The position of this statement in the rough minutes suggests that Hyrum Smith was referring to Haws’s testimony about Robert D. Foster’s and William Law’s actions during an Independence Day celebration in Nauvoo. In the published minutes, however, this phrase refers to Law’s promise to make sure Haws’s family received flour that he owed them during Haws’s absence on a mission. The published version of the city council minutes adds the following text at this point: “Hawes said when he returned, found his family must have starved if they had not borrowed money to get food somewhere else—could not get it of Law. And Law was preaching punctuality, punctuality, PUNCTUALITY, as the whole drift of his discourses to the saints—and abusing them himself all the time, and grinding the poor.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1], emphasis in original.)

This passage is not included in the published version of the city council minutes. (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

This claim requested payment for various legal services Stiles had performed for the city of Nauvoo. (George Stiles to [Nauvoo City Council], Claim, [Nauvoo, IL], ca. 8 June 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 13 July 1844, 214.)

During the 8 June 1844 city council meeting, JS suggested that the city pass an ordinance against libelous publications. Councilor William W. Phelps and George Stiles, who was a city councilor as well as the city’s attorney, were appointed to a committee to write this ordinance, and before the end of the council’s meeting they had created an initial draft. Phelps read this draft to the city council, after which JS requested that a preamble be added. Alderman George W. Harris, who was acting as president pro tempore, suggested that city councilor John Taylor be added to the committee to write it. Harris then told the committee to make every effort to provide a “full report” on the ordinance, presumably at the council’s next meeting. The final version of the ordinance declared that anyone found guilty of libeling, slandering, or bribing Nauvoo’s citizens with the intent of raising opposition to the city’s charter or undermining its peace could be fined up to $500, imprisoned for six months, or both fined and imprisoned. (Minutes, 8 June 1844; Ordinance, 10 June 1844; see also “An Ordinance concerning Libels and for Other Purposes,” 8 June 1844, draft, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

This paragraph is not included in the published version of the city council minutes. (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

The published version of the city council minutes renders this passage as “he then read an editorial from the Nauvoo Expositor.” This probably refers to an editorial written by Sylvester Emmons that announced the objectives of the Nauvoo Expositor and, among other things, criticized how JS and the Nauvoo Municipal Court acted in relation to Jeremiah Smith, whom the court released from custody on writs of habeas corpus on 30 May. While only one issue or number of the Expositor was published, it is possible that Willard Richards considered the newspaper’s prospectus as its first number. Another possibility is that he meant to refer to the second page of the Expositor, on which Emmons’s editorial appeared. (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]; Sylvester Emmons, “Introductory,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2]; Historical Introduction to Docket Entry, 18–31 May 1844; Historical Introduction to Docket Entry, 30–31 May 1844.)

The 15 May issue of the Warsaw Signal wished success to the Nauvoo Expositor, and the Signal’s 12 June issue hailed the Expositor “as a efficient auxilary in the good cause of prosterating Joe’s influence, and exposing his villiany.” (“The Nauvoo Expositor,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 15 May 1844, [2]; “The Nauvoo Expositor,” Warsaw Signal, 12 June 1844, [2].)

Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

During the 8 June 1844 city council meeting, multiple witnesses testified that Jackson had threatened to kill individuals who might betray him or obstruct his plans. (Minutes, 8 June 1844.)

An 1843 Nauvoo city ordinance stated that “no person shall throw, place, or deposit, or suffer any person in his or her employ to place or deposit any dead animal, carrion, putrid meat, or fish, or decayed vegetables, or nuisances of any kind in any Street, Alley, public square, in said City.” It further stipulated that “whenever any dead carcass, putrid or unsound meat of any kind, fish, Hides or skins of any kind, or any other putrid or unsound substance, shall be found in any part of the City, it shall be the duty of Supervisor of Streets to cause the same to be destroyed or to be disposed of in such other manner as may be equally secure as regards the public health.” (Ordinances, 30 Jan. 1843.)

