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Minutes, 8 June 1844

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Minutes, 8 June 1844

Source Note

Nauvoo City Council, Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 8 June 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 8 June 1844] in Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 10 Feb. 1844–13 Jan. 1845, pp. 11–19; 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 8 June 1844, the city council of , Illinois, met for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting to conduct city business. The council—which consisted of the mayor, aldermen, and city councilors—convened two sessions on 8 June and most likely met 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. Around three o’clock in the afternoon, when a quorum was present, the city council began its afternoon session, which lasted until half past six o’clock in the evening.
The council considered several petitions during the 8 June meeting. Two requested the opening of certain streets in , and both were tabled. A third petition complained of violations of the city’s 1841 temperance ordinance—which prohibited the sale of whiskey and other spirituous liquors in small amounts—at the Upper Stone House and requested the city council to remove the building as a nuisance. Following a discussion of the matter, the council ultimately concluded to table this petition as well.
The city council also spent part of the meeting considering an ordinance describing the city attorney’s duties and compensation. During its 13 April 1844 meeting, the council had appointed as the city’s attorney. At that meeting, Stiles expressed his concern that the position’s salary of fifty dollars was insufficient and suggested that the existing city attorney ordinance be repealed. In response to Stiles’s comments, JS suggested that the city attorney’s salary be raised to one hundred dollars and that the city attorney be allowed to collect fees in some instances. in turn recommended that any new city attorney ordinance should define the city attorney’s duties. The council assigned the task of writing this proposed ordinance to the committee on municipal laws, to which Stiles was added. When the city council met on 8 June, it discussed the newly crafted ordinance, which incorporated JS’s and Hyrum Smith’s suggestions. After some deliberation, the city council approved a revised version of the new ordinance.
The most important topic of discussion for the council, though, was the Nauvoo Expositor. This newspaper—the first issue of which was published on 7 June—was edited by and published by , , , , , , and . Most of these individuals were former members of the , and all were opposed to JS. Tensions had been building between JS and his opponents in for months. By May his enemies had decided to set up the newspaper. On 6 May, in a meeting of the , reported that William Law had “said that if they would not buy out his property &c he would set up a press and go it to the death to get satisfaction.” The next day, the Expositor’s printing press arrived in . Following this, the proprietors printed a prospectus for the newspaper, which, among other things, advocated for the unconditional repeal of the act incorporating Nauvoo, often called the . It also promised “to give a full, candid, and succinct statement of FACTS, AS THEY REALLY EXIST IN THE CITY OF NAUVOO.” Around 17 May printing materials for the Expositor arrived in Nauvoo. Although there was a rumor that JS “had sworn that the press should not be set up in Nauvoo,” the Warsaw Signal reported that the materials “were landed without molestation.” The proprietors subsequently printed one thousand copies of the first issue of the Expositor, five hundred of which were mailed out.
When the Expositor appeared on ’s streets on 7 June, its pages contained attacks on JS’s character, his political influence and activities, his financial dealings, and his doctrinal teachings. In particular, the newspaper criticized the doctrines of plural marriage, the plurality of gods, and the power. It also condemned secret societies, the union of church and state, the Nauvoo Municipal Court’s use of , and JS’s presidential campaign. In addition, as promised in its prospectus, the Expositor advocated the repeal of the Nauvoo city charter.
The city council’s discussion of the Expositor largely centered on the character of certain men associated with the newspaper. JS called various witnesses to testify before the council on this subject. During the council’s deliberations, JS stated his belief that the Expositor and its proprietors intended to destroy the peace in and that it was not safe to have this type of publication in the city because it could lead to mob violence. Moreover, he explained that his own statements and the testimony of the witnesses were meant to prepare the city council to act on the matter.
The city council subsequently took several measures. First, it suspended city councilor until he could be investigated for allegedly slandering the city council. Also, at JS’s urging, the council considered an ordinance against libels, and city councilor and , who was a city councilor as well as the city’s attorney, were given the task of crafting this legislation. Near the conclusion of the council’s afternoon session, Phelps read a draft of the libel ordinance, and JS and city councilor requested that certain additions be made to it. Alderman , who was acting as the council’s president pro tempore, then directed the committee to make every effort to provide a “full report” on the ordinance, presumably at the council’s next meeting, which was scheduled for 10 June.
City recorder wrote the 8 June minutes in the city council’s rough minute book. During other meetings of the council, Richards apparently took notes on loose leaves of paper and then used them to create the minutes that he recorded in the rough minute book. He may have also done so for the 8 June minutes. 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 in 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 8 June minutes 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. While the 8 June minutes do not identify where the council met, evidence suggests that the most likely meeting place was the Nauvoo Mansion. An order for the city marshal to gather the members of the council for a 10 January 1844 meeting indicated that they would meet in the dining room of the Nauvoo Mansion. Likewise, the minutes from a 12 February city council meeting state that the council met in the Nauvoo Mansion, while an order to the marshal to gather the council for its 5 March meeting designated the meeting place as the “council room” in the Nauvoo Mansion. Similar orders to the marshal for the council’s 7 May and 21 June meetings request that he assemble the members of the council at the “council chamber.” The use of this less specific name suggests that the location of the council chamber was understood and that the council was regularly meeting in the same place. (JS to Nauvoo City Marshal [John P. Greene], Order for Nauvoo City Council Meeting Notification, 10 Jan. 1844; 5 Mar. 1844; 21 June 1844; Nauvoo City Council to Nauvoo City Marshal [John P. Greene], Order for Nauvoo City Council Meeting Notification, 7 May 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 12 Feb. 1844, 1.)

