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.
See Revelation 19:10.
Ancient Greek poets Homer and Hesiod composed works between 750 and 600 BC. Homer was the presumed author of the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, while Hesiod was credited with the poems Theogony and Works and Days. (Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, 1.)
Hesiod. Theogony and Works and Days. Translated by Catherine M. Schlegel and Henry Weinfield. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006.
Greek philosopher, essayist, and biographer Plutarch, later known as Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, lived during the first century AD. He was best known for his vast biographical work Parallel Lives. (Lamberton, Plutarch, xiii, 1, 23, 25–26.)
Lamberton, Robert. Plutarch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
An ancient Greek philosopher and Plato’s teacher, Socrates lived during the fifth century BC. (Navia, Socrates, 15–16, 95–97.)
Navia, Luis E. Socrates: A Life Examined. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007.
Ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras lived during the sixth century BC. (Riedweg, Pythagoras, ix–xi.)
Riedweg, Christoph. Pythagoras: His Life, Teaching, and Influence. Translated by Steven Rendall. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005.
Prominent ancient Roman poet Publius Virgilius Maro, often referred to as Virgil, lived during the first century BC and is best known for his epic poem The Aeneid. (Kennedy, Works of Virgil, 1–8.)
Kennedy, Charles Rann, trans. The Works of Virgil. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1861.
Jewish historian Yosef ben Mattitiahu ha Cohen, later known as Titus Flavius Josephus, lived during the first century AD. While a prisoner of the Romans, Josephus chronicled the history of the Jews in the books The Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. (Hadas-Lebel, Flavius Josephus, xi, 1–4, 233.)
Hadas-Lebel, Mireille. Flavius Josephus: Eyewitness to Rome’s First-Century Conquest of Judea. Translated by Richard Miller. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
In the version of the letter printed in the Nauvoo Neighbor, the editor changed these two instances of “whither” to “whether.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [3].)
See John 7:17.
In the version of the letter printed in the Nauvoo Neighbor, the word “in” was changed to “within.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [3].)
In the version of the letter printed in the Nauvoo Neighbor, the word “by” was changed to “of.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Dec. 1843, [3].)
This Latin phrase can be translated as “I came to die and to live again!”
In 44 BC, several senators, including his “highly honoured companion” Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated Roman ruler Gaius Julius Caesar. (See Plutarch’s Lives, 127, 137, 161, 163.)
Plutarch’s Lives, Translated from the Original Greek: With Notes, Critical and Historical: and a Life of Plutarch. Translated by John Langhorne and William Langhorne. Baltimore: W. C. William and Joseph Neal, 1831.
In his 24 October letter to JS, Bennet indicated that Thomas Brown, a respected stone seal engraver in New York City, was creating a private seal for JS. Bennet estimated the seal’s cost at forty dollars. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 24 Oct. 1843.)
In his 24 October letter to JS, Bennet stated that he was considering running for governor of Illinois. (Letter from James Arlington Bennet, 24 Oct. 1843.)
The rule of double position is a logical principle defined as “when two false Positions are assum’d to give a Resolution to the Question propounded.” (Cocker, Cocker’s Arithmetick, 188.)
Cocker, Edward. Cocker’s Arithmetick. Being a Plain and Familiar Method, Suitable to the Meanest Capacity, for the Full Understanding of That Incomparable Art, as It Is Now Taught by the Ablest School-Masters in City and Country. 40th ed. London: H. Tracy, 1723.