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Tithing Daybook B

Source Note

JS as Trustee in Trust, Tithing Daybook B, , Hancock Co., IL, 21 Dec. 1842–17 Aug. 1844; handwriting of , , , , and unidentified scribes; 361 pages; CHL.
Entries for tithing donations and other daily business conducted by the tithing office from December 1842 to August 1844 were inscribed in a narrow, commercially produced blank book measuring 15¼ × 6 × 1¼ inches (39 × 15 × 3 cm). The paper was printed in ledger style with forty-seven horizontal blue lines, one horizontal red line at the top, one vertical red line on the left side of the page, and three vertical red ledger lines on the right side of the page. The pages measure 15 × 6 inches (38 × 15 cm). The text block was formed with fifteen gatherings of 12 leaves each, with 180 total leaves. The endpapers consist of a pastedown and two flyleaves at each end of the book. The text block is bound in ledger style to the boards. The boards are covered in off-white paper, and the spine is covered in calfskin leather. “Day Book” is embossed on the leather of the spine, with a small “B” added below it. “Tithing Day Book B” was written in ink over the embossed title and “Nauvoo 1842–44” was also written in ink on the spine in unidentified handwriting. The first front flyleaf bears the notation “General Day Book” in the handwriting of .
Several clerks inscribed information in this volume, including , , , and . It was a working record book, with significant marginal notes and information entered after the initial inscriptions. Pagination for pages 1 through 349 appears to have been inscribed by clerks as they worked their way through the volume, with different clerks making the inscriptions. Pages 350 through 356 appear to have been paginated after the period. Clerical mistakes resulted in a series of misnumbered pages. Pages 46 and 47 were repeated, with the following page numbers consequently off by two pages. More errors were introduced when two pages were both numbered 72, followed by two more facing pages numbered 73; the numbering of individual pages resumes with page 74.
Three of the era tithing office daybooks are extant: Tithing Daybook B, featured here, and Tithing Daybooks C and D, which postdate the JS era. The Tithing Daybook B record book was in the possession of the trustee’s office, which also functioned as the tithing office, and was apparently one of two tithing records among church property that inventoried and delivered to in 1847. It is unknown when Tithing Daybook B was transferred to the Historian’s Office. The Clayton inventory, archival labels, and markings suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Page numbers for the Book of the Law of the Lord and Trustee-in-Trust Ledger A were often written in the margins to indicate where the information from the Tithing Daybook had been copied.

  2. [2]

    There appears to have been a daybook used to keep records previous to “Tithing Daybook B”. There are a few references to a “Daybook A” in Tithing Daybook B. Some of the information recorded in the no longer extant Tithing Daybook A appears to have been inscribed into the Book of the Law of the Lord.

  3. [3]

    William Clayton, Inventory, 17 Mar. 1847, Newel K. Whitney Papers, BYU.

