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Minutes, 23 March 1833–A

Source Note

Minutes, , Geauga Co., OH, 23 Mar. 1833. Featured version copied [between 4 June and ca. 6 June 1833] in Minute Book 1, pp. 18–19; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minute Book 1.

Historical Introduction

On 23 March 1833, a meeting of and convened in the schoolroom at ’s to chart a course for acquiring more land for the church in , Ohio. An earlier revelation declared the importance of maintaining possession of ’s centrally located farm, “for I the Lord willeth to retain a strong hold in the Land of Kirtland for the space of five years.” JS’s later history further indicated that the purpose of purchasing land was to encourage and accommodate the growth of the church in Kirtland. The history stated that this “council was called for the purpose of appointing a committee to purchase land in Kirtland, upon which the Saints might build a of .” Urgency to accomplish their goal was demonstrated during the meeting as participants left to carry out assignments, while the remainder did not adjourn but awaited their return for several hours “in prayer and fasting.”
Though multiple farms are mentioned in the minutes, only the 103-acre owned by was acquired as a result of this meeting. All of the land that church leaders considered purchasing was located near property already controlled by the church. A large part of French’s land, for instance, abutted ’s 144-acre farm, which Williams had allowed JS and the church to use as early as spring 1831. Part of French’s land was also adjacent to ’s , where many meetings of JS and other church leaders, including this one, were held throughout 1833. Aside from its location, French’s land was desirable for other reasons. For one, it contained a two-story brick building, which was located on a major road in the area and used as an inn. The most important feature of the property to church leaders, however, was the brickyard, which they deemed necessary for building structures that would accommodate Kirtland’s growing population. Though the deed was not signed until 10 April 1833, a council meeting held on 2 April anticipated the acquisition of the French farm and assigned Frederick G. Williams “to be an agent to super[in]tend and employ some person or persons to carry on the brick yard on the french farm and also letting out the farm.”
While the minutes indicate that and were assigned to jointly superintend the purchase of the farms named, Coe alone signed the agreement with for the sale of his property on 10 April 1833. French agreed to sell his land for $5,000. Coe made a down payment of $2,000 and then through promissory notes agreed to pay the remaining $3,000 in two separate payments of $1,500 each. One of the notes was due 10 April 1834, and the second was due on the same date in 1835, both with an unstated payment of interest in addition to the listed sum. Because of the high cost of the French farm and the anticipated purchase of two other farms, on 23 March 1833 JS also assigned over a dozen elders to serve missions to both proselytize and acquire funds to help pay for the properties. Of the two minute book entries that record the events of this meeting, the first one, featured here, reports the meeting’s general proceedings; the second denominates the various missionary companionships that were to be sent out as a result of the decision to purchase more property.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Revelation, 11 Sept. 1831 [D&C 64:21].

  2. [2]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 282.

  3. [3]

    Zebedee Coltrin’s journal states, “On the 23d day of March held a council of highh Priests to investgate the subject of Purch[as]ing the brick tavern and farm owned by Peter French it was agreed to buy it and several othe[r] farms.” (Coltrin, Diary and Notebook, 23 Mar. 1833.)

    Coltrin, Zebedee. Diary and Notebook, 1832–1833. Zebedee Coltrin, Diaries, 1832–1834. CHL. MS 1443, fd. 2.

  4. [4]

    Revelation, 15 May 1831.

  5. [5]

    Although the purchase of Peter French’s property included the brick home, the church apparently did not have immediate access to the building. The deed stipulated that the sale was “subject to a lease given to Thomas Knight of the brick house and privilege contained in said lease.” (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 17, p. 360, 10 Apr. 1833, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  6. [6]

    As JS’s history explained, the “French farm was purchased on account of the facilities for making brick, their being essential to the building up of the city.” (JS History, vol. A-1, 283.)

  7. [7]

    Minutes, 2 Apr. 1833.

  8. [8]

    Along with the justice of the peace, Josiah Jones, Ezra Thayer was a witness to the deed, which enumerated the promissory notes. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 17, pp. 38–39, 10 Apr. 1833, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  9. [9]

    Minutes, 23 Mar. 1833–B. Zebedee Coltrin explained that the decision to purchase the farm “made it necessary to call the Elders out of school for the purpose of going again into the world and procuring means for Paying for the farms.” (Coltrin, Diary and Notebook, 23 Mar. 1833.)

