The Papers
Reference
About
Deed from Daniel H. and Eliza Robison Wells, 4 February 1843
Source Note
Source Note
and , Deed for property in , Hancock Co., IL, to JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 Feb. 1843; handwriting of ; signatures of and ; witnessed by ; certified by , 8 Feb. 1843, on behalf of JS, 8 Feb. 1843, and , 8 July 1844; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets.
Single leaf, measuring 13⅜ × 16⅜ inches (34 × 42 cm). The recto is ruled with thirty-four horizontal lines (now faded) with header space. On or after 8 February 1843, the verso was ruled with six vertical lines and certified in ink (now faded). A recorder’s certification on a slip of paper measuring 2¼ × 7⅝ inches (6 × 19 cm) is affixed to the front page of the deed with a red adhesive wafer. The certification is a printed form with additions made by in July 1844. Marked water damage has resulted in segments of faded text on both the deed and the certificate.
On 8 February 1843, , acting as JS’s clerk, certified the deed. On or after 8 July 1844, the deed was docketed by Clayton, who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as temple recorder from 1842 to 1846. The document was also docketed by , who served as JS’s scribe from 1843 to 1844 and as clerk to the church historian and recorder from 1845 to 1865. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and its inclusion in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
- [2]
Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
- [3]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 4 February 1843, and issued a deed in , Illinois, to JS as trustee-in-trust for the for the property upon which the Nauvoo was already being constructed. JS purchased the land for $1,100.
At the October 1840 , church members resolved to “build a house for the worship of God,” and , , and received appointments as the . The following January, a revelation instructed the Latter-day Saints to “build a house unto my name, for the Most High to dwell therein.” The revelation further stated that the was to be built “on the place” where JS and the Saints had “contemplated building it,” as God had chosen that spot for the building. During the next month, Cutler and Cahoon “laid out the foundation of the building” and others “commenced to dig the cellar.” The cornerstones of the temple were officially laid in April 1841, and construction continued throughout 1841 and 1842. By January 1843, the Saints began holding meetings on the temporary floor of the temple.
Although the Saints had been constructing the since early 1841, the church did not actually own the land on which the temple was being built. It is not clear what prompted the push to buy the land for the temple block in February 1843, but this purchase occurred amid a flurry of real estate transactions that JS considered or executed in January and February 1843. During this time, sold the church all four lots of block 20 in the Wells’s Addition to . This block—bound by Knight and Mulholland streets on the north and south and by Woodruff and Wells streets on the east and west—was on the central promontory of the Nauvoo bluffs above the peninsula flats and the . This land purchase transferred into the custody of the church a key property it had been using since at least February 1841, facilitating continued construction work on the temple.
On 4 February 1843, , Illinois, surveyor inscribed this copy of the deed, which was then retained among JS’s papers. Records indicate that forgave $600 toward the price of the property on 8 February 1843 and was then credited with a donation of that amount in the temple committee’s records. It is unclear whether Wells ever received payment for the additional $500.
The certification on the reverse side of the deed explains that recorded a copy of it in the Registry of Deeds Book A on or shortly after 8 February 1843. On 8 July 1844, recorder certified the original copy of the deed and then copied it into Hancock County Deed Book M that same day. The original copy of the deed from which the other two copies were made is featured here.
Footnotes
- [1]
Although Daniel H. Wells later joined the church and became a prominent leader in the faith, at this time he was not a Latter-day Saint. Unlike her husband, Eliza Robison Wells never became a member of the church. (Junius F. Wells, “Wells Family Genealogy,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Jan. 1915, 5; Wells, Defender, 84–85, 100.)
Wells, Junius F. “The Wells Family Genealogy.” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 6 (Jan. 1915): 1–16.
Wells, Quentin Thomas. Defender: The Life of Daniel H. Wells. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2016.
- [2]
- [3]
The temple was located at the top of the bluffs above the peninsula, between Knight and Mulholland streets and on the east side of Wells Street. (Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:27, 43]; Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, p. 43, Wells’s Addition to Nauvoo, 4 Apr. 1840, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
- [4]
Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 5.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
- [5]
- [6]
- [7]
- [8]
Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 829.
Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.
- [9]
Miscellaneous Accounts, 8 Feb. 1843, [6], Nauvoo Temple Building Committee, Records, CHL; William Clayton, Receipt, Nauvoo, IL, for Daniel H. Wells, 8 Feb. 1843, Daniel H. Wells, Papers, CHL.
Nauvoo Temple Building Committee Records, 1841–1852. CHL.
Wells, Daniel H. Papers, 1840–1891. CHL.
- [10]
Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 67–68. Although the copy of the deed in the Nauvoo Registry of Deeds Book A does not indicate when Clayton recorded it, dating of subsequent deeds in that book suggests that he did so no later than 10 April 1843. (See Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 118–119.)
- [11]
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, pp. 397–398, 4 Feb. 1843, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
Recorders Office February 8th. 1843
| State of Illinois) | S. S. |
| ) |
I Joseph Smith Recorder in and for the City of Nauvoo in said county do hereby certify that the within Deed and Certificate of acknowledgment were this day duly Recorded in Book A Pages 67 & 68 and [duly numb]ered 76.
Joseph Smith Recorder
by Clerk
Entered for Record 8th July 1844
6285. [p. [2]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
John Wilson Williams handwriting ends; William Clayton begins.
- [7]
TEXT: “[page damaged]ered”. The missing text is supplied from Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 67–68.
- [8]
TEXT: William Clayton handwriting ends; John Wilson Williams resumes.
- [9]
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, pp. 397–398, 4 Feb. 1843, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
- [10]
The copy of the deed in Hancock County Deed Book M was numbered 6285. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, pp. 397–398, 4 Feb. 1843, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)