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Subpoena, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles]
Source Note
Source Note
JS as mayor, Subpoena, to Nauvoo City Marshal [], for , , Andrew Gravel, and JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 6 Dec. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles (Nauvoo, IL, Mayor’s Court 1842); handwriting of ; certified by on behalf of JS, 6 Dec. 1842; docket and notation by , [, Hancock Co., IL], [6 Dec. 1842]; docket by , [ca. 6 Dec. 1842]; two pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Includes seal, dockets, and notation.
Single leaf, measuring 5½ × 6¾ inches (14 × 17 cm) and ruled with fifteen horizontal lines printed in blue ink with header space. The document is cut on the bottom and left side of the recto and was folded in half for docketing and filing.
The document includes dockets by , who served as city recorder and clerk of the Municipal Court from 1841 to 1843, and a docket and notation by . After the summons was served, it was returned and presumably kept among Nauvoo city records. In 1845 the city of Nauvoo was disincorporated. Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Family and Church History Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley. The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904. The Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection was arranged and cataloged by the Family and Church History Department (now CHL) in 2006. The document’s likely inclusion with the city records listed in early church inventories and its inclusion in the Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection in 2006 indicate continuous church custody since 1845.
Footnotes
- [1]
“Officers of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:638; “Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1843, 4:244.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
- [2]
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
- [3]
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
- [4]
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
- [5]
See the full bibliographic entry for Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
See Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles and Historical Introduction to Complaint, 6 Dec. 1842.
| State of Illinois) | S.S. |
| City of ) |
The people of the State of , to the City of said , Greeting:
you are hereby Commanded to Summon <, , Andrew M. Gravel><, Joseph Smith,> to be and appear before me Joseph Smith one of the Justices of the peace, and Alderman in and for said , at my in said , forthwith, then and there, to give testimony, and the truth to say, touching a certain Complaint made on behalf of the , against , and hereof fail not, under the penalty of the Law, and have you then there this Writ.
Given under my hand and Seal this 6th day of Decr. 1842.
Joseph Mayor, Mayor Seal [p. [1]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [1]
“S.S.” is a legal abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “that is to say, to wit, viz.” (“Scilicet,” in Jones, Introduction to Legal Science, appendix, 28.)
Jones, Silas. An Introduction to Legal Science: Being a Concise and Familiar Treatise . . . to Which Is Appended a Concise Dictionary of Law Terms and Phrases. New York: John S. Voorhies, 1842.
- [2]
TEXT: Possibly “A”.
- [3]
The inclusion of “Alderman” appears to be a scribal error. As Nauvoo’s mayor, JS was an appointed justice of the peace for the city and also presided over the municipal court, which consisted of the city’s aldermen. However, he did not hold the office of alderman. (Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)
Certification by JS in the handwriting of James Sloan.
Signature of JS by James Sloan. Unlike the other documents in this case, JS did not sign the subpoena, and Sloan provided a scribal signature, though he mistakenly wrote “Joseph Mayor” instead of “Joseph Smith.” It is unclear why JS did not sign this document.
- [4]
TEXT: “Seal” is enclosed within a hand-drawn representation of a seal.