Trustees Land Book B, 4 August 1842–8 December 1845
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Source Note
JS as trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Land Book B, , Hancock Co., Il., 4 Aug. 1842–8 Dec. 1845; handwriting of , , , , , John McEwan, and , with insertions by and unidentified scribes; 81 pages; CHL.
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Historical Introduction
Trustees Land Book B is a large record book used to record financial and property transactions in and other areas in , Illinois, that JS made as trustee on behalf of the church. In September 1839, JS’s scribes created Trustees Land Book A to record JS’s financial transactions as trustee-in-trust and to create multiple indices of Nauvoo city lots that had been sold or transferred. This record book was used by several of JS’s scribes through mid-1843. In the meantime, in February 1842, JS hired , an experienced clerk and professional bookkeeper who had emigrated from in the fall of 1840. By April 1842, Clayton apparently determined to create a new record book documenting JS’s land transactions as trustee-in-trust for the church that expanded on and replaced Trustees Land Book A. Clayton divided Trustees Land Book B into several general sections, such as a daybook of JS’s land or other financial transactions in Hancock County (pages 4–27), a list of property owned by JS as trustee-in-trust in Hancock County (pages 214–220), and an index of Nauvoo city lots (pages 234–275). The property list and index of city lots were accompanied by hand-drawn maps of the county and city.The daybook provided a largely chronological record of land transactions by JS and subsequent church trustees and from 20 April 1842 to 23 January 1846. However, the record is not complete, and within this range there are several gaps, most notably between November 1843 and May 1844. Similarly, the number of entries dropped off considerably following JS’s death in June 1844.The land index followed the structure established in Trustees Land Book A. The entries were first organized by the major land purchases made by church leaders, using the name of the individual from whom the land was purchased. Thus, the index was divided into sections for property purchased from , , and . Within those sections, the property was organized by location based on the numerical block order in the town plat. With each entry, and other scribes recorded the name of the person purchasing or receiving the lot, purchase price, date of purchase, and status of the transaction. JS’s scribes apparently ceased using the index in Book A by February 1843 and presumably created the Book B index around that same time, although they copied many of the previous entries into the new volume. It appears that the Book B index was regularly used until 1845, with scattered entries thereafter through January 1848.The final section of this record book relates to the property church leaders had purchased from , , and in 1839. In summer 1843, JS and these men renegotiated the terms of this purchase. According to the final settlement with these men, JS would obtain title to fifty specific lots in —most of them just west of the temple block—in exchange for the original bonds and all promissory notes JS held from church members who had purchased lots on the land he returned to Tuttle, Gillet, and Hotchkiss. Pages 278–279 and 284–286 contain three separate lists of blocks and lots related to this resettlement.
Footnotes
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2
Clayton, Diary, 10 Feb. 1842; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18.
Clayton, William. Diary, Jan.–Nov. 1846. CHL.
Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.
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3
For more on these land purchases, see Documents, Volume 6, Introduction to Part 4: 24 Apr.–12 Aug. 1839.
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Purchase,
| including old State Road No 67 | 1 | December 10th. 1844 | Deeded | |||
| 2 | S 2/3 | Alexander S. Stanley | September 1st. 1843 | Deeded | ||
| No 68 | 1 | Elizabeth Mathews | August 7th. 1843 | Deeded | ||
| 2 | Arthur Kenny | Jany. 6th 1848 | Deeded> | |||
| 3 | Joseph W. Johnson | October 30th. 1844 | Deeded | |||
| No 69 | 2 | December 17th. 1844 | Deeded | |||
| 3 | , & Thompson | December 10th. 1844 | (’ part is returned) | Deeded | ||
| No 71 | 2 | W 1/2 | Hamilton Jett | September 21st. 1843 | Deeded | |
| E 1/2 | Wm. E. Higginbotham | December 23rd. 1844 | Deeded | |||
| No 72 | 4 | January 18th. 1845 | Deeded | |||
| No 78 | 2 | |||||
| 4 | Febuary 28th. 1842 | Deeded | ||||
| Block No 79 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | (E 1/2 of S 1/2 & N 1/2 | April 1st. 1842 | Deeded | |||
| (S W 1/4 | January 10th. 1845— | 250.00 | Deeded | |||
| 4 | April 1st. 1842 | Deeded |
[p. 236]
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Document Information
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Footnotes
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66
TEXT: The text in this column is written vertically.
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Insertion in the handwriting of John S. Fullmer.
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Insertion in the handwriting of John S. Fullmer.
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66
