The Papers
Browse the PapersDocumentsJournalsAdministrative RecordsRevelations and TranslationsHistoriesLegal RecordsFinancial RecordsOther Contemporary Papers
Reference
PeoplePlacesEventsGlossaryLegal GlossaryFinancial GlossaryCalendar of DocumentsWorks CitedFeatured TopicsLesson PlansRelated Publications
Media
VideosPhotographsIllustrationsChartsMapsPodcasts
News
Current NewsArchiveNewsletterSubscribeJSP Conferences
About
About the ProjectJoseph Smith and His PapersFAQAwardsEndorsementsReviewsEditorial MethodNote on TranscriptionsNote on Images of People and PlacesReferencing the ProjectCiting This WebsiteProject TeamContact Us
Published Volumes
  1. Home > 
  2. The Papers > 

Deed to Sarah Ann Whitney, 6 September 1842

Source Note

JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Deed for property in
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....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, to
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
, 6 Sept. 1842; printed form with manuscript additions in the handwriting of
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
; signature of JS; witnessed by
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
; certified by
Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

View Full Bio
and by
William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
on behalf of JS; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes dockets and notation.
Single leaf, measuring 11⅜ × 7½ inches (29 × 19 cm). The leaf was folded for filing and is held together by three pieces of clear cellophane tape that were used to repair substantial tears and separation at the folds.
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
retained possession of the deed after its creation. It is unclear when or how it came into the possession of the Church Historical Department (now CHL). By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection.
1

See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 6 September 1842, JS, as sole trustee-in-trust of the
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
, issued a deed to
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
for a city lot in
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....

More Info
, Illinois. The land, lot 2 in block 139, was valued at $1,000 and was located on the southeast corner of Parley and Granger streets, two blocks north of JS’s home. In his role as trustee-in-trust, JS oversaw hundreds of land transactions in 1842. This deed is an example of one such transaction.
1

The printed form used for this transaction was created sometime after a special conference of the church elected JS as the sole trustee-in-trust of the church in January 1841 and before late April 1842, when the earliest extant deeds using this form were issued. (Appointment as Trustee, 2 Feb. 1841; JS to Mercy Fielding Thompson, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Apr. 1842, International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Pioneer Memorial Museum, Salt Lake City.)


However, some of the circumstances surrounding this land transaction were not typical. For instance, Sarah Ann Whitney’s family was already living in a house on the deeded lot. According to extant records, on 24 September 1841 JS had reserved the property for Whitney’s father,
Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

View Full Bio
, but the two men had neither determined a price for the lot nor executed the transaction.
2

Trustees Land Book A, White Purchase Index, block 139, lot 2. Contemporary tax records reflect confusion over ownership of this property. In February 1843, Nauvoo’s assessors assigned the property to Newel K. Whitney. In December 1843, however, the assessors assigned the lot to Sarah Ann Whitney. (Book of Assessment, 1842, Fourth Ward, 7; Book of Assessment, 1843, Fourth Ward, 15, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

In addition, though several women owned lots in Nauvoo, it was much more common for men to own land in the city.
3

For example, Jane Miller and Harriet Parker owned land in Nauvoo. (Land Transaction with Jane Miller, 6 Mar. 1840; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 65–66; see also Historical Introduction to Deed from Orson and Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, 10 Feb. 1843.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo Registry of Deeds. Record of Deeds, bk. B, 1843–1846. CHL. MS 3443.

There is no record that
Sarah Ann Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
made a cash payment for this land,
4

The church had previously issued deeds to land with no indication that any money ever changed hands or that there was an expectation of money changing hands. (See, for example, Deed from John and Alice Jacobs Johnson, 5 May 1834.)


nor is there any indication that a bond was issued with corresponding promissory notes, which would have been created if Whitney purchased the city lot on credit.
5

For an example of the records typically created when a lot was purchased on credit, see Land Transaction with Jane Miller, 6 Mar. 1840.


She would have received the deed only after making all the required payments. While it is possible that Whitney paid for the lot and that the record of her payment is not extant, JS most likely deeded this lot to Whitney as a gift, requiring no payment. One possible explanation for the gift is that JS was trying to provide financially for Whitney, who six weeks earlier had been sealed to him as a plural wife.
6

Revelation, 27 July 1842. In marrying JS, Whitney presumably gave up the prospects of marrying another man, who would have provided for her financially. JS may have deeded this land to Whitney, who was seventeen years old at the time she was sealed to him, because she did not live in JS’s household and would need support. On 29 April 1843, Whitney married Nauvoo resident and church member Joseph Kingsbury, who was the widower of her late sister, Caroline. JS officiated the wedding ceremony. Because Whitney’s plural marriage to JS was not publicly known at the time, she may have been married to Kingsbury in order to bring her further social and financial protection. (Marriage Certificate for Joseph Kingsbury and Sarah Ann Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 29 Apr. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Recorder, Marriage Certificates, CHL.)


Concern for the financial support of other women who were sealed to JS may have prompted additional land transactions.
7

For a possible example, see Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 161–162.


