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 25 start for Baltimore tomorrow. The brethren in this country inquire after you and all the Elders that they have seen; they are warm hearted. I suppose you have received a letter from the Church, with ’s name to it.
May the Lord bless you all
”
Elder remains very sick.
Elder , and many other elders returned home to day: all seemed weighed down with gloom.
Elders , , , , and arrived in , and remained all night.
26 Friday 26. President and company took steamboat at for .
Elder took leave of his brethren at , to visit his family at .
27 Saturday 27. We copy from the Times and Seasons, the following from the pen of Miss :—
“To Elder
“Thou Chieftain of Zion! henceforward thy name
Will be class’d with the martyrs and share in their fame;
Thro’ ages eternal, of thee will be said,
‘With the greatest of Prophets he suffer’d and bled.’
When the shafts of injustice were pointed at him—
When the cup of his suff’ring was fill’d to the brim—
When his innocent blood was inhumanly shed,
You shar’d his afflictions and with him you bled.
When around you like hailstones, the rifle balls flew—
When the passage of death open’d wide to your view—
When the prophet’s freed spirit, thro’ martyrdom fled,
In your gore you lay weltring— with martyrs you bled.
All the scars from your wounds, like the trophies of yore
Shall be ensigns of honor till you are no more;
And by all generations, of thee shall be said
‘With the best of the prophets, in prison he bled.” [HC 7:211]
The brethren of the Twelve arrived at in the Evening, and remained over night at the railroad hotel.
28 Sunday 28 Elders , and others, addressed the Saints in .
The following is from Elder ’s Journal:
“The brethren of the Twelve took the propeller ‘Hercules’ for at 10 a. m. Fare in the cabin $7. We had comfortable state rooms, we spent the day in writing and in social conversation with each other concerning the death of Joseph and , and the welfare of the Church and our families. [p. 285]
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