Pay Order to Brother Davis, circa 1 March 1841

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Pay Order to Brother Davis, circa 1 March 1841
Source Note

JS, Pay Order, to “Brother Davis,” [
Nauvoo
Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....
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, Hancock Co., IL], ca. 1 Mar. 1841; handwriting of JS; two pages; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU.

Single leaf measuring 4⅜ × 7½ inches (11 × 19 cm). The pay order was written on the recto. After the order was hand delivered and returned with payment, an endorsement was added on the verso. At some point the document was folded for filing.

JS presumably gave this document to
Newel K. Whitney
3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...
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, who kept a variety of financial records for the church. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Whitney kept, was inherited by his daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who married Isaac Groo. The documents were passed down within the Groo family. Between 1969 and 1974, the Groo family donated their collection of Newel K. Whitney’s papers to the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.
1
Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24.
Comprehensive Works Cited
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.
Footnotes
[1]
Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24.
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.
Historical Introduction
JS wrote this pay order to a “Brother Davis”—probably
Amos Davis
Ca. 20 Sept. 1813–22 Mar. 1872. Merchant, farmer, postmaster, tavernkeeper. Born in New Hampshire or Vermont. Son of Wells Davis and Mary. Moved to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Hancock Co., Illinois, ca. fall 1836. Married first Elvira Hibard, 1 Jan. 1837, in...
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—to request funds from him. Unlike other extant pay order documents from JS,
1
See Pay Order to Oliver Granger, 15 Apr. 1840; and Letter to Newel K. Whitney, 12 Dec. 1840.
no date was written at the top of this document; the note of receipt written by JS on the verso of the document is dated 1 March 1841. Because the document was presumably produced, sent, received, and returned in
Nauvoo
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, Illinois, where both JS and Davis lived, it is possible that JS wrote the pay order earlier the same day.

Amos Davis
Ca. 20 Sept. 1813–22 Mar. 1872. Merchant, farmer, postmaster, tavernkeeper. Born in New Hampshire or Vermont. Son of Wells Davis and Mary. Moved to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Hancock Co., Illinois, ca. fall 1836. Married first Elvira Hibard, 1 Jan. 1837, in...
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, a land owner and merchant who operated a store in
Nauvoo
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between 1839 and 1842, joined the
church
The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...
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in 1840. A trusted member of the community, Davis hosted city council meetings in his home.
2
See Leonard, Nauvoo, 145; Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841; and Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
He had also previously exchanged money and entered land transactions with JS.
3
Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, to JS, [Nauvoo, IL], 6 July 1840, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.
However, an extant account book for Davis lists no transaction with JS around 1 March 1841, suggesting that the money may have been a gift to a friend rather than a loan.
4
See Davis, Account Book, 1839–1842.
Davis, Amos. Account Book, 1839–1842. Microfilm. CHL.

Upon receiving the requested money and the returned pay order, JS added the aforementioned note of receipt, which also clarifies that JS was requesting the money for himself and not on behalf of the unnamed “bearer.” The note of receipt is in a different ink, suggesting JS may have received the payment in a different setting from that in which he produced the original document.
Footnotes
[1]
See Pay Order to Oliver Granger, 15 Apr. 1840; and Letter to Newel K. Whitney, 12 Dec. 1840.
[2]
See Leonard, Nauvoo, 145; Minutes, 3 Feb. 1841; and Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
[3]
Oliver Granger, Kirtland, OH, to JS, [Nauvoo, IL], 6 July 1840, JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.
[4]
See Davis, Account Book, 1839–1842.
Davis, Amos. Account Book, 1839–1842. Microfilm. CHL.
Page [2]
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Rec’d on the with the with in five bits
1
For antebellum Americans, a “bit” usually designated an eighth of the value of a dollar. It is unlikely, however, that Davis offered JS five bits instead of five dollars. Because of the unusually ungrammatical nature of this note of receipt, it is possible that the note is incomplete. It is also possible that the “five bits” noted here was only a portion of the payment, with the rest given in some other form. It may also be the case that the word bit was used anomalously here to designate five dollars in coin.

March 1th 1841 [p. [2]]
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Document Information
Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Pay Order to Brother Davis, circa 1 March 1841
ID #
1820
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:56–58
Handwriting on This Page
Joseph Smith Jr.
Footnotes
[1]
For antebellum Americans, a “bit” usually designated an eighth of the value of a dollar. It is unlikely, however, that Davis offered JS five bits instead of five dollars. Because of the unusually ungrammatical nature of this note of receipt, it is possible that the note is incomplete. It is also possible that the “five bits” noted here was only a portion of the payment, with the rest given in some other form. It may also be the case that the word bit was used anomalously here to designate five dollars in coin.