History draft; handwriting of , John L. Smith, Jonathan Grimshaw, Robert L. Campbell, , Richard Bentley, and ; 101 numbered pages plus several inserted pages; CHL. This manuscript covers the period from 1 March 1843 to 31 December 1843.
<March 13> I wrestled with Wm Wall the bully <most expert wrestler> of , & threw him.
In the afternoon held a meeting when was appointed by the unanimous voice of the people the <of> that .
In the evening meeting <I blest> 27 children were blest <were blest,> 19 of whom I blest myself, with great fervency, <virtue went out of me, &> my strength left me, when <I gave up the meeting to the brethren.>
Mercury was 3° below zero at Sunrise, in .
Newspapers report that iron filings & sulpher have fallen in the form of a snow storm in five Counties in .
arrived at , & stated that came with him from to , when was arrested by advertisement on 4 March, & put in Jail.
<14> < enquired of me the cause of my <turning pale &> losing strength last night <while blessing children;> when I told him that I saw that Lucifer would exert his influence to destroy the children that I was blessing, & I strove with all the faith & spirit that I had, to seal upon them a blessing, that would secure their lives upon the Earth, & so much virtue went out of me <into the children,> that I became weak, of which I have *>
I Elder & myself returned from , & after a severe cold ride, arrived in , about 4 pm.
Elder
<* not yet recovered, & referred to the case of the woman touching the hem of the garment of Jesus, in Galilee (Luke 8 ch.) the virtue here referred to, is the spirit of life, & <a>men who <exercise great faith &> administer on the ordinances to the sick he is liable to become weak & a man who exercises great faith in administering to the sick, blessing little children, or confirming, is liable to become weakened.>
Mr. Joseph Wood a Lawyer in formerly an Elder in the wrote me about ’s arrest, & manifested a feeling of warm friendship towards me, & the Church.
Mr. [Bradley] Wilson the Assessor for the County of assessed a number of lots to Dr. which he had previously assessed to me as Trustee in Trust, in order no doubt, to collect taxes twice, for the benefit of his own pocket, or to make trouble to the Mormons. to which the following <is a> reply was made
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at about 1/2 past 7 oclock in the evening, the sword which had made its appearance for several evenings past, moved up near the moon, & formed itself into a large ring round the moon; two balls immediately appeared in the ring opposite each other, something in the form of sun dogs, as in the following diagram
<15> I wrote a letter to & signed deeds for , & , & .
In the most of the day, gave the following name to the “Wasp” enlarged, as is contemplated “The Nauvoo Neighbor”
Our motto, the Saints singularity
Is unity, Liberty, Charity,
<The following is an extract from the Prospectus of this date
We feel pleasure (see T&S. Pa 129) to the Neighbor.
to be published every Wednesday by & .>
I prophecied in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that might <would> get away <honorably> from the Missourians. and I cautioned to correct his boys, for if he did not curtail them <in their wickedness,> they would eventually go to Prison. [p. 5]
TEXT: This asterisk corresponds with another asterisk three lines above, indicating that the following text should be inserted after the first asterisk.