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Minutes, 30 April 1843

Source Note

First Presidency (including JS), Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 30 Apr. 1843; handwriting of and ; six pages; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes dockets.
Six leaves, each measuring 12¼ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). inscribed the minutes of this court until a one-hour adjournment in the hearing, after which was the scribe. The text was inscribed on the verso of six printed copies of “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2,” Second Issue, between ca. 15 Mar. 1842 and 1 Apr. 1843.” The document was folded in half horizontally twice for storage.
, who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854, docketed the document. It was also docketed by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984, staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name-and-subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992. This group of records was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, and its cataloging was finalized in 2017. Sometime between 1973 and 1984, the document was added to the JS Collection (Supplement). The dockets and the document’s inclusion in the JS Collection (Supplement) indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2,” Second Issue, between ca. 15 Mar. 1842 and 1 Apr. 1843.

  2. [2]

    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–.

  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]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

  5. [5]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 30 April 1843, JS presided at a court in , Illinois, that heard the appeal of a case between and . The Nauvoo had rendered a verdict on this case earlier in April. In 1841, Coltrin agreed to pay $200 to Mathews for some land. Because Coltrin did not have the money for the payment, he gave Mathews two promissory notes of $100 each, and Mathews gave him a bond for the land. They then apparently reached an agreement in which Coltrin would satisfy the debt by building a house for Mathews by 5 November 1841. In accordance with the bond, Mathews would then provide Coltrin with title to the land. However, Coltrin did not complete the house on time. Mathews alleged that the delay was due to negligence on Coltrin’s part, while Coltrin argued that Mathews had not finished a cellar to the necessary specifications, thereby preventing Coltrin from raising the frame of the house. Coltrin finally finished the structure either in late 1842 or early 1843. According to Mathews and other witnesses, the house was of low quality and eventually collapsed. Unable to agree on a valuation of the house, Coltrin and Mathews sought an appraisal from two disinterested individuals. These appraisers valued the house at $200 at the place it was constructed or $225 if it was moved somewhere else.
In light of these appraisals, believed he had kept his end of the bargain and demanded the deed to the land. refused to relinquish it, stating that Coltrin had not fulfilled the terms of the agreement. Mathews then sold the land to his wife, Elizabeth Burgess Mathews, and Coltrin claimed Mathews had done so only to prevent him from obtaining the land. Coltrin preferred charges against both Anson and Elizabeth Mathews on 20 March 1843. The high council heard the case against Anson Mathews on 14 April 1843 and decided in Coltrin’s favor. The high council ordered Mathews to provide Coltrin with a land title and to endorse the bond to show that Coltrin had satisfied the debt. The council told Mathews that if he refused to do this, he would be disfellowshipped from the . Not satisfied with the decision, Mathews appealed to the First Presidency, stating that Coltrin “failed to meet his oblegations in Payment for said Land” and that he “never agree’d to receive the Building” Coltrin constructed as payment on the notes, because “it was bad work and not fit for a dwelling.”
The two parties appeared before the First Presidency on 30 April 1843. After receiving the relevant documents and hearing initial statements from (a high council member who served as counsel for ) and from , the First Presidency decided to hear the case “as an origenol case,” stating that the Nauvoo high council did not have the authority to determine land titles in Nauvoo. During the rehearing, Coltrin and Anson Mathews both testified, as did Elizabeth Mathews; Coltrin’s father, , and his brother ; and others familiar with the case. Anson Mathews also submitted a statement from George Reals, who declared that Coltrin failed to complete the building because he took on work for other individuals, not because Mathews’s cellar was not ready. After hearing the testimony, the First Presidency decided in favor of Mathews.
took the minutes of the meeting until the midday adjournment, after which kept them. Richards apparently used these minutes as a source when he recorded a brief summary of the trial in JS’s journal. The original minutes are featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Coltrin charged Anson and Elizabeth Mathews with “unchristian like conduct” for “refusing to perform according to contract respecting the sale of a piece of land” and for transferring the “property in a way” that allowed Anson Mathews “to bid defiance to the result and force of law to compel him to abide the aforesaid contract.” Coltrin also accused Anson Mathews of lying. According to the minutes of the hearing, Anson Mathews was to “be tried separate from his wife,” but there are no records of a separate hearing for Elizabeth Mathews. (Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.)

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.

  3. [3]

    [Anson Mathews], “Defendants Plea and Specifications,” ca. Apr. 1843, Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, CHL; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.

  4. [4]

    Anson Mathews, Statement, ca. Apr. 1843; [Anson Mathews], “Defendants Plea and Specifications,” ca. Apr. 1843, Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, CHL. Mathews stated in his certification that at the time of the high council trial, he “did not fuly understand the Charges prefered against” him and “consequently was not prepared with competant witness’s to defend” him. He also claimed that the high council changed the hearing venue, which prevented his one witness from testifying. The First Presidency was the ecclesiastical body of the church designated to “determine whether any such case as may be appealed, is justly entitled to a re-hearing.” (Revised Minutes, 18–19 Feb. 1834 [D&C 102:33].)

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.

  5. [5]

    George Reals, Statement, Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, CHL.

    Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 30 Apr. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Minutes, 30 April 1843 Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 2, 10 March 1843–14 July 1843 History Draft [1 March–31 December 1843] History, 1838–1856, volume D-1 [1 August 1842–1 July 1843] “History of Joseph Smith”

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[Verso of page 1 is a copy of Facsimile 2 from the Book of Abraham.]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 30 April 1843
ID #
1552
Total Pages
12
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:250–258
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [7]

      See “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2.,” Second Issue, between ca. 15 Mar. 1842 and 1 Apr. 1843.

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