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Letter from Clark Leal, 19 May 1842

Source Note

Clark Leal

10 Aug. 1805–21 Apr. 1845. Farmer, land agent. Born in Kortright, Delaware Co., New York. Son of Alexander Leal and Lydia Rose. Married Jane McClaughry, 16 Dec. 1830. Moved to Fountain Green, Hancock Co., Illinois, 1837. Acted as agent for New York investor...

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, Letter,
Fountain Green

Unincorporated village (originally named Lick Grove, then Horse Lick Grove). Located about twenty miles east of Nauvoo, Illinois, and ten miles northeast of Carthage, Illinois. Area settled by Ute Perkins, 1826. Post office established, 1833. Named changed...

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, to JS,
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, 19 May 1842; handwriting of
Clark Leal

10 Aug. 1805–21 Apr. 1845. Farmer, land agent. Born in Kortright, Delaware Co., New York. Son of Alexander Leal and Lydia Rose. Married Jane McClaughry, 16 Dec. 1830. Moved to Fountain Green, Hancock Co., Illinois, 1837. Acted as agent for New York investor...

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; one page; Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notations, and docket.
Bifolium measuring 9⅞ × 7¾ inches (25 × 20 cm). The document was trifolded twice in letter style for transmission and sealed with a red adhesive wafer, a remnant of which remains on the verso of the second leaf. The document was also trifolded for filing.
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...

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, who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, docketed the document.
1

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


Comprehensive Works Cited

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.

The letter came into the possession of
Helen Mar Kimball Whitney

22 Aug. 1828–15 Nov. 1896. Born in Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Daughter of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Murray. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, fall 1833. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Brigham Young, 1836, in the Chagrin...

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, the daughter of
apostle

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

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Heber C. Kimball

14 June 1801–22 June 1868. Blacksmith, potter. Born at Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vermont. Son of Solomon Farnham Kimball and Anna Spaulding. Married Vilate Murray, 22 Nov. 1822, at Mendon, Monroe Co., New York. Member of Baptist church at Mendon, 1831. Baptized...

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and
Vilate Murray Kimball

1 June 1806–22 Oct. 1867. Born in Florida, Montgomery Co., New York. Daughter of Roswell Murray and Susannah Fitch. Moved to Bloomfield, Ontario Co., New York, by 1810. Moved to Victor, Ontario Co., by 1820. Married Heber Chase Kimball, 22 Nov. 1822, at Mendon...

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; Whitney retained this letter and other papers. The letter was passed down in Whitney’s family and came into the possession of her granddaughter Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming. The letter and other papers were passed down to Fleming’s daughter Helen Marian Fleming Petersen. Shortly after Petersen’s death in February 1988, one of her children found this letter and other items in a box in her home. By December 1988, the materials had been donated to the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
2

See the full bibliographic entry for Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, 1836–1963, in the CHL catalog.


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 Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, 1836–1963, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 19 May 1842,
Clark Leal

10 Aug. 1805–21 Apr. 1845. Farmer, land agent. Born in Kortright, Delaware Co., New York. Son of Alexander Leal and Lydia Rose. Married Jane McClaughry, 16 Dec. 1830. Moved to Fountain Green, Hancock Co., Illinois, 1837. Acted as agent for New York investor...

View Full Bio
wrote from
Fountain Green

Unincorporated village (originally named Lick Grove, then Horse Lick Grove). Located about twenty miles east of Nauvoo, Illinois, and ten miles northeast of Carthage, Illinois. Area settled by Ute Perkins, 1826. Post office established, 1833. Named changed...

More Info
, Illinois, to JS 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, regarding a recent conversation they had had about land. In their discussion, Leal, a resident of Fountain Green, was apparently acting as an
agent

A specific church office and, more generally, someone “entrusted with the business of another.” Agents in the church assisted other ecclesiastical officers, especially the bishop in his oversight of the church’s temporal affairs. A May 1831 revelation instructed...

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for
Crawford B. Sheldon

12 Oct. 1799–11 Mar. 1859. Merchant. Son of Job Sheldon and Joanna Crawford Trippe. Moved to Lyndon, Caledonia Co., Vermont, by May 1800; to Warwick, Kent Co., Rhode Island, by Aug. 1810; and to New Milford, Litchfield Co., Connecticut, by May 1816. Married...

