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Pay Order to Oliver Granger, 15 April 1840

Source Note

JS, Pay Order, to , [], Hancock Co., IL, 15 Apr. 1840; handwriting of JS; endorsed by ; one page; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, CHL.
One leaf, measuring 4½ × 7¾ inches (11 × 20 cm). The right and top edges have the square cut of manufactured paper; the left and bottom edges were unevenly torn from a larger sheet. The leaf was folded in half twice. The document was later refolded for filing. The leaf is worn along the folds, leading to some tearing. It has undergone conservation and is enclosed in a Mylar sleeve.
likely retained possession of the document after receiving it in 1840. The pay order was apparently passed to , Granger’s son-in-law, and eventually came into the possession of Augusta Bernadine Kimball Lubbe, who was a niece of Kimball. In 1928 Lubbe gave the document to Howard Martin Pond, a Latter-day Saint who was serving a mission in , Illinois. In 1988 Pond donated the pay order to the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Newel K. Whitney, Papers, 1840–1844, in the CHL catalog; 1930 U.S. Census, Peoria, Peoria Co., IL, enumeration district 72-61, p. 30B; Death Certificate for Augusta Kimball Lubbe, 14 Mar. 1941, Peoria, Peoria Co., IL, certificate 12293, Illinois Public Board of Health, Death Certificates for the State of Illinois, 1916–1945, microfilm 1,832,580, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; and Morrison and Sharples, History of the Kimball Family in America, 1090–1093.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Morrison, Leonard Allison, and Stephen Paschall Sharples. History of the Kimball Family in America, from 1634 to 1897, and of Its Ancestors, the Kemballs or Kemboldes of England. Vol. 2. Boston: Damrell and Upham, 1897.

Historical Introduction

On 15 April 1840, JS addressed a pay order to instructing him to allow “the bearer” of the order twelve dollars from Granger’s store in , Illinois. It is unknown why and for whom JS wrote the order. He may have been requesting that Granger provide the bearer with cash out of the store’s holdings; it is more likely, however, that the intent of the order was to authorize the bearer to receive twelve dollars’ worth of goods from the store. That the order was for the bearer meant it was a transferable document that could operate like a promissory note, meaning it could be exchanged for money.
Extant records do not clarify the nature of ’s store. It may have been a for-profit mercantile establishment; JS later referred to a “Store of Goods” Granger had been operating in , Illinois, “for his [Granger’s] benefit.” However, it was likely also a general used at least partly to supply the poor with goods. , such as , had managed other church storehouses, but others not serving as bishops had overseen storehouses as well. Granger was not a bishop but had received authorization from the in November 1839 “to receive donations for the poor,” which likely included donated goods and services. It is possible he had been directed to operate a storehouse in in connection with that assignment.
Whatever the reason for its creation, the pay order appears to have reached . A notation on the back of the document indicates that it was entered into store records on 18 April 1840.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Before the majority of church members left Kirtland, Ohio, in 1838, stores operated by church leaders there apparently allowed cash withdrawals—a practice that was also allowed by non-Mormon stores in areas still undergoing settlement and development, such as Iowa Territory. (See, for example, JS, Journal, 29 Oct. and 9 Dec. 1835; N. K. Whitney & Co., Daybook, 194–197; and Erickson, Banking in Frontier Iowa, 52.)

    N. K. Whitney & Co. Daybook, Nov. 1836–Apr. 1837. Microfilm. CHL. Original at CCLA.

    Erickson, Erling A. Banking in Frontier Iowa, 1836–1865. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1971.

  2. [2]

    Pay Order to Newel K. Whitney for George Miller, 18 Sept. 1840.

  3. [3]

    Revelation, 4 Dec. 1831–B [D&C 72:9–10]; Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57:8].

  4. [4]

    Recommendation for Oliver Granger, 1 Nov. 1839.

  5. [5]

    If Granger was given such direction, it may have been a temporary assignment. The November 1839 recommendation not only authorized Granger to receive donations for the poor but also directed him “to transact all manner of bussiness authorized by his former letters,” which had given him assignments to take care of church debts in the eastern United States. However, because of “low stages of water in the ohio river,” Granger had been unable to travel east by April 1840. (Recommendation for Oliver Granger, 1 Nov. 1839; Letter from Hyrum Smith, 2 Jan. 1840; Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 8 Mar. 1840, 49.)

    Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.

Page [1]

April 15th 1840
Dear sir
Please let the bearer have twelve dollers out of your Store and Charge the same to me and Obliege your friend &C—
Joseph Smith Jr— [p. [1]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Pay Order to Oliver Granger, 15 April 1840
ID #
2249
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:264–265
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.

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