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Pay Order to William Clayton, 18 April 1843

Source Note

JS [as mayor], Pay Order, to , for “bearer,” , Hancock Co., IL, 18 Apr. 1843; handwriting and signature of JS; one page; JS Collection (Supplement), CHL.
Single leaf measuring 3 × 8 inches (8 × 20 cm). The bottom and right edges of the leaf have the square cut of manufactured paper, whereas the top and left edges were apparently cut by hand, suggesting that the document may have been detached from a larger leaf or sheet. The document was folded in half horizontally and into thirds vertically, although the right vertical fold has two creases. There is some separation along the folds.
The provenance of this document is unclear. 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, including this pay order, 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.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 18 April 1843, JS wrote and signed a pay order as mayor of , Illinois, directing , the city treasurer, to pay an unidentified individual one dollar from the city treasury. Typically, pay orders such as this one were three-party financial transactions, with the mayor directing the treasurer to make a cash payment to an individual for services rendered to the city government. Pay orders often used the standardized language of “bearer” rather than naming a specific individual to be paid, which allowed the pay order to be transferred multiple times.
The circumstances surrounding the issuance of this pay order are not known, nor is it known for whom the order was meant. Although JS’s journal frequently includes financial information, including expenditures, it does not mention the pay order or any one-dollar transaction on or around 18 April 1843. Similarly, ’s journal reveals several interactions with individuals and mentions various financial transactions from around this time period, but there is nothing that clearly identifies the bearer of this pay order. The Nauvoo treasury ledger includes many one-dollar transactions in 1843, but none are specifically dated 18 April 1843.
JS wrote the pay order and then presumably gave it to the bearer that day or shortly thereafter so the bearer could convey it to to receive payment. However, there are no endorsements, notations, or other evidence on this document or in other documents that indicate any action was taken to redeem the pay order.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    According to the Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, Clayton replaced John S. Fullmer as the city treasurer via election on 9 September 1842. An entry in Clayton’s journal, however, indicates that Clayton was “appointed city Treasurer” on 11 February 1843, suggesting he did not fill the role until that time. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 9 Sept. 1842, 101; Clayton, Journal, 11 Feb. 1843.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  2. [2]

    See, for example, Pay Order to Nauvoo City Treasurer, 12 July 1842; JS, Pay Order to Nauvoo City Treasurer for Shadrach Roundy, 27 Aug. 1842, JS Collection, CHL; Pay Order to City Treasurer for James Sloan, 30 Jan. 1843; and JS, Pay Order to Nauvoo City Treasurer for Shadrach Roundy, 1 June 1843, JS Collection, CHL.

  3. [3]

    See Historical Introduction to Pay Order from Robert Snodgrass, 18 Sept. 1838. With the Nauvoo City Council’s disavowal of Nauvoo city scrip in March 1843, pay orders and treasury orders took the place of local currency as a circulating medium in the community. (Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 4 Mar. 1843, 167.)

  4. [4]

    JS, Journal, 18 Apr. 1843.

  5. [5]

    Clayton, Journal, 12–18 Apr. 1843.

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  6. [6]

    Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 5–9.

    Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 1842–1845. Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

Page [1]

City of April 18th 1843
Dear Sir
I wish you would let the bearer have one doller out of the tresury and oblige
Joseph Smith [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Pay Order to William Clayton, 18 April 1843
ID #
1838
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:216–218
Handwriting on This Page
  • Joseph Smith Jr.

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