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Letter from Reuben McBride, 28 February 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Lake Co., OH, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 28 Feb. 1844; handwriting and signature of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notations, dockets, notation, and redactions.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7¾ inches (32 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with thirty-nine lines printed in blue ink. The letter was inscribed in blue ink. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. Remnants of the wafer remain on the recto of the first leaf. The document was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, and by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. A notation was made by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and notation, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate 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]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [3]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. [4]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  5. [5]

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

Historical Introduction

On 28 February 1844, wrote a letter from , Ohio, to JS in , Illinois, regarding property issues in Kirtland and at Oswego, New York. McBride had been JS’s in Kirtland since 1841, managing the property and debt of JS and the in the area. More recently, former church member had attempted to obtain ownership of the farm he was renting from JS as payment for a debt he claimed JS owed him, all while exposing the same property to seizure by Lake County, Ohio, for unpaid property taxes. Coe and McBride each communicated with JS directly on the matter on 1 January, and on 18 January JS directed McBride to evict Coe from the farm.
In his 28 February letter, reported that in response to JS’s eviction instruction, had enlisted the , Ohio, sheriff to place levies on property that JS and the church owned in . McBride also informed JS of some confusion surrounding a lien against three farms in Oswego that JS’s late agent purchased in 1840. These farms were previously owned by Alonzo Reed, Jonathan Harrington, and Abel Owen, respectively. The transactions possibly covered part or all of approximately two hundred acres of land that Granger purchased from church members in October 1840 using church-owned land in or as payment. Encouraged by church leaders, these sorts of land exchanges facilitated the gathering of Latter-day Saints from the eastern to , while also providing agents such as Granger with resources to pay off church debts. However, the connections of Reed, Harrington, and Owen to the church are unclear, although McBride suggested in the letter that the men now lived near . Following Granger’s death in 1841, the deed to the property transferred to Granger’s son because, as McBride reported, Oliver had apparently not purchased the farms for JS and the church as McBride originally supposed. Gilbert Granger evidently sold the farms, and, at the time McBride wrote this letter, multiple parties contested the ownership of the properties. McBride requested direction from JS on how to proceed.
sent the letter to JS by post on 1 March. Mail from typically arrived in within two or three weeks. JS presumably received the letter in mid- or late March. It is unknown if he responded.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841; Power of Attorney to Reuben McBride, 28 Oct. 1841; Letter from Reuben McBride, 3 Jan. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Joseph Coe, 1 Jan. 1844; Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 Jan. 1844; Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844; see also Letter to Joseph Coe, 18 Jan. 1844.

  3. [3]

    Obituary for Oliver Granger, Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:550.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 Jan. 1844; Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844.

Page [3]

I have now laid before you the affairs as they are in as near as I can
Respecting those farms in Oswego N,Y Reeds [Alonzo Reed’s] Heringtons [Jonathan Harrington’s] and Owens [Abel Owen’s] Just after I wrote to you for a Copy of your appointment as Trustee in Trust Mr Reed the son of the old man Came here he informed me that he had the Notes that gave Mr Herington and that had sold the farm it being Deeded to him by his before he Died as the had not paid for it as I suposed they had and it had gone out of the hands of the Grangers <​into a third persons hands​> I did not see much chance to do anny thing about it as to the Owen place there was a Deed left with Hitchcock and Wilder I think it was to pay about $15,00 told me he thought it was a lean [lien] and has wrote to for them to inforce that lean as advised them to do so he said he did not know as they would think it worth going into that expence for as the was verry expensive in that the place is worth probably some $3,00, $350, at presant there is no one to controll it if they do nothing about it had better be seen to you can see Mr Owen and Mr Herington or Reed as they are all there and advise me acordingly.
Now in all this I Shall rely on your instructions if carryed on it will cost money and time and if I do not collect anny if I had <​better​> hire Some: the Lawyers will not do much unless they have some Money or what had I better do I wish if you can convienantly send me the Times and seasons as I have not at presant the money that I can send if you can and not Disc[om]mode your Self. I Recd. your last letter with great satisfaction the kind spirit which it breathed rejoiced my heart May the time Soon come <​when​> you may [p. [3]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Reuben McBride, 28 February 1844
ID #
1287
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Reuben McBride

Footnotes

  1. [24]

    TEXT: The writing on this page is upside down relative to the writing on the previous two pages and the final page.

  2. [25]

    McBride requested a copy of JS’s appointment as trustee-in-trust in a June 1843 letter to William Marks. (Reuben McBride, Kirtland, OH, to William Marks, 4 June 1843, copy, CHL.)

    McBride, Reuben. Letter to William Marks, 4 June 1843. Copy. CHL.

  3. [26]

    The Times and Seasons was the church newspaper published in Nauvoo. Subscriptions were two dollars a year, “payable in all cases in advance.” (Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:91–96; Masthead, Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1844, 5:447; Masthead, Times and Seasons, 1 Mar. 1844, 5:463.)

    Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 3 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997–2012.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [27]

    Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844.

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