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Lease to David S. Hollister, 2 December 1843

Source Note

JS and , Lease, , IL, to , , IL, 2 Dec. 1843; handwriting of ; signatures of JS, , and ; witnessed by and ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm). The lease is inscribed on the first three pages. The document was folded twice horizontally and docketed.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

  2. [2]

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

Historical Introduction

On 2 December 1843, JS and leased their portion of the steamboat Maid of Iowa to member . JS had purchased a 50 percent interest in the steamboat in May 1843 and shortly afterward transferred a portion of his share to church member . In July, JS deeded some or all of his remaining share to his wife Emma Smith. Though the Maid of Iowa had generated some income as a ferry and a freight ship, prior debts, poor management, and misfortune had left the vessel in a precarious financial situation. In early October, clerk and advised JS to put the steamboat “in different hands,” which is possibly why JS leased the boat to Hollister.
engaged in a variety of business endeavors in and —including operating a mercantile establishment, investing in a bank, and purchasing real estate—before relocating his family in 1842 to , Illinois, where he apparently produced lard oil. Hollister joined the church by March 1842, and during late summer of that year, he warned JS of officials’ plans to extradite JS to face charges related to the Saints’ conflicts with other Missourians in 1838. In October 1843, JS and Hollister conducted a business transaction.
In late November and early December 1843, JS’s clerk , acting on behalf of JS and , produced financial papers associated with ’s lease of the Maid of Iowa. On 30 November, Clayton noted that he worked at the “making papers for Hollister on Steam Boat.” Clayton spent 2 December “preparing papers for Hollister untill late in the evening,” which presumably included drawing up this lease. Under the agreement, JS and Emma leased their share of the Maid of Iowa to Hollister for one year—from 18 December 1843 to 18 December 1844—in exchange for $600. JS, Emma Smith, and Hollister—the three principals in the transaction—each signed the lease. and Clayton signed the document as witnesses.
On 3 December, reported that he “went to Prest J’s to finish papers for .” Shortly after signing the lease, Hollister rendezvoused with the Maid of Iowa in , where a local sheriff had impounded it for unpaid debts incurred in . While in New Orleans, Hollister wrote a letter to JS relaying information about the steamboat’s financial situation and his efforts to redeem the vessel from debt.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 12 May 1843; Clayton, Journal, 3 June 1843; Trustees Land Book B, 24 May 1843, 19.

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

  2. [2]

    Clayton, Journal, 15 July 1843. Under the common law doctrine of coverture, while he lived JS legally owned any property in Emma Smith’s name. This transaction may have been part of JS’s efforts to distinguish his family’s personal property from that of the church (for which he acted as trustee-in-trust). A 3 January 1844 record of ship registers and enrollments listed Emma Smith, rather than JS, as a part owner of the Maid of Iowa. (“Coverture,” in Rawle, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1:724; Salmon, Women and the Law of Property, 14–16; Survey of Federal Archives, Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana, 4:173.)

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

    Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.

    Salmon, Marylynn. Women and the Law of Property in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

    Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana. 6 vols. University, LA: Louisiana State University, 1941.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843; see also David S. Hollister, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1843 [1844]; and Dan Jones, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1844, JS Collection, CHL.

  4. [4]

    Buck, Pioneer History of Milwaukee, 75–79; Case, Hollister Family of America, 421.

    Buck, James S. Pioneer History of Milwaukee, from 1840 to 1846, Inclusive. Vol. 2. Milwaukee: Symes, Swain and Co., 1881.

    Case, Lafayette Wallace, comp. The Hollister Family of America: Lieut. John Hollister of Wethersfield, Conn., and His Descendants. Chicago: Fergus Printing, 1886.

  5. [5]

    General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 90; JS, Journal, 13 Aug. 1842; JS, Journal, Copied Correspondence, 30 June–17 Aug. 1842.

  6. [6]

    In a 13 October 1843 journal entry, William Clayton ambiguously stated that some business was “settled with D. S. Hollister” at JS’s house. (Clayton, Journal, 13 Oct. 1843.)

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

  7. [7]

    Clayton, Journal, 30 Nov. and 2 Dec. 1843.

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

  8. [8]

    Clayton’s journal entries indicate that the lease was prepared and signed in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Clayton, Journal, 2–3 Dec. 1843.)

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

  9. [9]

    Clayton, Journal, 3 Dec. 1843.

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

  10. [10]

    David S. Hollister, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1843 [1844], JS Collection, CHL; see also Dan Jones, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1844, JS Collection, CHL.

Page [2]

the term for which this lease is intended viz. one year.
Provided always nevertheless, that if it shall happen that the said half yearly rent of three hundred dollars, hereby reserved, or any part thereof, be behind and unpaid by the space of one month next over, or after the same shall become due and when the same ought to be paid as aforesaid, that then and from thenceforth, it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Joseph Smith and his wife their executors, administrators and assigns into and upon the said demised premises and every, or any part or parcel thereof, with the appurtenances, in the name of the whole to re-enter, and the same to have again, reposses and enjoy, as in their first or former estates; And him the said , his executors, administrators, and assigns, and all and every other, the occupiers or occupiers of the said demised premises, from thence utterly to expel, remove and put out; any thing in these presents contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
And the said for himself, his heirs, executors and administrators, doth covenant, grant, and agree to, and with the said Joseph Smith and his wife, their heirs and assigns, that he the said , his executors, administrators or assigns, shall well and truly pay or cause to be paid, unto the said Joseph Smith and his wife, their heirs or assigns, the aforesaid half yearly rents of three hundred dollars, at the day and times, and in such manner and form as herein before is limited and appointed for the payment thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of these presents, clear of, and over and above all expenses whatsoever. And that the said , his executors, administrators and assigns, shall and will from time to time, and at all times hereafter, during the said term of one year [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Lease to David S. Hollister, 2 December 1843
ID #
2016
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:300–303
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

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