  2. The temperance ordinance prohibited “all Persons & Establishments whatever, in this City . . . from vending Whiskey in a less quantity than a Gallon, or other Spirituous Liquors in a less quantity than a quart,” unless under the “Recommendation of a Physician.” (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 15 Feb. 1841, 8.)

  3. Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 13 Apr. 1844, 8–10.

  4. “An Ordinance concerning the City Attorney and His Duties,” 8 June 1844, draft, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.

  5. JS, Journal, 7 June 1844; Masthead, Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1].

  6. Chauncey L. Higbee was cut off from the church in mid-1842. William Law, Wilson Law, and Robert D. Foster were cut off in mid-April 1844. Francis M. Higbee and Charles Ivins were cut off on 18 May 1844. Charles A. Foster and Sylvester Emmons were not members of the church. (Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 20 May 1842; JS, Journal, 18 Apr. 1844; Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Minutes, 18 Apr. 1844; Clayton, Journal, 18 Apr. 1844; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 18 May 1844; Charles A. Foster, “Important from Nauvoo,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 25 [24] Apr. 1844, [3]; Perrin, History of Cass County, Illinois, 239.)

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

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

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

    Perrin, William Henry, ed. History of Cass County Illinois. Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1882.

  7. “Joseph Smith Documents from 1 January through 15 May 1844”; see also Discourse, 26 May 1844; Pleas, ca. 27 May 1844; Pleas, ca. 28 May 1844; and Letter from Robert D. Foster, ca. 7 June 1844.

  8. Council of Fifty, “Record,” 6 May 1844.

  9. JS, Journal, 7 May 1844.

  10. The Expositor’s position reflected a larger debate about the Nauvoo charter. At the most recent regular session of the Illinois legislature, which began in December 1842, legislators discussed repealing or amending Nauvoo’s charter because of, among other concerns, complaints that JS and other Nauvoo leaders were abusing powers granted in the charter to prevent JS from being extradited to Missouri. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary was assigned to investigate the charges and recommended amending all Illinois municipal charters, including Nauvoo’s. There was, however, insufficient support in the legislature to amend or repeal Nauvoo’s charter at that time, though it was repealed in January 1845. (Journal of the Senate . . . of Illinois [1842–1843], title page; 10 Dec. 1842, 55–56; 23 Feb. 1843, 412; 4 and 6 Mar. 1843, 515, 533; JS, Journal, 9–20 Dec. 1842; “Illinois Legislature,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 [16] Dec. 1842, [2]; “Report of the Committee on the Judiciary . . . in Relation to the Nauvoo City Charter, &c.,” Reports Made to Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, Senate, 13th Assembly, 1st Sess., pp. 127–130; “It Will Be Seen by the Proceedings,” Wasp, 15 Mar. 1843, [2]; An Act to Repeal the Act Entitled “An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo,” Approved December 16, 1840 [29 Jan. 1845], Laws of the State of Illinois [1844–1845], pp. 187–188.)

