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 indicated that this conference would not investigate “little petty difficulties” but that he would speak on “principles of eternal truth.” JS also said he would let others speak first “in consequence of the weakness of his lungs” and stated that he was “never in any nearer relationship to God than at the present time, & would show before the Conferen[ce] closed that God was with him.” (General Church Minutes, Clayton copy, 6 Apr. 1844, 1; Woodruff, Journal, 6 Apr. 1844.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
On 4 March 1844, JS had called for a special conference of the church to be held on 6 April and to have “all the elders calld here who can come.” (JS, Journal, 4 Mar. 1844.)
Rigdon had met with assembled church members on numerous occasions—including the 6 April 1843 conference—since his address at the 4 May (not April) 1839 general conference of the church, held near Quincy, Illinois. According to the account of his speech published in the Times and Seasons, Rigdon said, “Want of health, and other circumstances have kept me in silence for nearly the last five years. . . . I have not come before a conference for the last five years in my true character.” (General Church Minutes, 4 May 1839; JS, Journal, 8 and 15 May 1842; 1 and 24 June 1842; 21 Aug. 1842; 6 Apr. 1843; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 May 1844, 5:522.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
Rigdon reflected on the progress the church had made since 1830, when he “met the whole Church of Christ in a little old log house about 20 feet square.” He spoke on topics he and others had contemplated and discussed over the years and the persecution the church had suffered. (General Church Minutes, Bullock copy, 6 Apr. 1844, 1–3; see also General Church Minutes, Clayton copy, 6 Apr. 1844, 1–5; Woodruff, Journal, 6 Apr. 1844.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
William Clayton, who may have included the interpreter in his count, reported that five Potawatomi Indians were on the stand at this time. Wilford Woodruff recorded that soon after, as John Taylor was speaking, eleven Indians were on the stand. These were probably the same Potawatomi Indians and their interpreter who attended the Council of Fifty meeting on 4 April. (General Church Minutes, Clayton copy, 6 Apr. 1844, 4; Woodruff, Journal, 6 Apr. 1844; Council of Fifty, “Record,” 4 Apr. 1844.)
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.