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.
“I have feelings about this, especially for , and I want to say that there is a quorum that the Twelve belong to, and that the people will receive an endowment. I brought into that quorum, and he received in part the blessings, I could not bear the thought of going into the world without his endowment, he did obtain part, and I hope he will submit. I want to stand on the side of the Twelve, and they are wanted there still, let them go on and sustain them in that high office. You cannot put in a guardian of the Church. We have hitherto walked by sight, and if a man wanted to know anything he had only to go to Brother Joseph. Joseph has gone, but he has not left us comfortless. I want to say that Brother Joseph came and enlightened me two days after he was buried: he came the same as when he was alive, and in a moment appeared to me in his own house. He said tell the drivers to drive on. I asked if the building was on wheels? He said certainly. I spoke, and away it went. We drove all round the hills and valleys. He then told the drivers to drive on over the river into . I told him Devil Creek was before us. He said drive over Devil Creek, I don’t care for Devil Creek or any other creek, and we did so— then I awoke.
“There is a combination of persons in this , who are in continual intercourse with and , who are at the bottom of the matter to destroy all that stand for Joseph, and there are persons now in this who are only wanting power to murder all the persons that still hold on to Joseph: but let us go ahead and build up the , and then you will be endowed; when the is completed all the honorable mothers in Israel will be endowed, as well as the Elders.
“If you want to do right, uphold the Twelve; if they die, I am willing to die with them: but do your duty and you will be endowed. I will sustain the Twelve as long as I have breath. When Joseph was going away, he said he was going to die, and I said I was willing to die with him, but as I am now alive, as a lawyer in Israel, I am determined to live. I want you all to recollect that Joseph and have only been removed from the Earth, and they now counsel and converse with the Gods beyond the reach of powder and ball
“ said:— What has been said has been well said. If there are men here who are our enemies, I’ll tell you when they will cease to be here; they will [HC 7:238] be here while you will deal with them. If I exchange property or deal with men I do it with those whom I know to be faithful. If there are wicked men here, it is because we support them. Stop dealing with them and they will go away. Will I support them? No I would deal with all honest men whom I know to be such. I am willing to do good to all men, especially to the household of faith. Our enemies will cease to dwell here when you cease to deal with them. Mobs and wicked men will cease, when you cease to support them. I know we can all live and be happy too, when we deal with honest men. If a man wants a doctor or a lawyer he will send directly for the worst man he can find. I would die a natural [p. 301]