Footnotes
“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. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
“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.
“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.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Footnotes
“Good News from America,” Millennial Star, July 1840, 1:63.
Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.
According to minutes of the trial that stemmed from this interaction, Davis claimed that JS had promised to pay a debt in the spring of 1842 but had not done so. JS claimed that he had offered to pay the debt using land but that Davis would accept only cash. (Minutes, 10 Mar. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Davis [Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1842], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
Minutes, 10 Mar. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Davis (Nauvoo Mun. Ct. 1842), Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL; Nauvoo Municipal Court Docket Book, 4 (second numbering).
This complaint was one of two JS swore out before Wells on 29 November. The other accused Thomas Hunter of violating the city statute concerning religious societies by maligning JS, thereby “depreciating” his moral and religious character. (Complaint against Thomas Hunter, 29 Nov. 1842.)
JS, Complaint, 30 Nov. 1842, photocopy, JS Collection, CHL, original in private possession; Minutes, 13 Nov. 1841.
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
No extant records explicitly state why the court believed the municipal court lacked jurisdiction. One possibility is that while the ordinance regarding vagrants and disorderly persons gave either the mayor’s court or the municipal court original jurisdiction, the municipal court had authority to function only as an appellate court according to the Nauvoo charter. The same day it dismissed Nauvoo’s case against Davis, the Hancock County Circuit Court also dismissed one of JS’s complaints against Thomas Hunter that was tried under similar circumstances. (Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court Records, 1829–1897, vol. C, pp. 409, 473, microfilm 947,496, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Minutes, 13 Nov. 1841; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.