Footnotes
Weeks, History of Paper-Manufacturing, 249.
Weeks, Lyman Horace. A History of Paper-Manufacturing in the United States, 1690–1916. New York: Lockwood Trade Journal, 1916.
JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.
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.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.
Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
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
For the most recent correspondence between them, see Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 May 1842; and Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 30 June 1842.
An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy [19 Aug. 1841], Public Statutes at Large, 27th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 9, pp. 440–449; Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Clayton’s docket began with the word “Copy” encircled and apart from the rest of the docket. This notation may have served either as a description of this letter or as instructions to another clerk to make a copy of the letter.
JS had listed a $50,000 debt to Hotchkiss on his schedule of creditors when he petitioned for bankruptcy. (Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.)
Because of the large number of legal cases involving bankruptcy in 1842, it is unclear to which decision JS was referring. The context here suggests that the decision was related to the nature of trustee or fiduciary debts, which was a matter of contention in bankruptcy proceedings. While the 1841 bankruptcy act explicitly disqualified debts created “in consequence of a defalcation . . . as executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, or while acting in any other fiduciary capacity,” in practice there were diverging legal opinions regarding how such debts should be treated. For example, in a September 1842 decision by the United States Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts, Justice Joseph Story noted that three of his fellow supreme court justices had expressed differing opinions about fiduciary debts and bankruptcy in their judgments. Justice Peter Daniel opined that persons with fiduciary debts could not apply for bankruptcy at all, while justices John McLean and Smith Thompson argued that fiduciary debts did not prevent people from applying for bankruptcy. Even then, McLean and Thompson differed over whether creditors could voluntarily prove the fiduciary debts in court and seek compensation. In his judgment, Justice Story aligned most closely with Thompson, arguing that people with fiduciary debts could file for bankruptcy but that their fiduciary debts could only be discharged if their creditors voluntarily elected to prove the debt in court. It is unclear whether JS was referring to this or another decision, but his argument seems to reflect the same logic as that of Justice McLean, who argued that fiduciary debts did not prohibit bankruptcy but were exempt from bankruptcy proceedings. Opinions in Illinois varied, however, and about a month after JS’s letter to Hotchkiss, the United States attorney for Illinois, Justin Butterfield, expressed his belief to JS that, despite the debt’s fiduciary nature, bankruptcy would absolve JS of the Hotchkiss debt. (An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy [19 Aug. 1841], Public Statutes at Large, 27th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 9, p. 441, sec. 1; “In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts,” 259–269; JS, Journal, 5 Jan. 1843.)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
“In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts” / “Circuit Court of the United States, Massachusetts, September 7, 1842, at Boston. In Bankruptcy. In the Matter of John C. Tebbetts.” Law Reporter 5 (Oct. 1842): 259–269.
In his letter to Rigdon, Hotchkiss had asked for the number and type of buildings built on his lands in Nauvoo as well as what kind of legal title they had received for the land. (Horace Hotchkiss, Fair Haven, CT, to Sidney Rigdon, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Nov. 1842, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.)
In September 1842, JS complained that John C. Bennett and “his confederate” were stealing and disrupting the mail in Nauvoo. On 6 November, JS likewise accused George W. Robinson, Rigdon’s son-in-law, and “others” of embezzling letters and money sent through the post office. Two days later, JS and others sent a petition to the postmaster general requesting that he dismiss Rigdon as Nauvoo’s postmaster and appoint JS in his place. This petition was accompanied by affidavits “proving that letters had frequently been broken open money detained, and letters charged twice over.” (Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 Sept. 1842; Letter to George W. Robinson, 6 Nov. 1842; JS, Journal, 8 Nov. 1842; Letter to Richard M. Young, 9 Feb. 1843.)