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.
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.
Personally appeared before me, , an Alderman acting in and for the City of , , and being first duly sworn deposeth and saith, that about seven weeks ago, I came on the Steam Boat ‘Ohio’ from to , when William Nesbit who was on board entered into conversation with your . I asked him if he knew any thing about the conspiracy in to kill Joseph and , and all that believed on them; he said he did— it was intended that they all should be killed between then and the 1st July. I asked him who was at the head of the conspiracy; he replied he was sworn not to tell who the head one was. I asked him if there were any in concerned; he replied there was, and named the two Laws, two Fosters, two Higbees, , and several others. I asked if it was to be made a public thing; he replied the first blow was to be struck in by those who were opposed to Joseph. I asked how many they could rely on in ; he said they could rely on five hundred if they could only get arms for them. He said as soon as the first blow was struck in , there were about 7,000 men ready in to join them to exterminate all who believed on Joseph Smith. He also told me that the ‘Die Vernon’ when she came on her pleasure trip to , that there were none but spies, and who came on purpose to see the places in order to know how to strike, when the time comes to strike; and he also said ‘the Reformers’, had got spies continually passing , in order to spy out all that took place, and there was not a thing took place in but what was made known to them in as soon as a Steamboat landed. I told him I should think he would be afraid to stop here; he said he should stay in , and carry on his butchering as usual, as if there was nothing taking place; that he had as good a gun as any man ever put to his face, and that the first shot he should fire would be to kill Joseph and ; said I, the people will surely kill you then; he replied he would rush through a thousand people to wash his hands in Joseph’s blood, and especially in ’s, if he was to be immediately cut into a thousand pieces; he said he should be willing to die, as soon as he had killed them. [HC 6:531] About five weeks since I had another conversation with William Nesbit, when he confirmed the whole of the foregoing conversation; and he also said, he had made arrangements with Mr. Bostwick of to send him a brace of the best pistols for the purpose of being ready when he wanted them; he also said that he would kill any time that he could get an opportunity without being detected. I then asked him, if could be put in his way so that no man would mistrust him, would you kill him? He said ‘By God I would’. I asked if he would not be afraid to kill him in cold blood; he replied ‘no, I would not, I would do it in a moment if I could get an opportunity’. The day following I left for , and returned on Tuesday 18th ins’t, and on the 19th I saw William Nesbit in the ranks, and I cautioned Richard Brazier to keep an eye on Nesbit, for he had sworn to wash his hands in Joseph’s and ’s blood.
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“Subscribed and sworn to this 22nd day of June, 1844, before me,
Alderman of the City of .”
At 12 noon orders were sent to the different guards and pickets to let persons pass and repass without hailing them until further orders. [p. 139]