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Bond from Smith Tuttle and John Gillet, 7 July 1843

Source Note

and , Bond for property in , Hancock Co., IL, to JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 July 1843; signed by and ; witnessed by , , and ; certified by . Featured version copied 8 July 1844 in Hancock Co., IL, Clerk and Recorder, “Hancock County Illinois 1840 Record Book of Mortgages, Title Bonds, Leases Deeds of Trust and Sales of Personal Property,” Bonds and Mortgages, vol. 1, 27 Apr. 1840–16 Oct. 1844, pp. 500–501; unidentified handwriting; Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL.
This bond is found in a bound volume measuring 17½ × 11¾ × 3 inches (44 × 30 × 8 cm) and containing 282 leaves measuring 17 × 10¼ inches (43 × 26 cm). A large, commercially produced book with brown leather binding, the volume is made of either heavy wood or pressed boards, with ledger binding. Each of the inside covers contains two leaves of heavy yellow endpaper that serve as a pastedown and a flyleaf. The first recorded transactions in the book are dated 15 April 1840, and the last are dated 12 March 1844. By 1974, the original brown leather binding was covered with white canvas and red leather corners. The spine of the canvas was stamped with black ink: “BONDS & MORTGAGES | 1 | HANCOCK COUNTY”.
The volume has been in the continuous custody of the Hancock County Clerk and Recorder since its creation.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Historical Introduction

On 7 July 1843, JS entered into a land agreement in , Illinois, with land speculators and , for which they gave him a bond. This was the second land transaction of the day between these parties. The first canceled an 1839 transaction that gave , JS, and rights to approximately four hundred acres of land in the northeastern section of the peninsula, which soon became a part of Nauvoo. That 1839 agreement with Tuttle, Gillet, and their partner specified that Rigdon, JS, and Hyrum Smith would receive a warranty deed for the land once they completed payments totaling $110,000, including interest.
This debt weighed heavily on JS for the next few years as he struggled to make the scheduled payments. An 1841 report by unidentified noted that “$3000 are now due to ” and identified this amount as the first interest payment. An 1841 letter written by the and printed in the church newspaper reported that the church owed $53,500 for its 1839 land transactions with Hotchkiss and his partners; the letter also noted that interest was accumulating on other promissory notes. After making the agreement to purchase land from , , and in August 1839, JS subdivided and sold this land to residents, providing them with bonds that promised a deed once JS and his partners had paid for the land and received the title from Hotchkiss and his associates.
By 1842, the debt was owed by JS alone. After the church was incorporated in and JS became its sole trustee, and transferred the 1839 bond from , , and to JS as trustee-in-trust for the church. In an effort to pay these debts, JS called for church members in the eastern intent on immigrating to to exchange deeds to their eastern land for land in Nauvoo; the deeds to those eastern lands were then to be given to Hotchkiss and his partners as payment toward the debt owed to them. After that plan largely failed to relieve the debt, JS filed for bankruptcy in April 1842, much to the chagrin of Hotchkiss. JS also stopped paying taxes on these properties, which created a larger financial burden for Hotchkiss and his partners.
Early in 1843, recorder wrote a letter to JS questioning the validity of the original 1839 transaction, for which and his partners had not yet been paid. At the same time, , the assignee appointed for bankruptcy proceedings in Hancock County, seized JS’s assets and prepared to sell them to pay JS’s creditors. JS had listed the Hotchkiss lands among his assets on the bankruptcy application, even though he did not yet own them. These mounting concerns, coupled with JS’s inability to make the yearly interest payments, necessitated a renegotiation of the original contract. On 14 June 1843, and visited and conversed with about “the City plot on .” While historical documents are silent about the proceedings, by 7 July, JS and the Hotchkiss partnership agreed to cancel the 1839 transaction with a deed. Nevertheless, Hotchkiss kept a previous promise to allow the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo to remain in their homes and work the land as tenants.
As part of the renegotiation, , , and JS reached a new agreement on 7 July to grant JS title to fifty specific lots in —mostly west of the unfinished —in exchange for the original bonds and all promissory notes JS held from members who had purchased those lots from him. An addendum to this new agreement was made the same day and included the titles to three lots recently purchased by . , who served as one of the witnesses to the agreement, summarized the transactions of 7 July as a satisfactory settlement “with Tuttle and Gillett for the tract by giving back the land into their hands & they giving J. a Bond for a Deed for 50 lots.”
Two weeks later, JS completed his part of the agreement. As noted, “Prest. J’s Gave Bonds & notes of tract to .” Under the terms of the bond featured here, Gillet and were to be assessed a $20,000 penalty if they did not deliver the deed by 7 July 1844. As of 7 July, the deed had not been delivered. The next day, 8 July 1844, someone acting on behalf of the church had the bond recorded in the Bonds and Mortgages ledger. On 12 July, four days later, Gillet visited to make out a deed for the land. Upon delivery of the deed, the church likely returned the original bond to Gillet, as was customary.
The original bond is apparently not extant. The recorded version remains among records and is the version featured here.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A; and Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, p. 299, 7 July 1843, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. In addition to signing the bond with Tuttle, Gillet, and Horace Hotchkiss for approximately 400 acres of land, the First Presidency signed a bond with Hotchkiss on 12 August 1839 for 89½ acres that had belonged to William White. White received payment for this land by April 1840 and provided JS, Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith with a deed. The debt owed to Hotchkiss for the 89½ acres was renegotiated in October 1840, and Hotchkiss was given a new promissory note for $2,500 that was due eight months later. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–B; Promissory Note to Horace Hotchkiss, 23 Oct. 1840; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. H, pp. 510–511, 20 July 1840, microfilm 954,598, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

  2. [2]

    Half the amount was to be paid to Hotchkiss in twenty interest payments of $1,500 each, due annually for the next twenty years, with a final principal payment of $25,000 due in 1859. The other half was to be paid to Tuttle and Gillet jointly in the same manner. JS, Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith made out forty-two promissory notes for these payments. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A; Promissory Note to John Gillet and Smith Tuttle, 12 Aug. 1839.)

