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Introduction to Butterfield v. Mills Statement of Account, circa 17 August 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills] Docket Entry, 8–circa 17 August 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills] Injunction, 7 September 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills] Docket Entry, Dismissal, 17 October 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills] Praecipe, 15 March 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills] Docket Entry, Fee Bill, 19 March–circa 8 July 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills] Case File Wrapper, between circa September 1843 and circa March 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills] Certificate, 7 July 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills]

Introduction to Butterfield v. Mills

Page

Butterfield v. Mills
Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, Mayor’s Court, 17 August 1843
Hancock Co., Illinois, Circuit Court, 17 October 1843
 
Historical Introduction
In August 1843,
Margaret Major Butterfield

29 Apr. 1801–1 Jan. 1853. Born in York, Upper Canada. Daughter of John Major and Sarah. Married first Edward Lawrence. Husband died, ca. Dec. 1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, by 1840. Married second Josiah Butterfield, 24 Dec. 1840, in Adams Co...

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commenced an
action in debt

An action in debt is a common-law remedy designed “for the recovery of a sum certain.” Debt is a “more extensive remedy for the recovery of money, than assumpsit or covenant, for it lies to recover money due upon legal liabilities, as for money lent, paid...

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against
Alexander Mills

23 Dec. 1801–after 28 Jan. 1846. Tavern keeper, hotel keeper. Born in New York City. Son of John Mills and Jane. Married first Eliza Ann Genette Dunn, 24 Mar. 1833, in New York City. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by 1838. Resided...

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before JS, sitting as a justice of the peace in the mayor’s court 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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, Illinois, for borrowed money and unpaid rent plus interest, totaling $32.50.
1

Statement of Account, ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]; Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]. The Nauvoo charter provided that the mayor “shall have all the powers of Justices of the Peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)


This suit is notable as being one of the few cases brought before JS by a female plaintiff. Because Butterfield was married at the time of the suit, the instigation of this suit without her husband was a technical violation of the common law doctrine of
coverture

Common-law term for the legal status of a married woman. “By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into ...

View Glossary
.
2

Pleading rules under the doctrine of coverture were “diverse and nearly incomprehensible.” Under this doctrine, according to one nineteenth-century legal guidebook, “The effect of marriage is to deprive the wife, in courts of law, of all separate legal existence; her husband and herself being, in law, but one person. It is, therefore, a general rule, that she cannot, during the marriage, maintain an action without her husband, either upon contracts made by her before, or after the marriage.” It is unclear how widely such prescriptions were followed in the 1840s in Illinois. In at least one other 1843 case, JS similarly ignored the coverture prohibition on allowing married women to testify. (Hartog, Man and Wife in America, 155; Swan, Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law,1:53; Stephen, Treatise on the Principles of Pleading, 152; Introduction to Dana v. Brink.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Hartog, Hendrik. Man and Wife in America: A History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Swan, Joseph R. The Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law, in Ohio, and Precedents in Pleading, with Practical Notes; together with the Forms of Process and Clerks’ Entries. 2 vols. Columbus: Isaac N. Whiting, 1845.

Stephen, Henry John, and Francis J. Troubat. A Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Actions; Comprising a Summary View of the Whole Proceedings in a Suit at Law. 2nd American ed. Philadelphia: Robert H. Small, 1831.

Mills was summoned to appear before the court on 14 August 1843, but the case was continued until 17 August.
3

Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].


When the court reconvened, Butterfield provided a statement of the debt Mills owed to her.
4

Statement of Account, ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].


Mills pleaded
nonsuit

“A judgment given against a plaintiff, when he is unable to prove his case, or when he refuses or neglects to proceed to trial of a cause after it has been put at issue, without determining such issue.”

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for unidentified reasons, possibly challenging the legitimacy of the evidence Butterfield had provided or objecting to the evident violation of
coverture

Common-law term for the legal status of a married woman. “By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into ...

View Glossary
norms.
5

Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].


JS rejected Mills’s plea and ruled in favor of Butterfield.
Mills

23 Dec. 1801–after 28 Jan. 1846. Tavern keeper, hotel keeper. Born in New York City. Son of John Mills and Jane. Married first Eliza Ann Genette Dunn, 24 Mar. 1833, in New York City. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by 1838. Resided...

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appealed JS’s decision, on unspecified grounds, to 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 ...

More Info
Circuit Court for the October 1843 term.
6

Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]; Injunction, 7 Sept. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].


Presumably the parties made some kind of settlement before the appeal could be heard because on 17 October,
Butterfield

29 Apr. 1801–1 Jan. 1853. Born in York, Upper Canada. Daughter of John Major and Sarah. Married first Edward Lawrence. Husband died, ca. Dec. 1839. Moved to Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, by 1840. Married second Josiah Butterfield, 24 Dec. 1840, in Adams Co...

View Full Bio
motioned for a dismissal, which was granted, and the court assessed costs of the proceedings to her.
7

Docket Entry, Dismissal, 17 Oct. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].


