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Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 2, 10 March 1843–14 July 1843

10 March 1843 • Friday (continued) Page 1 11 March 1843 • Saturday Page 2 12 March 1843 • Sunday Page 6 13 March 1843 • Monday Page 6 14 March 1843 • Tuesday Page 8 Observations in the Night Sky, Initial Diagram • 14 March 1843 Page 11 Observations in the Night Sky, Corrected Diagram • 14 March 1843 Page 17 15 March 1843 • Wednesday Page 9 16 March 1843 • Thursday Page 12 17 March 1843 • Friday Page 12 18 March 1843 • Saturday Page 14 19 March 1843 • Sunday Page 15 20 March 1843 • Monday Page 16 21 March 1843 • Tuesday Page 18 22 March 1843 • Wednesday Page 19 23 March 1843 • Thursday Page 20 24 March 1843 • Friday Page 23 25 March 1843 • Saturday Page 24 26 March 1843 • Sunday Page 26 27 March 1843 • Monday Page 27 28 March 1843 • Tuesday Page 28 29 March 1843 • Wednesday Page 29 30 March 1843 • Thursday Page 30 31 March 1843 • Friday Page 33 1 April 1843 • Saturday Page 34 2 April 1843 • Sunday Page 35 3 April 1843 • Monday Page 45 4 April 1843 • Tuesday Page 46 5 April 1843 • Wednesday Page 47 6 April 1843 • Thursday Page 48 7 April 1843 • Friday Page 77 8 April 1843 • Saturday Page 95 9 April 1843 • Sunday Page 111 10 April 1843 • Monday Page 112 11 April 1843 • Tuesday Page 113 12 April 1843 • Wednesday Page 114 13 April 1843 • Thursday Page 120 14 April 1843 • Friday Page 136 15 April 1843 • Saturday Page 138 16 April 1843 • Sunday Page 139 17 April 1843 • Monday Page 151 18 April 1843 • Tuesday Page 154 19 April 1843 • Wednesday Page 155 20 April 1843 • Thursday Page 169 21 April 1843 • Friday Page 170 22 April 1843 • Saturday Page 172 23 April 1843 • Sunday Page 174 24 April 1843 • Monday Page 177 25 April 1843 • Tuesday Page 178 26 April 1843 • Wednesday Page 179 27 April 1843 • Thursday Page 180 28 April 1843 • Friday Page 181 29 April 1843 • Saturday Page 182 30 April 1843 • Sunday Page 183 1 May 1843 • Monday Page 186 2 May 1843 • Tuesday Page 187 3 May 1843 • Wednesday Page 188 4 May 1843 • Thursday Page 190 5 May 1843 • Friday Page 191 6 May 1843 • Saturday Page 192 7 May 1843 • Sunday Page 195 8 May 1843 • Monday Page 196 9 May 1843 • Tuesday Page 197 10 May 1843 • Wednesday Page 198 11 May 1843 • Thursday Page 199 12 May 1843 • Friday Page 200 13 May 1843 • Saturday Page 201 14 May 1843 • Sunday Page 202 15 May 1843 • Monday Page 203 16 May 1843 • Tuesday Page 204 17 May 1843 • Wednesday Page 205 18 May 1843 • Thursday Page 207 19 May 1843 • Friday Page 208 20 May 1843 • Saturday Page 209 21 May 1843 • Sunday Page 210 22 May 1843 • Monday Page 219 23 May 1843 • Tuesday Page 220 24 May 1843 • Wednesday Page 221 25 May 1843 • Thursday Page 222 26 May 1843 • Friday Page 223 27 May 1843 • Saturday Page 224 28 May 1843 • Sunday Page 225 29 May 1843 • Monday Page 226 30 May 1843 • Tuesday Page 228 31 May 1843 • Wednesday Page 229 1 June 1843 • Thursday Page 230 2 June 1843 • Friday Page 231 3 June 1843 • Saturday Page 232 4 June 1843 • Sunday Page 233 5 June 1843 • Monday Page 234 6 June 1843 • Tuesday Page 235 7 June 1843 • Wednesday Page 236 8 June 1843 • Thursday Page 237 9 June 1843 • Friday Page 238 10 June 1843 • Saturday Page 239 11 June 1843 • Sunday Page 240 12 June 1843 • Monday Page 255 13 June 1843 • Tuesday Page 256 14 June 1843 • Wednesday Page 257 15 June 1843 • Thursday Page 258 16 June 1843 • Friday Page 259 17 June 1843 • Saturday Page 260 18 June 1843 • Sunday Page 261 19 June 1843 • Monday Page 262 20 June 1843 • Tuesday Page 263 21 June 1843 • Wednesday Page 264 22 June 1843 • Thursday Page 265 23 June 1843 • Friday Page 266 24 June 1843 • Saturday Page 267 25 June 1843 • Sunday Page 268 26 June 1843 • Monday Page 269 27 June 1843 • Tuesday Page 270 28 June 1843 • Wednesday Page 271 29 June 1843 • Thursday Page 272 30 June 1843 • Friday Page 273 1 July 1843 • Saturday Page 291 2 July 1843 • Sunday Page 292 3 July 1843 • Monday Page 293 4 July 1843 • Tuesday Page 294 5 July 1843 • Wednesday Page 296 6 July 1843 • Thursday Page 297 7 July 1843 • Friday Page 298 8 July 1843 • Saturday Page 299 9 July 1843 • Sunday Page 300 10 July 1843 • Monday Page 305 11 July 1843 • Tuesday Page 306 12 July 1843 • Wednesday Page 307 13 July 1843 • Thursday Page 308 14 July 1843 • Friday Page 309