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

Historical Introduction

In December 1841, JS assumed responsibility for overseeing the recording and distribution of tithing and other donations from Latter-day Saints. To facilitate this, he appointed to the position of temple recorder. In summer 1842, assumed Richards’s responsibilities when Richards was planning to take an extended trip to the eastern United States to conduct church business and transport his family to , Illinois. Clayton was officially appointed temple recorder in place of Richards in September 1842 and served in that capacity until after JS’s death in 1844.
The temple recorder, who also functioned as the primary clerk of the recorder’s office, or tithing office, was tasked with recording tithing and other donations that came into the office as well as other church business in a series of record books. He used a daybook to record the day-to-day business of the office, including tithing donations, in chronological order. Tithing Daybook B, featured here, records office business and tithing donations from 21 December 1842 to 17 August 1844. After being recorded in the daybook, tithing was then recorded a second time in the Book of the Law of the Lord. When tithing donations were distributed, they were recorded in additional record books.
As the Latter-day Saints undertook the daunting task of constructing a in , a JS revelation directed that the Saints fund it through tithing. Tithing donations were expected to amount to “one tenth of all any one possessed” at the time work began on the temple and then one tenth of their increase until the temple was completed. In October 1840, a conference of church members resolved that men would donate one day in every ten to temple construction. This became known as “labor tithing,” and clerks assigned a monetary value of thirty-one dollars to a year of work on the temple. Labor tithing allowed those without financial means to contribute to the temple. When tithing was paid on property or increase, church clerks referred to it as “property tithing,” and it took a variety of forms.
Property tithing was sometimes paid with money, but more often it was paid by goods in kind, such as garden crops, livestock, and handmade goods like clothing or baskets. Property tithing could also be paid through bartering—a key part of life in . For example, someone might specify payment in goods to forgive a debt owed them in return for having tithing recorded in their name. Another form of bartering was done through labor tithing. A man could arrange to work on the temple on behalf of someone else to earn money or pay for needs like room and board or food. In some instances, the value of a donated amount or item might be split among several individuals—a family or group might donate a single significant resource, like a wagon or a horse, and assign the value of the tithing to several members of the family or group. Tithing was also sometimes a means of repayment: someone might donate a larger or more valuable good and assign part of the value to someone to whom they owed money. Tithing or donations for the temple were also paid through canceled debts—people forgave debts the church owed them in exchange for tithing credit. In addition, tithing donations could be made in Nauvoo city scrip, Nauvoo city treasury orders, or stock in the Nauvoo House Association, which was valued at fifty dollars per share. Moreover, the Nauvoo and other church leaders and agents with ties to the temple often created financial records—referred to as receipts, certificates, and orders by the clerks—for individuals, crediting them for donations or paying them for labor through tithing credit. Sometimes these credits were not given to the recorder’s office to be recorded for months or even years, which meant that tithing credits for 1841 or 1842 may not have been recorded until 1843 or later.
Pages in the daybook generally include a page number and date at the top of the page. Entries usually include the name of the individual making a tithing donation, the donated money or goods, and the monetary value of the donated goods. Occasionally a missionary or church agent brought tithing for a group of people to the recorder’s office. In these instances, the donors and their tithing might be listed in large sections under the locations or branches where the tithing was received. Alternately, groups of tithing donations might be listed individually and include the phrase “per hand” or more simply “per” or “pr” followed by the name of the person who brought the money or goods to . Missionaries, church leaders, and apostles gathered the tithing of those living outside Nauvoo and transported it to church headquarters. This was also true for Saints living in Great Britain, who gave their tithing to missionaries or presiding elders of the church so the money and goods could be safely carried to Nauvoo, recorded there, and used to support the . Due to the unreliability of the mail and even some couriers, money or goods might be lost or stolen in transit, so those paying tithing or making donations were instructed by JS and other church leaders to give tithing or donations only to designated church agents.
The Tithing Daybook was a working record book, with multiple clerks entering information at different times. Unlike the more formal Book of the Law of the Lord, clerks inserted notes and other details about the tithing and donors in the margins of the daybook. Most entries include a number in the left margin. This usually correlates to the page in the Book of the Law of the Lord where the information was recorded, but occasionally refers to another record book, like Trustee-in-Trust Ledger A, which tracked donations given to the temple committee or clerks in the recorder’s office as compensation for their work. Clerks also sometimes made notes as to the quality of the donated goods, noting poor quality or incomplete goods or livestock that were blind or difficult to tend. For some goods, clerks left space or inserted information about how much the item sold for or its market value at the time of recording. Clerks calculated and noted when individuals had met their expected labor and property tithing for a year, often recording that excess would be credited to the following year. Clerks sometimes recorded this information as a later insertion and other times copied in line with the text. The transcript presented here follows the method of inscription used by the clerks. They frequently abbreviated labor tithing to “L.T.” and property tithing to “P.T.” When goods were distributed to the or to office staff in payment for their work, initials of individuals or the committee (T.C.) were inserted into the margins with a note that the goods specified were “charged to JS” or “charge T.C.,” which might be further abbreviated by the clerks to “ch T.C.”
Tithing Daybook B is one of two extant Nauvoo-era tithing daybooks used in the recorder’s office, though records show that there were originally three. Tithing Daybook B, featured here, includes tithing and business conducted by the recorder’s office from 21 December 1842 to 17 August 1844. The subsequent volume, Tithing Daybook C, picks up where Tithing Daybook B ends, recording tithing from 17 August 1844 to 1 August 1845. Because Tithing Daybook C contains records from after JS’s death, it will not be included on the Joseph Smith Papers website.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 11 and 13 Dec. 1841.

  2. [2]

    JS and Willard Richards, “To the Eastern Churches,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1842, 3:814; JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 30.

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

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, 1845. CHL

  3. [3]

    Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 30–31.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, 1845. CHL

  4. [4]

    JS, “To Whom It May Concern,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:638; Introduction to the Trustee Records; Introduction to the Book of the Law of the Lord.

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

  5. [5]

    These included the Trustee Account Book kept by Richards, Clayton, James Whitehead, and other clerks as well as the larger and more comprehensive Trustee-in-Trust Ledger A. (See Trustee Account Book; and Trustee Ledger A.)

  6. [6]

    Brigham Young et al., “Baptism for the Dead,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:626.

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

  7. [7]

    Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Phebe Carter Woodruff, Lee Co., Iowa Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, Manchester, England, 6–19 Oct. 1840, Wilford Woodruff, Collection, CHL; Elias Higbee, “Ecclesiastical,” Times and Seasons , 1 Feb. 1841, 2:296.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Collection, 1831–1905. Digital scans. CHL. Originals in private possession.

