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Minutes, 30 April 1843
Source Note
Source Note
First Presidency (including JS), Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 30 Apr. 1843; handwriting of and ; six pages; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL. Includes dockets.
Six leaves, each measuring 12¼ × 7¾ inches (31 × 20 cm). inscribed the minutes of this court until a one-hour adjournment in the hearing, after which was the scribe. The text was inscribed on the verso of six printed copies of “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2,” Second Issue, between ca. 15 Mar. 1842 and 1 Apr. 1843.” The document was folded in half horizontally twice for storage.
, who served as JS’s scribe from December 1841 until JS’s death in June 1844 and served as church historian from December 1842 until his own death in March 1854, docketed the document. It was also docketed by Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. 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. Sometime between 1973 and 1984, the document was added to the JS Collection (Supplement). The dockets and the document’s inclusion in the JS Collection (Supplement) indicate continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
- [1]
- [2]
JS, Journal, 13 Dec. 1841 and 21 Dec. 1842; Orson Spencer, “Death of Our Beloved Brother Willard Richards,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 16 Mar. 1854, [2].
Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.
- [3]
Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.
Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.
Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.
Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.
Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
- [4]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.
- [5]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
On 30 April 1843, JS presided at a court in , Illinois, that heard the appeal of a case between and . The Nauvoo had rendered a verdict on this case earlier in April. In 1841, Coltrin agreed to pay $200 to Mathews for some land. Because Coltrin did not have the money for the payment, he gave Mathews two promissory notes of $100 each, and Mathews gave him a bond for the land. They then apparently reached an agreement in which Coltrin would satisfy the debt by building a house for Mathews by 5 November 1841. In accordance with the bond, Mathews would then provide Coltrin with title to the land. However, Coltrin did not complete the house on time. Mathews alleged that the delay was due to negligence on Coltrin’s part, while Coltrin argued that Mathews had not finished a cellar to the necessary specifications, thereby preventing Coltrin from raising the frame of the house. Coltrin finally finished the structure either in late 1842 or early 1843. According to Mathews and other witnesses, the house was of low quality and eventually collapsed. Unable to agree on a valuation of the house, Coltrin and Mathews sought an appraisal from two disinterested individuals. These appraisers valued the house at $200 at the place it was constructed or $225 if it was moved somewhere else.
In light of these appraisals, believed he had kept his end of the bargain and demanded the deed to the land. refused to relinquish it, stating that Coltrin had not fulfilled the terms of the agreement. Mathews then sold the land to his wife, Elizabeth Burgess Mathews, and Coltrin claimed Mathews had done so only to prevent him from obtaining the land. Coltrin preferred charges against both Anson and Elizabeth Mathews on 20 March 1843. The high council heard the case against Anson Mathews on 14 April 1843 and decided in Coltrin’s favor. The high council ordered Mathews to provide Coltrin with a land title and to endorse the bond to show that Coltrin had satisfied the debt. The council told Mathews that if he refused to do this, he would be disfellowshipped from the . Not satisfied with the decision, Mathews appealed to the First Presidency, stating that Coltrin “failed to meet his oblegations in Payment for said Land” and that he “never agree’d to receive the Building” Coltrin constructed as payment on the notes, because “it was bad work and not fit for a dwelling.”
The two parties appeared before the First Presidency on 30 April 1843. After receiving the relevant documents and hearing initial statements from (a high council member who served as counsel for ) and from , the First Presidency decided to hear the case “as an origenol case,” stating that the Nauvoo high council did not have the authority to determine land titles in Nauvoo. During the rehearing, Coltrin and Anson Mathews both testified, as did Elizabeth Mathews; Coltrin’s father, , and his brother ; and others familiar with the case. Anson Mathews also submitted a statement from George Reals, who declared that Coltrin failed to complete the building because he took on work for other individuals, not because Mathews’s cellar was not ready. After hearing the testimony, the First Presidency decided in favor of Mathews.
took the minutes of the meeting until the midday adjournment, after which kept them. Richards apparently used these minutes as a source when he recorded a brief summary of the trial in JS’s journal. The original minutes are featured here.
Footnotes
- [1]
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
- [2]
Coltrin charged Anson and Elizabeth Mathews with “unchristian like conduct” for “refusing to perform according to contract respecting the sale of a piece of land” and for transferring the “property in a way” that allowed Anson Mathews “to bid defiance to the result and force of law to compel him to abide the aforesaid contract.” Coltrin also accused Anson Mathews of lying. According to the minutes of the hearing, Anson Mathews was to “be tried separate from his wife,” but there are no records of a separate hearing for Elizabeth Mathews. (Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.)