Source Note

JS, “President Joseph Smith’s Journal,” Journal, 4 vols., Dec. 1842–June 1844; handwriting and signatures of ; 1,045 pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes shorthand and illustrations; also includes redactions, use marks, and archival stickers.
kept “President Joseph Smith’s Journal” in four small memorandum books. The paper in book 1 is blue, while the paper in books 2–4 is white. In the first two books, the paper was printed with seventeen blue lines and extra space for page headers, whereas the paper for book 3 was printed with nineteen blue lines and no header space. The first eight gatherings of paper for book 4 were printed with sixteen blue lines and header space, while the last nine gatherings were printed with nineteen blue lines and no header space. The four volumes have 147, 160, 142, and 190 free leaves, respectively, and were sewn with all-along sewing. The leaves in books 1–3 were trimmed to measure 6 × 3¾ inches (15 × 10 cm), while the paper in book 4 measures 6¼ × 3¾ inches (16 × 10 cm). Books 2–4 have matching red-speckled stain on the page edges. All four books were bound with a tight-back case binding and have brown leather over pasteboards. Books 1–3 measure 6¼ × 4 × ¾ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm); book 4 measures 6⅜ × 4 × ¾ inches (16 × 10 × 2 cm). The outside covers of book 1 feature an embossed pattern around the borders. The cover of book 4 is red and features a gold pattern around the borders on the front and the back.
inscribed most of the journal entries in these memorandum books with a quill pen in ink that is now brown, although he also used blue ink for several entries. The volumes also include inscriptions written in graphite, some of which are contemporaneous and some that are later redactions. Richards paginated the first 114 of the 285 inscribed pages in book 1—discounting the title page that precedes the pagination—and the first 20 of the 309 inscribed pages in book 2. There is no pagination in books 3–4. In book 2, pages 11, 17, and 20–21 feature illustrations of celestial observations.
The memorandum books include later inscriptions that are not transcribed in this edition. At the end of book 2, added a list of -era plural marriages. A few revisions, additions, or notes are penciled in throughout the volumes. There are also several use marks throughout the volumes—probably made when the journal entries were later revised for inclusion in the “History of Joseph Smith” published in Mormon newspapers in the mid-nineteenth century. The spines of the volumes are now labeled with blue-colored paper stickers that probably date from the early Utah period. Each of the four volumes also bears the mark of a square sticker removed from the upper right-hand corner of the outside front cover. Finally, a “Historian’s Office Archives” self-adhesive paper sticker appears in the front inside cover or on the first flyleaf of each book.
identified himself as the scribe for the journal on the title pages of books 1 and 4. Because Richards kept the journals for JS and kept his own journal in the back of book 4 after JS’s death, the books may have been among “Drs [Richards’s] private books & Papers” listed in the 1846 inventory of church records made in , Illinois. The volumes are listed in inventories made in Salt Lake City, Utah, by the Church Historian’s Office in 1855, 1858, and 1878, as well as in the 1973 register of the JS Collection. These archival records and the physical evidence of archival stickers indicate continuous institutional custody and authenticity.
Note: The journal kept for JS is divided into four physical books. The transcript and annotation here are for book 2, covering 10 March through 14 July 1843. The transcript and annotation for the other three books are also available on this website; book 1 covers 21 December 1842 through 10 March 1843, book 3 covers 15 July 1843 through 29 February 1844, and book 4 covers 1 March through 22 June 1844.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    This serialized history drew on the journals herein beginning with the 4 July 1855 issue of the Deseret News and with the 3 January 1857 issue of the LDS Millennial Star.

