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Minutes, 10 June 1844

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Minutes, 10 June 1844

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 10 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 10 June 1844] in Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 Feb. 1844–13 Jan. 1845, pp. 19–[31]; handwriting of ; Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, CHL. Includes use marks. For more complete source information, see the source note for Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Feb. 1844–Jan. 1845.

Historical Introduction

On 10 June 1844, the , Illinois, city council met to consider what action it should take in response to the publication of the Nauvoo Expositor. The first issue of this newspaper was published on 7 June. The city council subsequently gathered on 8 June for its regularly scheduled meeting and, among other things, heard from witnesses JS had brought in to testify about the character of certain individuals associated with the Expositor. During this meeting, JS stated his belief that the newspaper and its proprietors intended to destroy the peace in Nauvoo and that it was not safe to have this type of publication in the city, as it could lead to mob violence. Moreover, he explained that his statements and the testimony of the witnesses were meant to prepare the city council to act on the matter. In particular, JS urged the city council to pass an ordinance against libels, and city councilor and , who was a city councilor as well as the city’s attorney, received the assignment to craft this legislation. Later during the meeting, Phelps read a draft of the libel ordinance, and JS and city councilor requested certain additions to it. The council then adjourned until 10 June.
The city council held two sessions on 10 June, most likely in the . The first session lasted from ten o’clock in the morning until shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon, when the council adjourned for a recess. At half past two o’clock in the afternoon, the second session began, and it lasted until a little after six o’clock in the evening. During these sessions, the city council heard additional testimony about various men connected to the Nauvoo Expositor and unanimously approved the newest draft of the libel ordinance. At JS’s suggestion, the city council also discussed the possibility of suppressing the Nauvoo Expositor. Most of the council’s members expressed their approval of this course of action. Only , a city councilor who was not a member of the , urged caution and suggested instead giving the proprietors “a few days” notice to desist publishing the alleged libels and assessing heavy fines for noncompliance. After deliberating, the city council rejected Warrington’s suggestion. It then passed a resolution declaring the Expositor a nuisance and ordering JS as mayor to remove any printing equipment and copies of the newspaper found in its office in a manner of his choosing.
City recorder appears to have taken notes during the 10 June city council meeting on loose leaves of paper, one of which is still extant. It seems he then used these notes to craft the minutes of the 10 June city council meeting, which he recorded in the city council’s rough minute book. Later, on 15 and 16 June, Richards prepared a revised version of the minutes for the 8 and 10 June meetings focused on the city council’s deliberations regarding the Nauvoo Expositor. The Nauvoo Neighbor then published the revised version of the minutes in its extra issue dated 17 June and its regular issue dated 19 June. The version in the 19 June issue is identical to the version in the extra, except for some stylistic and clarifying changes. The 10 June minutes that Richards recorded in the city council’s rough minute book are featured here, with significant differences between them and the version published in the Neighbor’s 17 June extra noted.

Footnotes

  1. Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1]; see also Historical Introduction to Minutes, 8 June 1844.

  2. Minutes, 8 June 1844.

  3. Ordinance, 10 June 1844.

  4. Resolution, 10 June 1844.

  5. This loose leaf rests between pages [22] and [23] of Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, Feb. 1844–Jan. 1845.

  6. Richards, Journal, 15–16 June 1844. A synopsis for a portion of the manuscript version of the 8 June minutes is extant; however, the manuscript version of the last portion of the 8 June minutes and the entirety of the 10 June minutes has not been located. (Synopsis of Nauvoo City Council Proceedings, 8 June 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL.)

    Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

  7. “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]; “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 June 1844, [2]–[3].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Minutes, 10 June 1844, Partial Draft Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February 1844–January 1845 *Minutes, 10 June 1844 Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February 1844–January 1845 Minutes, 10 June 1844, Extract, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor Revised Minutes, 17 June 1844 Revised Minutes, 17 June 1844, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844] “History of Joseph Smith”
by council of the presidiny [presidency] converted his fu[n]ds to feeding the poor. bringing in meet & flour &c— and while thus engaged. drew upon the Laws— who were then engaged in mechadize [merchandise]— to the amou[n]t of some six hun[d]red dollars. which. on account of his expenditurs for th[e] poor he was not able to pay within some 70 or 80 dollars as soon as Laws wantd it. though he offe[re]d th[e]m <​good​> popety [property] propety at considrable less th[a]n ma[r]ket value.— as was obliged to leave the — a littele season. In On business. oppressed— <​worried​> <​thretene [threatened]. & intimdatd [intimidated]​> his family. in his absenc[e] for said pay—
<​When​> made a public dinner on the 4th of July. <​ was obliged to be asbnet [absent] &​> depos[i]ted funds <​meet flour &c​> with to feed to the poor at that dinner. and handed it out as hi[s] own popety. [22 lines blank] [p. [23]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 10 June 1844
ID #
17544
Total Pages
13
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. William and Wilson Law owned a store in Nauvoo. (Cook, “William Law,” 53.)

    Cook, Lyndon W. “William Law, Nauvoo Dissenter.” BYU Studies 22 (Winter 1982): 47–72.

  2. The published version of the city council minutes expands this passage to read “on account of expenditure for the poor, he was not able to pay, to within some 70 or 80 dollars—which they pressed him for as soon as they wanted it.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

  3. A loose leaf kept with the rough city council minute book, apparently containing notes of testimony Haws gave during the 10 June meeting, indicates that Haws left Nauvoo “to get some pine lumber.” This probably refers to the church’s lumber camps in Wisconsin Territory, which were established to provide building material for the construction of the Nauvoo temple and the Nauvoo House. Haws was a member of the committee charged with building the Nauvoo House. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 June 1844, loose leaf; Rowley, “Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries,” 120−121, 125; Revelation, 19 Jan. 1841 [D&C 124:62].)

    Rowley, Dennis. “The Mormon Experience in the Wisconsin Pineries, 1841–1845.” BYU Studies 32, nos. 1 and 2 (1992): 119–148.

  4. This may refer to the Independence Day celebration held in Nauvoo on 3 July 1841. An article in the Warsaw Signal indicated that part of the commemoration was a dinner. (Account of Meeting, 3 July 1841; “Great Parade at Nauvoo,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 7 July 1841, [2].)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  5. The published version of the city council minutes substitutes the word “give” for “feed.” (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

  6. The published version of the city council minutes adds the following text at this point: “witness carried a load of wheat to Law’s mill to be ground— Law would not grind it only to give a certain quantity of flour in return by weight. Law used up the flour, promising from time to time he would refund it. As witness was about to start on a mission to the south, with his valise in hand, saw Law before his door, talking with Hyrum Smith, called on Law and told him he was going away, and his family wanted the flour: Law promised on the honor of a gentleman, and a saint, his family should have the flour when they wanted.”a William and Wilson Law announced in January 1842 that they planned to construct a steam mill in Nauvoo. By June 1842 the Laws had “raised the frame of a large building, to be occupied, when finished, as a steam flowering and saw mill.” This enterprise was no doubt one of the steam mills operating in Nauvoo by October 1842.b Peter Haws was chosen to serve a mission in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in April 1843. He preached in Alabama and Mississippi before returning to Nauvoo by 27 October 1843.c

    (a“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1]. bEditorial, Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1842, 3:663–664; “The Messrs. Law,” Wasp, 11 June 1842, [2]; “Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1842, 3:937; “Lumber—Nauvoo—Our Prospects, &c.,” Wasp, 29 Oct. 1842, [2]. cQuorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 24 Apr. 1843; JS, Journal, 27 Oct. 1843; see also John Brown, Monroe Co., MS, 17 Aug. 1844, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:702; and Brown, Reminiscences and Journal, bk. A, 19–20.)

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

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

    Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Minutes, 1840–1844. CHL.

    Brown, John. Reminiscences and Journals, 1843–1896. CHL. MS 1636.

  7. Willard Richards may have left this blank space intending to fill it with additional testimony from Haws. This is suggested by the fact that a loose leaf apparently containing Richards’s notes of Haws’s testimony was kept with the minute book at this point. Also, the published version of the minutes contains information from the loose leaf that was not included in the rough city council minute book. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 June 1844, loose leaf; “For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

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