In July 1843 JS dictated a revelation to his private clerk, William Clayton, consisting “of 10 pages on the order of the priesthood, showing the designs in Moses, Abraham, David and Solomon having many wives & concubines &c.” Among other things, this revelation taught that “if a man marry a wife by my word which is my law, and by the new and everlasting Covenant and it is Sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise by him who is anointed unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood,” then their marriage “shall be of full force when they are out of the world.” Coupled with this doctrine was the possibility of being sealed to a deceased spouse. For example, in 1844 church member Jacob Scott wrote to his daughter that “all Marriage contracts or Covenants are to be ‘Everlasting,’ that is . . . for both Time & Eternity,” and that if a man “desires to be married to his deceased wife, a Sister in the Church stands as Proxy, or as a representative of the deceased in attending to the marriage ceremony.” (JS, Journal, 12 July 1843; Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1843; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 31; Revelation, 12 July 1843 [D&C 132:19]; Jacob Scott, Nauvoo, IL, to Mary Scott Warnock, Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, 5 Jan. 1844, [2], CCLA, underlining in original; see also Blessing to Joseph Kingsbury, 23 Mar. 1843.)

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

Scott, Jacob. Letter, Nauvoo, IL to Mary Scott Warnock, Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, 5 Jan. 1844. CCLA. Photocopy at CHL.

The Nauvoo Expositor published an affidavit in which William Law swore that Hyrum Smith read to him “a certain written document, which he said was a revelation from God.” According to Law, Hyrum “was with Joseph when it was received” and he “afterwards gave me [Law] the document to read, and I took it to my house, and read it, and showed it to my wife, and returned it next day.” Law explained that the “revelation (so called) authorized certain men to have more wives than one at a time, in this world and in the world to come.” He further stated that the revelation “said this was the law” and ordered “Joseph to enter into the law.— And also that he should administer to others.” (“Affidavits,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2], italics in original.)

The published version of the city council minutes expands this to read “he then read a statement of William Law’s from the Expositor, where the truth of God was transformed into a lie concerning this thing.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

This passage is expanded in the published version of the city council minutes: “He then read several statements of Austin Cowles in the Expositor concerning a private interview.” Cowles swore out an affidavit that was published in the Nauvoo Expositor in which he stated that “in the latter part of the summer, 1843, the Patriarch, Hyrum Smith, did in the High Council, of which I was a member, introduce what he said was a revelation given through the Prophet.” Cowles explained that the revelation taught “the sealing up of persons to eternal life, against all sins, save that of sheding innocent blood or of consenting thereto,” and also “the doctrine of a plurality of wives, or marrying virgins; that David and Solomon had many wives, yet in this they sinned not save in the matter of Uriah.” Cowles concluded that “this revelation with other evidence, that the aforesaid heresies were taught and practiced in the Church; determined me to leave the office of first counsellor to the president of the Church at Nauvoo [William Marks], inasmuch as I dared not teach or administer such laws.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]; “Affidavits,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [2].)

The Latter-day Saints estimated that “property to the value of two millions of dollars has been taken from them or destroyed” when they were driven from Missouri in 1838 and 1839. (Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839−27 Jan. 1840.)

Thompson served as a scribe to JS from 1839 to 1841, a clerk for the church from 1840 to 1841, and an associate editor for the Times and Seasons in 1841. Both he and William Law joined the church in Upper Canada, and Law wrote a tribute to Thompson at the latter’s passing in 1841. (“Death of Col. Robert B. Thompson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:519–520; Letter from Emma Smith, 6 Dec. 1839; Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; “New Arrangement,” Times and Seasons, 1 May 1841, 2:402.)

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

The published version of the city council minutes expands this section of text to read “he said it was as much as he could do, to keep his clerk, Thompson, from publishing the proceedings of the Law’s and causing the people to rise up against them.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

The published version of the city council minutes adds “for it was exciting the spirit of mobocracy among the people and bringing death and destruction upon us” to the end of this passage. (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)