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.
<August 1> laboring about six weeks, but continued preaching through the winter, strengthening the Churches and comforting the Saints. [HC 7:218]
“In a revelation given January 1832, and were called to go on a mission to the Eastern Country; accordingly they started in March, and travelled and preached the gospel through the States of , , , , Rhode Island, and : they baptised several in Spafford, N. Y., in and Lyne, Mass., in Providence, R. I., and in , Maine, <preaching much from house to house, as well as in public congregations and> returning to in November or December.
“During the year 1833 preached among the churches as he had opportunity, and spent a good portion of his time laboring with his hands. On the 17th of February 1834 he was ordained and set apart as one of the High Council in , in which office he officiated until he went to in 1838.
“August 13. 1834 he married , who was born in Bedford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Dec 20. 1808.
“Sept 16. 1835 he was appointed in company with as a committee and general agent to act in the name of, and for the . In the winter of 1835-6 he chopped cord wood for .
“In 1838 he travelled in company with his brother Joseph from to . He passed through the mobbing of that year, in and in , and his family suffered nigh unto death from exposure as they were driven about by the mob. He was in the battle, and immediately after, by the counsel of Prest , with bros. , B[enjamin] L. Clapp, and about twenty others they fled for by the wilderness through the North part of and the Southern part of . Messengers overtook them and informed them that had sent a company of fifty well armed men to follow them, with strict orders not to return until they had brought back the company either dead or alive. When this word came a halt was called, and asked what they should do in case the enemy overtook them; after a few moment’s consultation the whole company covenanted with uplifted hands to heaven, that if they were overtaken they would fight till they died, and not a man would fall into the hands of the enemy alive. They then travelled on ten miles and camped on the edge of some timber on the North side of a four mile prairie, and they afterwards learned that their enemies camped on the South edge of the same prairie, and would have overtaken them next day, had not the Lord sent a heavy snow storm during the night; and when the brethren arose in the morning, remarked, that that snow storm was their salvation. The air was so full of snow they could hardly find their [HC 7:219] horses to saddle them, but they soon mounted their horses and continued their journey as fast as they could. The storm was from the North and in their faces; it filled their tracks in a few moments so that ’s men could not follow. It was reported that this company of men on their return informed the that they could not overtake the [p. 290]