Introduction to Missouri Financial Records

In early 1838, JS relocated from , Ohio, to , Missouri, where he lived until that fall. Following conflicts in fall 1838 between and their neighbors in , JS was imprisoned to await trial. In April 1839, JS was allowed to escape custody and rejoined the Saints who had started to gather in . Only a handful of financial documents from JS’s time living in Missouri have survived. These include a promissory note and pay order for unspecified transactions with other Latter-day Saints and a receipt for rent on a tavern JS had procured for his extended family. Additionally, at least four financial documents from JS’s time in prison also survive. These include an agreement to pay attorneys and for their legal services and a promissory note to —one of JS’s guards—that may have been either payment for a horse or compensation to guarantee the prisoners’ escape.