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Report of Agents, circa 30 January 1841

Source Note

Agents of the church, Report, [, Hancock Co., IL], ca. 30 Jan. 1841; handwriting of ; two pages; JS Office Papers, CHL. Includes dockets.
One leaf, measuring 12 × 7⅝ inches (30 × 19 cm). The document was trifolded; the folds are weakened and soiled. The document was again folded for filing and was docketed “1841–” (double underlined) by . Another docket was written vertically by : “Report | of the | Agents of the Church | for buying & Selling | Land in Nauvoo”.
The report was presumably directed to the . The document’s nineteenth-century dockets and its inclusion in the Historian’s Office circa 1904 inventory suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, draft, 6; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 6, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

Historical Introduction

Around 30 January 1841, compiled a report regarding the state of land purchases and sales on the , Illinois, peninsula. The report was neither signed nor dated except with a vertically written “1841” on the document’s verso. It is unclear who the agents were that prepared this report, though they may have included Nauvoo and counselor , who were appointed on 4 October 1840 to serve on a committee to raise funds for paying off the debts for Nauvoo land purchases. General church clerk , who inscribed the report featured here, also may have been one of the agents.
The report, which was presumably directed to the , included detailed information about the value of land the church had sold to Latter-day Saints who had moved to the area. The report also listed the amounts most immediately due to the various parties from whom the church had purchased the land. The compilers limited the report’s scope to land sales and debts on the Nauvoo peninsula and did not refer to land sales in the far more extensive tract of land the church had purchased immediately across the in . During summer 1839, church leaders purchased the land described in the report from , , , and and from the partnership of Hotchkiss, , and .
Although did not date the report featured here, later inscribed on the back of the document a docket that reads “1841.” Given internal evidence in the text, Bullock’s date was likely correct. According to the document, this was a new report following up on one or more previous reports—the most recent of which may have been prepared for the October 1840 church . The report featured here identified two interest notes due to , which came due in August 1840. The report could not have been prepared more than a year later for two reasons. First, by August 1841, two more interest payments would have been due to Hotchkiss, doubling the amount shown as owed. Second, Thompson, who inscribed the report, died on 27 August 1841. The report appears to have been created in early 1841 and may have been prepared around 30 January. On this date, a special conference was held in in which JS was elected “sole Trustee in Trust for the Church” and was made legally responsible for the church’s physical property. JS may have commissioned this report at the time of his election in order to address the church on the status of land sales in Nauvoo. If the report was intended for internal use only, JS also may have requested it in conjunction with his new legal position. Although the April 1841 church conference also would have fallen within the possible time frame of the report’s creation, detailed accounts of that later conference—which center on laying the cornerstones of the Nauvoo —do not indicate that JS used this type of report.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.

  2. [2]

    On 3 October 1840, Thompson was appointed to replace George W. Robinson as general church clerk. (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840.)

  3. [3]

    See Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 37–39, Nauvoo Plat, 3 Sept. 1839, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. Acting on behalf of the church, Oliver Granger and Vinson Knight purchased nearly eighteen thousand acres of land in Lee County, Iowa Territory, from Isaac Galland during summer 1839. (Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds [South, Keokuk], vol. 1, pp. 507–509, microfilm 959,238; vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Cook, “Isaac Galland,” 270–275.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Cook, Lyndon W. “Isaac Galland—Mormon Benefactor.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 261–284.

  4. [4]

    While no similar earlier report has been located, the agents may have made their “last report” around the time of the October 1840 general conference of the church. During the morning session of that conference on 4 October, Thompson read a report from the First Presidency “in relation to the city plot,” after which JS spoke about the church’s land debts in the city. The First Presidency’s report may have been based on an accounting similar to this January 1841 report. (Minutes and Discourse, 3–5 Oct. 1840; Report of the First Presidency, 4 Oct. 1840.)

