2].)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.