Chapter 8 Footnotes

1 Memoirs, pp. 431 -432.

2 Joseph Smith III to Carrie L. Smith Weld, July 1, 1906, RLDS Archives.

3 Memoirs, p. 432.

4 Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 22, 1907, as cited by Gilbert J. Waller, "Local Historians: Sandwich Islands," Journal of history 2 (January 1909):48.

5 Memoirs, p. 438.

6 Details concerning the trip to Hawaii are found in Memoirs, pp. 435-442; Waller, "Local Historians: Sandwich Islands," pp. 42-55; and HRC 6:251-252.

7 Memoirs, pp. 443-448.

8 HRC 6: 167- 168, 186.

9 lbid. 6:199, 202. From 1908 to 1913, Elbert A. Smith was assisted in editorial duties by Israel A. Smith. HRC 6:291, 453, 504.

10 HRC 6:135-136, 182-183. In 1909 Heman C. Smith was released as an apostle in order that he might devote more of his time to his work as church historian.
Early in 1907 the Herald Publishing House in Lamoni burned to the ground. This building served as something of a church headquarters. Numerous important historical documents were consumed in the flames, including much of Joseph Smith III's correspondence. Joseph Smith III desired to leave a record which would survive any such catastrophe in the future. Therefore he persuaded the church to begin publishing the Journal of history, for the purpose of putting important historical manuscripts in print, reprinting materials dating from the early days of the church, and publishing historical recollections and studies by living members of the church. Heman C. Smith was appointed editor of the Journal of history, which began appearing quarterly in 1908. Joseph Smith III himself contributed an important article, "What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," in 1910.

11 Memoirs, pp. 448-449; HRC 6:322, 335-336.

12 HRC 6:359-361; Memoirs, pp. 452-460.

13 Memoirs, p. 454.

14 lbid., p. 460.

15 RLDS D&C 126:4, 8; Memoirs, p. 376.

16 HRC 6:558.

17 RLDS D&C 127:8.

18 RLDS D&C 129:1, 5. Concerning Evans' ambitions and disappointment at Fred M. Smith's designation as heir apparent, see Roger D. Launius, "R. C. Evans: Boy Orator of the Reorganization," John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 3 ( 1983):43-44; and Launius, "And There Came Prophets in the Land Again," pp. 428- 437. Launius may, however, overstate the extent of Evans' ambition.
Replacing Evans with Joseph Smith III's nephew Elbert A. Smith, not only insured a smooth transition of power, it also fit in perfectly with Joseph's thinking about lineal succession. Elbert was filling the position in the presidency once held by his father, David H. Smith. See Memoirs, p. 449.

19 HRC 6:559-560. The returned questionnaires are housed in the RLDS Archives unprocessed).

20 The text of the "Letter of Instruction" is found in HRC 6:560-575.

21 Joseph Smith III to Israel A. Smith, September 12, 1912, RLDS Archives.

22 John Henry Smith, Journal, November 22, 1906; November 23, 1909; January 14, 1910; and December 1, 1910; University of Utah (photocopies).
In 1910 Joseph F. Smith elevated John Henry Smith to the position of second counselor in the LDS First Presidency. During his presidency he also elevated two of his sons to the Quorum of Twelve. With a Smith as patriarch of the church, the hierarchy was taking on a definite family coloration. Interestingly, the same thing was happening in the RLDS Church.
The suggestion of Pusey, Builders of the Kingdom, p. 195, that John Henry cultivated a warm feeling of kinship for Joseph Smith III, "without much encouragement," runs contrary to all the surviving correspondence between the two men. In fact the cousins felt a deep affection for one another.

23 John Henry Smith to Joseph Smith III, August 24, 1909, John Henry Smith Letter Book, University of Utah (microfilm).

24 Joseph Smith III to John Henry Smith, August 27, 1909, University of Utah.

25 Joseph Smith III to John Henry Smith, April 27, 1911, University of Utah.

26 Joseph Smith III to John Henry Smith, September (4, 1911, University of Utah.

27 Memoirs, pp. 234 and 92. Joseph Smith III gave contradictory statements about the dates of his dream and correspondence, in these two citations. However, the correct chronology can be established from the letter cited in the previous note.

