According to store invoices, Scribner was an “Importer and Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Fancy and Staple Hardware, Iron, Steel, Nails, Spikes, &c. &c” in Buffalo. By 1837, he appears to have been living in Troy, New York, around three hundred miles from Buffalo. (Invoice, Jonathan Scribner to Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery, 16 June 1836; Directory for the City of Buffalo [1836], 133; Directory for the City of Buffalo [1837], 119; Richards, Journal, 22 Mar. 1837; 19 and 26 Apr. 1837; 6 June 1837.)

A Directory for the City of Buffalo; Containing the Names and Residence of the Heads of Families and Householders, in Said City, on the First of May, 1836. Buffalo, NY: L. P. Crary, 1836.

Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

Invoice, Jonathan Scribner to Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery, 16 June 1836.

Jonathan F. Scribner, Statement, ca. Apr. 1838, JS Office Papers, CHL. Two reminiscent accounts identify Oliver Cowdery and Hyrum Smith as the men who traveled to New York to purchase merchandise in 1836, but the date of their trip is not specified. (Ames, Autobiography and Journal, [12]; Clark, Gleanings by the Way, 333.)

Ames, Ira. Autobiography and Journal, 1858. CHL. MS 6055.

Clark, John A. Gleanings by the Way. New York: Robert Carter, 1842.

JS History, vol. B-1, 762; Richards, Journal, 14 Mar.–11 June 1837.

Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

For more on the mission, their visits with Scribner, and the potential problems created by paying Scribner with Kirtland Safety Society banknotes, see Historical Introduction to Power of Attorney to Oliver Granger, 27 Sept. 1837.

Power of Attorney to Oliver Granger, 27 Sept. 1837.

Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 20 Oct. 1840 [Scribner v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery].

Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 20 Oct. 1840 [Scribner v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery]. At the same time, Scribner pursued litigation in a separate case against Cahoon, Carter & Co. for their unpaid promissory notes. (See Transcript of Proceedings, 3 Apr. 1838, Scribner v. Cahoon, Carter & Co., 3 Apr. 1838 [Geauga Co. C.P. 1838], Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, Common Pleas Record, vol. U, 584–585, microfilm 20,279, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 20 Oct. 1840 [Scribner v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery]. Though the plaintiff’s declaration appears to ask for multiple damages, each for $1,000, it was actually a single debt, expressed in different ways. This followed legal procedures of the times. (Swan, The Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law, in Ohio, 1:212–217.)

Swan, Joseph R. The Practice in Civil Actions and Proceedings at Law, in Ohio, and Precedents in Pleading, with Practical Notes; together with the Forms of Process and Clerks’ Entries. 2 vols. Columbus: Isaac N. Whiting, 1845.

Docket Entry, Judgment, 5 Apr. 1838 [Scribner v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery].

Jonathan F. Scribner, Statement, ca. April 1838, JS Office Papers, CHL.

Transcript of Proceedings, ca. 20 Oct. 1840 [Scribner v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery]; Docket Entry, Continuance, 7 Nov. 1838 [Scribner v. Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery]. Even though this case had been ruled nonsuit, JS included a $1,500 debt owed to Scribner on his 1842 bankruptcy schedule. The debt on JS’s bankruptcy schedule combined the amounts which the firms Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery and Cahoon, Carter & Co. owed to Scribner. The inclusion of the debt suggests that JS was not aware of the court’s ruling when he petitioned for bankruptcy in 1842. (See Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 April 1842, in JSP, D9:366.)

JSP, D9 / Smith, Alex D., Christian K. Heimburger, and Christopher James Blythe, eds. Documents, Volume 9: December 1841–April 1842. Vol. 9 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, 2019.