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Lease to John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, between 8 and 10 December 1842

Source Note

JS, Lease, , Hancock Co., IL, to and , , Hancock Co., IL, [between 8 and 10 Dec. 1842]; handwriting of ; signatures of , , and JS; six pages; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes dockets.
Bifolium and attached leaf measuring 12⅜ × 7⅝ inches (31 × 19 cm). Each page is ruled with thirty-six horizontal lines printed in brown ink (now heavily faded). The attached leaf was apparently detached from a bifolium, as the left side of the recto was either torn or cut. After the document was completed, the leaf containing the fifth page of the lease was attached to the back of the bifolium by a wafer seal placed in the upper left corner of the leaf’s recto. The lease was later folded for docketing and storage. Presumably at the same time he wrote the document, docketed the back page.
When the agreement was being filed, , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as clerk to later trustees-in-trust until 1846, labeled the document “Agreement for Printing Office.” At a later date, Clayton added the three names of the two parties to the lease below his original docket. The Church Historical Department (now CHL) published a register of the JS Collection in 1973. Between 1974 and 1984, staff continued to locate documents authored by or directed to JS in uncataloged church financial records and in name and subject files. The department also acquired additional JS documents from donors, collectors, and dealers. These newly located and acquired documents were kept together in a supplement to the JS Collection. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992. This group of records was named the JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, and its cataloging was finalized in 2017. The document’s early dockets and inclusion in the JS Collection (Supplement) suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; William Clayton, on behalf of Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, Request to Samuel Russell, Nauvoo, IL, 4 Aug. 1845; William Clayton, on behalf of Jerome Kempton, Order to John Taylor, Nauvoo, IL, 27 Sept. 1845, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; Trustee-in-trust, Ledger B, CHL.

    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.

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

    Trustees Land Books / Trustee-in-Trust, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Land Books, 1839–1845. 2 vols. CHL. MS 3437.

  2. [2]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

In early December 1842, JS leased the in , Illinois, to and . The agreement also granted Taylor and Woodruff the authority to edit and publish two newspapers, the Times and Seasons and the Wasp. In 1839 and established the printing office and the Times and Seasons with a printing press the provided. In January 1842, JS dictated a revelation directing the to take responsibility for the newspaper, and within a week JS purchased the office and the paper. For the next nine months, JS served nominally as the editor of the Times and Seasons and as the head of the printing office, though in practice Taylor wrote much of the editorial content and Woodruff managed the business affairs.
A few months after JS took possession of the , his younger brother began publishing the Wasp as a more traditional newspaper. In contrast to the semimonthly Times and Seasons, which was devoted to religious articles and church news, the weekly Wasp focused largely on general and local news. Although the paper listed William Smith as the author and publisher, its inclusion in this December 1842 lease suggests that because the Wasp was published out of the printing office owned by JS, it likewise belonged to JS. By fall 1842, William Smith apparently started relinquishing his responsibilities over the Wasp, and the paper began to refer to him as its “nominal editor.” Contextual information suggests that as early as August or September 1842, —with and perhaps others—handled the actual duties of editing and publishing the Wasp. By fall 1842, therefore, Taylor and Woodruff had assumed management and editorial oversight of the printing office and both papers in all but name.
In addition to publishing two newspapers, the included a stereotype foundry and a bookbindery. In 1840, after his experience getting the Book of Mormon stereotyped (a printing technique that created fixed lead printing plates allowing for easy reprinting of books) and bound in , purchased the supplies necessary to open his own stereotype foundry and bookbindery in . In January 1841, Robinson announced that he was “prepared to execute work” in stereotyping and bookbinding. When JS purchased the printing office from Robinson in February 1842, he likewise took control of the foundry and bindery.
During the second week of November 1842, JS met with and and requested that they take full control of the and “liberate” him from that responsibility. Taylor and Woodruff agreed to rent the property—with its printing shop, equipment, and newspapers—rather than buy the establishment outright. The 15 November 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons announced JS’s departure and Taylor’s appointment as editor of the newspaper. The issue also listed Taylor and Woodruff as the newspaper’s printers, anticipating that the printing office would soon legally change hands. Despite the editorial change announced in the Times and Seasons, the Wasp continued to be published in ’s name until the 10 December 1842 issue.
Although and had already publicly taken responsibility for the in November, the process of formally leasing the office apparently did not begin until 2 December 1842. On that date, JS instructed and to “take an apprisal of the printing Office” preparatory to leasing it to Taylor and Woodruff. Richards and Woodruff spent the next several days in the office inventorying and appraising the property. The inventory, which was copied into the lease, included the presses, type, furniture, and related instruments as well as the equipment and tools needed for bookbinding and stereotyping. According to the inventory, the printing office included three printing presses of various sizes. Aside from the presses, much of the printing section of the inventory was dominated by the type owned by the printing office, itemized by font and size.
Sometime between 8 and 10 December 1842, noted that he drafted “an article of agreement” to lease the from JS. Presumably around that same time, made a copy of the lease with Woodruff’s and ’s inventory of property in the office while making some corrections and additions to the inventory. The final lease gave Taylor and Woodruff control of the office for five years with payments of $200 due to JS twice annually. This copy was then signed by Taylor, Woodruff, and JS. Despite being finished sometime around 8–10 December, the lease was backdated to 1 December 1842.
Although the lease called for semiannual payments of $200 for rent, it is unclear whether or for how long these payments were made, and in mid-January 1844, and dissolved their partnership. An unsigned lease dated 23 January 1844 and contemporaneous journal entries indicate that JS apparently desired to sell the outright to Taylor around that time. However, notations on a financial account between the printing office and JS suggest that the office was continuing to tabulate rent to JS and possibly his estate or later trustees-in-trust through 21 January 1846.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 257–258.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  2. [2]

