Counselor in the First Presidency, scribe
Frederick G. Williams
1787–1842
2 topics · 2 dated events · 3 sources
Their part in each topic
The First Vision
Scribe, 1832 history
Williams and Joseph Smith wrote the circa-summer-1832 history in alternating hands, sometimes switching mid-sentence. The Joseph Smith Papers editors date the document to between 20 July 1832, when Williams recorded that he began writing for Smith, and 22 September 1832. Without Williams's hand there would be no manuscript at all.
The Book of Abraham and the Joseph Smith Papyri
Counselor in the First Presidency, scribe
Williams inscribed Book of Abraham Manuscript–A, closely paralleling Parrish's Manuscript–B; the Joseph Smith Papers editors judge that large portions of the two were created and revised simultaneously, probably from dictation. Two insertions in Williams's hand point the reader to the sacrifice vignette, tying the English text to the illustration published as Facsimile 1. The mummies were kept at his house at least into November 1835.
In the timeline
2 events across 2 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.
Joseph Smith writes the earliest accounthinge
In a record book, in alternating hands with Frederick G. Williams, Smith wrote a six-page history that opens with a prospectus of four foundational events and then narrates his religious anxiety from age twelve to fifteen. It is the only narrative of these events that includes his own handwriting. It was never published, never quoted, and never mentioned in any Church publication for 133 years.
Three manuscripts of Abraham 1–2 are written outhinge
Williams and Parrish inscribed Manuscripts A and B, apparently simultaneously and at least partly from dictation; Phelps and Parrish produced the fuller Manuscript–C in a bound volume with prefatory material. Each carries Egyptian characters copied into a ruled left margin beside paragraph-length passages of English.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
Joseph Smith Jr. and Frederick G. Williams
The only account of the vision partly in Joseph Smith's own handwriting: one personage, forgiveness of sins, and 'the 16th year of my age.'
Book of Abraham Manuscripts A, B and C, circa July–circa November 1835
Frederick G. Williams, Warren Parrish, William W. Phelps (scribes)
The earliest English text of Abraham 1:1–2:18, with Egyptian characters copied into the left margins beside paragraph-length English passages.
History, 1834–1836 (Kirtland journal-derived history)
Joseph Smith, Warren Parrish, Frederick G. Williams
Day-by-day Kirtland entries: labor on the Egyptian alphabet on 1 October 1835 when 'the system of astronomy was unfolded,' and the 17 November exhibition of 'the Alphabet of the ancient Egyptian Records' to the visitor Erastus Holmes.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with Frederick G. Williams.
This page is generated from the same topic records as the rest of the database, so a correction made once shows up here too. All key players · How this is built