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Deed to Emma Smith and Others, 12 July 1843

Source Note

JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Deed for property in , Hancock Co., IL, to , , , , and , 12 July 1843; signed by JS; witnessed by ; certified by . Featured version copied 8 July 1844 in Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, vol. M, pp. 400–401; unidentified handwriting; Hancock County Recorder’s Office, Carthage, IL. Includes notations and archival marking.
This deed was recorded in Hancock County Deed Book M. The volume contains 239 ruled leaves measuring 16½ × 11 inches (42 × 28 cm). At an unknown time, the original leather binding was covered with white canvas. The spine of the canvas was stamped in black ink: “DEED RECORD | M | HANCOCK COUNTY”. The bound volume measures 17¼ × 12 × 2⅝ inches (44 × 30 × 7 cm). The volume contains handwritten deeds recorded 3 November 1843 to 10 September 1844.
This volume has remained in the continuous custody of the , Illinois, recorder since its creation.

Historical Introduction

On 12 July 1843, JS, as trustee-in-trust for the , deeded sixty-eight lots of land in , Illinois, valued at $10,000, to his wife and their children. Earlier the same day, JS dictated a revelation on eternal and plural marriage. , who transcribed the revelation, wrote about the revelation and the events immediately following its dictation in his journal. According to Clayton, after JS and read the revelation to Emma, she “did not believe a word of it.” JS then told Clayton “to Deed all the unincumbered lots to E. & the children.” JS may have deeded this property to Emma to assure her that she and her children would have financial security even within a system of plural marriage. JS spent most of the next day “in conversation withe Emma,” perhaps discussing the revelation on eternal and plural marriage and the land agreement they had made the day before. The details of the conversations between Joseph and Emma remain unknown.
The land deeded to and the children constituted just over 10 percent of the original plat of the city of . The ownership of these lots of land originated with , , and . In 1839, the White lands were purchased on behalf of the church by , though later received the deed to the lands, and the Galland lands were purchased on behalf of the church by . In 1841, ownership passed from Thompson and Robinson to JS and Emma Smith. That same year, after the church was incorporated in and JS became the church’s trustee-in-trust, JS and Emma Smith transferred the White and Galland lands to JS as church trustee. The Hotchkiss lands were acquired in 1839, when , JS, and agreed to purchase nearly four hundred acres of land from Hotchkiss and his business partners. After JS became trustee for the church, Rigdon and Hyrum Smith transferred this agreement to JS.
The sixty-eight lots represented in the deed featured here were originally part of these land transactions and remained under the authority of JS as trustee-in-trust for the church until he deeded them to and their children on 12 July 1843. Of the sixty-eight lots deeded on 12 July, seventeen were originally included in the White transaction, twenty-five came from the Galland transaction, and twenty-six were from the Hotchkiss purchase. Though the text of the deed from JS acknowledged the receipt of $10,000 “to him in hand paid,” this was likely boilerplate language used to establish the value of the land. It is unlikely that Emma paid him any amount of money for the land.
prepared the deed for JS, who then signed it and added his seal. Clayton witnessed that JS delivered the deed to , and on 15 July 1843, JS acknowledged his of the deed before , who was serving a four-year term as a justice of the peace. Whitney then certified the deed. It is not known whether Emma Smith was present with JS and Whitney, but the certified deed was presumably returned to her.
or someone acting either on her behalf or on behalf of the church had the deed recorded in Deed Book M on 8 July 1844, eleven days after JS was murdered and nine days after his funeral. Emma may have had the deed recorded to protect the assets for her family and to ensure it would be honored by JS’s “successors in Office.” She also likely needed to set JS’s financial affairs in order, as she was the executor of his estate.
See also Historical Introduction to Deed, Samuel and Sabrina Davenport Canfield, to Emma Smith, 1 Oct. 1836.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 12 July 1843 [D&C 132].

  2. [2]

    Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  3. [3]

    JS, Journal, 13 July 1843; Clayton, Journal, 13 July 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 37–39, Nauvoo Plat, 3 Sept. 1839, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  5. [5]

    Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, pp. 247–248, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195; vol. I, pp. 358–359, 14 July 1841; p. 354, 24 July 1841, microfilm 954,598; vol. K, pp. 159–162, 5 Oct. 1841, microfilm 954,599, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. On 5 October 1841, JS and Emma Smith transferred all but three of the lots that were later part of the 12 July 1843 deed to JS as trustee-in-trust for the church. Lots 2, 3, and 4 of block 155 were not included in the deed featured here.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  6. [6]

    See Bond from First Presidency, 4 Jan. 1842; Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A; and Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, p. 299, 7 July 1843, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

  7. [7]

    Trustees Land Book B, 240, 250, 266.

  8. [8]

    In accordance with the Nauvoo charter, when Whitney was elected an alderman for the Nauvoo City Council in February 1841, he was also commissioned as a justice of the peace for the city and for Hancock County. Illinois state law held that justices of the peace were to serve four-year terms, so it seems that Whitney remained a justice of the peace even though he no longer served as an alderman in the city council. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841; Newel K. Whitney, Oath of Office, 3 Feb. 1841, JS Collection, CHL; An Act to Provide for the Election of Justices of the Peace and Constables [30 Dec. 1826], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 400, sec. 4.)

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  9. [9]

    Another important Nauvoo land transaction that had an impact on Emma Smith, the renegotiation of the Hotchkiss purchase, was also recorded on 8 July 1844. (See Bond from Smith Tuttle and John Gillet, 7 July 1843.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Deed to Emma Smith and Others, 12 July 1843, Draft
*Deed to Emma Smith and Others, 12 July 1843
Deed to Emma Smith and Others, 12 July 1843, as Recorded in Nauvoo Registry of Deeds Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Deed Record Book A, 1840–1843

Page 400

6288
J. Smith Truste <​&c​> To et als
Recorded 8th of July 1844
This Indenture made and entered into this twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty three between Joseph Smith. sole Trustee in trust for the of the County of and State of of the first part and , , , and all of the County of and State of of the second part Witnesseth that the said Joseph Smith party of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of Ten thousand dollars, to him in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged Doth hereby grant, bargain, sell, convey and confirm unto the said , , and their heirs and assigns for ever All those tracts or parcels of land, situate and being in the County of and State of and described on the plot of the City of as being Lot number three in Block number ninety three also Lot number four in Block number ninety four also Lots number one, two and three in Block number ninety five Also Block number [p. 400]
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Source Note

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Page 400

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Deed to Emma Smith and Others, 12 July 1843
ID #
6318
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:478–483
Handwriting on This Page
  • Unidentified

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    TEXT: The recorder added this and the following two lines in the left margin when copying the bond into the deed book; “6288” is an identification number.

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