    Coltrin, Zebedee. Diary and Notebook, 1832–1833. Zebedee Coltrin, Diaries, 1832–1834. CHL. MS 1443, fd. 2.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Minutes, 23 March 1833–A
Minute Book 1 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 18

23d of March 1833—
A of & assembld in the school room at 9 oclock agreeabl— to previous arangments.——
After opening the councel by prayer by Broth[er] Joseph it was agreed that bro and brothr should procede to make purchace of certain farms or to obtain, or to obtain their terms of sail, and and that Bro be appointed to obtain the price of and the brethren agreed to continue in prayer and fasting for the ultimate success of their mission after an absence of about three hours & returned and made report as follows. That would sell his farm for four thousand dollars and that Mr Morley would sell his farm for twenty one hundred dollars. and also returned and reported that would sell his farm for five thousand dollars and afte[r] the report of the brethren it was put to vote whether it was the property should be purchaced and deceded [decided] in the affirmative it was then agreed that bro and should superintend the purchacing of said farms and to have the prayer of the brethren and that they should be to that office accordingly ordained them as general agents to be set apart. [p. 18]
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Source Note

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Page 18

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes, 23 March 1833–A
ID #
6596
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D3:46–50
Handwriting on This Page
  • Frederick G. Williams

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A separate set of minutes taken on 23 March 1833 explained that Daley was to go and “provide all the means in his power to bring about the purchaces in Kirtland.” Coe had previously been tasked in April 1832 to provide the money needed to pay the remaining debt of $400 owed on Frederick G. Williams’s farm before the balance came due. According to Philo Dibble, Coe’s wife, Sophia Harwood, who was not a member of the church at the time, prevented Coe from paying what was apparently their own money to redeem the note. As a result, Dibble, under the direction of JS, sold 560 acres of his land in Elyria, Ohio, for only forty percent of its value in order to make the payment. Whether Sophia was baptized at some point following that episode is unknown, but only a year later Coe was named the debtor in the transaction with French to the amount of $3,000, suggesting that her reported resistance to her husband’s financial involvement in purchasing property for the church had been mitigated. (Minutes, 23 Mar. 1833–B; Dibble, Reminiscences, [4].)

    Dibble, Philo. Reminiscences, no date. Typescript. CHL. MS 15447.

  2. [2]

    Peter French’s land comprised the northern fifty acres of lot 30 and approximately fifty-three acres of the southwestern portion of lot 17. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 17, pp. 38–39, 10 Apr. 1833, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also illustration of church landholdings in Kirtland.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  3. [3]

    A JS revelation dated three months earlier used similar language: “I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall continue in prayer, and fasting, from this time forth.” (Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:76]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 515 [4 Nephi 1:12].)

  4. [4]

    Elijah Smith owned over two hundred acres of land in Kirtland, approximately half of which was very near Newel K. Whitney’s store and the Mormon settlements on Frederick G. Williams’s farm. Elijah Smith’s farm was also directly adjacent to seventeen acres of land in lot 18 that Whitney had just purchased from Gideon Riggs on 18 March 1833. The church, however, never purchased Smith's farm. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 7, p. 151, 27 Oct. 1817, microfilm 20,232; vol. 12, p. 143, 18 Nov. 1826, microfilm 20,234; vol. 17, p. 32, 18 Mar. 1833, microfilm 20,237; vol. 18, pp. 124–125, 20 Apr. 1832, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also illustration of church landholdings in Kirtland.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  5. [5]

    “Mr Morley” is probably Thomas Morley, father of church member Isaac Morley, who owned 34½ acres, primarily in lot 19, which was adjacent to both Elijah Smith’s property and Newel K. Whitney’s recently purchased land in lot 18. Thomas Morley never sold his land to the church, and there is some evidence that his asking price of $2,100 was inflated. Four years later, Morley finally sold the property in question and an additional 35 acres in another township to Nathaniel Milliken for $2,750. Milliken, a member of the church who had been ordained a seventy by the time of the purchase, may have procured the farm with the intent to turn it over to the church. However, by January 1838 Milliken had left the church and the property remained in his possession. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 24, pp. 320–321, 2 June 1837, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Hepzibah Richards, Kirtland, OH, to Willard Richards, Bedford, England, 18–19 Jan. 1838, Willard Richards, Papers, CHL; see also illustration of church landholdings in Kirtland.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Richards, Willard. Journals and Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490.

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