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, a
New York

Located in northeast region of U.S. Area settled by Dutch traders, 1620s; later governed by Britain, 1664–1776. Admitted to U.S. as state, 1788. Population in 1810 about 1,000,000; in 1820 about 1,400,000; in 1830 about 1,900,000; and in 1840 about 2,400,...

More Info
investor.
1

JS’s journal identifies Sheldon as the owner of the land in question. Sheldon moved to Delhi, Delaware County, New York, in 1824 and was a prominent figure in the community, holding such positions as county clerk and village president. Clark Leal was born in Kortright, Delaware County, New York; his father, Judge Alexander Leal, helped found the town of Delhi, where Sheldon lived. The two men may have been acquainted in Leal’s youth, or Sheldon may have been acquainted with Leal’s relations. It is likely that Sheldon hired Leal as his agent after Leal moved to Illinois. (JS, Journal, 18 May 1842; History of Delaware County, N.Y., 61, 150, 152, 157, 168; McClaughry, Genealogy of the Mac Claughry Family, 267.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

History of Delaware County, NY, with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents. New York: W. W. Munsell, 1880.

McClaughry, Charles C., comp. Genealogy of the Mac Claughry Family: A Scoto-Irish Family Originally from Galloway, Scotland, Appearing in Ireland about 1600, and Emigrants to New York in 1765. Anamosa, IA: No publisher, 1913.

Leal had visited Nauvoo two days earlier, on 17 May, and met with JS.
2

JS, Journal, 17 May 1842. The two probably met at the Nauvoo hotel owned by Robert Snyder.)


The following day, JS and
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

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accompanied Leal on a trip to view a section of land southeast of Nauvoo, near Sugar Creek. Apparently satisfied with the land in question, JS agreed to pay for first right of refusal in purchasing the land from Sheldon.
3

According to JS’s journal, he contracted to purchase the northeast quarter of section 15. The contract was “for the refusal of the Same at $3 per Acre,” meaning that JS had the right to purchase the land before any other interested party. (JS, Journal, 18 May 1842.)


As an agent, Leal presumably held a power of attorney in order to facilitate transactions and grant first claim to the land. But in Leal’s 19 May letter he clarified that he lacked the authority to permit JS to make improvements on the land and stipulated that JS should not undertake any improvements until Sheldon granted permission. Although JS had arranged to purchase the land, he never did so. In 1844, Leal inquired whether JS was still interested in purchasing the land but indicated there might be problems with the land’s title.
4

See Clark Leal, Fountain Green, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 15 Apr. 1844, Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL.


The original sent copy of the letter, featured here, bears a docket 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
, indicating that it was received 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
.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS’s journal identifies Sheldon as the owner of the land in question. Sheldon moved to Delhi, Delaware County, New York, in 1824 and was a prominent figure in the community, holding such positions as county clerk and village president. Clark Leal was born in Kortright, Delaware County, New York; his father, Judge Alexander Leal, helped found the town of Delhi, where Sheldon lived. The two men may have been acquainted in Leal’s youth, or Sheldon may have been acquainted with Leal’s relations. It is likely that Sheldon hired Leal as his agent after Leal moved to Illinois. (JS, Journal, 18 May 1842; History of Delaware County, N.Y., 61, 150, 152, 157, 168; McClaughry, Genealogy of the Mac Claughry Family, 267.)

    History of Delaware County, NY, with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Some Pioneers and Prominent Residents. New York: W. W. Munsell, 1880.

    McClaughry, Charles C., comp. Genealogy of the Mac Claughry Family: A Scoto-Irish Family Originally from Galloway, Scotland, Appearing in Ireland about 1600, and Emigrants to New York in 1765. Anamosa, IA: No publisher, 1913.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 17 May 1842. The two probably met at the Nauvoo hotel owned by Robert Snyder.)

  3. [3]

    According to JS’s journal, he contracted to purchase the northeast quarter of section 15. The contract was “for the refusal of the Same at $3 per Acre,” meaning that JS had the right to purchase the land before any other interested party. (JS, Journal, 18 May 1842.)

  4. [4]

    See Clark Leal, Fountain Green, IL, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 15 Apr. 1844, Helen Vilate Bourne Fleming, Collection, CHL.

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Clark Leal, 19 May 1842
ID #
1481
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D10:78–80
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