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Pay Order to William Clayton for Stephen Markham and Charles C. Rich, 9 December 1843

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Pay Order to William Clayton for Stephen Markham and Charles C. Rich, 9 December 1843

Source Note

JS as mayor, Pay Order, to , for and , , Hancock Co., IL, 9 Dec. 1843; handwriting of JS and ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes endorsement.
Single leaf measuring 11¾–11⅞ × 7¾ inches (30 × 20 cm). The left side of the recto is torn, and the bottom edge is unevenly cut, suggesting the leaf was reduced in size from a bifolium or larger leaf. The pay order is inscribed on the recto, and the verso is blank except for a later endorsement. The document was folded in half twice horizontally and fastened with a pin.
, who served as ’s city treasurer from September 1842 until the dissolution of the city government in 1845 endorsed the pay order. This document was presumably kept among city records. In 1845 the city of Nauvoo was disincorporated. Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley. The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s endorsement, likely inclusion with the city records listed in early church inventories, and later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 9 Sept. 1842, 101; 8 Feb. 1845, 235.

  2. [2]

    “An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

    Illinois General Assembly. Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.

  3. [3]

    “Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

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

  4. [4]

    “Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, 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 9 December 1843, JS issued an order instructing , Illinois, city treasurer to pay for ammunition to supply two regiments. The previous day, JS had ordered Major General to activate a portion of the legion to protect Nauvoo residents’ rights and to “compel obedience to the ordinances of said city” in the wake of the kidnappings of and . On 9 December, Law issued orders to Colonel and Brigadier General to mobilize the “most efficient Regiment” of their respective cohorts. Law also wrote to JS requesting that he authorize payment for ammunition to supply the mobilized troops.
In response to ’s request, JS wrote a pay order to instructing him to pay sixty dollars to the commanding officers of the legion’s two cohorts. JS’s pay order did not name the officers, so Law added a notation at the bottom of the page identifying and as the commanders. Clayton issued the requested payment and endorsed the pay order that same day.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Military Order to Wilson Law, 8 Dec. 1843; “Part 5: December 1843”; see also Mayor’s Order to Henry G. Sherwood, 8 Dec. 1843; and Requisition from Henry G. Sherwood, 8 Dec. 1843.

  2. [2]

    Wilson Law to Charles C. Rich, Order, Nauvoo, IL, 9 Dec. 1843, Charles C. Rich, Collection, CHL; Letter from Wilson Law, 9 Dec. 1843. Only Law’s order to Rich is extant, but other documents indicate that Law issued a similar order to Markham.

    Nauvoo Legion Arsenal Account Book, 1844–1849. Charles C. Rich, Collection, 1832–1908. CHL.

Page [1]

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De[r]. 9th 1843
Treasury for the City of you will Please pay out of the City funds in your hands Sixty dollers to be paid to the Commandants of Cohorts to be used in case of defence
Joseph Smith
Mayor of said
[1/4 page blank]
The commandant of the 1st. and 2nd. cohorts is, of the 1st. Col. in the absenc[e] of his Senr. Officers, any and Genl. of the 2nd..
Major. Gel. [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Pay Order to William Clayton for Stephen Markham and Charles C. Rich, 9 December 1843
ID #
1221
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:347–350
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.
  • Wilson Law

Footnotes

  1. new scribe logo

    JS handwriting begins.

  2. [1]

    Wilson Law requested that JS provide “what ever amount you may think proper on the present occasion.” (Letter from Wilson Law, 9 Dec. 1843.)

  3. new scribe logo

    JS handwriting ends; Wilson Law begins.

  4. [2]

    Although Wilson Law originally served as the brigadier general of the first cohort, he was elected to replace John C. Bennett as major general in 1842. The first cohort elected George Miller to replace Law, but Miller left Nauvoo shortly after his election to take control of the church’s lumber mills in Wisconsin Territory. Miller apparently never actively took command of the cohort, and Markham, as the colonel of the first regiment, became the de facto leader. (Stout, “History of the Nauvoo Legion,” [3]; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [4]; Mills, “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla,” 95.)

    Stout, Hosea. History of the Nauvoo Legion, Draft 1, ca. 1844–1845. Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430, fd. 10. One of three drafts of the history; includes material dated 4 February 1841 through 22 June 1844. Pages are out of order; in the current order, this draft includes pp. [5]–[8], [15]–[22].

    Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

    Mills, H. W. “De Tal Palo Tal Astilla.” Annual Publications Historical Society of Southern California 10 (1917): 86–174.

  5. [3]

    TEXT: Possibly “ang”.

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