The
annotation for this volume is based on a variety of sources. Among the
most important are the personal journals of several of JS’s close associates—especially , , and
—which provide
significant details about many events that are mentioned only briefly in
JS’s journal. Such sources were also used to make sense of Willard
Richards’s scanty notes of many of the sermons JS delivered during this
period and to flesh out the reasons behind his deteriorating
relationships with men like , , and in early 1844. To better understand the latter
issue, the editors also made limited use of a record titled “Record of
Doings at Nauvoo in 1844,” which was purportedly written by Law himself
and was published by Lyndon W. Cook in his book William
Law (1994). No manuscript version of this record has been
located, making it impossible not only to check the accuracy of the
transcription but also to determine whether or not it was indeed
originally inscribed by Law himself. While significant questions about
the record’s legitimacy and accuracy therefore remain unanswered, the
volume and series editors felt justified in using it to a limited extent
based on internal evidence contained in the record itself, information
Cook provided to Robin Jensen on 15 December 2011, and records contained
in the Leonard Arrington Collection in the Special Collections and
Archives of Utah State University’s Merrill-Cazier Library that indicate
Arrington solicited such a record on behalf of Cook from a member of the
Law family in 1978.
In addition to personal records, reports published in
various contemporary newspapers provide important details about events
and activities referenced in the journal. Particularly helpful were the
church-owned Times and Seasons and the Nauvoo
Neighbor, two papers published in that reported on
many of the religious, civic, political, military, and legal issues in
which JS was involved. Both papers, as well
as others like the Warsaw Signal and Quincy
Whig, also contain important information about the movements
and intentions of anti-Mormons and church dissenters during this period.
Additional information on these and related topics is found in the
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, the Nauvoo City
Council Minute Book, the Nauvoo Legion Minute Book,
the Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, and the Nauvoo Mayor’s Court
Docket Book, all of which are owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints today and are available for research. Annotation
detailing the discussions that took place in meetings of the Council of
Fifty, most of which are only briefly referenced in the journal, was
informed by the Council of Fifty Record.
This record is reproduced in the Administrative Series of The
Joseph Smith Papers.
Published collections of state statutes, as well as court
records held in the LDS Church History Library and other locations, are
instrumental in understanding the numerous legal issues raised in these
journals. Records held in the Hancock County Circuit Court in Carthage,
Illinois, are especially helpful in understanding the events and charges
that resulted in JS’s incarceration in the jail in June 1844, as well as other cases in which he was involved.
Additional light on these and other legal issues, as well as JS’s
voluminous correspondence during this period, has been shed by various
documents contained in the Joseph Smith Collection housed in the Church
History Library.
Documents generated as part of early church historians’
efforts to compile a history of JS’s life and the early
years of the church were also consulted and used, especially when
evidence suggests that either the historians themselves or the people
providing them with information were eyewitnesses to the events they
describe in the history. Among the more important of these are numerous
reminiscent accounts about the events leading up to JS’s death, which
were provided to church historians in the 1850s by people who
accompanied JS at jail. Of these
reminiscences, the accounts by and are particularly
helpful. ’s History of
Illinois is also an important source for understanding
events in Carthage. In general, these and other non-contemporaneous
sources were used only when other sources were not available.