Scribes

Mormon History 1830-1844

Scribes

Below are the names of scribes in alphabetical order, linked to activity described on this page.
Cowdery, Oliver Bullock, Thomas Clayton, William Coray, Howard Cowdery, Warren A. Gilbert, A. Sidney Grimshaw, Johnathan	Reuben Hale Hawkins, Leo Hyde, Orson Mulholland, James Parrish, Warren Hitchcock, Jesse Parrish, Warren	Partridge, Edward Phelps, W. W. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Richards, Willard Rigdon, Sidney Robinson, George W.	Sloan, James Smith, Emma Smith, Joseph Sr. Smith, Sylvester Thompson, Robert B. Whitmer, John Whitney, Newel K. Williams, Frederick G.

Joseph's scribes in chronological order:
Emma Smith
	December 1827–February 1828	Book of Mormon
	July 1830	"And thou shalt go with him at the time of his going, and be unto him for a scribe, while there is no one to be a scribe for him, that I may send my servant, Oliver Cowdery, whithersoever I will." D&C 25:6.
Reuben Hale (Emma's brother)
	December 1827–February 1828	Book of Mormon
Martin Harris
	April 12–June 14, 1828	Book of Mormon
Oliver Cowdery
	April 5, 1829	Book of Mormon
	June–October 1830	Moses 1, Genesis 1:1–4:18
John Whitmer
	June 1829	Book of Mormon
	October–December 1830	Genesis 4:19–[5:20]
Sidney Rigdon
	December 1830–July 2, 1833	Genesis [5:21] to end Bible
Frederick G. Williams
	1832	Begins writing for Joseph on July 20, 1831. Joseph's first diary, including first account of the First Vision
	August 1832–[1834]	Copies revelations into the Kirtland Revelation Book. Signs [D&C 104], August 29, 1832, p. 20; [D&C 87], not dated, p. 33.
	January 6, 1833	Revelation calls Frederick to be scribe and counselor.
	Frederick's handwriting is smooth and graceful. His initial bs, fs, ts, ws, and ys begin with an upward stroke from the baseline. However, he occasionally begins ts with a downward stroke. His initial ps begin near the baseline with an upward, left-to-right stroke that extends almost as high as the tops of his fs and ts. His capital Fs and Hs begin with a top squiggle. Capital Gs begin at the top with a small left-to-right upward loop, then curving around in a capital C fashion before beginning the downward stroke that ends in a small loop. His capital Hs begin at the top with a left-to-right squiggle, then down and a small loop before beginning a diagonal upward stroke. His capital Ws begin with an upward stroke and end with a small right-to-left loop, then a long horizontal stroke left-to-right. The first letter of a double-s looks like a backward f without the crossbar. His initial ss end in a small loop and are not connected to the next letter.
Algernon Sidney Gilbert
	1833	Copies Articles and Covenants and D&C 22, 42:1–73, 50, 53, 57, 61, 63, 64, 51, 83, 76, 88 into Book of Commandments, Law and Covenants, Book B.
Orson Pratt
	[1834]	Copies revelations into Kirtland Revelations Book
Orson Hyde
	August 1834	Copies revelations into the Kirtland Revelations Book, signing D&C 104 on August 18, 1834 (p. 107).
	Orson usually forms his initial and internal es as backward 3s. Capital Es end in a bowl. He begins most is, fs, ts, ps, vs, ws and capital Hs with a downward stroke. His bs and hs begin at or near the baseline with an left-to-right upward stroke. The as and ds begin with a right-to-left downward curve. Lowercase cs begin with a loop at the top. Like Frederick, Orson's initial ss are usually not connected to the next letter. His final ts end in a loop that can easily be mistaken for an s. Like Frederick, Orson uses the double-s form.His capital Cs begin with an upward motion beginning at the baseline. Capital Hs and Bs can begin with a downward stroke or with a left-to-right squiggle. Orson's capital G's are distinctive, beginning near the top with a left-to-right circular form followed by a short downward stroke ending at the baseline. Ss begin at the top with a right-to-left downward stroke, then curl upward to form a loop. Is and Js are easily confused. Ps begin with a double loop at the top and end with another loop at the bottom. His capital Vs and Ws begin with a left-to-right squiggle.
W. W. Phelps
	July 1835	Called as scribe
	July–October 1835	Alphabet and Grammar
		Book of Abraham
	1841–1843	Manuscript History entries for October 1830 through October 1831 (pp. 75–157, with the exception of Notes A, B, C on pp. 131–133, which are in the hand of Willard Richards). Written between [August] 1841 and August 1843. (Dean Jessee, Joseph Smith Papers 1:367).
	William's writing is clear and legible, though not as smooth and controlled as others. It is identifiable by swooping final ds, ys, gs, and ss. The final ds are formed by an upward swoop that curves back over the top of the preceeding letters. The final ys and gs similarly curve under preceeding letters (no loops), and the ss conclude with a smaller backward loop so they look somewhat like zs.
Warren Parrish
	October 1835–April 1, 1836	Scribe for what I call Diary-3 (September 22, 1835–April 3, 1836), writing third-person entries for October 8, 1835–December 19, 1835; January 16–22, 1836; and February 7, 1836 to April 1, 1836.
		Scribe for what I call Diary-2 (September 22, 1835–January 17, 1836) a third-person version of Diary-3 beginning September 22, 1835. Writes entries for November 18, 1835 to the end of document.
	November 14, 1835	Book of Abraham: "I have set by his side and penned down the translation of the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks as he claimed to receive it by direct inspiration from Heaven."
Warren A. Cowdery
	September 22, 1835–November 18, 1835	On April 3, 1836 begins writing what I call Diary-2, a third-person version of Joseph's first-person diary beginning September 22, 1835. Warren Parrish takes over in the November 18, 1835 entry. (Dean Jessee, Joseph Smith Papers 1:17, 97, 143)
Jesse Hitchcock
	1836	Substitutes for Warren Parrish during his illness.
James Mulholland
	September 3, 1838	Joseph's Journal in third person, September 3 to October 6, 1838. Entries contain little more than, for example, "At home morning early also at breakfast between 7 & 8 oclock. Saw him ride out between 10 and eleven oclock and saw him at home again 9 oclock evening" (September 27, 1838).
	June 11, 1839–November 3, 1839 (death)	Joseph Smith history entries for December 14–18, 1835 (in the third person).
	Letterbook 2, 1–73.	Copies of 1833–1839 letters and Jesse Smith's letter to Hyrum dated June 17, 1829.
Robert B. Thompson
		History of Joseph Smith
Willard Richards		See Willard the historian.
	December 13, 1841	Appointed Joseph's private secretary, general clerk and temple recorder.
	December 21, 1842	Appointed Joseph's private secretary (again) and historian. Takes over W. W. Phelps's work on the Manuscript History, starting with last word ("Revelation") on page 158, Manuscript History (A-1), introducing the text of what is now D&C 1, given November 1, 1831. Dean Jessee, Joseph Smith Papers 1:367.
	August 24, 1843	Begins second volume of Manuscript History (A-2), page 553 and continues through page 812 (Aug. 5, 1838), which is the last entry made before the death of Joseph Smith on June 27, 1844..
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