JS similarly deeded land to a few widows in an apparent attempt to provide for them financially following the deaths of their husbands.
8

See, for example, Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 13–14; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. O, pp. 132–133, microfilm 954,601, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; and JS as trustee-in-trust to Lydia Granger, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 15 Mar. 1843, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.


Comprehensive Works Cited

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

William Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
witnessed the
Whitney

22 Mar. 1825–4 Sept. 1873. Born in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio. Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith. Located at Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois, winter 1838–1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, winter 1839–1840, and then to Commerce...

View Full Bio
land transaction on 6 September 1842.
Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

View Full Bio
, who served as a justice of the peace by virtue of being a
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....

More Info
alderman, certified the deed that same day.
9

Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841.


On 28 February 1844, Clayton recorded the deed in the Nauvoo registry of deeds on behalf of JS, the city registrar of deeds.
10

Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, p. 83.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo Registry of Deeds. Record of Deeds, bk. B, 1843–1846. CHL. MS 3443.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The printed form used for this transaction was created sometime after a special conference of the church elected JS as the sole trustee-in-trust of the church in January 1841 and before late April 1842, when the earliest extant deeds using this form were issued. (Appointment as Trustee, 2 Feb. 1841; JS to Mercy Fielding Thompson, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Apr. 1842, International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Pioneer Memorial Museum, Salt Lake City.)

  2. [2]

    Trustees Land Book A, White Purchase Index, block 139, lot 2. Contemporary tax records reflect confusion over ownership of this property. In February 1843, Nauvoo’s assessors assigned the property to Newel K. Whitney. In December 1843, however, the assessors assigned the lot to Sarah Ann Whitney. (Book of Assessment, 1842, Fourth Ward, 7; Book of Assessment, 1843, Fourth Ward, 15, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

  3. [3]

    For example, Jane Miller and Harriet Parker owned land in Nauvoo. (Land Transaction with Jane Miller, 6 Mar. 1840; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, pp. 65–66; see also Historical Introduction to Deed from Orson and Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, 10 Feb. 1843.)

    Nauvoo Registry of Deeds. Record of Deeds, bk. B, 1843–1846. CHL. MS 3443.

  4. [4]

    The church had previously issued deeds to land with no indication that any money ever changed hands or that there was an expectation of money changing hands. (See, for example, Deed from John and Alice Jacobs Johnson, 5 May 1834.)

  5. [5]

    For an example of the records typically created when a lot was purchased on credit, see Land Transaction with Jane Miller, 6 Mar. 1840.

  6. [6]

    Revelation, 27 July 1842. In marrying JS, Whitney presumably gave up the prospects of marrying another man, who would have provided for her financially. JS may have deeded this land to Whitney, who was seventeen years old at the time she was sealed to him, because she did not live in JS’s household and would need support. On 29 April 1843, Whitney married Nauvoo resident and church member Joseph Kingsbury, who was the widower of her late sister, Caroline. JS officiated the wedding ceremony. Because Whitney’s plural marriage to JS was not publicly known at the time, she may have been married to Kingsbury in order to bring her further social and financial protection. (Marriage Certificate for Joseph Kingsbury and Sarah Ann Whitney, Nauvoo, IL, 29 Apr. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Recorder, Marriage Certificates, CHL.)

  7. [7]

    For a possible example, see Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 161–162.

  8. [8]

    See, for example, Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 13–14; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. O, pp. 132–133, microfilm 954,601, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; and JS as trustee-in-trust to Lydia Granger, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 15 Mar. 1843, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  9. [9]

    Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841.

  10. [10]

    Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, p. 83.

    Nauvoo Registry of Deeds. Record of Deeds, bk. B, 1843–1846. CHL. MS 3443.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Deed to Sarah Ann Whitney, 6 September 1842 Deed to Sarah Ann Whitney, 6 September 1842, as Recorded in Nauvoo Registry of Deeds Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Deed Record Book B, 1843–1846

Page [2]

Certification in the handwriting of William Clayton.


State of Illinois)
ss
Hancock County)
City 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....

More Info
)
Recorders Office February 28th. 1844
I Joseph Smith Recorder in and for the said City 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....

More Info
in the County and State aforesaid do hereby certify that the within deed and certificate of acknowledgement were this day duly recorded in Book B Page 83 and numbered 312
6

Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, p. 83.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Nauvoo Registry of Deeds. Record of Deeds, bk. B, 1843–1846. CHL. MS 3443.

Joseph Smith Recorder
by
Wm Clayton

17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...

View Full Bio
Clerk [p. [2]]
View entire transcript

|

Cite this page

Source Note

Document Transcript

Page [2]

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Deed to Sarah Ann Whitney, 6 September 1842
ID #
2066
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:53–56
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. new scribe logo

    Certification in the handwriting of William Clayton.

  2. [6]

    Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. B, p. 83.

    Nauvoo Registry of Deeds. Record of Deeds, bk. B, 1843–1846. CHL. MS 3443.

© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of UseUpdated 2021-04-13Privacy NoticeUpdated 2021-04-06