  2. [2]

    The labels on the spines of the four volumes read respectively as follows: “Joseph Smith’s Journal—1842–3 by Willard Richards” (book 1); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843” (book 2); “Joseph Smith’s Journal by W. Richards 1843–4” (book 3); and “W. Richards’ Journal 1844 Vol. 4” (book 4). Richards kept JS’s journal in the front of book 4, and after JS’s death Richards kept his own journal in the back of the volume.

  3. [3]

    “Schedule of Church Records, Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  4. [4]

    “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]; “Contents of the Historian and Recorder’s Office G. S. L. City July 1858,” 2; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]–[12], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL; Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 7.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

    Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.

Historical Introduction

took over the responsibility of keeping JS’s journal from on 21 December 1842, the same day JS “made a particular request” that Richards “act as his private se[c]retary & historian.” This was the second time Richards kept JS’s journal; he had also kept it between 13 December 1841 and 29 June 1842 before leaving for , Massachusetts, to bring his family to , Illinois. During Richards’s absence, Clayton kept JS’s journal, inscribing entries, as Richards had done, in the large Book of the Law of the Lord, which also contained records of donations for the . Clayton continued keeping the journal—JS’s first Nauvoo journal—even after Richards returned to Nauvoo on 30 October 1842, probably because, as temple recorder, Clayton was the custodian of the Book of the Law of the Lord. When Richards resumed keeping JS’s journal on 21 December 1842, he began using a much smaller memorandum book. This second Nauvoo journal was kept by Richards through 22 June 1844 and eventually comprised four such memorandum books.
Several pieces of evidence indicate that these four memorandum books were considered volumes of the same journal rather than separate journals themselves. For example, whereas JS’s journals kept during the 1830s were recorded in bound books or notebooks labeled with different titles—such as “Sketch Book” or “The Scriptory Book”—the first and last of ’s memorandum books bear virtually identical titles, with the fourth explicitly identified as “vol 4”. Similarly, that books 2 and 3 lack titles suggests that each was simply a continuation of the previous book. This suggestion is made even stronger in book 2, in which the first entry commences at 4:00 p.m. on 10 March, with the events of the earlier part of the day recorded at the end of book 1. All four memorandum books are virtually the same size, and the bindings on the first three are similar.
As with nearly all the entries in JS’s previous and journals, JS neither wrote nor dictated the text of the entries in the memorandum books; they are based on ’s observations. For example, the entry for 22 September 1843 records only that Richards “saw Joseph pass in a waggon with Hiram.” Despite the secondhand nature of the entries, however, Richards, a close associate and frequent companion of JS, was able to capture in detail JS’s words and actions on many occasions.
The shift of ’s office from temple recorder and scribe to JS’s “private se[c]retary & historian,” as well as the transfer of the journal out of the Book of the Law of the Lord, may have influenced what events Richards recorded in the memorandum books. At least some of the material Richards, as JS’s private secretary, included in this journal—such as the detailed record of a medical malpractice suit over which JS presided—probably would have received much less emphasis had Richards, in the capacity of temple recorder and scribe, been keeping JS’s journal in the book that also contained records of donations for the temple. Similarly, although the ledger-size Book of the Law of the Lord likely remained in the recorder’s office and most journal entries were probably made there, each of the memorandum books was small enough that Richards could easily carry it with him, allowing him to record many of JS’s activities closer to the actual event—both temporally and spatially—than was possible earlier.
’s new title of historian was significant as well. On 1 December 1842, he began working on the “History of Joseph Smith” that was being serially published in the Times and Seasons, and by August 1843 he was drawing on JS’s earlier journals for that history. Richards therefore likely expected that the contemporaneous journal entries he was keeping for JS would eventually be used as the basis for JS’s history.
employed various techniques in keeping the journal. For a few entries, he made lightly penciled notes and returned later with a quill pen to expand the entry. In other entries, the morning or afternoon portion of an entry was written in one ink and the evening portion of the entry in a different ink that matches that of the following entry. These changes in writing media and in other aspects of the inscribed text indicate that many entries—or parts of entries—were made on the very day of the events they described. The textual evidence in other entries indicates that they were written several days after the date they bear. Still other entries are a hybrid. Richards’s notes of sermons and legal proceedings, for example, bear evidence of both contemporaneous inscription and later revision. In some instances, Richards left blank spaces and even blank lines, apparently intending to add details later. Hurried note taking often resulted in missing words, informal abbreviations, inconsistent spelling, and poorly formed characters. Richards revisited some difficult passages to mend or rewrite characters, revise spelling and punctuation, and add interlineations. Some of the blanks were filled while others were left standing. Richards’s notes include both immediate emendations, such as wipe-erasures made while his ink was still wet, as well as later revisions, such as knife-erasures of words written in ink that had dried. The various ways in which Richards wrote and revised entries resulted in the journal’s uneven texture but also contribute to its wealth of immediately recorded information and clarifying additions.
Over time, settled somewhat into a pattern of generally recording the events of one day on one page—some pages largely empty and others filled with cramped writing—with weather reported at the bottom of the page. He made an entry for almost every day during the last year and a half of JS’s life. The journal ended when JS left on 22 June 1844, five days before he was killed at the jailhouse at , Illinois. Richards accompanied JS to Carthage and, during the final days of JS’s life, kept extensive notes of JS’s activities in his personal journal.
Note: The journal kept for JS is divided into four physical books. The transcript and annotation here are for book 2, covering 10 March through 14 July 1843. The transcript and annotation for the other three books are also available on this website; book 1 covers 21 December 1842 through 10 March 1843, book 3 covers 15 July 1843 through 29 February 1844, and book 4 covers 1 March through 22 June 1844.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 21 Dec. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Historical Introduction to JS, Journal, Dec. 1841–Dec. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Source Note to JS, Journal, 1835–1836; Source Note to JS, Journal, Mar.–Sept. 1838.

