Deed to Robert Peirce, 28 February 1842, Page 282
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Deed to Robert Peirce, 28 February 1842

Source Note

JS and , Deed for property in , Hancock Co., IL, to , 28 Feb. 1842; sealed by JS and ; witnessed by and ; certified by . Featured version copied 4 June 1842 in Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, vol. K, pp. 281–282; unidentified handwriting; Hancock County Recorder’s Office, Carthage, IL.
The deed was recorded in Deed Book K, the original physical dimensions of which volume are unknown. The volume contained 294 leaves (588 pages) and endpaper, now measuring 16⅜ × 10½ inches (42 × 27 cm). Nothing is known of the original binding, but by 1974 the volume was rebound and covered in white canvas, with “DEED RECORD | K | HANCOCK COUNTY” stamped in ink on the spine. A twenty-four leaf (forty-eight page) index in an unknown hand was inserted in the front of the volume, presumably around the same time. At an unknown time the text block and index were cut from the new binding, inserted into individual Mylar sleeves, and placed in a metal-and-board binder with a red exterior. The binder measures 18½ × 13 × 3¾ inches (47 × 33 × 10 cm). The volume contains handwritten deeds recorded 11 December 1841 to 2 June 1842.
The volume has remained in the continuous custody of the , Illinois, recorder since its creation.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. K, 1841–1842, microfilm 954,599, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Historical Introduction

On 28 February 1842 JS and deeded three lots on the , Illinois, plat to member . In March 1841 Peirce sold his farm in , Pennsylvania, to church in exchange for a note, valued at $5,000, that could be redeemed for property in Nauvoo. The three lots deeded to Peirce on 28 February 1842 were worth a total of $2,700 and were the final installment of the church’s obligation to Peirce. JS paid earlier installments in response to an August 1841 letter from Peirce requesting land be deeded to William Gheen “on my account” and a debt be paid to “Brother Whitesides.”
The deed was produced in by . JS and signed that copy, which was witnessed by Richards and and certified by JS’s brother . This original deed was then taken to the clerk’s office in , Illinois, to be recorded in a county deed book, which was done on 4 June 1842. That copy is featured here.
viewed the reception of the deed as a vindication of his faith. Earlier, news of his initial transaction with church agents garnered controversy in . Local newspapers suggested that church agents would not fulfill the land transactions they had entered into with eastern converts. The Saturday Courier cited the church’s purchase of Peirce’s farm land as a particularly blatant effort to defraud them. After receiving this deed, Peirce exonerated the church from any wrongdoing in a letter that was published in the Times and Seasons.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 28 Feb. 1842.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 28 Feb. 1842.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Robert Peirce, 20 Aug. 1841; JS and Emma Smith to William Gheen, Deed, 18 Sept. 1841, Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. I, p. 446, microfilm 954,598, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. In May 1841 JS and Emma Smith transferred $1,550 worth of land to Peirce, which might have also been an installment on the debt to Peirce. (JS and Emma Smith to Robert Peirce, Indenture, 29 May 1841, Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. I, pp. 330–331, microfilm 954,598, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

  4. [4]

    See JS and Emma Smith to Robert Peirce, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 28 Feb. 1842, International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Pioneer Memorial Museum, Salt Lake City.

  5. [5]

    “The Mormons—the Crimes of Their Leaders and the Delusion of Their Dupes—Their History, Etcetera,” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia), 14 Aug. 1841, [2].

    Saturday Courier. Philadelphia. 1841–1848.

  6. [6]

    Letter from Robert Peirce, 28 Feb. 1842.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Deed to Robert Peirce, 28 February 1842, in handwriting of Willard Richards *Deed to Robert Peirce, 28 February 1842

Page 282

State of Illinois,) SS.
,)
I, a justice of the peace of the city of do certify, that Joseph Smith 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 seperate and apart from her said husband, acknowledged that she had executed the same, and relinquished her dower to the premises therein conveyed, voluntarily, freely, and without compulsion of her said husband. Given under my hand and seal this Twenty eighth day of February in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty two
J. P. L S
for
Lot 4 Blk 78 Lot 2 Blk 94 Lot 4 Blk 95 [p. 282]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Deed to Robert Peirce, 28 February 1842
ID #
6365
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D9:165–168
Handwriting on This Page
  • Unidentified

Footnotes

  1. [4]

    A dower was “that portion of the lands or tenements of a man which his widow enjoys during her life, after the death of her husband.” Illinois law provided a widow with the choice to either accept what was left to her in her husband’s will or claim “one-third part of the real estate of her said deceased husband for life, and one-third part of the personal estate forever.” (“Dower,” in American Dictionary [1841], 540; An Act relative to Wills and Testaments, Executors and Administrators, and the Settlement of Estates [23 Jan. 1829], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 696, sec. 40.)

    An American Dictionary of the English Language; First Edition in Octavo, Containing the Whole Vocabulary of the Quarto, with Corrections, Improvements and Several Thousand Additional Words. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New Haven: By the author, 1841.

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  2. [5]

    TEXT: The county recorder added the notation on this line in the left margin of page 281 when copying the deed into the deed book.

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