    Revelation, 28 Jan. 1842; Woodruff, Journal, 4 Feb. 1842; Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 Feb. 1842.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  3. [3]

    Historical Introduction to Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1842; Woodruff, Journal, 3 and 19 Feb. 1842.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  4. [4]

    “Introductory,” Wasp, 16 Apr. 1842, [2]; William Smith, “Proposals for Publishing the Wasp,” Wasp, 16 Apr. 1842, [4].

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  5. [5]

    “To the Public,” Wasp, 8 Oct. 1842, [2], italics in original.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  6. [6]

    In September 1842, JS contemplated moving the printing press used to print the Wasp to Keokuk, Iowa Territory, to publish a newspaper there under Woodruff’s editorship, suggesting that Woodruff had taken on some responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper. In a letter to the editor of the Sangamo Journal, church dissident George W. Robinson commented on the confusing status of the editorship of the Wasp, sarcastically stating that because of “the dozen would be editors, who are prowling and loafing about the printing office, it would be difficult to ascertain the editors.” (“Letter from Col. Robinson,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 26 Aug. 1842, [2], italics in original; Woodruff, Journal, 22 Sept. 1842; JS, Journal, 22 Sept. 1842; “To the Public,” Wasp, 8 Oct. 1842, [2].)

    Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  7. [7]

    Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 258–262; Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson and Don Carlos Smith, 14 Dec. 1840.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  8. [8]

    Advertisement, Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1841, 2:272.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  9. [9]

    Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 Feb. 1842.

  10. [10]

    Woodruff, Journal, 7–12 Nov. 1842. At this time, JS had numerous civic and ecclesiastical responsibilities, including serving as president and trustee-in-trust of the church as well as mayor, head of the municipal court of Nauvoo, and lieutenant general over the Nauvoo Legion. Additionally, the printing establishment had been plagued with problems in the months leading up to the transfer. The press twice ran out of paper for several weeks in August and November. Furthermore, a fire in the upper floors of the printing office heavily damaged the building in October 1842. These difficulties may have contributed to JS’s decision to lease the business and property. (“Joseph Smith Documents from September 1842 through February 1843”; Historical Introduction to Notice, ca. 1 Dec. 1842; John Taylor, “Introductory,” Wasp, 10 Dec. 1842, [2]; Woodruff, Journal, 24 Oct. 1842.)

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  11. [11]

    Woodruff, Journal, 7–12 Nov. 1842.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  12. [12]

    Notice, 15 Nov. 1842. Although dated 15 November, the issue was printed one day later. (John Taylor, Editorial, Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1842, 4:8; Woodruff, Journal, 16 Nov. 1842.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  13. [13]

    William Smith, “Valedictory,” and John Taylor, “Introductory,” Wasp, 10 Dec. 1842, [2].

