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Agreement with Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins, 14 May 1841

Source Note

Ebenezer Wiggins

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and Elender Moore Wiggins, Agreement, with JS,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

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, Hancock Co., IL, 14 May 1841; handwriting of JS; signature of
Ebenezer Wiggins

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; mark of Elender Moore Wiggins; one page; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes notations and docket.
Single leaf, measuring 13 × 8 inches (33 × 20 cm) and ruled horizontally with thirty-five blue lines. The agreement was written on the recto only. The document was folded for filing and docketed. The leaf has some separation along the folds and tearing on the outer edges.
The docket by
John S. Fullmer

21 July 1807–8 Oct. 1883. Farmer, newsman, postmaster, teacher, merchant. Born at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Fullmer and Susannah Zerfass. Moved to Nashville, Davidson Co., Tennessee, spring 1832. Married Mary Ann Price, 24 May 1837...

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, who served in a clerical capacity for JS from 1841 to 1842, indicates the document was retained by the office of JS in 1841. Sometime between 1974 and 1984, the document was added to the JS Collection (Supplement) at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
1

See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 14 May 1841, JS entered an agreement to exchange property with
Ebenezer

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and Elender Moore Wiggins. The Wigginses were
Illinois

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

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residents and recent converts who lived just north of
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

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on a farm they acquired from
Anson Call

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and Cyril Call in 1839.
1

Anson Call and Cyril Call joined the church in Ohio in the early 1830s. Cyril was father to Anson, and the two followed other migrating Saints to Missouri in 1838. There the Calls purchased land from Missouri residents “at the three forks of the Grand River.” The following year, the Calls sold this Missouri land, with a questionable title, to Ebenezer Wiggins. A July 1839 deed from the Calls to Wiggins specified that if the Missouri land Wiggins had purchased from the Calls did not have a good title, then Wiggins would be “entitled to a good and suficient deed” for land in section 30 of Hancock County, the farm land featured in this deed. (Call, Autobiography and Journal, 9; “Record of the Quorum of the Lesser Priesthood,” 76; Cyril Call and Anson Call to Ebenezer Wiggins, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 25 July 1839; Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins to Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 15 May 1841, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Call, Anson. Autobiography and Journal, ca. 1857–1883. CHL. MS 313.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970. CHL. CR 375 8.

Kimball, Hiram. Collection, 1830–1910. CHL.

The Wigginses agreed to sell JS their farm—valued at $2,700—in exchange for $1,000 in Nauvoo city property, $100 in goods, and three annual payments of $533.33 in cash.
2

Promissory notes signed by JS on 15 May 1841 reveal JS intended to pay $533.33 annually for the years 1842–1844. Although one of the three promissory notes is no longer extant, the first note includes a notation made in December 1844 indicating that some payment had been fulfilled. (JS to Ebenezer Wiggins, Promissory Notes, Nauvoo, IL, 15 May 1841, JS Collection, CHL.)


JS wrote the agreement featured here, and
Ebenezer Wiggins

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signed it for himself and his wife, though Elender also marked it with an “X.” The next day, on 15 May 1841, Ebenezer Wiggins officially deeded the property to
Emma Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

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; for unknown reasons, JS was not named on that deed, despite the agreement featured here.
3

Emma Smith and Ebenezer Wiggins, Agreement, Nauvoo, IL, 15 May 1841, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL; Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins to Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 15 May 1841, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.


The agreement was filed in JS’s office, and the deed was recorded in the
Hancock County

Formed from Pike Co., 1825. Described in 1837 as predominantly prairie and “deficient in timber.” Early settlers came mainly from mid-Atlantic and southern states. Population in 1835 about 3,200; in 1840 about 9,900; and in 1844 at least 15,000. Carthage ...

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record book six weeks later.
4

Hancock County recorder Chauncey Robison certified the deed and attested to its presence in the Book of Mortgages and Bonds. (Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins to Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 15 May 1841, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.)


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Anson Call and Cyril Call joined the church in Ohio in the early 1830s. Cyril was father to Anson, and the two followed other migrating Saints to Missouri in 1838. There the Calls purchased land from Missouri residents “at the three forks of the Grand River.” The following year, the Calls sold this Missouri land, with a questionable title, to Ebenezer Wiggins. A July 1839 deed from the Calls to Wiggins specified that if the Missouri land Wiggins had purchased from the Calls did not have a good title, then Wiggins would be “entitled to a good and suficient deed” for land in section 30 of Hancock County, the farm land featured in this deed. (Call, Autobiography and Journal, 9; “Record of the Quorum of the Lesser Priesthood,” 76; Cyril Call and Anson Call to Ebenezer Wiggins, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 25 July 1839; Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins to Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 15 May 1841, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.)

    Call, Anson. Autobiography and Journal, ca. 1857–1883. CHL. MS 313.

    Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970. CHL. CR 375 8.

    Kimball, Hiram. Collection, 1830–1910. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Promissory notes signed by JS on 15 May 1841 reveal JS intended to pay $533.33 annually for the years 1842–1844. Although one of the three promissory notes is no longer extant, the first note includes a notation made in December 1844 indicating that some payment had been fulfilled. (JS to Ebenezer Wiggins, Promissory Notes, Nauvoo, IL, 15 May 1841, JS Collection, CHL.)

  3. [3]

    Emma Smith and Ebenezer Wiggins, Agreement, Nauvoo, IL, 15 May 1841, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL; Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins to Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 15 May 1841, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.

  4. [4]

    Hancock County recorder Chauncey Robison certified the deed and attested to its presence in the Book of Mortgages and Bonds. (Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins to Emma Smith, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, 15 May 1841, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.)

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Agreement with Ebenezer and Elender Moore Wiggins, 14 May 1841
ID #
647
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:146–148
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