On 30 October 1841 the City Council, including JS, met to address several issues. After holding intermittent meetings in summer 1841, the council resumed a more consistent meeting schedule in mid-October; they had already met twice before convening on 30 October 1841. At this meeting, council members discussed whether to remit the fine imposed on by a jury after his recent conviction for assault and battery before the Nauvoo mayor’s court. They also conversed about a variety of city planning issues, including an overdue report on a city cemetery, improving streets in Nauvoo, and the removal of a building in the city that had been declared a nuisance. The 30 October meeting also included the appointment and swearing in of several city officers.
, the city recorder, inscribed rough minutes of the 30 October meeting in a notebook. Sloan then used those original minutes to record the official minutes in the council’s ledger. Because the ledger contains a more comprehensive version of the council’s discussion and decisions and represents the official minutes, that is the version featured here.
City Council met pursuant to adjournment:— Meeting opened by prayer. Colr. [councilor] , who was formerly appointed a Colr. subscribed his oath of office & the Aldermen & Colrs. who were appointed at last Meeting, subscribed their oaths & were sworn:— Minutes of last Meeting read, & amended.
Colr. one of the Committee respecting the Burying Ground, reported orally, and the report was accepted
A Petition was presented on behalf of relative to a Pauper who had been at his House for a length of time it was referred to a Committee viz: and to enquire into the Circumstances & report generally [p. 25]
At the city council meeting held on 1 May 1841, a motion was carried that ten acres “be procured for the Burying Ground,” or cemetery, for the city of Nauvoo. On 16 October, the city council requested a report from the committee appointed to purchase the burying ground, but at the 23 October meeting, the committee asked for more time to prepare before giving a report. The contents of the committee’s report are not known. (Minutes, 1 May 1841; Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 16 and 23 Oct. 1841, 23, 25.)
The committee formed to investigate Hill’s petition reported on 6 November 1841. The city council discussed the report, after which Hill was asked to withdraw his petition. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 6 Nov. 1841, 29.)