Footnotes
JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Jessee, “Writing of Joseph Smith’s History,” 456, 458; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Jan. 1865.
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.
Jessee, Dean C. “The Writing of Joseph Smith’s History.” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971): 439–473.
Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.
“Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [2], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
On 12 August 1839, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith signed a bond to purchase approximately four hundred acres from Hotchkiss and his partners, John Gillet and Smith Tuttle. Hotchkiss and Gillet purchased the land mentioned in that bond from Alexander White in June 1836. The land was originally set aside by the federal government as bounty land to be sold to men who held a military commission during the War of 1812. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A; Promissory Note to John Gillet and Smith Tuttle, 12 Aug. 1839; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. B, p. 322, microfilm 954,192, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Anthony Hoffman, Rushville, IL, to John Reid, Argyle, NY, 1 Nov. 1833, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Hoffman, Anthony. Letter, Rushville, IL, to John Reid, Argyle, NY, 1 Nov. 1833. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, IL.
JS applied for bankruptcy in April 1842. According to the Bankruptcy Act of 1841, an assignee was given all rights to distribute and sell the bankrupt individual’s property. By early June 1842, the federal district court in Springfield, Illinois, appointed Joel Catlin to be the assignee for individuals residing in Nauvoo and elsewhere in Hancock County, Illinois. (Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842; An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy [19 Aug. 1841], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 5, pp. 442–443, sec. 3; Letter from Calvin A. Warren, ca. 23 June 1842.)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842; Historical Introduction to Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 May 1842.
JS had been informed by Justin Butterfield that Catlin could only sell “Josephs Right” to the land because JS had not satisfied his debt to Hotchkiss and his partners. Therefore, the lots and right to the land would revert to Hotchkiss. (JS, Journal, 5 Jan. 1843.)
Clayton, Journal, 7 July 1843; Bond from Smith Tuttle and John Gillet, 7 July 1843; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, p. 299, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; John Gillet, Lake Fork, IL, to Smith Tuttle, Fair Haven, CT, 20 Aug. 1843, John Gillett-William P. Whittle Papers, 1835–1869, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
John Gillett-William P. Whittle Papers, 1835–1869. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.
1 April 1843.
In 1832, Catlin helped establish the town of Augusta, Illinois, where he resided until 1845, when he moved to Jacksonville, Illinois. He attended the 1841 convention of the Anti-Mormon Citizens of Hancock County, held in Carthage, Illinois, and later attended another convention of the same organization in 1844. (Cochran et al., History of Hancock County, Illinois, 173; “County Convention,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 16 June 1841, [3]; “Address of the Convention to the Anti-Mormon Citizens of Hancock County,” Warsaw Signal, 7 July 1841, [2]; Letter from John Harper, 14 July 1842; “Preamble and Resolutions,” Warsaw Signal, Extra, 14 June 1844.)
Cochran, Robert M., Mary H. Siegfried, Ida Blum, David L. Fulton, Harold T. Garvey, and Olen L. Smith, eds. History of Hancock County, Illinois: Illinois Sesquicentennial Edition. Carthage, IL: Board of Supervisors of Hancock County, 1968.
Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.
Equity of redemption was a legal right attached to mortgaged property that ensured the property could be reclaimed by the original owner after a specified period of nonpayment. Due to mistakes made in JS’s application for bankruptcy, Catlin appears to have thought that JS had mortgaged the property in question from Hotchkiss. This was not the case; JS had signed a bond agreeing to purchase the land but did not have a mortgage for the land. (“Equity of Redemption,” in Burrill, New Law Dictionary, 1:427; Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.)
Burrill, Alexander Mansfield. A New Law Dictionary and Glossary: Containing Full Definitions of the Principal Terms of the Common and Civil Law, Together with Translations and Explanations of the Various Technical Phrases in Different Languages, Occurring in the Ancient and Modern Reports, and Standard Treatises: Embracing Also All the Principal Common and Civil Law Maxims: Compiled on the Basis of Spelman's Glossary, and Adapted to the Jurisprudence of the United States; with Copious Illustrations, Critical and Historical. 2 vols. New York: John S. Voorhies, 1850–1851.