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 8> was counselor to Joseph. I ask, where are Joseph and ? They are gone beyond the vail, and if wants to act as his counselor he must go beyond the vail where he is. There has been much said about being President of the Church and leading the people, being the head &c &c. has come 1600 miles to tell you what he wants to do for you. If the people want to lead them, they may have him; but I say unto you that the quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the Kingdom of God in all the world. The Twelve are appointed by the finger of God. Here is , have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered? Here is , and the rest of the Twelve, an independent body, who have the keys of the priesthood, the keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the world: this is true, so help me God. They stand next to Joseph and are as the First Presidency of the Church. I do not know whether my enemies will take my life or not, and I do not care, for I want to be with the man I love. You cannot fill the office of a Prophet, Seer and Revelator: God must do this. You are like children without a father, and sheep without a shepherd. You must not appoint any man at our head, if you should the Twelve must ordain him. You cannot appoint a man at our head, but if you do want any other man or men to lead you, take them and we will go our way to build up the Kingdom in all the world.
“I know who are Joseph’s friends, and who are his enemies. I know where the keys of the kingdom are, and where they will eternally be. You cannot call a man to be a prophet; you cannot take and place him above the Twelve, if so, he must be ordained by them. I tell you there is an over anxiety to hurry matters here; you cannot take any man and put him at the head, you would scatter the Saints to the four winds, you would sever the priesthood; so long as we remain as we are, the heavenly head is in constant coöperation with us, and if you go out of that course God will have nothing to do with you. Again, perhaps some think that our beloved would not be honored, would not be looked to as a friend, but if he does right, and remains faithful, he will not act against our counsel, nor we against his, but act together and we shall be as one. I again repeat, no man can stand at our head, except God reveals it from the Heavens.
“I have spared no pains to learn my lesson of the kingdom in this world, and in the eternal worlds, and if it were not so, I could go and live in peace, but for the gospel, and your sakes I shall stand in my place. We are liable to be killed all the day long.— You have never lived by faith. [HC 7:233]
“Brother Joseph the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work, and we will build upon it: you have never seen the quorums built one upon another. There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a Kingdom such as there never was in the world: we can build a Kingdom faster than Satan can kill the Saints off.
“What do you want? Do you want a Patriarch for the whole Church? To this we are perfectly willing. If Bro [p. 298]