  3. [3]

    Report of Agents, ca. 30 Jan. 1841.

  4. [4]

    Brigham Young et al., “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, 2:568.

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

  5. [5]

    See, for example, Bond to Elijah Able, 8 Dec. 1839.

  6. [6]

    See Bill to Incorporate the Church, 14 Dec. 1840; Appointment as Trustee, 2 Feb. 1841; and Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, pp. 223–224, 31 Jan. 1842, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

  7. [7]

    See Authorization for Hyrum Smith and Isaac Galland, 15 Feb. 1841; Letter from William Smith, 5 Aug. 1841; and Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 25 Aug. 1841.

  8. [8]

    See Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842; “Joseph Smith Documents from May through August 1842”; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 27 May 1842; and Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 7 Apr. 1843.

  9. [9]

    Horace Hotchkiss, Fair Haven, CT, to Sidney Rigdon, Nauvoo, IL, 8 Nov. 1842, Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU; JS, Journal, 23 Feb. 1843.

    Whitney, Newel K. Papers, 1825–1906. BYU.

  10. [10]

    See Letter from Chauncey Robison, 8 Mar. 1843.

  11. [11]

    See Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 7 Apr. 1843; and Application for Bankruptcy, ca. 14–16 Apr. 1842.

  12. [12]

    Clayton, Journal, 14 June 1843. JS left Nauvoo for Dixon, Illinois, on 13 June. Clayton presumably informed JS about the business with Tuttle and Gillet upon JS’s return to Nauvoo. (JS, Journal, 13 June 1843.)

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

  13. [13]

    Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, p. 299, 7 July 1843, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

  14. [14]

    See Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 7 Apr. 1843.

  15. [15]

    Clayton, Journal, 7 July 1843.

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

  16. [16]

    Clayton, Journal, 20 July 1843.

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

  17. [17]

    Clayton, Journal, 12 July 1844; see also Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. N, pp. 366–368, 28 Oct. 1844, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

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

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Page 500

6289
& To J. Smith Trustee &c
Recorded 8h July 1844
Know all men by these presents that we of the County of New Haven and State of and of the County of Logan and State of are held and firmly bound unto Joseph Smith sole Trustee in Trust for the of the County of and State of in the penal sum of Twenty thousand dollars, for the payment of which well and truly to be made we hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors administrators and assigns firmly by these presents. Now the condition of this bond is such that whereas the said Joseph Smith hath this day agreed to assign over to the aforesaid , and a certain Bond executed by to , Joseph Smith Jr. and for a certain tract of land in the City of called the Hotchkiss tract and dated August 12th AD 1839 together with all their right title, interest, estate claim or demand to the premises specified in the said bond. Now if the said Joseph Smith his successors in office or assigns shall lawfully and truly assign over the above bond as herein Specified, we the said and bind ourselves our heirs executors, administrators and assigns to make & Execute to the said Joseph Smith a good and sufficient deed of General Warrantee to all the following described lots of land as described on the plat of the City of as being Lot no four in Block no. seven also <​Lot​> no four in Block no nine Also Lots <​No​> one, two and four in Block no fourteen also the west half of Lot no four in Block no seventeen Also Lot no two in Block no. Eighteen also Lot no one in Block No thirty seven Also Lot no one in Block no sixty six Also Lot no one in Block no Sixty seven also Lot no two in Block no Sixty Seven also Lots no one, two and three in Block no Sixty Eight Also Lots no two and three in Block no Sixty nine Also Lot no two in Block no Seventy one Also Lot no four in Block no seventy two Also Lots no two and four in Block no Seventy eight also Lots no two, three and four in Block no Seventy nine. Also Lots no one, two, three and four in Block no Eighty also Lots no one, two, three and four in Block no Eighty one also Lots no two, three and four in Block no Eighty two also Lots <​No​> one and four in Block no Eighty three Also Lots no one, two, three and four in Block no ninety Also Lots no one, two, three and four in Block no ninety one, Also Lots no one, two, three and four in Block no ninety two. The said Deed to be made on or before the seventh day of July AD 1844. Now if the said , and shall make or cause to be made a good and sufficient Warrantee Deed for the above described lots on or before the 7h day July A.D. 1844 then this Bond shall be null and void otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue Given under our hands and seals at this Seventh day of July AD 1843
LS
LS
Witness} )
)
)
It is also hereby expressly understood that the said , and agrees to give up all the notes which they hold against the said Joseph Smith, and and [p. 500]
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Source Note

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Page 500

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Bond from Smith Tuttle and John Gillet, 7 July 1843
ID #
4127
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D12:446–453
Handwriting on This Page
  • Unidentified

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    TEXT: The recorder added this and the following two lines in the left margin when copying the bond into the bonds and mortgages book; “6289” is an identification number.

  2. [2]

    Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.

  3. [3]

    TEXT: Both instances of “LS” (which stands for locus sigilli, Latin for “location of the seal”) are inscribed within hand-drawn representations of seals.

  4. [4]

    These promissory notes are extant. The word “Paid” was written across the notes, indicating not that they had been paid for but that they had become void as a result of the 7 July 1843 agreement to cancel the original 1839 transaction. (See, for example, Promissory Note to John Gillet and Smith Tuttle, 12 Aug. 1839.)

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