History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844]
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Source Note
JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, created 9 Apr.–7 June 1856 and 20 Aug. 1856–6 Nov. 1856; handwriting of and Jonathan Grimshaw; 304 pages, plus 10 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the final volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This sixth volume covers the period from 1 May to 8 Aug. 1844; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1 through E-1, go through 30 Apr. 1844.
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Historical Introduction
History, 1838-1856, volume F-1, constitutes the last of six volumes documenting the life of Joseph Smith and the early years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The series is also known as the Manuscript History of the Church and was originally published serially from 1842 to 1846 and 1851 to 1858 as the “History of Joseph Smith” in the Times and Seasons and Deseret News. This volume contains JS’s history from 1 May 1844 to the events following his 27 June 1844 death, and it was compiled in Utah Territory in 1856.The material recorded in volume F-1 was initially compiled under the direction of church historian , who was JS’s cousin, and also assistant church historian . Smith collaborated with in collecting material for the volume and creating a set of draft notes, which Smith dictated to Bullock and other clerks. Woodruff gathered additional material concerning the death of Joseph Smith as a supplement to George A. Smith’s work recording that event. Jonathan Grimshaw and , members of the Historian’s Office staff, transcribed the draft notes into the volume along with the text of designated documents.According to the Historian’s Office journal, Jonathan Grimshaw initiated work on the text of volume F-1 on 9 April 1856, soon after Robert L. Campbell had completed work on volume E-1. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 5 and 9 Apr. 1856.) Grimshaw’s scribal work begins with an entry for 1 May 1844. Unlike previous volumes in which the numbering had run consecutively to page 2028, Grimshaw began anew with page 1. He transcribed 150 pages by June 1856, and his last entry was for 23 June 1844. Though more of his writing does not appear in the volume, he continued to work in the office until 2 August, before leaving for the East that same month. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 2 and 10 Aug. 1856.)assumed the role of scribe on 20 August 1856. (Historian’s Office, Journal, 20 Aug. 1856.) He incorporated ’s draft notes for the period 24–29 June 1844 on pages 151–189, providing an account of JS’s death and its immediate aftermath. He next transcribed a related extract from ’s 1854 History of Illinois on pages 190–204. Pages 205–227 were left blank.provided the notes for the final portion of the text. This account begins with an entry for 22 June 1844 and continues the record through 8 August 1844, ending on page 304. (The volume also included ten pages of addenda.) The last specific entry in the Historian’s Office journal that captures at work on the history is for 6 November 1856. A 2 February 1857 Wilford Woodruff letter to indicates that on 30 January 1857, the “presidency sat and heard the history read up to the organization of the church in , 8th. day of August 1844.” (Historian’s Office, Journal, 6 Nov. 1856; Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to George A. Smith, 2 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 410; see also Wilford Woodruff, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, 28 Feb. 1857, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, pp. 430–431.)The pages of volume F-1 contain a record of the final weeks of JS’s life and the events of the ensuing days. The narrative commences with and arriving at , Illinois, on 1 May 1844 from their lumber-harvesting mission in the “” of Wisconsin Territory. As the late spring and summer of 1844 unfold, events intensify, especially those surrounding the suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor in mid-June. Legal action over the Expositor leads to a charge of riot, and subsequently JS is charged with treason and is incarcerated at the jail in , Illinois. The narrative of volume F-1 concludes with an account of the special church conference convened on 8 August 1844 to consider who should assume the leadership of the church.
July 18 “Dear Brethren; we are sensible that the account of the death of the Prophet and of the Church will be painful to your hearts, it is to ours, we feel and mourn their loss, but they have sealed their testimony with their blood; they have not counted their lives as dear unto themselves as the lives of the Church, they have died in the Lord and their works will follow them. The eyes of the Lord are upon those who have shed the blood of the Lord’s anointed, and he will judge them with a righteous judgement. Let the Saints cultivate a meek and quiet spirit, and all things shall in the end work together for your good.
“By order of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Prest.
Clerk.”
We copy from the Prophet:—
“,— I am requested to say to the Saints through the Prophet, by the counsel of the Twelve, that whereas certain strange doctrines have been taught and practiced in , and elsewhere, by men claiming higher authority than the Twelve. This is therefore to warn you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you give no heed to men making these high pretensions, when they teach you things that are not in accordance with principles which you know to be correct. And we would seriously caution all men to beware how they offer strange fire upon the altars of pure and innocent hearts, lest that flame consume them, root and branch, in an unexpected hour; for the authorities of God’s house are not to be rode over by any man, and he escape without the rod. A ship that carries more sail than her ballast will admit of, will surely capsize when the storm strikes her.— This is a figure and let it be remembered.
Yours truly
” [HC 7:199]
19 Friday 19. Elders , , and spent the afternoon in Council.
went to and preached to the Saints in the evening.
20 Saturday 20. Elders and spent the day together in the city of . Elders and left for , and Elder for .
21 Sunday 21. Meeting at the . Elder preached from the Book of Mormon, quoting from Moroni “Widows mourning for their husbands”
Afternoon,— The sacrament was administered. Elders , and spoke.
Elders and preached to the Saints in during the day and evening; congregations very attentive.
22 Monday 22. The following is from Governor :—
“ July 17. 1844
Confidential
“Gentlemen,— I have just returned from . I should have gone on directly to , but I was a aware that a visit to your place at this time would certainly be misrepresented by the public. I want very much to see [p. 276]
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