I wish to thank by name several of the individuals who have helped me along the way. First and foremost, Dr. John W. Welch, editor in chief of BYU Studies, for his support and mentoring and for his insights on the justice of the peace section. Second, Dr. Richard L. Anderson, professor emeritus of ancient scripture at BYU, to whom I often turned for advice and who has been very generous with his vast and insightful knowledge and his documentation on Oliver Cowdery, Frederick G. Williams’s companion and friend. I have also benefited from the help and encouragement received from Dr. Ronald K. Esplin, a general editor of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, and Professor William Hartley, his associate. Thanks also to Marny K. Parkin, production editor and indexer. A very special thanks goes to Roger Terry, senior associate editor at BYU Studies, whose professionalism and expertise has made the documentary history a reality. Editorial interns Christina L. P. Rosenquist and Kaitlyn S. Hedges spent countless hours checking sources, performing preliminary edits, and proofreading; their work is greatly appreciated.
I am grateful to the many who have assisted me at the LDS Archives and Church History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with the late Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington and his successors John K. Carmack and Marlin K. Jensen, plus such dedicated professionals as Steven Sorensen, Ron Watt, and Christy Best. I thank in particular Miss Maude Beech of the Recorder’s Office, Geauga County Courthouse, in Chardon, Ohio; Mrs. William H. Slack of the Lake County Historical Society in Mentor, Ohio; and Alvin C. Wadsworth and Lachlan McKay at the Kirtland Temple of the Community of Christ. Thanks also to the Quincy Historical Society in Illinois; the Archives Department Office of the Recorder of Deeds of St. Louis, Missouri; the Huntington Library in San Marino, California; and the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, all of whom have opened their archives to me. A special thanks also to Velma Williams Skidmore and Sherri Farr Dunford of the Williams Family Organization, who have given their support and encouragement and have made genealogical materials available to me.
I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my wife, Carol, who carefully read the draft chapters and offered valuable insights every step of the way. I thank our children for their patience and help over the years, especially our sons. Frederick IV was with me in Illinois; Christopher did research on the family of Ezra G. Williams; Warren was with me in Nauvoo and St. Louis and spent many hours searching on the Internet for interesting references and gave valuable suggestions on the entire draft; and Jonathan was with me in Quincy and took photographs.
My greatest appreciation however, is reserved for Frederick G. Williams himself, who, together with his wife, Rebecca, made a covenant to follow the Lord and his servants and ultimately “overcame all evil” and thus allowed for the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding his own inheritance and that of his descendants. On April 23, 1834, the Prophet received a revelation that included a promise to Frederick and Oliver that, if they proved faithful, a “multiplicity of blessings” would be poured out upon them and their descendants after them.
And let my servants Frederick G. Williams and Oliver Cowdery have the printing office and all things that pertain unto it. And this shall be their stewardship which shall be appointed unto them. And inasmuch as they are faithful, behold I will bless, and multiply blessings upon them. And this is the beginning of the stewardship which I have appointed them, for them and their seed after them. And, inasmuch as they are faithful, I will multiply blessings upon them and their seed after them, even a multiplicity of blessings.1
I conclude with the Prophet’s characterization of Frederick G. Williams’s personality and his prophetic summary of President Williams’s life and the blessings that are promised to his posterity. Joseph Smith recorded the entry on November 19, 1833.
Brother Frederick G. Williams is one of those men in whom I place the greatest confidence and trust, for I have found him ever full of love and brotherly kindness. He is not a man of many words, but is ever winning, because of his constant mind. He shall ever have place in my heart, and is ever entitled to my confidence. He is perfectly honest and upright, and seeks with all his heart to magnify his Presidency in the Church of Christ, but fails in many instances, in consequence of a want of confidence in himself. God grant that he may overcome all evil. Blessed be Brother Frederick, for he shall never want a friend, and his generation after him shall flourish. The Lord hath appointed him an inheritance upon the land of Zion: yea, and his head shall blossom, and he shall be as an olive branch that is bowed down with fruit. Even so. Amen.2
Frederick G. Williams
Brigham Young University
March 2012
1. Doctrine and Covenants 104:29–33.
2. Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds., Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839, vol. 1 in the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008), 19.