28 Memoirs, p. 92; Joseph Smith III to Israel A. Smith, November 7, 1911, RLDS Archives.

29 Memoirs, p. 234; Pusey, Builders of the Kingdom, pp. 232, 244.

30 Joseph Smith III to Mrs. George Albert Smith, January 10, 1910, University of Utah.

31 George Albert Smith to Frederick Madison Smith, October 28, 1911, University of Utah (carbon copy).

32 Joseph Smith III to George Albert Smith, November 8, 1913, University of Utah.

33 George Albert Smith to Frederick Madison Smith, December 21, 1914, University of Utah (carbon copy); Pusey, Builders of the Kingdom, pp. 279, 299- 300.

34 Joseph Smith III to Samuel H. B. Smith, May 30, 1914, Brigham Young University (photocopy).

35 George Albert Smith to Joseph Smith III, November 21, 1913, University of Utah (carbon copy); Memoirs, pp. 234-235; Pusey, Builders of the Kingdom, p. 257.

36 See note 54.

37 Cannon's popular articles formed the basis for his book, Under the Prophet in Utah, published in 1911.

38 Frank J. Cannon and Harvey J. O'Higgins, "Under the Prophet in Utah: The National Menace of a Political Priestcraft," Everybody's Magazine 24 (April 1911):518-519.

39 &quotA Correction," Everybody's Magazine 24 (May 1911):713.

40 &quotMormons Who Are Not Polygamists," Everybody's Magazine 25 (September 1911 ):427-428.

41 Joseph Smith III, Mormons Who Are Not Polygamists (N.p.: n.d.).

42 Memoirs, p. 452. W. R. Dexter was Joseph Smith III's principal stenographer in 1910 and 191 1. Dexter's notes for A Study in Moral Ethics , written in Gregg shorthand, are currently housed in the RLDS Archives (unprocessed). A cursory examination of the notes, by this writer, shows that Mormon polygamy was the object of Joseph Smith III's attack in his unfinished opus.
Joseph had been working on his Memoirs concurrently with A Study in Moral Ethics. When Israel A. Smith replaced Dexter as secretary, Joseph decided to devote all his remaining energy to the Memoirs.

43 Israel A. Smith first took dictation on the Memoirs on May 23, 1913. The previous two years of work constitute pages 1 through 165 of the Memoirs (1979 edition). The year and one-half of dictation to Israel constitute pages 166 through 471.

44 For information concerning the dictation, transcription, and editing of the Memoirs, see Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, "Concerning My Father's Memoirs," SH 81 (November 6, 1934):1412, 1425-1426; Israel A. Smith, "My Father's Last Years (A Memory of President Joseph Smith)," SH 81 (November 6, 1934):1409-1410, 1426; and Frederick M. Smith, "Concerning Joseph Smith's Memoirs," SH 82 (August 6, 1935):995-996. These three articles ore reprinted as Appendices A, B, and C of the 1979 edition of the Memoirs, pp. 472-476.
This writer has compared a portion of Israel A. Smith's notes (a mixture of longhand and Pitman shorthand) with the published Memoirs. The principal differences between the notes and the printed version ore organizational and syntactical. As to substance, the printed version faithfully represents the original at all points where comparison was made.
The Memoirs were edited by Joseph Smith III's daughter Audentia and published serially in the Saints' Herald, between November 6, 1934 and July 31, 1937. (Financial constraints during the Great Depression prevented issuance in a book.) Audentia's daughter, Bertha Audentia Anderson Hulmes, abridged the serialized Memoirs. This abridgement was published by Herald Publishing House in 1953 under the title, Joseph Smith III and the Restoration. For years, scholars without ready access to the Saints' Herald have been dependent upon this abridgement, which omits much vital material. Finally, in 1979, a complete edition of the Memoirs was brought out in the form of a book. RLDS Church Historian Richard P. Howard supervised this new edition of the Memoirs, which photo-reprinted the pages from the Saints' Herald containing the serialized Memoirs. The masthead, date, and pagination from the Herald were retained at the top of each page, for purposes of reference. Consecutive pagination was added at the bottom of each page. An introduction, notes, appendices, and index were added. The 1979 edition of Joseph Smith III's Memoirs is the single most important source for the study of his life.

