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Dana v. Brink, Hancock Co., IL, Circuit Court, 27 May 1844
Trial Report, between 4 and 22 Mar. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]. Thomsonian or “botanic” physicians like William Brink believed all illness was caused by cold and that any treatment producing heat would aid in recovery. They used cayenne pepper, steam baths, and Lobelia inflata (a plant) to cause heavy sweating and vomiting. (See JS, Journal, 2 Mar. 1843, in JSP, J2:281n486.)
JSP, J2 / Hedges, Andrew H., Alex D. Smith, and Richard Lloyd Anderson, eds. Journals, Volume 2: December 1841–April 1843. Vol. 2 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011.
Trial Report, between 4 and 22 Mar. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]; see also Dinger, “Medicine and Obstetrics in Mormon Nauvoo,” 51–68.
Dinger, Steven C. “‘The Doctors in This Region Don’t Know Much’: Medicine and Obstetrics in Mormon Nauvoo.” Journal of Mormon History 42, no. 4 (October 2016): 51–68.
Summons, 14 Feb. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]; see also Dinger, “Judge Joseph Smith and the Expansion of the Legal Rights of Women,” 74. The Nauvoo charter designated the city’s mayor a justice of the peace with jurisdiction over minor criminal and civil matters. Illinois law granted justices of the peace jurisdiction in civil actions, including assumpsit or breach of contract suits, in cases where the debt or demand did not exceed $100. (An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 55, sec. 16; An Act Concerning Justices of the Peace and Constables [3 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 402, sec. 1.)
Dinger, John S. “Judge Joseph Smith and the Expansion of the Legal Rights of Women: The Dana v. Brink Trial.” Journal of Mormon History 42, no. 4 (October 2016): 69–96.
Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.
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.
“Petition,” Wasp, 22 Mar. 1843, [2].
The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.
Trial Report, between 4 and 22 Mar. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]. Coverture rendered Dana unable to bring the suit against Brink herself, requiring her to rely on her husband to pursue the action on her behalf. Although Brink’s attorneys objected to her giving testimony, JS allowed it, arguing that because she had personal knowledge of the injury, she should be allowed to testify. (See also Zaher, “Research Guide on the Common Law Doctrine of Coverture,” 459–486; and Greenleaf, Treatise on the Law of Evidence, 391–392.)
Zaher, Claudia. “When a Woman’s Marital Status Determined Her Legal Status: A Research Guide on the Common Law Doctrine of Coverture.” Law Library Journal 94, no. 3 (Summer 2002): 459–486.
Greenleaf, Simon. A Treatise on the Law of Evidence. 3 vols. Various publishers, 1842–1853.
JS, Journal, 30 Mar. 1843; Notice of Appeal, 31 Mar. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]. There apparently was some confusion regarding JS’s role in the March trial. The Nauvoo charter provided that the mayor had two legal functions. First, he was a justice of the peace, with jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters. Illinois law specified that appeals in these cases were supposed to go to the circuit court. Second, the mayor was a judge with jurisdiction over alleged breaches of city ordinances. The city charter indicated that appeals in these cases were supposed to go to the municipal court. The documents produced for the initial trial simply referred to JS acting in his capacity as mayor, without explicitly indicating that because Dana had brought the suit under an assumpsit plea, meaning a civil action, JS was acting as a justice of the peace. Brink’s decision to appeal to the municipal court suggests that he was unclear in which capacity JS was acting during the initial case. Similarly, the fact that JS and James Sloan, clerk of the municipal court, allowed the appeal to move forward in the wrong court for nearly three weeks suggests that the confusion extended beyond Brink. (An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 55, secs. 16–17; An Act Concerning Justices of the Peace and Constables [3 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 409, sec. 31; Summons, 14 Feb. 1843 [Dana v. Brink]; Bond, 29 Mar. 1843 [Dana v. Brink].)
Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.
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.
See JS, Journal, 13 Apr. 1843 and 19 Apr. 1843; and An Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo [16 Dec. 1840], Laws of the State of Illinois [1840–1841], p. 55, sec. 17.
Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twelfth General Assembly, at Their Session, Began and Held at Springfield, on the Seventh of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty. Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1841.
Bond, 16 May 1843 [Dana v. Brink]; Supersedeas, 16 May 1843 [Dana v. Brink]. Illinois law also required JS to send a certified copy of the “judgment and other proceedings” from the case. JS apparently refused “Brink a transcript of said Judgment,” possibly on the grounds that the proceedings for the case had been published in the Wasp. The summons and other documents produced for the March trial were forwarded to the circuit court in October 1843. (An Act Concerning Justices of the Peace and Constables [3 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 410, sec. 39; “Certiorari,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 1:163; Declaration, ca. 21 Sept. 1844 [Dana v. Brink et al.]; Summons, 14 Feb. 1843 [Dana v. Brink].)
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.
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. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.
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