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1843.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 22 Sept. 1843.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 1 Dec. 1842 and 20 Jan. 1843; see also “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 3:726–728.

  7. [7]

    See Appendix 3.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, 7 April 1843, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 8 April 1843, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 8 April 1843, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 8 April 1843, as Reported by Franklin D. Richards *Discourse, 6 April 1843–B, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 6 April 1843–B, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 6 April 1843–B, as Reported by James Burgess *Discourse, 6 April 1843–B, as Published in Times and Seasons *Discourse, 6 April 1843–A, as Reported by William Clayton *Discourse, 6 April 1843–A, as Reported by Willard Richards *Discourse, 6 April 1843–A, as Published in Times and Seasons

Page 1

Book 2, 10 March–14 July 1843
Editorial Note
The second book of ’s JS journal chronicles JS’s activities as church president, mayor of , Illinois, trustee-in-trust of the church, lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion, and businessman. The volume begins at 4:00 p.m. on 10 March 1843—the events of the earlier part of the day having been recorded in the first memorandum book—and continues through July 1843. This second book details JS’s involvement in numerous civic, legal, and ecclesiastical affairs and contains several accounts of his teachings. These accounts include comments made to on 2 April that were later canonized; lengthy discourses delivered at the April 1843 “special Conference” of the Church; practical instructions given to newly arrived immigrants on 13 April; a discourse on resurrection given on 16 April; and instructions given to several members of the Quorum of the Twelve on 19 April. Other historically significant events mentioned are the calling of missionaries to the , JS and ’s evident sealing, the recording of the revelation on eternal and plural marriage, JS’s plural marriage to (recorded in Taylor shorthand), and several lengthy discourses. At three different times during May and June 1843, JS left Nauvoo unaccompanied by Willard Richards. The first two trips (from 13 to 15 May and from 16 to 18 May) were relatively brief, and Richards wrote entries in the journal even in JS’s absence. The third trip (13–30 June), during which JS was arrested near , Illinois, on charges stemming from the 1838 Mormon War in , was lengthier. During this third period of JS’s absence, Richards generally either made no entry in the journal for a particular day or recorded what he heard or saw about JS’s arrest and efforts to rescue him. Several entries recorded after the Nauvoo Municipal Court discharged JS from arrest on 1 July illustrate the hostility that the rescue and release engendered among many non-Mormons in the area.
10 March 1843 • Friday (continued)
Friday March 10[th] 1843
4. P.M. Bro Norton claimed 2 trying squares, , 1 Padlock: David grant 1. shirt:— of property found by the marshall on warrant Just issued— a bit stock and smoothing plane & 3 or 4 other little tools were presented on this case.— Mayor present.— clear and cold.— <​10 minutes before 7— I ​>
Saturday March 11.th.
, discovered a stream of light in the South West quarter of the heavens.— the pencil rays of light <​were​> in the form of a broad sword. with the hilt downward. the blade raised, pointing from the west south west [p. 1]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 2, 10 March 1843–14 July 1843
ID #
7998
Total Pages
325
Print Volume Location
JSP, J2:303–375; JSP, J3:3–59
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Try squares” consist of two straight edges secured at right angles to each other used for testing whether work (such as woodwork) is square. (“Try,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 11:438.)

    The Oxford English Dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, and C. T. Onions. 12 vols. 1933. Reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970.

  2. [2]

    The warrant was issued earlier in the day to search for stolen tools and other articles in Daniel Sherwood’s house. (JS, Journal, 10 Mar. 1843.)

  3. [3]

    A brace or handle in which a drilling or boring bit is secured. (“Bit,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 1:881.)

    The Oxford English Dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, and C. T. Onions. 12 vols. 1933. Reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970.

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