{"id":16618,"date":"2015-12-24T00:39:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T04:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?p=16618"},"modified":"2015-12-18T01:17:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T05:17:35","slug":"joseph-smiths-last-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Smith’s Last Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

2 o[clo]ck about 50 couple sat down at my table to dine. while I was eating my scribe called on me to selmnz [solemnize] the Marriage of Doct Levi Richa[r]ds & sarah Griffiths [Griffith] \u2014 but. as I could not leave. I referred the subj[e]ct to Presidt B[righam] Young. who married th[e]m. A large party supped at my hosue & spent the evening in Music Danci[n]g &c. <in a most cheerful & frie[n]dly mannr> during the festivities. during the festivities a man apparently drunk. with his hair long & falling over his shoulders came in and acted like a Missour[i]an I commanded the capt of the police to put him out. of doors in the scuffle. I looked him full in the face and to my gr[e]at supprize and Joy untold I discovere[re]d it was orren [Orrin] Porter Rockwell, just arrived from a year\u2019s imprisonmt [imprisonment] in Mo [Missouri].<\/p>\n

Although written in the first person, the journal was kept by Smith\u2019s scribe Willard Richards, renowned among historians of Mormonism<\/a> both for his Don King-like hair as well as his nearly illegible handwriting (unless he was penning something for public consumption). The Joseph Smith Papers project has been posting images of the journals on its website. See this 3 April 1843 entry,<\/a> for instance, in which Smith observes that [William] \u201cMiller\u2019s Day of Judgment has \u00a0<\/span>arrived. but. tis too. pleas[a]nt. for \u00a0<\/span>false prophets.\u201d In addition to the difficult handwriting, Richards\u2019s entries are often sparse and cryptic. Occasionally Richards sketched one of Smith\u2019s sermons or conversations at great length, but more often he outlined rather than described the day\u2019s events.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the most recent publication of the Joseph Smith Papers [Journals: Volume 3<\/em>, May 1843 \u2013 June 1844<\/em>) is a most welcome event. These journals have been transcribed before, notably by Scott H. Faulring in his American Prophet\u2019s Record<\/em>. Faulring\u2019s book has been an invaluable source for historians of Mormonism, but the JSP has superseded it for its extensive annotations and its more accurate transcription.<\/p>\n

One gets only glimpses of many vital developments during these months, such as plural marriage, the development of ordinances (rituals), and the establishment of the Council of Fifty. As the JSP volume editors note, Richards\u2019s record focuses instead on \u201cmore mundane activities such as business transactions, pleasure trips, visits with American Indians, conversations with friends, and observations on the weather.\u201d One learns about land sales, and one learns a great deal about Joseph Smith\u2019s political interests and engagements. In short, one learns a great deal about life in Mormon Nauvoo and the Mormon prophet\u2019s final year. As the editors conclude, the \u201cjournal presented here is an essential primary source.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Orrin Porter Rockwell returning on Christmas Day, released after being arrested in the attempted murder of former Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs, is hardly a mundane event.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 o[clo]ck about 50 couple sat down at my table to dine. while I was eating my scribe called on me to selmnz [solemnize] the Marriage of Doct Levi Richa[r]ds & sarah Griffiths [Griffith] \u2014 but. as I could not leave. I referred the subj[e]ct to Presidt B[righam] Young. who married th[e]m. A large party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[500,8,1801,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-religious-history","category-john-turner","category-joseph-smith-2","category-mormonism"],"yoast_head":"\nJoseph Smith's Last Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2 ock about 50 couple sat down at my table to dine. while I was eating my scribe called on me to selmnz the Marriage of Doct Levi Richads & sarah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joseph Smith's Last Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2 ock about 50 couple sat down at my table to dine. while I was eating my scribe called on me to selmnz the Marriage of Doct Levi Richads & sarah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Anxious Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-24T04:39:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-18T05:17:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johnturner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"johnturner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"Joseph Smith's Last Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-24T04:39:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-18T05:17:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca\"},\"description\":\"2 ock about 50 couple sat down at my table to dine. while I was eating my scribe called on me to selmnz the Marriage of Doct Levi Richads & sarah\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/12\/joseph-smiths-last-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joseph Smith’s Last Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\",\"name\":\"Anxious Bench\",\"description\":\"The Relevance of Religious History for Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca\",\"name\":\"johnturner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"johnturner\"},\"description\":\"In the fall of 2012, I will become Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University. 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