DON'S FREEWARE CORNER - MAY 2022
THE JOURNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
©2022 Donald R. Snow
-- This page last updated 2022-05-07
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These Freeware Corner notes are published in TAGGology, our Utah
Valley Technology and Genealogy Group (UVTAGG) monthly
newsletter. They are also posted on my Freeware Corner
Notes page on http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
where the links are active and there may be corrections, updates,
and additional information here and in other class notes.
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THE JOURNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
ABOUT THE JOURNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
The Journal History of the Church is a scrapbook of
articles from journals, newspapers, magazines, and more.
The Church History Library started it in the early 1900s and
maintains it now. It goes back to 1830 when the Church
was organized and was kept in loose-leaf binders until the
2010s when the, e y stated doing it with computers. It has
been digitzed with a Card Index and both, up t
o the middle 1930s, have been
posted on the Church History Library website . This class will discuss it and
how to search it and show examples of what it contains.
et.
ARTICLES AND THE WEBSITE
htps://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Journal_History_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints
https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/training/journal-history-of-the-church/journal-history-of-the-church
Website of The Journal History on the Church History Library --
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/3ffad93a-5200-4a7e-9d68-2f4e42a13188/0?view=browse
mNR
Articles about The Journal History of the cHURCH r c
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Journal_History_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints
,https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/training/journal-history-of-the-church/journal-history-of-the-church
Website of The Journal History on the Church History Library -- https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/3ffad93a-5200-4a7e-9d68-2f4e42a13188/0?view=browse
EXAMPLE OF A STORY FROM LUCIUS N. SCOVIL'S JOURNAL THAT WAS COPIED INTO THE JOURLN HISTORY
lucius N. Scovil was an early Church member iMauvoo who was
later called to be the Church
Immigration Agent in New Orleans. In 1849 had a
remarkable experience that was copied into the Journal
History from his personal journal. The first picture is
the Index Card listing the
date and information so you can find it in
the Journal History. The second picture e is
the first part of the image of his story in the
Journal History. After that I have transcribed the
entire story so it can be read more easily.
Crd from Index to the Journal History for Lucius Scovil's Story
>
First Part of Image of Lucius N. Scovil's Story
in Journal History of the Church
STORY of LUCIUS N. SCOVIL From Journal
History of the Church 1 2 Mar 1849
Elder Lucius N. Scovil acted as church immigration agent a
t New Orleans and wrote as follows:
The ch0lera continued to age in New Orleans to an slarming
extent during he whole month of January, 1849. The death rate was on an average 400 a ay. During the month of February, the plague abated considerable. On the 2nd of March, [1849] as I took a morning walk I meditated upon my situation. I had been in New Orleans all winter in the midst of death and desolation and was in a state of despondency and the enigration had not yet commenced, And there were but very few saints in the city and neighborhood and they were so poor that they had all they could do to sustain their families. My money was nearly all gone. While in this mood something spoke to my understanding almost as plain as if I had heard an audible voice telling me to go down to Cariboo Square and when I got there to turn to the right on the south side of the square here I would find an old Frenchman who kept a bookstore. I was told to go into that store and buy a lottery ticket, the number of which should be 9998, and I should get a prize. The thought thus suggested to me was as foreign to my nature and feelings as anything possible could be, yell I walked forward and 15 minutes later I found myself at the bookstore. When I entered the store I felt that I had been very familiar with the Frenchman at some previous time. I therefore einquired if he had lottery tickets for sale. He asked me who told me that he had lottery tickets for sale,as there was no lottery tickets for sale in Louisiana, it being contrary to law. “But”, said he,“I have lottery tickets for sale and the drawing is tomorrow." He then spread out the tickets before me on the counter and I soon discovered a half ticket of the number I wanted, No.9998. I asked him the price, and he said $2.50 [worth about $93.35 in 2022[. I took the ticket and paid fo rit and as I put it up I remarked that I should draw a prize on that. This expression brought a hearty laugh from the old Frenchman who said, “My good friend, do you know where to go to find out if you draw a prize?” I answered in the negative. He then said, “You go to St. Charles Exchange on Magazine Street and you will find out, for the firstr steamer that leaves Havana after tomorrow will bring a scheme of the drawing.” He then explained that he had sold tickets for the Havana lottery for 20 years. On the 12[h of March I went to the place designated and inquired for a scheme of the drawing for the Havana lottery. I obtained a copy and soon discovered mynumber on it. I then presented my ticket (which he said was as good as the gold of Havana) for $250, but there was a 7% discount on it. He gave me a draft on the bank of New Orleans for the sum of $231.25 [worth about $8,634.45 in 2022[. I went and drew the cash and felt truly thankful to God for what had happened, for the Lord had promised his Elders who went forth in his name with a contrite heart that he would feed, clothe, and sustain them. On several occasions I have learned that God’s word can be relied on, for when every avenue seemed to be closed up for me, the Lord would open the way whereby means would come into my hands.(Words“Socvil’s Journal” are hand written after the typing in the Journal History)
CONCLUSIONS
For early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is lots available. The Journal History of the Church is a little-used source, but contains a wealth of information. It is now available online up through the 1930s at least, but the pdfs are not searchable, so you have to use the Card Index to find information. The example here i s a good example of what you might find there, so give it a try.
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