On 13 June 1842, JS, acting as trustee-in-trust for the , deeded land in , Illinois, to his wife . , acting as a church , had originally purchased the land from in 1839. He transferred the land to JS in August 1840. In January 1841, JS was appointed sole trustee for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which allowed the church to be incorporated in . With this incorporation, land previously held for the church by its leaders as private individuals, including JS, could be transferred to the ownership of the church itself through JS in his role as the trustee-in-trust. Accordingly, JS and Emma Smith, who held the land privately for the church, in October 1841 deeded the land from the White purchase to JS as trustee, giving him responsibility to oversee the land for the church.
In the 13 June 1842 deed featured here, JS, acting as trustee, transferred to ’s private ownership a single lot from the purchase—lot 2 in block 117 at the southeast corner of Munson Street and Granger Street. JS’s motivations for deeding this land to Emma are unclear. He may have been trying to separate it as his personal property or give it to her to own. Since JS had applied for bankruptcy in April 1842, he may also have deeded the land to her in an effort to move assets outside the reach of creditors, as he had done in March 1842 when he deeded 237 acres to his children. It is also unclear how well JS, or his lawyer , understood the requirements of the 1841 bankruptcy act, which explicitly prohibited those petitioning for bankruptcy from transferring property. When district attorney examined JS’s land transactions in September 1842, he concluded that several transactions made by JS, likely including this deed, were fraudulent because JS had transferred the land to noncreditors, including family members, while he was involved in bankruptcy proceedings. As a result of these findings, Butterfield filed objections with the district court and asked the court to reject JS’s bankruptcy petition.
JS signed and added his seal to the original deed, witnessed by . justice of the peace certified the deed. The original deed is no longer extant, but it was recorded in the Nauvoo registry of deeds, which JS oversaw as the city registrar, and the Hancock County deed records. No significant differences exist between the two copies. The copy featured here, from the Nauvoo registry of deeds, was recorded on 6 July 1842 by William Clayton, the recorder for the Nauvoo registrar.
JS and Emma Smith, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, to JS, Trustee in Trust, 5 Oct. 1841, JS Collection, CHL. Because JS initially held the land privately, his wife Emma was included in the purchase and would have had to consent to its sale or transfer because of her dower rights. It is unclear how well JS understood the requirements and limitations involved in transferring land, or if he was aware of the amount of land he was legally allowed to own for the church as trustee. In his letters against JS, John C. Bennett cited the Illinois statute that specified a trustee could hold only five acres of land. By June 1842, JS held hundreds of acres on behalf of the church, including land purchased by the church and land donated to the church as tithing. (An Act concerning Conveyances of Real Property [31 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1837], pp. 151–152, secs. 12–13; see also John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2].)
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy [19 Aug. 1841], Public Statutes at Large, 27th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 9, p. 442, sec. 2. Over the course of 1842, the judicial system had made differing rulings regarding the legal application and interpretation of the 1841 bankruptcy act. Additionally, many of the lawyers involved in bankruptcy proceedings were inexperienced in bankruptcy law.
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, to Charles B. Penrose, 13 Oct. 1842, microfilm, Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury, copy at CHL. Butterfield was made aware of JS’s questionable land transactions by John C. Bennett, who, in a 4 July 1842 letter to the editor of the Sangamo Journal, alleged that JS had made fraudulent deeds. Because of the objections raised by Butterfield, the court delayed JS’s final bankruptcy hearing until 15 December 1842. (John C. Bennett, Carthage, IL, 4 July 1842, Letter to the Editor, Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2]; Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, to Charles B. Penrose, 2 Aug. 1842, microfilm; Justin Butterfield, Chicago, IL, to Charles B. Penrose, 13 Oct. 1842, microfilm, Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury, copy at CHL; JS, Journal, 7 Nov. 1842.)
Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury / National Archives Reference Service Report, 23 Sept. 1964. “Record Group 206, Records of the Solicitor of the Treasury, and Record Group 46, Records of the United States Senate: Records Relating to the Mormons in Illinois, 1839–1848 (Records Dated 1840–1852), Including Memorials of Mormons to Congress, 1840–1844, Some of Which Relate to Outrages Committed against the Mormons in Missouri, 1831–1839.” Microfilm. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1964. Copy in Records Related to Church Interaction with Federal Government, 1840–1852, CHL.
The copy of the deed in Hancock County Deed Book M was not recorded until 8 July 1844. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. M, pp. 402–403, 13 June 1842, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Smith, party of the First part, for and in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars, to him in hand paid the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby grant. bargain. sell, convey, and confirm unto the said party of the second part, her heirs and assigns forever, all that tract or parcel of land, situate and being in the County of in the State of known and described as follows, to wit: Lot No (2) two in Block No (117) one hundred and seventeen of the City of together with all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining.
To Have and to hold the above describeded premises unto the said party of the Second part her heirs and assigns forever. and the said Joseph Smith, party of the First part, his assigns and successors in office, the aforesaid premises, unto the said party of the Second part her heirs and assigns, against the claim or claims of all and every person whomsoever do and will warrent and forever defent [defend] by these presents.
In Testimony Whereof, The said Joseph Smith party of the First part has hereunto set his hand and seal the day and year above written.
Joseph Smith seal
as sole trustee in Trust for the
.
Signed sealed and delivered)
in presence of)
State of Illinois,)
Ss.
,)
I, a Justice of the Peace, in and for the City of , in said , do certify that Joseph Smith, whose signature appears to the foregoing deed and, who is personally known to me to be the person described in, and who executed the same, did acknowledge that he had executed the said conveyance for the uses and purposses therein mentioned.
Given under my hand and seal, this 13th. day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty two
Property transfers like this often did not involve payment. It is unknown whether Emma Smith transferred any money as part of the transaction. (See also Deed to William Marks, 10 Apr. 1837.)
Emma Smith retained ownership of this lot for several years and in 1847 sold it to an individual named John Wolf. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. S, p. 166, 29 May 1847, microfilm 954,604, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Ss. is a legal abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “that is to say, to wit, viz.” (“Scilicet,” in “Law Dictionary,” 28.)
“Law Dictionary.” In Silas Jones, An Introduction to Legal Science: Being a Concise and Familiar Treatise, on Such Legal Topics as Are Earliest Read by the Law Student Should Be Generally Taught in the Higher Seminaries of Learning. . . . New York: John S. Voorhies, 1842.
TEXT: “L. S.” is enclosed in a hand-drawn representation of a seal. “L. S.” is an abbreviation for locus sigilli, which is Latin for “location of the seal.”