Footnotes

1. [1]

   Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 18, pp. 477–478, 5 May 1834, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

2. [2]

   See Historical Introduction to Mortgage to Peter French, 5 Oct. 1836.

3. [3]

   The division of larger tracts into smaller lots for the use of church members may have followed a pattern set forth by the 4 June 1833 revelation, which commanded Newel K. Whitney to divide lots for inheritances for church members. However, in 1836 lots were sold to church members rather than given to them as an inheritance. (Revelation, 4 June 1833 [D&C 96:2–3].)

4. [4]

   Plat of Kirtland, OH, not before 2 Aug. 1833.

5. [5]

   American coverture laws originated with English common law. (Bouvier, Law Dictionary [1843], 1:392; Salmon, Women and the Law of Property, 14–18; Kerber, “Constitutional Right to Be Treated like American Ladies,” 20–22.)

   Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; With References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1843.

   Salmon, Marylynn. Women and the Law of Property in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

   Kerber, Linda K. “A Constitutional Right to Be Treated Like American Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship.” In U.S. History as Women’s History: New Feminist Essays, edited by Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, 17–35. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.

6. [6]

   Salmon, Women and the Law of Property, 53–55.

   Salmon, Marylynn. Women and the Law of Property in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

7. [7]

   See, for example, Harris, “Homesteading in Northeastern Colorado,” 165–178. One way for married women to be involved in financial or business matters was to file a petition with a county court to be recognized as a “feme sole trader.” This status was often given to married women who faced long absences from or desertion by their husbands. In other instances a woman might become a “sole trader” with her husband’s consent. (Salmon, Women and the Law of Property, 44–49.)

   Harris, Katherine. “Homesteading in Northeastern Colorado, 1873–1920: Sex Roles and Women’s Experience.” In The Women’s West, edited by Susan Armitage and Elizabeth Jameson, 167–178. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.

   Salmon, Marylynn. Women and the Law of Property in Early America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.

8. [8]

   Laws granting married women property rights were enacted in the United States beginning in 1839. Married women could own property in Ohio starting in the mid-1840s. (Speth, “Married Women’s Property Acts,” 74.)

   Speth, Linda E. “The Married Women’s Property Acts, 1839–1965.” In Women and the Law: A Social Historical Perspective, edited by D. Kelly Weisberg, 69–91. Vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company, 1982.

9. [9]

   Examples of married women executing land transactions in the deed records for Geauga County for 1835–1837 include Mary Beebee, Marinda N. Hyde, Martha H. Parrish, Sophia Coe, Sarah A. Lowell, Sally Brown, Sophia Robinson, Caroline Kingsbury, Miranda Todd, Susannah Boynton, Hannah Pratt, and Hannah Ward.a One notable female land holder in the Kirtland area was Abigail Champion Deming, who was involved with land transactions from 1826 to 1839.b

   (^aGeauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 23, pp. 72–73, 30 Apr. 1836; pp. 451–452, 16 Jan. 1837; vol. 24, p. 95, 8 Dec. 1836; pp. 113–114, 28 Feb. 1837; pp. 259–260, 29 May 1837; pp. 381–382, 24 Oct. 1836; pp. 521–522, 17 Oct. 1837, microfilm 20,240; vol. 25, pp. 143–144, 22 May 1837; p. 351, 8 Apr. 1837; pp. 379–380, 25 Sept. 1837; p. 420, 30 May 1837; p. 421, 9 Feb. 1837, microfilm 20,241, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. ^bSee Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 21, pp. 364–365, 4 Feb. 1836, microfilm 20,239; vol. 23, pp. 578–579, 21 Apr. 1837; vol. 24, p. 51, 4 Feb. 1836, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

10. [10]

    Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 24, p. 95, 8 Dec. 1836, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

11. [11]

    Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 23, p. 492, 31 Aug. 1835, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

12. [12]

    Warren Parrish was acting as a clerk for the Kirtland Safety Society at this time, and his handwriting is found in the society’s stock ledger for entries dated December 1836. (Kirtland Safety Society, Stock Ledger, Dec. 1836.)

13. [13]

    William Smith sold this land to Marks along with an adjacent half-acre lot. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed.)