Footnotes
JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 24 Oct. 1843, underlining in original.
JS, Journal, 9 and 13 Nov. 1843. In a December letter to Bennet, Willard Richards stated that “the Generals reply was dictated.” (Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, 15 Dec. 1843, copy, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.)
Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.
Willard Richards, Nauvoo, IL, to James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, 15 Dec. 1843, copy, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL; see also James Arlington Bennet, Arlington House, Long Island, NY, to Willard Richards, [Nauvoo, IL], 1 Feb. 1844, Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, CHL.
Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL.
JS and his associates, including Phelps, had demonstrated an enduring interest in ancient languages for well over a decade. About a week after this letter was mailed, JS and Phelps collaborated on a pamphlet addressed to Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys that also included a variety of phrases in foreign languages with corresponding translations. (“Part 1: 2 October–1 December 1835”; “Book of Abraham and Related Manuscripts”; General Joseph Smith’s Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys, ca. 21 Nov.–3 Dec. 1843.)
“Letter from Joe Smith,” New-York Commercial Advertiser (New York City), 7 Dec. 1843, [2]. When the newspaper printed JS’s 13 November 1843 response, the editor informed readers that the printers were instructed to “‘follow copy’ in every particular—to make no change, even of a letter or a comma.” The editor’s preface to the letter mocked, “The prophet’s missive is a strange specimen of mingled shrewdness, ignorance, impudence and folly—the latter quality being chiefly manifested in the fact that the letter has been written. It is not cunning of Joe to lay himself out on paper; for surely a man of his divine pretensions should be able to spell and to write grammatically.”
New-York Commercial Advertiser. New York City. 1831–1889.
“For the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1843, 4:371–375; “Singular Mormon Movements,” New York Herald (New York City), 10 Jan. 1844, [1]; “Letter from Joe Smith,” New-York Spectator (New York City), 9 Dec. 1843, [1]; “The Mormons,” Niles’ National Register (Baltimore), 3 Feb. 1844, 355–356. The Times and Seasons published its November 1843 issue around late December 1843.
New-York Spectator. New York City. 1804–1867.
Niles’ National Register. Washington DC, 1837–1839; Baltimore, 1839–1848; Philadelphia, 1848–1849.
In the version of the letter printed in the Nauvoo Neighbor, the editor elected to use the word “them” rather than “thence.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [3].)
See Leviticus 26:33–34.
See Numbers 16:30–32.
See Numbers 24:19.
This may refer to a passage in the apocryphal book The Assumption of Moses, hinted at in the New Testament book of Jude, which states that after his death, the biblical prophet Moses was taken into heaven by assumption—the ascent or reception into heaven. (Charles, Assumption of Moses, xiii–xiv, 105–111; Jude 1:9; see also “Assumption,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 1:517; and Luke 9:28–30.)
Charles, Robert Henry, ed. The Assumption of Moses: Translated from the Latin Sixth Century Ms., the Unemended Text of Which Is Published Herewith, Together with the Text in Its Restored and Critically Emended Form. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1897.
Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
TEXT: This symbol indicates that the following passage, which was inscribed vertically along the left margin and contains a corresponding symbol, should be inserted at this point.
In 1835, traveling exhibitor Michael Chandler arrived in Kirtland, Ohio, with a collection of Egyptian mummies and assorted papyri inscribed with hieroglyphic and hieratic characters. After JS identified some of the writings as accounts of biblical patriarchs Abraham and Joseph, JS and other investors purchased the antiquities. JS began translating some of the characters and later produced a manuscript referred to as the Book of Abraham. (See Historical Introduction to Book of Abraham Manuscript, ca. Early July–ca. Nov. 1835–A [Abraham 1:4–2:6].)
TEXT: Insertion written vertically in left margin.
In the sixth century BC, the neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II partially destroyed the city of Jerusalem. He later attacked the prosperous and economically powerful city-states Tyre and Sidon, maritime centers located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Before the fall of Tyre, the biblical prophet Ezekiel prophesied the coming up of many nations “against thee [Tyre], as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers . . . it shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea.” During the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great laid siege to Tyre for seven months before finally conquering the city. (Ezekiel 26:3–5; see also 2 Kings 25:1–21; Lamentations 1:1–3; Ezekiel chaps. 27–28; and Quinn, In Search of the Phoenicians, 120–121.)
Quinn, Josephine Crawley. In Search of the Phoenicians. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017.
See Hebrews 12:1. In the version of the letter printed in the Nauvoo Neighbor, the word “witness” was printed as plural “witnesses.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [3].)