Footnotes

1. [1]

   See Agreement with Isaac Hale, 6 Apr. 1829; JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5; and Knight, Reminiscences, 3; see also Susquehanna Co., PA, Tax Assessment Records, 1813–1865, Harmony Township, PA, Tax Record for 1828, p. [11]; Tax Record for 1829, p. [12]; Tax Record for 1830, p. [12]; Tax Record for 1831, p. [13], microfilm 1,927,832, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

   Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

2. [2]

   Though the agreement between Isaac Hale and Joseph Smith said nothing about interest, a notation on the agreement indicates that on 21 June 1830, Hale “received the interest on the within in full up to this date.” (Agreement with Isaac Hale, 6 Apr. 1829.)

3. [3]

   Deed from Isaac and Elizabeth Hale, 25 Aug. 1830. It is unclear how JS obtained the final eighty-six dollars that he paid Hale for the property. He may have earned the money by farming, or he may have acquired the money from sales of copies of the Book of Mormon. It is also possible that he borrowed the money from a local resident or member of the fledgling church. Also on 26 August 1830, JS arranged payment for a debt he owed to a local merchant, George H. Noble. Through Jesse Lane, the same justice of the peace who certified Elizabeth Hale’s agreement of her husband’s sale of the land to JS on 26 August, JS placed a lien on his property to extend the deadline for the debt that he owed Noble. On the same day, knowing that JS could not pay him the $190.95 owed him, Noble filed an “amicable” agreement, which required JS to use his land as collateral to guarantee that he would eventually pay his debt to Noble. Since all of this business was transacted on the same day, it is possible that Hale originally owed Noble eighty-six dollars and that JS assumed that debt to cover the final payment he owed Hale for the farm. JS settled his debts with Noble by 3 June 1831. (Transcript of Judgment, 26 Aug. 1830, George H. Noble & Co. v. JS [Susquehanna Co. C.P., 1830]; George H. Noble & Co. to Levi Westfall, Power of Attorney, 3 June 1831; Susquehanna Co., PA, Court of Common Pleas, Docket Book, vol. 6, p. 455, 29 Nov. 1830, Susquehanna County Prothonotary Office, Susquehanna County Courthouse, Montrose, PA.)

   Transcript of Judgment, 26 Aug. 1830. George H. Noble & Co. v. Joseph Smith (Susquehanna Co. C.P. 1830). Susquehanna County Historical Society, Montrose, PA.

   Susquehanna County, PA, Court of Common Pleas. Docket Book. Vol. 6. Susquehanna County Prothonotary Office, Susquehanna County Courthouse, Montrose, PA.

4. [4]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 53; JS History, vol. A-1, 92–93.

5. [5]

   The 1833 tax record states that Allen Treadwell had paid the tax for the property the previous year, and the 1832 record indicates that Treadwell paid taxes on the same size of property in 1832 that JS had paid in 1831. Allen Treadwell may have been a relative of Samuel Treadwell, who owned a large piece of property to the west of the Hale farm. (Susquehanna Co., PA, Tax Assessment Records, 1813–1865, Harmony Township, PA, Tax Record for 1831, p. [13]; Tax Record for 1832, p. [15]; Tax Record for 1833, p. [8], microfilm 1,927,832, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

6. [6]

   Supplement to the Act, Entitled “An Act for Acknowledging and Recording of Deeds” [18 Mar. 1775], Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania, vol. 8, chap. 706, sec. 1, p. 413.

   The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1801. Vol. 8, 1770–1776. [Harrisburg, PA]: Wm. Stanley Ray, 1902.