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
- [3]
[Anson Mathews], “Defendants Plea and Specifications,” ca. Apr. 1843, Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, CHL; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
- [4]
Anson Mathews, Statement, ca. Apr. 1843; [Anson Mathews], “Defendants Plea and Specifications,” ca. Apr. 1843, Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, CHL. Mathews stated in his certification that at the time of the high council trial, he “did not fuly understand the Charges prefered against” him and “consequently was not prepared with competant witness’s to defend” him. He also claimed that the high council changed the hearing venue, which prevented his one witness from testifying. The First Presidency was the ecclesiastical body of the church designated to “determine whether any such case as may be appealed, is justly entitled to a re-hearing.” (Revised Minutes, 18–19 Feb. 1834 [D&C 102:33].)
Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.
- [5]
George Reals, Statement, Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, CHL.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Papers, 1839–1844. CHL.
- [6]
, if stated what foudatin [foundation] he was to make it is out of my mind,
President of [if] all the world was to swear that had acehieved that he was to build a better fou[n]dation than he did & . should state what he has, it would not convict this court.
, wanted to wait till he could get stone, to raise a the foundation,
court decided there is no court evidenc before the court,— circcustinctineal [circumstantial] evidence is good for nohting [nothing] without facts to base those circumstances, upon.
Charge 1.—
, refus[e]d to give me any title to the land
, went to cut a few little sticks. with my brother, son. as enquirred what right.— <he was ag[e]nt for Mr Bently [Elisha Bentley],> & said he would put the tree land in force.— went to see said his wife had taken a bond in her own name. said he would<nt> pay him any thing. if you come on my . I will swear her clear his her any way you can fix it.— get in a passion. Old Lady pomisd [promised] him the money if she could get it of Joseph.— went away when the land was prized. on purpose.— offered 15 acres land.— to satisfy for the house.—
12½ adjornd one hour
Court open— half past one—
— I dont know that I can say anthing but what my has done—
will you state what time
— <about> 3 or 4 weeks before the other trial
Br. Collit. Question is the proof of that deman[d]
all that I know is that he said he would pay him for what was due, but could not let him have the Land.
—The man we wanted to prize houses said that Br Browit had better not, because he was going to priz <build ow[n]> house— I prized <house> 250, he 200— some wood. Sister M. said she intended to pay him what was right— no more. did not know. but understood it was in land [p. 2]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [8]
Bent was a member of the Nauvoo high council. (Minutes and Discourses, 5–7 Oct. 1839.)
- [9]
Zebedee Coltrin was Graham Coltrin’s brother. He served as a church leader in Kirtland, Ohio. He also served as a member pro tem of the Nauvoo high council when it held the hearing on Graham Coltrin’s charges against Anson Mathews. (Kirtland Elders Quorum, “Record,” 22 May 1841; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 14 Apr. 1843.)
Kirtland Elders Quorum. “A Record of the First Quorurum of Elders Belonging to the Church of Christ: In Kirtland Geauga Co. Ohio,” 1836–1838, 1840–1841. CCLA.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
- [10]
Anson and Elizabeth Burgess Mathews had several children but only one living son at this time: William F. B. Mathews. (Anson Mathews, “Family Reckord,” Patriarchal Blessings, 1832–1845, Sturdevant and Mathews Family Collection, CHL.)
Sturdevant and Mathews Family Collection, 1807–1853. CHL.
- [11]
According to family genealogical records, Bentley was the brother of Atta Bentley Hamilton, who was married to Artois Hamilton, a hotelier in Carthage, Illinois. (“Elisha Bentley Jr., 1805–1869,” Individual Record, FamilySearch Ancestral File [Ancestral File no. 1JZH-5FQ]; “Atta Bentley, ca. 1800–1851,” Individual Record, FamilySearch Ancestral File [Ancestral File no. 1B9Q-J48]; Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 712–715.)
FamilySearch Ancestral File. Compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. https://www.familysearch.org/search/family-trees.
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.
- [12]
Among the definitions for prize in Webster’s 1828 dictionary is “to set or estimate the value of; to rate; as, to prize the goods specified in an invoice.” (“Prize,” in American Dictionary [1828], italics in original.)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
Willard Richards handwriting ends; John Taylor begins.
- [13]
John Coltrin was Graham Coltrin’s father. He moved to Nauvoo around 1841. (Delbert W. Argyle, “John Coltrin Jr.: 1775–1846,” 25, Delbert W. Argyle Genealogical Collection, microfilm 1,783,417, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
- [14]
Possibly Daniel Collett, a wheelwright who was born in Corse, Gloucestershire, England, in 1808 and was baptized in 1840; he immigrated to Nauvoo with his wife, Esther Jones Collett, and their three children in 1841. (Leonora Kirkbride, “History of Daniel Collett,” [1], Merrill, Collett, and Berrett Family Histories, CHL.)
Merrill, Collett, and Berrett Family Histories, ca. 1946–1962. CHL.
- [15]
Possibly Daniel Browett, a British convert who sailed to the United States in 1841, serving as the leader of a company of Latter-day Saints on the ship Echo. (JS History, vol. C-1, 1163, 1165.)