    Journal of the Senate of the Thirteenth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at Their Regular Session, Begun and Held at Springfield, December 5, 1842. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1842.

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    Reports Made to Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois, at Their Session Begun and Held at Springfield, December 5, 1842. Springfield, IL: William Waters, 1842.

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

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Fifteenth General Assembly, at Their Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, December 7, 1846. Springfield, IL: Charles H. Lanphier, 1847.

  11. Prospectus of the Nauvoo Expositor (Nauvoo, IL: 10 May 1844), copy at CHL, emphasis in original.

    Nauvoo Expositor Prospectus. Nauvoo, IL: ca. 10 May 1844. Copy at CHL.

  12. “The Printing Materials,” Warsaw (IL) Signal, 22 May 1844, [2].

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  13. Law, Diary, 7 June 1844, in Cook, William Law, 55.

    Cook, Lyndon W. William Law: Biographical Essay, Nauvoo Diary, Correspondence, Interview. Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1994.

  14. Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [1]–[3].

  15. Richards appears to have used this method of note taking during the 10 June 1844 city council meeting. (Historical Introduction to Minutes, 10 June 1844; see also Richards, Journal, 11 June 1844.)

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

  16. Richards, Journal, 9 June 1844.

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

  17. Richards, Journal, 15–16 June 1844; 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.

  18. “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, 8 June 1844 Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, February 1844–January 1845 Minutes, 8 June 1844, Extract, as Published in Nauvoo Neighbor Revised Minutes, circa 17 June 1844, Partial Draft 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”
Sworn said told that Bogus Business <​Making​> was going on in the . but it was too damnd small business. he wanted to help him to procure Money <​for the Gen was afraid. to go into it— &​> with $500.00 he could get an engraving <​for bills​> on the Bank of and one on the state of .— and could make money.— said many times did not know him. Mayor. Said he believed the Gen had been telling me <​​> something; God Dam[n] him if he has I will kill him.— <​& swore he​> would kill any man that should prove a traitor to him.— Said if he could get a company of men to suit him he would go onto the frontier and live by highway Robbery— <​for he​> had got sick of the world.
moved that the & police be instructd to investigate the selling of Liquor— in the .—
objetd [objected] to calling names before the council.
said 50 had complaind of houses and persons &c— but has told them to enter legal complaint.
apologizd <​Explained​> to
Mayor calld for the to report
. said he kn[e]w where the grog shops were. <​upon​> Stone House one.— has decanters and glasses.— Gordon & Nauvoo Store.— men came away drunk.— Grubb & Ritchie City Bakery.
Snows— or Ashbys brick house. said they were selling candy & wine. beleives a good deal <​of Liquor​> drunk at [Samuel M.] Marr’s Store.—
have never seen any sold at Masonic Hall.— no appeara[n]ce of it. and gambling going on at all these places or most of them as beleives.— Lynching of the Negro originated— in drinking.— saw a glass pourd out at Thompsons but saw none drunk. beleived th[e]y drink and Gamble. <​Morris’s House—— <​on​> Mulholland St.— Beeches sells by swall [swill] I am <​as​> infor[m]ed​>
.— called for the reading of the ordinan[c]e on Spiritous Liqu[o]rs ordinance read.— suggested that complain[an]t have 1/2 the fine.—
had not weighed the measure. not ready to go for the measure [p. 15]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 8 June 1844
ID #
17543
Total Pages
9
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Willard Richards

Footnotes

  1. The published version of the city council minutes clarifies that this refers to JS, who was the lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion. (“For the Neighbor,” Nauvoo Neighbor, Extra, 17 June 1844, [1].)

  2. The Bank of the State of Missouri, which was incorporated in 1837, had its main branch in St. Louis, downriver from Nauvoo. The bank’s notes were valued on par with specie (gold or silver) in St. Louis. (Cable, Bank of the State of Missouri, 126–127, 132–133; “St. Louis Bank Note Table,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 8 May 1844, [3].)