She had not paid the court costs over a year later. On 15 March 1845, former Hancock County sheriff
William Backenstos

29 Aug. 1813–11 July 1875. Sheriff, merchant, painter. Born at Lower Paxton, Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Jacob Backenstos and Margaretha Theis. Baptized into Lutheran Reformed Church, 31 Oct. 1813, in Lower Paxton. Moved to Hancock Co., Illinois, by...

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requested that a fee bill be issued to allow the current sheriff,
Miner R. Deming

24 Feb. 1810–10 Sept. 1845. Teacher, farmer. Born in Sharon, Litchfield Co., Connecticut. Son of Stephen Deming and Sarah Buel. Moved to Cincinnati, 1836. Married Abigail Barnum, 2 Aug. 1836, in Danbury, Fairfield Co., Connecticut. Moved to St. Mary’s Township...

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, to collect money owed for services relating to the case.
8

Praecipe, 15 Mar. 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills].


Deming sold land owned by Butterfield in Kimball’s Addition to
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
to Backenstos for $4.79.
9

Docket Entry, Fee Bill, 19 Mar.–ca. 8 July 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills]. She had purchased this land for $150 from Hiram Dayton in May 1843. (Black, Property Transactions in Nauvoo, 678.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Black, Susan Easton, Harvey Bischoff Black, and Brandon Plewe. Property Transactions in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois and Surrounding Communities (1839–1859). 7 vols. Wilmington, DE: World Vital Records, 2006.

The sale covered Backenstos’s and Deming’s fees as sheriffs, but not the $6.06¼ costs assessed to Mills.
10

Sheriffs were entitled to 50 cents for serving a summons and 12½ cents for returning process on a writ. Other associated costs would be the notification of the auction to be held to satisfy court costs, which was advertised in a local newspaper. A legal notice that ran for four weeks in the Nauvoo Neighbor cost $4.25. (An Act Regulating the Salaries, Fees, and Compensation of the Several Officers and Persons Therein Mentioned [19 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 294; John Taylor, Affidavit, 17 May 1845, Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court, Civil and Criminal Files, 1830–1860, Clapp v. Lyons [Hancock Co. Cir. Ct. 1845], microfilm 1,521,606, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

It is unknown if Butterfield satisfied the balance of the costs.
 
Calendar of Documents
This calendar lists all known documents created by or for the court, whether extant or not. It does not include versions of documents created for other purposes, though those versions may be listed in footnotes. In certain cases, especially in cases concerning unpaid debts, the originating document (promissory note, invoice, etc.) is listed here. Note that documents in the calendar are grouped with their originating court. Where a version of a document was subsequently filed with another court, that version is listed under both courts.
 
Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, Mayor’s Court

1843 (3)

August (3)

8 August 1843

Summons, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 8 Aug. 1843. Not extant.
    1

    See Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].


Ca. 17 August 1843

Margaret Major Butterfield, Statement of Account, Hancock Co., IL, for Alexander Mills

  • Ca. 17 Aug. 1843; Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL; microfilm 1,521,364 at FHL; unidentified handwriting ; docket in unidentified handwriting; notation in handwriting of David E. Head.
8–ca. 17 August 1843

Docket Entry, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843. Not extant.
  • 5 Sept. 1843; photocopy in Historical Department, Materials Received from Mark W. Hofmann, CHL; handwriting of William W. Phelps.
    1

    William W. Phelps created a certified copy of the docket entry upon appeal to the Hancock County Circuit Court.


    QUESTIONED AUTHENTICITY.
    2

    The Church Historical Department (now CHL) acquired this document from Mark Hofmann in 1983. As later revealed, Hofmann forged many early church history and Americana manuscripts and altered authentic documents to increase their market value; he also dealt in authentic manuscripts. However, since there is no provenance information definitively dating this document prior to its possession by Hofmann, it cannot be conclusively authenticated. (Turley, Victims, 386.)


    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Turley, Richard E., Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

 
Hancock Co., Illinois, Circuit Court

1843 (4)

August (1)

8–ca. 17 August 1843

Docket Entry, Copy, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 5 Sept. 1843; photocopy in Historical Department, Materials Received from Mark W. Hofmann, CHL; handwriting of William W. Phelps.
    1

    This represents the certified copy of the docket entry created by William W. Phelps upon appeal to the Hancock County Circuit Court.


    QUESTIONED AUTHENTICITY.
    2

    The Church Historical Department (now CHL) acquired this document from Mark Hofmann in 1983. As later revealed, Hofmann forged many early church history and Americana manuscripts and altered authentic documents to increase their market value; he also dealt in authentic manuscripts. However, since there is no provenance information definitively dating this document prior to its possession by Hofmann, it cannot be conclusively authenticated. (Turley, Victims, 386.)


    Comprehensive Works Cited

    Turley, Richard E., Jr. Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

September (2)

6 September 1843

Bond, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 6 Sept. 1843; private possession; unidentified handwriting.
    1

    The current whereabouts of this document are unknown. It was sold by Beehive Antiques in 2006. (Beehive Antiques [Winter 2006], catalog 29, item 1.)


