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Deed from Orson and Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, 10 February 1843
Source Note
Source Note
and , Deed for property in , Hancock Co., IL, to JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 10 Feb. 1843; printed form with manuscript additions in the handwriting of ; signatures of and ; witnessed by ; certified by , 10 Feb. 1843, on behalf of JS, 10 Feb. 1843, and , 8 July 1844; two pages; Hiram Kimball Collection, CHL. Includes docket and notations.
Single leaf, measuring 12⅛ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm), unevenly cut on all four edges. The leaf is a personalized printed form for deeds to JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Attached to the leaf with a red adhesive wafer is a strip of paper measuring 2⅛ × 7⅝ inches (5 × 19 cm) and containing a printed form of certification by . Each form has been filled out and signed. The deed was folded for filing and docketed.
The document contains a docket and notations by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as temple recorder from 1842 to 1846. Below the docket are notations by Clayton identifying when the deed was recorded in Nauvoo, Illinois, and notations by —who served as , Illinois, recorder from 1839 to 1847—identifying when the deed was recorded in a Hancock County deed book. An additional notation by records the transfer of the property to sometime between 1846 and 1848. After Kimball purchased the property, he was apparently given this earlier deed. This document and other papers in the possession of Kimball descendants were donated to the Church History Department (CHL) in 2013.
Footnotes
- [1]
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
- [2]
See the full bibliographic entry for Hiram Kimball, Collection, 1830–1910, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 10 February 1843, and donated a city lot in , Illinois, to the through JS as trustee-in-trust. After JS was appointed to this position in 1841, he began receiving donations from Latter-day Saints, some in the form of land deeds. This document is one of at least ten such deeds JS received between September 1842 and February 1843. All of these deeds conveyed property to JS as trustee-in-trust for the sum of one dollar and indicated that the transfer was based on the “love and good will” the sellers had toward the church. At some point between 1841 and 1843, JS began printing form deeds with this language to simplify the process. The deed featured here is the earliest known instance of the printed form being used.
appears to have spent considerable time issuing, receiving, and recording deeds on behalf of JS as trustee-in-trust on 10 February 1843. One of the many deeds Clayton handled that day was this donation from the Hydes. On 31 October 1842, purchased this property in Kimball’s Second Addition to Nauvoo from , who was acting on behalf of his brother Ethan Kimball, for fifty dollars. On 10 February, the Hydes apparently brought this initial deed to Clayton to be recorded in ’s registry of deeds and at the same time indicated their desire to donate the property to the church. After Clayton completed the printed form, the Hydes signed it, with Clayton witnessing, and then certified it. Clayton then recorded it in the registry of deeds for JS and certified on the deed that he had done so. That same day, Clayton also deeded a separate property to on behalf of JS as trustee-in-trust. In July 1844, shortly after JS’s death, the deed to the donated property was recorded in a , Illinois, deed book.
Footnotes
- [1]
See Willard Richards and Jennetta Richards Richards to JS as trustee-in-trust, Deed, 23 Feb. 1843, JS Collection, CHL; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 62–63, 92–97, 135–136; and Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, pp. 6–7, 12–13, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
- [2]
JS appears to have done this for other types of deeds he issued in his capacity as trustee-in-trust as well. (See, for example, Deed to Sarah Ann Whitney, 6 Sept. 1842.)
- [3]
Of the transactions known to have occurred on that day, Clayton assisted in deeding city lots to three parties, deeding eighty acres southeast of Nauvoo to another party, receiving two city lots as donations, and signing promissory notes for a property transaction JS made with John C. Walsh. Also on this day, Clayton, acting on behalf of JS as Nauvoo’s registrar of deeds, copied three of these deeds plus at least one related deed into the Nauvoo registry of deeds. (JS as trustee-in-trust to Parley P. Pratt, Deed, 10 Feb. 1843, Parley P. Pratt, Collection, CHL; JS as trustee-in-trust to Eliza Partridge et al., Deed, 10 Feb. 1843, CHL; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, p. 48; vol. N, pp. 297–298, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 135–136; JS to John C. Walsh, Promissory Notes, 10 Feb. 1843–A, –B, –C, and –D, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL; see also Letter to Richard M. Young, 9 Feb. 1843; and Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 68–72.)