    Cable, John Ray. The Bank of the State of Missouri. New York: Columbia University, 1923.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  3. New York banking notes were valued at a 1 to 2 percent discount in St. Louis. (“St. Louis Bank Note Table,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 8 May 1844, [3].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  4. TEXT: Here Willard Richards included what may be a doodle, with many dots in a circular pattern, crossed over by several lines.

  5. Usually referred to as the “upper stone house,” this tavern was on the shore of the Mississippi River near Nauvoo’s upper landing, which was sometimes called the “upper stone house landing.” (Littlefield, Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints, 145; Franklin D. Richards, “Visit to Pueblo, Independence, Carthage, Nauvoo, Richmond, Etc.,” Millennial Star, 27 July 1885, 47:471; Wight, Reminiscences, 18–19.)

    Littlefield, Lyman Omer. Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints: Giving an Account of Much Individual Suffering Endured for Religious Conscience. Logan, UT: Utah Journal Co., 1888.

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

    Wight, Orange L. Reminiscences, May–Dec. 1903. Photocopy. CHL. MS 405.

  6. William Allen’s store was located “south of the Temple.” (“New Goods, Cheap,” Wasp, 9 July 1842, [3].)

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

  7. John Grubb and John Ritchie, who were not members of the church, ran the Nauvoo Store. (Joshua S. Holman, Affidavit, Nauvoo, IL, 14 Jan. 1845; Grubb and Ritchie Nauvoo Store to Nauvoo Legion, Statement of Account, Nauvoo, IL, 18 Nov. 1844, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; “Argus,” and “From the Holy City,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 19 Feb. 1845, [2]; Book of Assessment, 1844, Third Ward, 11, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

  8. This possibly refers to a “Bakery and Confectionery” operated by Lucius N. Scovil. (“Do You Know Any Thing about the Matter?,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 14 Feb. 1844, [4].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  9. The families of Erastus Snow and Nathaniel Ashby shared a duplex. It was described by Ashby’s son Benjamin Ashby as “two houses alike seperated only by a partition wall.” Benjamin also specified that it was two stories and made of brick. (Book of Assessment, 1843, Fourth Ward, [6], [8], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Ashby, Autobiography, 1, 6; see also Book of Assessment, 1843, Fourth Ward [Alphabetical], [1], [12], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.

    Ashby, Benjamin. Autobiography, ca. 1898–ca. 1904. Benjamin Ashby Writings and Family Papers, ca. 1853–1865, 2000. CHL.

  10. Marr had recently built a brick store. (“Administrator’s Sale,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [3]; Book of Assessment, 1843, Third Ward, 20, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.

  11. This probably refers to the Masonic Hall Hotel, which was kept by Reuben H. Loomis. In December 1843 Loomis petitioned the Nauvoo City Council to grant him a license to sell spirits at his hotel, but his petition was tabled at a subsequent council meeting. (Book of Assessment, 1843, Fourth Ward, [11]; Reuben H. Loomis to the Mayor and the Nauvoo City Council, Petition, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Dec. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Minutes and Discourse, 29 Dec. 1843; see also Book of Assessment, 1843, Fourth Ward [Alphabetical], [7]–[8], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.

  12. On 30 March 1844, a Black man named Chism, who was suspected of robbing the Key Stone Store in Nauvoo, was taken by vigilantes into the woods. There “he was tied, stripped, and most inhumanly beaten or lacerated.” Willard Richards specifically noted that Chism’s back was “lacerated from his shoulders to his hips.— with 20 or more lashes.” (JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1844; “Robbery and Lynching,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 3 Apr. 1844, [2]; see also Historical Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. Eastin.)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  13. Beeches Tavern was located on Mulholland Street. (“New York Tailor Shop!,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 4 Sept. 1844, [4].)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

  14. This probably refers to Nauvoo’s 1841 temperance ordinance, which prohibited the sale of liquor in small quantities and specified that anyone who violated it could be fined up to twenty-five dollars. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 15 Feb. 1841, 8.)

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