The Papers
Reference
About
History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 Addenda
Source Note
Source Note
JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. C-1, addenda, created 18 Oct.–ca. 20 Nov. 1854; 75 pages in volume bearing three labels reading “Historical Notation,” “From 1841 to 1851,” and “Addenda to C1;” handwriting of , Jonathan Grimshaw, Robert Campbell, and John L. Smith; CHL.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 11 June 1839, while residing at , Illinois, JS began dictating what his journal simply referred to as his “history.” (An earlier draft was begun by JS and in April 1838, but that draft is no longer extant; see JS, Journal, 27 Apr. 1838.) However, substantial progress on the history was not made until assumed responsibility for the project and was appointed as JS’s “private se[c]retary & historian” in December 1842 (JS, Journal, 11 June 1839; 21 Dec. 1842). Work on this endeavor came to span eighteen years and included frequent stops and starts. The longest lull, of over seven years, was occasioned by the Saints’ exodus from followed by the challenges of settling the Salt Lake Valley. After the death of Willard Richards in 1854, the project was brought to a conclusion in Utah by and in 1856. By that time the history had swelled to six volumes and over 2,400 pages. It subsequently came to be known as the “Manuscript History of the Church” (in The Joseph Smith Papers it bears the editorial title “History, 1838–1856”).
As part of that enterprise, “History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842]” was begun on or just after 24 February 1845 and its basic narrative was completed by 3 May of that year, although work continued on the volume through that July (Richards, Journal, 24 and 28 Feb. 1845; Historian’s Office, Journal, 3 May 1845; 3 and 4 July 1845). was the scribe for the volume, which contains 512 pages of primary text, plus 24 pages of addenda, and covers the period 2 November 1838 through 31 July 1842.
On 10 April 1854, less than five weeks after the death of , assumed the role of church historian and with it responsibility for the completion of JS’s history. He subsequently observed in a letter to :
I commenced to perform the duties of Historian by taking up the History of Joseph Smith where Dr. had left it when driven from on the 4th day of February 1846. I had to revise and compare two years of back history which he had compiled, filling up numerous spaces which had been marked as omissions on memoranda by Dr. Richards.
I commenced compiling the history of Joseph Smith from April 1st 1840 to his death on June 27th 1844. I have filled up all the reports of sermons by President Joseph Smith and others from minutes or sketches taken at the time in long hand by Dr. , , , , Miss &c. which was an immense labor, requiring the deepest thought and the closest application, as there were mostly only two or three words (about half written) to a sentence.” (George A. Smith, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, 21 Apr. 1856, in Historian’s Office, Historical Record Book, 218.)
In October 1854 and his clerks began compiling a separate, extensive list of addenda to volume C-1. The Church Historian’s office journal entry for 13 October 1854 noted, “ engaged on history papers all da[y] found many that will have to be inserted in 40 & 41” (Historian’s Office, Journal, 13 Oct. 1854). Apparently these addenda represented some of the revising and comparing of “two years of back history” with the “filling up numerous spaces” Smith had mentioned in his 1856 letter to . In support of that effort, the 19 October 1854 issue of the Deseret News carried the following item that also explained why the serialization of the History of Joseph Smith was being temporarily interrupted:
The History of Joseph Smith is necessarily omitted in this number; and from one to two columns a number will probably be all that can be furnished for some time, as the Historian has come to a period which requires hunting up many facts, and preparing them for embodying, which the hurry of the times obliged to pass over by simply writing on the margin, “note to be supplied” (”History and Sermons,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 19 Oct. 1854, [2]).
At that time, Joseph Smith’s history had been reported through October 1840 in the Deseret News.
The addenda to volume C-1 presented here are labeled “Addenda to Book C1. By . Octr. 18th. 1854.” They are in the handwriting of Jonathan Grimshaw, , Robert L. Campbell, and John L. Smith, all of whom worked under the direction of . These addenda provide supplemental material for the period from 19 October 1840 to 15 July 1842 and consist of seventy-five pages copied into a separate ledger that also contains a chronological inventory of material employed in compiling the manuscript history. Many entries from George A. Smith’s “Addenda” were incorporated under their respective dates into the text of the version of Joseph Smith’s history published in the Deseret News, a fair copy identified as C-2, and the later account edited by B. H. Roberts as History of the Church.
Among the significant items included in the addenda to volume C-1 are sermons, editorials, and records of events. Of particular note are entries regarding the October 1840 creation of stakes at , , and , Illinois; the January 1841 acknowledgement of the mission of the Twelve to ; the 7 August 1841 death of JS’s brother ; JS’s 12 August 1841 meeting with Sac and Fox Indians from ; a November 1841 description of the construction of a temporary wooden font for the performance of baptisms for the dead within the rising Nauvoo ; the February 1842 appointment of as superintendent of the church printing office, and of as head of the Times and Seasons editorial department; and four accounts of JS’s instructions to the Female Relief Society.
<1842 april 28 > Instructions delivered by Prest. Joseph Smith, before the Female Relief Society. April 28th. 1842 reported by Miss
<Read to the council apr lst. 1855> Prest Joseph Smith arose and called the attention of the meeting to the 12th. chapter 1st Corinthians. “Now concerning Spiritual gifts I would not have you Ignorant” Said that the <Page 1326> passage in the 3rd verse <which> reads “No man can Say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost” Should be translated “no man can know that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost” He continued to read the chapter, and give instructions respecting the different offices, and the necessity of every individual acting in the Sphere allotted him or her, and filling the Several offices to which they were appointed.— Spoke of the disposition of many men to consider the lower offices in the church dishonorable and to look with jealous eyes upon the Standing of others who are called to preside over them, That it was the folly & nonsense of the human heart for a Person to be aspiring to other Stations than those to which they <are> appointed of God for them to occupy that it was better for Individuals to magnify their respective callings and wait patiently till God Shall Say to them “come up higher” He Said the reason of these remarks being made was, that Some little foolish things were circulating in the Society, against Some Sisters Not doing right in laying hands on the Sick. Said if the People had common Sympathies they would rejoice that the Sick could be healed; That the time had not been before that these things could be in their Proper order; that the church is not fully organized, in its Proper order, and cannot be, untill the is completed, where places will be provided for the Administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood.
President Smith continued the Subject, by quoting the commission given to to the ancient apostles in Mark 16th chapter 15, 16, 17, 18, verses, “Go ye into all the world and Preach the gospel to every creature. He that Believeth & is baptized Shall be Saved; but he that believeth not Shall be damned. And these Signs Shall follow them that believe: In my my name Shall they cast out devils; they Shall Speak with new tongues; They Shall take up Serpants; and if they Shall Drink any deadly thing, it Shall not hurt them they [s]hall Lay hands on the Sick & they Shall recover.” No matter who believeth, these Signs [p. 26]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
Jonathan Grimshaw handwriting ends; John L. Smith begins.
- [26]
TEXT: Insertion in pencil.