  5. [5]

    “Death of Col. Robert B. Thompson,” Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1841, 2:519.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [6]

    Appointment, 2 Feb. 1841, Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, p. 95, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; An Act concerning Religious Societies [6 Feb. 1835], Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1835], pp. 147–149.

    Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.

  7. [7]

    “Celebration of the Anniversary of the Church”; and Robert B. Thompson, “Laying the Corner Stone of the Temple,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1841, 2:375–377, 380–383.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Page [1]

The for the , for the purchasing and selling lands and transacting the business of the Church, would respectfully report:
— That during the interval which has elapsed since their last report, nothing of great importance has transpired in regard to their busness transactions of the
Some lots have been sold since that time, but very little means have been realized, hardly sufficient to meet the current expences,— yet they do not feel discouraged but cheerfully bear up under the burden believing that when they needed assistance; the brethren would come to their assistance with cheerfulness and delight and assist in moving along the great wheel which has commenced to roll in these last days—
The statement of situation of the City plot is as follows.
In the their there have been sales made amounting to about $83.000.—
There are about <​full​> 175 lots remaining unsold & several fractions on the which are valued at— 112.000.
In the purchase There have been sold Lots amounting to 15.000
There are about 32 lots (exclusive of the block) on which Resides valued at 20.000
In the ’s purchase There have been lots sold amounting to 15.000
The estimated value of the remaing lots 20.000
265 000
There have been sales made to widdows and other poor of the Church that from which we cannot expect to receive any pay amounting to 45-000
2,20.000
The purchase of the lands, and the various expences connected with the same will before the whole be settled probably amount to 2,00.0◊◊
[p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Report of Agents, circa 30 January 1841
ID #
8240
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:534–538
Handwriting on This Page
  • Robert B. Thompson

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The “Hotchkiss purchase” refers to two separate land agreements that church leaders entered into on 12 August 1839 with Horace Hotchkiss, a land speculator from Connecticut. The larger of these purchases was made with Hotchkiss and his business partners, Smith Tuttle and John Gillet. This tract contained approximately four hundred acres in and around the platted towns of Commerce and Commerce City, Illinois, and was the largest land purchase the church made in the state. The church bought this land for $110,000, with two principal payments of $25,000 each, along with forty interest payments of $1,500 each. The second agreement entered into was with Hotchkiss alone, for 89½ acres that Hotchkiss had previously agreed to purchase from William White, a longtime resident of the area. This second agreement required the church to pay $2,500 plus interest to Hotchkiss, as well as $1,000 to White, which was the same amount that Hotchkiss still owed White. (Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.)

  2. [2]

    Fractional lots were those smaller than Nauvoo’s normal one-acre size, usually rendered smaller by the intrusion of a geographical feature—in this case the shoreline of the Mississippi River.

  3. [3]

    In April 1839, George Robinson on behalf of the church purchased land from Isaac Galland in the southwest portion of the peninsula that became Nauvoo. This land, which cost $18,000, included approximately forty-seven acres of Galland’s farm (including his home and rights to a ferry) and small, fractional parcels of land north and south of the peninsula on the Mississippi shoreline—apparently intended as additional ferry landings. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  4. [4]

    Nauvoo block 132. Rigdon resided on lot 4, on the northwest corner of the intersection of Hills and Parley streets, in the “lower stone house.” This two-story house, one of the earliest structures built on the peninsula, was constructed around 1827. James White, an early settler in the area, sold the home to Isaac Galland, who sold the house to Rigdon’s son-in-law George W. Robinson. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 247, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  5. [5]

    On 30 April 1839, church agent Alanson Ripley purchased from Hugh White, William White’s brother, approximately 130 acres of property on the southern end of the peninsula, including Hugh White’s home—one of the oldest structures in the area—into which JS and his family moved. Ripley purchased the property for $5,000. (Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, pp. 31–32, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm, 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  6. [6]

    TEXT: Corner of page torn.

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