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  14. [14]

    JS, Journal, 2 Dec. 1842. Earlier in 1842, Richards noted that one of his responsibilities as JS’s “private secratary, and scribe and clerk” was managing the finances of the “Printing office, Book Binding, Stereotypefoundry, engraving &c. &c.” (Willard Richards to Levi Richards, 7 Mar. 1842, typescript, Richards Family Papers, CHL.)

    “Richards Family Letters 1840–1849.” Typescript. Richards Family Papers, 1965. CHL.

  15. [15]

    Richards, Journal, 2–4 Dec. 1842; Woodruff, Journal, 2–5 Dec. 1842.

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

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  16. [16]

    The church purchased one of the three presses in Kirtland, Ohio, for printing needs there. In 1837 the press was taken to Far West, Missouri, and beginning in summer 1838 it was used to print the Elders’ Journal. During the Missouri conflict in 1838, the Saints buried the press to hide it from their enemies. In 1839 they disinterred it and brought it to Commerce, Illinois, where it was used to print the Times and Seasons. At some point—presumably prior to the publication of the Wasp in April 1842—the office acquired two additional presses, possibly from Cincinnati or New York, where the printers purchased printing supplies on other occasions. (Prospectus for the Elders’ Journal, 30 Apr. 1838; Prospectus, Times and Seasons, Oct. 1840, 1:191–192; “The Weekly Paper,” Times and Seasons, 2 Aug. 1841, 2:497–498; Ebenezer Robinson, “Items of Personal History of the Editor,” Return, May 1890, 257–258, 261–262.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    The Return. Davis City, IA, 1889–1891; Richmond, MO, 1892–1893; Davis City, 1895–1896; Denver, 1898; Independence, MO, 1899–1900.

  17. [17]

    Unlike modern printers, who measure type size with a point system, nineteenth-century printers used names to refer to different sizes of type. The sizes mentioned in this inventory, from smallest to largest, are pearl, nonpareil, minion, brevier, long primer, small pica, pica or two-line nonpareil, English, great primer, paragon or two-line long primer, and canon. (Rummonds, Nineteenth-Century Printing Practices, 1:229–234.)

    Rummonds, Richard-Gabriel. Nineteenth-Century Printing Practices and the Iron Handpress. 2 vols. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press; London: British Library, 2004.

  18. [18]

    Woodruff, Journal, 8–10 Dec. 1842.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  19. [19]

    Although the announcement of the dissolution of Taylor and Woodruff’s partnership was dated 30 December 1843, it was not published until 28 February 1844. Woodruff’s journal describes the actual dissolution taking place sometime between 16 and 19 January 1843. (John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, Notice, Nauvoo Neighbor, 28 Feb. 1844, [3]; Agreement with John Taylor, 23 Jan. 1844, JS Office Papers, CHL; JS, Journal, 23 Jan. 1844; Woodruff, Journal, 16–19 Jan. 1844.)

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

  20. [20]

    “No 5 Joseph Smiths a/c CR as pr Printing Office Books,” Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

Page 1

This Indenture, made the first day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty two: between Joseph Smith of the city of , of the one part; and , and <​of the said ​> of the other part, witnesseth, that the said Joseph Smith; for the consideration hereinafter mentioned, hath demised, granted and leased, and doth hereby demise, grant, and lease, unto the said , and Their executors; administrators, and assigns; his entire printing establishment, consisting of the the and Lot at the corner of Water, and Bain Streets; in the city of , County of , & State of ; and formerly purchased of ; together with, all the printing presses, type, stereotype foundry, and plates, presses, Book bindery, and all other goods, and chattels, whatsoever, mentioned and expressed, in the schedule hereunto annexed; now remaining, and being in , , and state of : together with all the privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging. To have and to Hold, the said premises, with the appurtenances, for, and during the term of five years, from the day first day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, and forty two.
And the said , and for themselves, their heirs, executors, and administrators, do covenant and agree, to pay unto the said Joseph Smith, his heirs and assigns, the rent of four hundred dollars per year, the rent to be paid half yearly viz two hundred dollars every six months.
And the said parties for themselves respectfully respectively each with the other; and their respective heirs and executors and administrators, do further covenant and agree as follows, to wit, that the said Joseph Smith shall [p. 1]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Lease to John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, between 8 and 10 December 1842
ID #
1993
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D11:262–276
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Taylor

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Willard Richards purchased the printing office from Robinson on behalf of JS on 4 February 1842. (Agreement with Ebenezer Robinson, 4 Feb. 1842.)

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