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

  8. [8]

    This figure was based on the rate of one dollar per day of work and one-tenth of the number of days in the year minus Sundays, as Sunday was not considered a workday. See, for example, the entries throughout the Tithing Daybook and the Book of the Law of the Lord noting donations of thirty-one dollars being “Labor in full to Octr. 12th. 1842” or “payment in full for 1 years labor Tything.” (Tithing Daybook B, 8; Book of the Law of the Lord, Book A, p. 34.)

  9. [9]

    See, Brigham Young et al., “Baptism for the Dead,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:626.

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

  10. [10]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 214.

  11. [11]

    See, for example, Book of the Law of the Lord, Book A, p. 76.

  12. [12]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 2, 76.

  13. [13]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 42, 98, 164, 294.

  14. [14]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 14, 89.

  15. [15]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 16, 35.

  16. [16]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 40, 111, 152, 176, 180, 213, 228, 237. The treasury orders and Nauvoo House Association stock circulated in the place of currency, which was often scarce in Nauvoo. So, an individual holding a treasury order for $10 or two shares of Nauvoo House stock for $100 could use these in the place of currency and have them recorded as their donation.

  17. [17]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 7, 13, 25–26, 32, 44.

  18. [18]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 17, 115, 149, 178.

  19. [19]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 3–6.

  20. [20]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 29, 69, 88, 205.

  21. [21]

    See Historical Introduction to Letter from Eli Maginn, 1 and 3 May 1842; and Book of the Law of the Lord, Book A, pp. 96, 140, 225, 319.

  22. [22]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 15, 68, 251, 313, 339.

  23. [23]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 105, 142, 316.

  24. [24]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 11, 13.

  25. [25]

    See, for example, Tithing Daybook B, 82, 148, 157.

  26. [26]

    Though referenced in Tithing Daybook B, the record book designated Tithing Daybook A is apparently no longer extant. It is unclear if it was lost or misplaced in Nauvoo or after church records were transported to Utah. (See Tithing Daybook B, 176, 222.)

  27. [27]

    Images of Tithing Daybook C are available through the Church History Library’s catalog. (Tithing Daybook C, Trustee-in-Trust Tithing Daybooks, CHL.)

Page 231

 
March 8th. 1844
<​444​> Leven Simmons
100 Pickets 1.00
1 Coat 16.00
<​444​> James Cregin
1 Table 5.00
1 Stand table 2.50
<​444​> James B. Boren
1 Watch) 9.00
1 Table Cloth) in full on P. T [property tithing] 1.00
1 p[ai]r Sheets—L. T. [labor tithing] 4.00
<​444​> Minerva White
s 28.00
City Treasurers Order 5.00
<​444​> Brethren & Sisters in
as p[e]r Collection Cash 30.00
<​444​> pr.
bal[ance] of s Order val[ue] $15.00 for Hand Cart. 10.00
9th.
<​444​> John P. Barnett pr
1 Set of Plough Irons 5.00
an a/c [account] pr . (Ch[arge] J. S) 2.00
<​444​> John Bourne
12 days Labor on the Quary at $1.00 pr day 12.00
<​444​> Eliza Johnson
Cash <​(Ch[arge] )​> 3.00
<​444​>
1 Bed Quilt 2.50
2 pr’s of Socks 0.80
<​444​>
Cash (delivered to ) 10.00
<​444​>
1 Boot Last 3.50
labor pr J. G. Hovey 0.50
<​444​>
Labor 11 days at $1.00 pr. day (to app[l]y for [18]44) 11.00
[p. 231]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Tithing Daybook B
ID #
13083
Total Pages
372
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • James Whitehead
  • Unidentified
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. new scribe logo

    James Whitehead handwriting ends; William Clayton begins.

  2. new scribe logo

    William Clayton handwriting ends; James Whitehead begins.

  3. [98]

    In a 7 March 1844 discourse, JS “remarked in relation to those who give in property for the temple we want it brought to the proper source that it may be put on the Church Book.” JS promised that those who had their names recorded would be the first to receive their endowment. This promise may have encouraged members to pay their tithing. (See Discourse, 7 May 1844, in JSP, D14:248–249.)

    JSP, D14 / Smith, Alex D., Adam H. Petty, Jessica M. Nelson, and Spencer W. McBride, eds. Documents, Volume 14: 1 January–15 May 1843. Vol. 14 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Matthew C. Godfrey, R. Eric Smith, Matthew J. Grow, and Ronald K. Esplin. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2022.

  4. new scribe logo

    James Whitehead handwriting ends; William Clayton begins.

  5. new scribe logo

    William Clayton handwriting ends; James Whitehead begins.

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