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Appendix 5: Willard Richards, Draft Notes of Joseph Smith’s Activities, 1842, 1844, Introduction

Page

The four short documents in this appendix appear to be notes
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

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and
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

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made of some of JS’s activities in January, March, April, and December 1842 and May 1844, respectively. Some of the information contained in these notes, inscribed on loose sheets of paper, is also featured in the JS journal entries of the same dates, though frequently in more detail and in a more polished form, suggesting that the notes were inscribed first and that Richards later used the notes as source material for JS’s journal. The notes are therefore critical to understanding the process by which Richards created JS’s
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

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journals. The documents reproduced here are the only extant notes about JS kept by Richards, though they are likely only a small sample of such texts Richards recorded in his effort to keep JS’s journal.
JS’s
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
-era journals were kept in two records. The first was kept by
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

View Full Bio
,
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

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,
Eliza R. Snow

21 Jan. 1804–5 Dec. 1887. Poet, teacher, seamstress, milliner. Born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Leonora Pettibone. Moved to Mantua, Trumbull Co., Ohio, ca. 1806. Member of Baptist church. Baptized into Church...

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, and
Erastus Derby

14 Sept. 1810–3 Dec. 1890. Tailor, carpenter, farmer, joiner. Born in Hawley, Hampshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of Edward Darby and Ruth Phoebe Hitchcock. Moved to Ohio, by 1834. Married Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton, 10 Aug. 1834, in Carthage, Hamilton Co., Ohio...

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, who recorded entries from December 1841 to December 1842 in the large ledger titled “The Book of the Law of the Lord.” Beginning 21 December 1842 and continuing to the final week of the prophet’s life, Richards inscribed entries in four small volumes designated as “President Joseph Smith’s Journal.” Entries in the former record are clean and relatively free from cancellations, insertions, and other scribal evidence that traditionally indicate point of first inscription. Many of the entries were clearly written retrospectively, also suggesting that the journal text within the Book of the Law of the Lord was copied from some other source. The book’s large size would have rendered it inconvenient for JS’s scribes to carry around, and its concurrent use as a ledger for recording donations for construction of the
temple

Located in portion of Nauvoo known as the bluff. JS revelation dated Jan. 1841 commanded Saints to build temple and hotel (Nauvoo House). Cornerstone laid, 6 Apr. 1841. Saints volunteered labor, money, and other resources for temple construction. Construction...

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meant that it was kept in the “counting room” on the lower floor of JS’s
brick store

Located in lower portion of Nauvoo (the flats) along bank of Mississippi River. Completed 1841. Opened for business, 5 Jan. 1842. Owned by JS, but managed mostly by others, after 1842. First floor housed JS’s general store and counting room, where tithing...

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.
1

Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 16; Brigham Young et al., “Baptism for the Dead,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:626.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Unlike the massive Book of the Law of the Lord, the subsequent JS journal—President Joseph Smith’s Journal—was kept in small, pocket-sized memorandum books that
Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

View Full Bio
could easily have carried with him. Textual evidence, such as space left to add detail later and incomplete words from hurried note taking, indicate that many of the entries in this second
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
journal were inscribed contemporaneously. Other entries appear to have been written days after the events they describe and were likely based on draft notes like those reproduced here.
Three of the four notes describe events recorded in entries during the periods for which Richards was the scribe of JS’s journals. The third draft note below, however, describing events of December 1842, was created when
Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

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was recording JS’s journal in the Book of the Law of the Lord. Clayton had taken over recording JS’s journal while Richards was traveling in the East. Richards had returned from his trip by December 1842, however, and he may have created this third note anticipating that he would record the entries himself (he resumed keeping JS’s journal less than two weeks after the dates listed in the note). It is also possible that Richards instead created the note to assist Clayton’s journal keeping. Alternatively, Richards may have created this note for later use in compiling JS’s history, an assignment JS had recently given Richards and which Richards started on 1 December.
2

JS, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842; Richards, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

Comparing the first three notes with entries of corresponding dates in the Book of the Law of the Lord shows that
Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

View Full Bio
and
Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
chose to include only some of the information contained in these notes when inscribing JS’s journal.
3

See JS, Journal, 12–14, 19, 20, 25, and 27 Jan. 1842; 10–12, 21–22, 24, 26–28, and 31 Mar. 1842; 5 Apr. 1842; 2–6, and 8–11 Dec. 1842.


The first note below, chronicling JS’s activities during January 1842, contains only a few similarities to the JS journal entries of the same days, though some of the information in this first note corresponds to events recorded in JS’s journal under different dates. The second and third notes very closely parallel the corresponding journal entries. The fourth note, on which the entry of 23 May 1844 in President Joseph Smith’s Journal was very heavily based,
4

See JS, Journal, 23 May 1844.


was likely atypical as most of the entries in that record do not appear to have been copied from other sources.
Because these notes are not part of JS’s official journal, editorially supplied identifications of people and places, along with other contextual annotation, are not included in this appendix. Readers interested in finding more information regarding the events recorded here may consult Journals, Volume 2 and the entry of 23 May 1844.
Documents
1. Draft Notes, January 1842
2. Draft Notes, March and April 1842
3. Draft Notes, December 1842
4. Draft Notes, 1844
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Appendix 5: Willard Richards, Draft Notes of Joseph Smith’s Activities, 1842, 1844, Introduction
ID #
9620
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, J3:341–351
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 16; Brigham Young et al., “Baptism for the Dead,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:626.

      Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

      Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    2. [2]

      JS, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842; Richards, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842.

      Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

    3. [3]

      See JS, Journal, 12–14, 19, 20, 25, and 27 Jan. 1842; 10–12, 21–22, 24, 26–28, and 31 Mar. 1842; 5 Apr. 1842; 2–6, and 8–11 Dec. 1842.

    4. [4]

      See JS, Journal, 23 May 1844.

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