The following Joseph Smith documents were not included in the print edition of The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 5: October 1835–January 1838, but they are cited extensively in annotation and constitute an important supplementary resource for understanding this period of Joseph Smith’s life and early church history. Researchers interested in land transactions in Ohio and Missouri, as well as those studying church businesses in Kirtland, will find these documents particularly useful.
Joseph Smith’s land transactions referenced in Documents, Volume 5 generally fall into two categories. The first includes transactions with the federal government for land in northwest Missouri as Latter-day Saints in Clay County were forced to relocate to what became Caldwell County, designated by the state legislature for Mormon settlement. The second category includes transactions Joseph Smith made in and around the church center in Kirtland, Ohio, beginning the fall of 1836, in an effort to provide land for the influx of new Saints and gather necessary assets for the Kirtland Safety Society Bank.
Certificate for Land Patent, 22 June 1836–A
Receiver’s Office, Receipt, 22 June 1836–A
Certificate for Land Patent, 22 June 1836–B
Receiver’s Office, Receipt, 22 June 1836–B
Certificate for Land Patent, 8 September 1836
Receiver’s Office, Receipt, 8 September 1836
Deed to George Beebe, 17 October 1837
Deed from Hiram and Permelia Bundy Dayton, 13 September 1836
Deed from William Draper Jr. and Elizabeth Staker Draper, 14 September 1836
Deed to Loren Babbit, 24 September 1836
Deed to David Elliott, 26 September 1836
Deed from Samuel and Sabrina Davenport Canfield, 1 October 1836
Deed from Peter and Sarah French, 5 October 1836
Mortgage to Peter French, 5 October 1836
Deed from Lory and Charles Holmes, 5 October 1836
Deed from Alpheus and Elizabeth Conant Russell, 10 October 1836
Mortgage to Alpheus Russell, 10 October 1836
Deed from Lory and Betsey Curtis Holmes, 14 October 1836
Deed to Artemus Millet, 15 October 1836
Deed to Jacob Bump, 15 October 1836
Deed to Jared Carter, 15 October 1836
Deed to William Barker, 29 October 1836
Deed from Edmund and Ann Kelly Bosley, 2 November 1836
Deed from Jacob Bump, 5 December 1836
Deed to Martha Raymond Parrish, 8 December 1836
Deed to Caroline Grant Smith, 11 December 1836
Deed from John and Alice (Elsa) Jacobs Johnson, 4 January 1837
Deed to Isaac H. Bishop, 20 January 1837
Deed to William Marks, 7 April 1837
Deed to William Marks, 10 April 1837–A
Deed to William Marks, 10 April 1837–B
Deed to William Marks, 10 April 1837–C
Deed to William Marks, 10 April 1837–D
Deed to William Marks, 10 April 1837–E
Deed from William and Rosannah Robinson Marks, 10 April 1837
Deed to Samuel Whitney Sr., 10 April 1837
Mortgage to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837
Deed, William and Rosannah Robinson Marks to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837
Joseph Smith and other church leaders organized the Kirtland Safety Society Bank in November 1836 and restructured it as the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company in January 1837 after failing to obtain a bank charter from the Ohio state legislature. The institution foundered early on and closed its doors by late summer 1837; its failure contributed to the economic crisis in and around Kirtland.
Kirtland Safety Society Bank Stock Ledger, 18 October 1836–12 June 1837
Index to Kirtland Safety Society Bank Stock Ledger, circa 18 October 1836–circa 12 June 1837
Kirtland Safety Society Daybook and Discounted Notes, circa 5–14 January 1837
Receipt, Sidney Rigdon to Bailey J. Hathaway, 25 January 1837
Kirtland Safety Society Account with Bank of Monroe, 11 February–4 April 1837
Receipt from G. B. Harleston and J. D. Morton, 20 February 1837
Bond from J. W. Briggs, 8 March 1837
Printing Samples from Western Bank Note Engraving Company, circa March 1837
Revised Articles of Agreement for the Kirtland Safety Society, circa March 1837
By September 1836, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon formed a mercantile partnership, Rigdon, Smith & Co., which began operating a dry goods store in Chester, Ohio, about six miles south of Kirtland Township, Ohio. The store, often called the “Chester store” in Documents, Volume 5, had consistent business in late 1836 and early 1837, but amid dissension in the church, unpaid debts to New York wholesalers, and the financial panic of 1837, the store closed, probably at the end of May 1837.
Rigdon, Smith & Co., Ledger, 23 September 1836–2 August 1837
Bill of Goods from Rigdon, Smith & Co., 21 May 1837
Bill of Goods from Rigdon, Smith & Co., between 19 and 24 May 1837