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Lease to David S. Hollister, 2 December 1843

Source Note

JS and , Lease, , IL, to , , IL, 2 Dec. 1843; handwriting of ; signatures of JS, , and ; witnessed by and ; three pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes docket.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm). The lease is inscribed on the first three pages. The document was folded twice horizontally and docketed.
The document was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early docket and its later inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    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.

  2. [2]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 2 December 1843, JS and leased their portion of the steamboat Maid of Iowa to member . JS had purchased a 50 percent interest in the steamboat in May 1843 and shortly afterward transferred a portion of his share to church member . In July, JS deeded some or all of his remaining share to his wife Emma Smith. Though the Maid of Iowa had generated some income as a ferry and a freight ship, prior debts, poor management, and misfortune had left the vessel in a precarious financial situation. In early October, clerk and advised JS to put the steamboat “in different hands,” which is possibly why JS leased the boat to Hollister.
engaged in a variety of business endeavors in and —including operating a mercantile establishment, investing in a bank, and purchasing real estate—before relocating his family in 1842 to , Illinois, where he apparently produced lard oil. Hollister joined the church by March 1842, and during late summer of that year, he warned JS of officials’ plans to extradite JS to face charges related to the Saints’ conflicts with other Missourians in 1838. In October 1843, JS and Hollister conducted a business transaction.
In late November and early December 1843, JS’s clerk , acting on behalf of JS and , produced financial papers associated with ’s lease of the Maid of Iowa. On 30 November, Clayton noted that he worked at the “making papers for Hollister on Steam Boat.” Clayton spent 2 December “preparing papers for Hollister untill late in the evening,” which presumably included drawing up this lease. Under the agreement, JS and Emma leased their share of the Maid of Iowa to Hollister for one year—from 18 December 1843 to 18 December 1844—in exchange for $600. JS, Emma Smith, and Hollister—the three principals in the transaction—each signed the lease. and Clayton signed the document as witnesses.
On 3 December, reported that he “went to Prest J’s to finish papers for .” Shortly after signing the lease, Hollister rendezvoused with the Maid of Iowa in , where a local sheriff had impounded it for unpaid debts incurred in . While in New Orleans, Hollister wrote a letter to JS relaying information about the steamboat’s financial situation and his efforts to redeem the vessel from debt.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 12 May 1843; Clayton, Journal, 3 June 1843; Trustees Land Book B, 24 May 1843, 19.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. [2]

    Clayton, Journal, 15 July 1843. Under the common law doctrine of coverture, while he lived JS legally owned any property in Emma Smith’s name. This transaction may have been part of JS’s efforts to distinguish his family’s personal property from that of the church (for which he acted as trustee-in-trust). A 3 January 1844 record of ship registers and enrollments listed Emma Smith, rather than JS, as a part owner of the Maid of Iowa. (“Coverture,” in Rawle, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1:724; Salmon, Women and the Law of Property, 14–16; Survey of Federal Archives, Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana, 4:173.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

    Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.

    Salmon, Marylynn. Women and the Law of Property in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

    Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Louisiana. 6 vols. University, LA: Louisiana State University, 1941.

  3. [3]

    Letter from Erastus Derby, 9 Oct. 1843; see also David S. Hollister, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1843 [1844]; and Dan Jones, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1844, JS Collection, CHL.

  4. [4]

    Buck, Pioneer History of Milwaukee, 75–79; Case, Hollister Family of America, 421.

    Buck, James S. Pioneer History of Milwaukee, from 1840 to 1846, Inclusive. Vol. 2. Milwaukee: Symes, Swain and Co., 1881.

    Case, Lafayette Wallace, comp. The Hollister Family of America: Lieut. John Hollister of Wethersfield, Conn., and His Descendants. Chicago: Fergus Printing, 1886.

  5. [5]

    General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 90; JS, Journal, 13 Aug. 1842; JS, Journal, Copied Correspondence, 30 June–17 Aug. 1842.

  6. [6]

    In a 13 October 1843 journal entry, William Clayton ambiguously stated that some business was “settled with D. S. Hollister” at JS’s house. (Clayton, Journal, 13 Oct. 1843.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  7. [7]

    Clayton, Journal, 30 Nov. and 2 Dec. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  8. [8]

    Clayton’s journal entries indicate that the lease was prepared and signed in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Clayton, Journal, 2–3 Dec. 1843.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  9. [9]

    Clayton, Journal, 3 Dec. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  10. [10]

    David S. Hollister, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1843 [1844], JS Collection, CHL; see also Dan Jones, New Orleans, LA, to JS, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Jan. 1844, JS Collection, CHL.

Page [1]

This Indenture made this second day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty three between Joseph Smith and his wife of the County of and State of of the one part, and of the and aforesaid of the other part, Witnesseth, that the said Joseph Smith and his wife, for and in consideration of the rent, covenants, and agreements hereafter in and by these presents mentioned, reserved, and contained on the part and behalf of the said , his executors, administrators and assigns, to be paid, observed, done, and performed hath demised, granted and leased, and by these presents doth demise, grant and lease unto the said , his executors, administrators, and assigns their whole and entire interest in the Steam Boat “Maid of Iowa”, together with all her tackle, fixtures, furniture and apparel, and all the appurtenances thereof.
To have and to hold the said whole and undivided interest in the said Steam Boat “Maid of Iowa” with all the privileges and appurtenances to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining unto the said his executors, administrators and assigns from the eighteenth instant, for and during and untill the full end and term of one year from thence next ensuing, and fully to be completed and ended, yeilding and paying therefor semi-annually, and each half year during the said term of one year unto the said Joseph Smith & his wife, their heirs or assigns the yearly rent of six hundred dollars lawful money of the , the first payment for the sum of three hundred dollars to be made at the expiration of six months from the date of the commencement of said term, and the second payment of three hundred dollars at the expiration of [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Lease to David S. Hollister, 2 December 1843
ID #
2016
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:300–303
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A tackle is a system of ropes and pulley blocks used to raise and lower heavy objects; the word also referred to the rigging of a ship. (“Tackle,” in King et al., Sea of Words, 430.)

    King, Dean, John B. Hattendorf, and J. Worth Estes. A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O’Brian. 3rd ed. New York: Henry Holt, 2000

  2. [2]

    Apparel, in this sense, refers to the “outfit or rigging of a ship.” (“Apparel,” in Oxford English Dictionary, 1:395.)

    Oxford English Dictionary. Compact ed. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.

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