7 September 1843

Jacob B. Backenstos, Injunction, Carthage, Hancock Co., IL, to JS as Justice of the Peace, Nauvoo, Hancock Co., IL

  • 7 Sept. 1843; private possession; printed form with manuscript additions in handwriting of Jacob B. Backenstos; docket printed with manuscript additions in handwriting of Jacob B. Backenstos; notations printed with manuscript additions in handwriting of William Backenstos; notation in handwriting of Jacob B. Backenstos.

October (1)

17 October 1843

Docket Entry, Dismissal, Carthage, Hancock Co, IL

  • 17 Oct. 1843; Hancock County Circuit Court Record, vol. D, p. 18, Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL; microfilm at FHL; unidentified handwriting.

1845 (5)

March (2)

15 March 1845

William Backenstos, Praecipe, to Hancock Co. Circuit Court Clerk, Hancock Co., IL

  • 15 Mar. 1845; Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL; microfilm 1,521,364 at FHL; handwriting of William Backenstos; docket and notation in handwriting of David E. Head.
19 March 1845

Fee Bill, Hancock Co., IL

  • 19 Mar. 1845. Not extant.
    1

    See Docket Entry, Fee Bill, 19 Mar.–ca. 8 July 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills].


July (3)

Between 19 March and 7 July 1845

Notice, Hancock Co., IL

  • Between 19 Mar. and 7 July 1845. Not extant.
    1

    See Docket Entry, Fee Bill, 19 Mar.–ca. 8 July 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills].


7 July 1845

Timothy Gridley Jr. on behalf of Miner R. Deming, Certificate, Hancock Co., IL

  • 7 July 1845. Not extant.
  • Ca. 17 July 1845; Hancock County Sheriff, Old Certificates of Purchase, Levy, and Redemption, p. 191, Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL; microfilm at FHL; handwriting of Melancton S. Carey.
19 March–ca. 8 July 1845

Docket Entry, Fee Bill, Carthage, Hancock Co., IL

  • 19 Mar.–ca. 8 July 1845; Hancock County Circuit Court, Execution Docket, vol. B, p. [247], Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL; image in Hancock County Papers, 1830–1872, CHL; handwriting of David E. Head.
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Introduction to Butterfield v. Mills
ID #
18088
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      Statement of Account, ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]; Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]. The Nauvoo charter provided that the mayor “shall have all the powers of Justices of the Peace therein, both in civil and criminal cases.” (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

    2. [2]

      Pleading rules under the doctrine of coverture were “diverse and nearly incomprehensible.” Under this doctrine, according to one nineteenth-century legal guidebook, “The effect of marriage is to deprive the wife, in courts of law, of all separate legal existence; her husband and herself being, in law, but one person. It is, therefore, a general rule, that she cannot, during the marriage, maintain an action without her husband, either upon contracts made by her before, or after the marriage.” It is unclear how widely such prescriptions were followed in the 1840s in Illinois. In at least one other 1843 case, JS similarly ignored the coverture prohibition on allowing married women to testify. (Hartog, Man and Wife in America, 155; Swan, Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law,1:53; Stephen, Treatise on the Principles of Pleading, 152; Introduction to Dana v. Brink.)

      Hartog, Hendrik. Man and Wife in America: A History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

      Swan, Joseph R. The Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law, in Ohio, and Precedents in Pleading, with Practical Notes; together with the Forms of Process and Clerks’ Entries. 2 vols. Columbus: Isaac N. Whiting, 1845.

      Stephen, Henry John, and Francis J. Troubat. A Treatise on the Principles of Pleading in Civil Actions; Comprising a Summary View of the Whole Proceedings in a Suit at Law. 2nd American ed. Philadelphia: Robert H. Small, 1831.

    3. [3]

      Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].

    4. [4]

      Statement of Account, ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].

    5. [5]

      Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].

    6. [6]

      Docket Entry, 8–ca. 17 Aug. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills]; Injunction, 7 Sept. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].

    7. [7]

      Docket Entry, Dismissal, 17 Oct. 1843 [Butterfield v. Mills].

    8. [8]

      Praecipe, 15 Mar. 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills].

    9. [9]

      Docket Entry, Fee Bill, 19 Mar.–ca. 8 July 1845 [Butterfield v. Mills]. She had purchased this land for $150 from Hiram Dayton in May 1843. (Black, Property Transactions in Nauvoo, 678.)

      Black, Susan Easton, Harvey Bischoff Black, and Brandon Plewe. Property Transactions in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois and Surrounding Communities (1839–1859). 7 vols. Wilmington, DE: World Vital Records, 2006.

    10. [10]

      Sheriffs were entitled to 50 cents for serving a summons and 12½ cents for returning process on a writ. Other associated costs would be the notification of the auction to be held to satisfy court costs, which was advertised in a local newspaper. A legal notice that ran for four weeks in the Nauvoo Neighbor cost $4.25. (An Act Regulating the Salaries, Fees, and Compensation of the Several Officers and Persons Therein Mentioned [19 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], p. 294; John Taylor, Affidavit, 17 May 1845, Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court, Civil and Criminal Files, 1830–1860, Clapp v. Lyons [Hancock Co. Cir. Ct. 1845], microfilm 1,521,606, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

      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.

      U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

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