Footnotes
Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24; Wilkinson et al., Brigham Young University, 4:255.
Andrus, Hyrum L., and Chris Fuller, comp. Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers. Provo, UT: Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1978.
Wilkinson, Ernest L., Leonard J. Arrington, and Bruce C. Hafen, eds. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. Vol. 4. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.
Footnotes
Hotchkiss and Gillet purchased the four hundred acres from Alexander White in 1836. In selling the land, Hotchkiss, Gillet, and Tuttle bonded themselves to convey title if the land were paid for on schedule. In purchasing the land, JS, Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith promised to pay for the land in forty-two installments over the next twenty years. From 1840 to 1859, two payments of $1,500 were due annually: one was to be paid to Hotchkiss, and the other was to be paid to Gillet and Tuttle, with the principal due at the end of the loan. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A; Promissory Note to John Gillet and Smith Tuttle, 12 Aug. 1839; “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842.”)
JS, Journal, 9 Mar. 1843. There is no indication of mailing on the extant photocopy.
Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 24 July 1841. The situation seemed so dire that a general church conference in 1841 voted that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles write an epistle to church members abroad “to use their influence and exertions to secure, by exchange, purchase, donation &c., a title to the Hotchkiss purchase.” The specter of JS’s overwhelming debt led him to apply for bankruptcy in 1842. An entry in JS’s journal noted that “Joseph has nothing to do with paying the rema[i]nder which is due Hotchkiss in the event he is discharged on bankruptcy.” (Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841; JS, Journal, 5 Jan. 1843; see also Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 30 June 1842.)
Clayton, Journal, 7 July 1843; Bond from Smith Tuttle and John Gillet, 7 July 1843; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, p. 299, 7 July 1843, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; John Gillet, Lake Fork, IL, to Smith Tuttle, Fair Haven, CT, 20 Aug. 1843, John Gillett-William P. Whittle Papers, 1835–1869, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
John Gillett-William P. Whittle Papers, 1835–1869. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.
Robison appears to be suggesting that if the taxes on the land in question had not been paid by Hotchkiss or his business partners, the land could be listed for sale and JS could obtain the title or deed by paying the outstanding tax at a forced sale of the property. According to Illinois state law, “the sales of lands, or town lots, hereafter sold by the sheriff for taxes, are hereby declared to be good and valid, and he is required to give a certificate and keep a list of the same.” (An Act Supplemental to an Act, Entitled “An Act to Provide for Raising a Revenue” [19 Jan. 1829], Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois [1828–1829], p. 123, sec. 11.)
The Revised Code of Laws, of Illinois, Enacted at the Fifth General Assembly, at Their Session Held at Vandalia, Commencing on the Fourth Day of December, 1826, and Ending the Nineteenth of February, 1827. Vandalia, IL: Robert Blackwell, 1827.
Robison became Hancock County recorder in 1839, succeeding Wesley Williams. (Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 786, 953.)
Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.