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Introduction to Steamboat Nauvoo

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Introduction to Steamboat Nauvoo

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In the late 1830s, the government purchased the steamboat Des Moines for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Under the direction of Robert E. Lee, the corps was improving navigation and travel conditions on the by removing rock on narrow portions, beginning at the Des Moines rapids near . After the federal government discontinued the project in 1840, Captain Lee sold the Des Moines at auction on 10 September 1840. , along with partners JS, , , and , purchased the steamboat from Lee for $4,866.38 and provided Lee with a promissory note for the amount, payable in eight months. The partners then changed the name of the steamboat from Des Moines to Nauvoo.
A few weeks after the purchase, the steamboat was damaged. JS and the other owners blamed pilots Benjamin and William Holladay, claiming that due to “unskilfulness and willfull mismanagement” as well as reckless piloting, the Holladays ran the steamboat into a sandbar, causing several timbers in the hull to split and crack. The boat was en route from , Illinois, to , laden with 180 tons of lead belonging to Campbell & Co., when it was damaged. The incident delayed the shipment five months and resulted in significant financial losses by both the company and the owners of the steamboat. JS and his partners brought a lawsuit against the Holladays in November 1840, claiming $2,000 in damages.
The men soon looked into selling the steamboat Nauvoo. On 25 January 1841, they sold a one-sixth ownership interest in the steamboat to Edwin Guthrie. At some point between September 1840 and February 1841, the partners sold a majority interest, five-sixths, in the steamboat to , Illinois, merchants Charles B. and Marvin B. Streets. As part of the purchase, the Streets signed a promissory note on 17 February for $3,133.62, payable in goods and merchandise, which was due 1 June 1841. The Streets made a payment of $1,025 on 22 June 1841, but the remaining balance was apparently left unpaid. This resulted in JS and his partners suing the Streets for repayment in February 1844.
The promissory note that the five partners had given to the government in September 1840 to pay for the steamboat became due in May 1841. Solicitor of the United States Treasury Charles B. Penrose attempted to arrange payment by seeking the arrest of JS and in Missouri. This plan failed as the men were not in Missouri, and Penrose then instructed Illinois district attorney to sue for repayment of the note. In April 1842, with the promissory note still unpaid, Butterfield initiated a lawsuit against the five partners. The lawsuit came to trial on 11 June 1842. JS and his partners failed to appear at the court in , Illinois, and the court awarded $4,866.38 for the delinquent promissory note and $317.93 in damages, as well as the court costs, to Butterfield and the United States.
In April 1842, JS and submitted applications for bankruptcy, and the repayment of the steamboat debt became a major concern in the proceedings. This led to investigate JS for potentially fraudulent land transactions, and he filed an objection with the court to block JS’s bankruptcy proceedings. In December 1842, a group of Latter-day Saints met with Butterfield in and attempted to reach a settlement to pay the steamboat debt owed to the government. Butterfield sent a proposed agreement to Penrose, outlining repayment of the debt by church leaders over the course of the next four years. However, Penrose was reluctant to accept the agreement and countered with stricter terms for repayment, requiring an immediate cash payment of one third of the debt. Whether because of miscommunication or the repeal of the bankruptcy act, this repayment agreement was never finalized. The debt for the steamboat Nauvoo was not paid before JS’s death in 1844, and the government pursued repayment into the 1850s.
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Editorial Title
Introduction to Steamboat Nauvoo
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20461
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1
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    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      Oaks and Bentley, “Joseph Smith and Legal Process,” 735–738.

      Oaks, Dallin H., and Joseph I. Bentley. “Joseph Smith and Legal Process: In the Wake of the Steamboat Nauvoo.” Brigham Young University Law Review, no. 3 (1976): 735–782.

    2. [2]

      Promissory Note to Robert E. Lee, 10 Sept. 1840.

    3. [3]

      Oaks and Bentley, “Joseph Smith and Legal Process,” 739.

      Oaks, Dallin H., and Joseph I. Bentley. “Joseph Smith and Legal Process: In the Wake of the Steamboat Nauvoo.” Brigham Young University Law Review, no. 3 (1976): 735–782.

    4. [4]

      Affidavit, 30 Nov. 1840 [Miller et al. v. B. Holladay and W. Holladay]. The incident may have occurred in early October 1840, as the Diving Bell company of St. Louis was hired to raise the stacks of the damaged steamboat from the Mississippi River on 10 October. (Amended Pleas, ca. 30 Oct. 1844 [JS et al. v. C. B. Street and M. B. Street].)

    5. [5]

      Amended Pleas, ca. 30 Oct. 1844 [JS et al. v. C. B. Street and M. B. Street].

    6. [6]

      Introduction to Miller et al. v. B. Holladay and W. Holladay.

    7. [7]

      Floyd E. Risvold Collection, 2:78–79; Pleas and Account, ca. 23 May 1844 [JS et al. v. C. B. Street and M. B. Street]. By the time of the indenture, Vinson Knight had replaced Henry W. Miller as a partner in the steamboat. The January 1841 indenture between JS, his partners, and Guthrie is in private possession, but an auction catalog captured the details of the indenture. For his share of the boat, Guthrie agreed to two payments. The first, for $811.06, was due 1 May 1841, while the second, for $415, was due 1 November 1841. (Floyd E. Risvold Collection, 2:78–79.)

      The Floyd E. Risvold Collection: American Expansion and the Journey West. 3 vols. 2009. Catalog of the 27–29 January 2010 auction of the Floyd E. Risvold estate at New York City by the Spink Shreves Galleries and Spink Smythe of Dallas, TX.

    8. [8]

      Introduction to JS et al. v. C. B. Street and M. B. Street.

    9. [9]

      Letter, Solicitor of the Treasury to Montgomery Blair, 1 June 1841.

    10. [10]

      Introduction to United States v. Haws et al.; Summons, 25 Apr. 1842 [U.S. v. Haws et al.]; Charles B. Penrose to Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, 12 Aug. 1842, microfilm, Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury, copy at CHL.

      Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury / National Archives Reference Service Report, 23 Sept. 1964. “Record Group 206, Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury, and Record Group 46, Records of the United States Senate: Records Relating to the Mormons in Illinois, 1839–1848 (Records Dated 1840–1852), Including Memorials of Mormons to Congress, 1840–1844, Some of Which Relate to Outrages Committed against the Mormons in Missouri, 1831–1839.” Microfilm. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1964. Copy in Records Related to Church Interaction with Federal Government, 1840–1852, CHL.

    11. [11]

      Introduction to United States v. Haws et al.; Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 11 June 1842 [United States v. Haws et al.]; Docket Entry, Fieri Facias, ca. 18 July 1842 [United States v. Haws et al.].

    12. [12]

      Introduction to Joseph Smith’s Bankruptcy.

    13. [13]

      JS, Journal, 9–20 Dec. 1842, p. 214.

    14. [14]

      Letter, Justin Butterfield to Charles B. Penrose, 17 Dec. 1842; Letter, Charles B. Penrose to Justin Butterfield, 11 Jan. 1843.

    15. [15]

      Oaks and Bentley, “Joseph Smith and Legal Process,” 735–771; Introduction to United States v. Joseph Smith III et al.

      Oaks, Dallin H., and Joseph I. Bentley. “Joseph Smith and Legal Process: In the Wake of the Steamboat Nauvoo.” Brigham Young University Law Review, no. 3 (1976): 735–782.