Footnotes
Footnotes
Rohrbough, Land Office Business, chap. 12.
Rohrbough, Malcolm J. The Land Office Business: The Settlement and Administration of American Public Lands, 1789–1837. New York: Ocford University Press, 1968.
Several other letters between church leaders in western Illinois and JS in Washington DC arrived within three weeks of being sent. JS and Higbee may have received this letter as early as the end of January, when they returned to Washington DC from Philadelphia. (Letter to Hyrum Smith and Nauvoo High Council, 5 Dec. 1839; Letter to Seymour Brunson and Nauvoo High Council, 7 Dec. 1839; Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840; Historian’s Office, JS History, Draft Notes, 27 Jan. 1840, 2.)
Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, ca. 30 Oct. 1839–27 Jan. 1840; Journal of the Senate of the United States, 26th Cong., 1st Sess., 17 Feb. 1840, 179.
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 2, 1839, and in the Sixty-Fourth Year of the Independence of the Said United States. Washington DC: Blair and Rives, 1839.
In an 1839 affidavit, Partridge declared that his property in Jackson County was worth over $15,000. In 1838 Partridge sold some of his land holdings in Jackson County prior to leaving Missouri. (Edward Partridge, Affidavit, Quincy, IL, 15 May 1839, Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives, Washington DC; Agreement with Amos Rees and Alexander Doniphan, 28 [Nov.] 1838, Hiram Kimball, Collection, CHL.)
Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives / Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to the Committee on Judiciary during the 27th Congress. Committee on the Judiciary, Petitions and Memorials, 1813–1968. Record Group 233, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789–2015. National Archives, Washington DC. The LDS records cited herein are housed in National Archives boxes 40 and 41 of Library of Congress boxes 139–144 in HR27A-G10.1.
Hudson M. Garland served as recorder in the General Land Office from 4 July 1836 to June 1841. (Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., 4 July 1836, 4:576–577; 27th Cong., 1st Sess., 17 June 1841, 5:386.)
Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, from March 4, 1829, to March 3, 1837, Inclusive. Vol. 4. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1887.
In 1840 the postage rate for letters weighing an ounce or more and sent to a destination more than four hundred miles from their point of origin was one dollar per ounce. Accordingly, if Partridge had sent JS and Higbee all of his land patents listed in this letter, the cost would have been about eight dollars. (American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, 119.)
The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, for the Year 1841. Boston: David H. Williams, 1840.
The correct certificate number for this land patent is 2599. (Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 2599, General Land Office Records, BLM.)
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 1871, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
TEXT: [hole in page].
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 1872, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 1873, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 14, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 1961, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 1962, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 2317, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
TEXT: [hole in page].
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 26, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
TEXT: “i[page torn]”.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 27, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 34, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
See Land Patent for Edward Partridge, Jackson Co., MO, no. 3172, General Land Office Records, BLM.
General Land Office Records. BLM. Accessed 15 May 2017. https://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
TEXT: From this point on, the text on the page appears to have been canceled at a later date, possibly indicating the end of the list of information pertinent to the federal government’s consideration of the church’s petitioning efforts.
“Exd” was written in the upper right-hand corner of each of the land patents listed in this letter. According to an explanation written several decades later by an individual familiar with the processes of the General Land Office, “Exd” stood for “examined,” meaning that the land office staff had examined the patent application. (Index to the Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives, 121–122.)
Index to the Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives for the First and Second Sessions of the Forty-Fifth Congress, 1877–’78. Vol. 5, Nos. 834 to 1017 Inclusive. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1878.