- [4]
Ethan Kimball to Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, Deed, 31 Oct. 1842, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL; Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, pp. 69–70. On 21 January 1843, Willard Richards recorded that JS “went out in the City with Elder [Orson] Hyde to look at some Lots,” and it is possible the Hydes discussed donating this land to JS on that occasion. (JS, Journal, 21 Jan. 1843.)
- [5]
In April 1842, Marinda Hyde was sealed to JS as a plural wife. In several other instances, JS appears to have given or sold property to some of his plural wives. According to several later sources that are critical of JS, when Orson Hyde learned about his wife’s sealing to JS sometime in early spring 1843, he became angry and threatened to leave her. In deeding this property to Marinda, JS may have been attempting to provide for her should she require financial assistance. (Deed to Sarah Ann Whitney, 6 Sept. 1842; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. N, pp. 297–298, 10 Feb. 1843, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Editorial, Messenger and Advocate, 15 Mar. 1845, 156; Young, Wife No. 19, 325–326; Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 240–242.)
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Young, Ann Eliza. Wife No. 19; or, The Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Exposé of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy. Hartford, CT: Dustin, Gilman, 1876.
Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.
- [6]
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, pp. 401–402, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
THIS INDENTURE MADE AND ENTERED INTO, This Tenth day of February— in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty three between —— and —— his wife, of the county of and State of of the FIRST part, and Joseph Smith, as sole Trustee in Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of the county of , and State of of the SECOND part, Witnesseth, that the said and his wife, party of the FIRST part, for and in consideration of the love and good will they bear to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which the said Joseph Smith, party of the SECOND part, is sole Trustee in Trust, and also for the sum of one dollar, to them in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby grant, bargain, sell, convey, and confirm unto the said Joseph Smith, as sole Trustee in Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, party of the SECOND part, his successors in office and assigns forever, all that tract or parcel of land, situate and being in the county of —— in the State of known and described as follows, to wit. Lot number four in Block number twenty of Kimballs second addition to the City of — together with all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining.
TO HAVE and TO HOLD The above described premises unto the said Joseph Smith, party of the SECOND part, his successors in office and assigns forever. And the said —— and his wife, party of the FIRST part, their heirs and assigns, the aforesaid premises, unto the said Joseph Smith, as sole Trustee in Trust, &c. party of the SECOND part, his successors in office and assigns, against the claim or claims of all and every person whomsoever, do and will warrant and forever defend by these presents.
In Testimony Whereof, the said —— and his wife, party of the FIRST part, have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year above written.
-[seal.]-
-[seal.]-
Signed sealed and delivered)
in presence of)
| STATE OF ILLINOIS,) | ss. |
| ,) |
I, a Justice of the Peace, in and for the City of , in said do certify that —— and his wife, whose signatures appear to the foregoing deed, and who are personally known to me to be the persons described in, and who executed the same, did severally acknowledge that they had executed the said conveyance for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. And the said —— having been by me made acquainted with the contents of the said Deed, and examined separate and apart from her said , acknowledged that she had executed the same, and relinquished her dower to the premises therein conveyed, voluntarily, freely, and without compulsion of her said .
Given under my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
J. P. -[L. S.]- [p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [1]
TEXT: William Clayton used four vertical curlicued lines to fill the remaining blank space before the next portion of the form.
Signatures of Orson Hyde and Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde.
- [2]
TEXT: Signature of William Clayton.
Certification printed with manuscript additions and cancellation in the handwriting of Ebenezer Robinson.
- [3]
“Ss.” is a legal abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “that is to say, to wit, viz.” (“Scilicet,” in Jones, Introduction to Legal Science, appendix, 28.)
Jones, Silas. An Introduction to Legal Science: Being a Concise and Familiar Treatise . . . to Which Is Appended a Concise Dictionary of Law Terms and Phrases. New York: John S. Voorhies, 1842.
- [4]
TEXT: “L. S.” (which stands for locus sigilli, Latin for “location of the seal”) is printed as a representation of a seal.