I visited Emma Smith the widow of the prophet. She let me have a peace of oak for a Staff [graphic] out of the [graphic] Coffin of the Prophet Joseph who was inhumanly martered in Carthage Ill in company with his brother Hiram. Emma also let me have a pair of gloves composed of white cotton. . . a pair cotton handkerchief--both of which the Prophet wore while living. We called upon Sister Mary Smith widow of Hiram Smith the Patriarch. She gave us some hair from the head of Joseph Smith, Hiram Smith, Samuel Smith, & Don Carloss Smith, all brothers of the same Parents. I also obtained some hair of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. My object was in putting a portion of each in the top of my staff as a relick of those noble men, master spirits of the nineteenth centaury [sic], to hand down to my posterity, to deposit in the most Holy and Sacred place in the Holy temple of GOD.