45 Launius, "And There Came Prophets in the Land Again," p. 442, harshly criticizes the Memoirs as being "really quite bad as far as historical writing [is] concerned." He calls the narrative disjointed: "the ramblings of an old and feeble man," designed to cast the church and Joseph Smith in a favorable light. A more charitable--and more perceptive--assessment is found in Anderson, "Concerning My Father's Memoirs," in which awareness is displayed of the handicaps under which the Memoirs were produced, and credit is given for the remarkable memory displayed therein. Audentia Anderson's article rightly points out that the incidents recalled in the "rambling" narrative are valuable pointers to the mind and heart of the author.

46 Memoirs, p. 1.

47 lbid., p. 71.

48 HRC 6:448.

49 Ibid. 6:454, 551-552.

50 Maurice L. Draper, "Sect-Denomination-Church Transition and Leadership Types in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ," M.A. thesis, University of Kansas, 1964, demonstrates that the RLDS Church in 1964 had traveled a good distance down the road from "sectarianism" to "denominationalism." A good historical treatment of this transition has yet to be written.

51 Hunt, F. M. Smith, 1:70-104.

52 HRC 6:577; Memoirs, pp. 470-471. Launius, "And There Came Prophets in the Land Again," p. 443, speculates that during the concluding months of his life Joseph Smith III suffered from "rapidly advancing senility." This assertion is not supported by the article to which Launius appeals in his accompanying footnote. Furthermore, it is totally contradicted by the following considerations: (1) Joseph Smith III dictated his Memoirs up until the time of his final illness, and the product can hardly be considered the work of a senile mind. (2) His deathbed conversations give every evidence of an acute intellect, including characteristic repartee and self-deprecating humor, despite intense pain.

53 HRC 6:577-578. This was also published in a small booklet, shortly after his demise: Joseph Smith III, His Last Message (Independence, Missouri: Ensign Publishing House, n.d.), pp. 1-3.

54 Joseph Smith III, His Last Message, pp. 3-4.

55 Author's transcription of shorthand notes, unprocessed, RLDS Archives. Cf. Memoirs, p. 471.
A complete transcription of the notes taken during Joseph Smith III's last illness has never been published. They are presently housed, in unprocessed condition, in the RLDS Archives. There appear to have been three principal scribes: Israel A. Smith, Rogene Munsell Smith, and Audentia Smith Anderson. (Rebecca Weld Nolan later transcribed some of the dictation and may have served as one of the scribes.) The first two employed a combination of Pitman shorthand and longhand. Audentia Anderson employed only longhand. The Pitman shorthand employed is of a character which virtually defies transcription at points, due to its unconventional and/or sloppy symbols. Nevertheless, the author has managed to transcribe most of the shorthand notes which are currently housed in the RLDS Archives. Two further problems were encountered in working with the shorthand notes. First, it is extremely difficult to establish chronological sequence among the several notebooks and loose sheets of paper. Second, from the bits of Joseph Smith III's dialogue which were published after his death, it appears that not all of the notes have been preserved or found their way into the Archives.
These notes (and the author's transcriptions of them) are henceforth cited as "The Last Days of Joseph Smith III."

56 Untitled transcription of remarks of Joseph Smith III, November 29, 1914, P 15, f26, RLDS Archives. Part of this transcription was printed in "Statement of President Joseph Smith to His Son Frederick M. Smith, Sunday, November 29, 1914," Zion's Ensign, February 1 1, 1915.

57 Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, "Lucy Mack Smith and the Latter Day Saints," Journal of history 16 (January 1923):15-16.

58 "The Lost Days of Joseph Smith III."

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 Quoted in HRC 6:583-584. See pp. 582-583 for additional tributes from the press.

Conclusion

1 Joseph Smith III to William B. Smith, July 12, 1879, LB #2, p. 257.

2 Joseph Smith III to Edson Don Carlos Smith, July 22, 1896, LB #7, pp. 207- 208.

3 Blair, "Historical Models of the Reorganization," p. 22.

4 lbid., p. 23.

5 Joseph Smith III to "Bro Chas," June 5, 1880, LB #3, p. 132; Joseph Smith III to William B. Smith, March 11, 1882, LB #3, p. 436.

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