William Miller, , , and JS, Mortgage for property in , Geauga Co., OH, to , 5 Oct. 1836; signed by Phebe Scott Miller, William Miller, , , , , , and JS; witnessed by Joseph Pine and ; certified by . Featured version copied 26 Oct. 1836 in Geauga County Deed Record, vol. 22, pp. 383–384; handwriting of ; Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, OH. Transcription from a digital color image made of original in 2011.
Volume measuring 18¼ × 13 × 3 inches (46 × 33 × 8 cm) and including 618 pages, plus 15 pages of an index of grantors and grantees. At an unknown time, the original cover and binding were replaced with a cream canvas cover with maroon leather corners. The volume contains 318 leaves measuring 17¾ × 11½ inches (45 × 29 cm). In the mid- to late nineteenth century, a page-for-page transcript of the volume was created; the transcript is also housed at the Geauga County Archives and Records Center.
This volume was in the possession of the Geauga County Recorder from its creation until 1996, when it was transferred to the newly organized Geauga County Archives and Records Center. Includes tipped-in documents, notations, redactions, and archival marking.
Historical Introduction
On 5 October 1836, JS, William Miller, , and purchased just over 239 acres of land located at the intersection of Eagle Mills Road and Russell Road in southwestern , Ohio, from and Sarah French for $11,777.50. The same day, the four men signed a mortgage agreement, presented here, with Peter French for that land. The mortgage agreement was for $9,777.50; the $2,000 difference may reflect a down payment or may have been a discount to cover the interest JS and the others would pay, although neither is specified in extant records.
Traditionally mortgaged property provided the creditor a guarantee or security for repayment without denying the debtor use of the property. According to John Bouvier’s 1839 legal dictionary, a mortgage was “a conveyance of lands by a debtor to his creditor as a pledge and security for the repayment of a sum of money borrowed, or performance of a covenant . . . with a proviso that such conveyance shall be void on payment of the money and interest on a certain day.” In courts following English legal traditions, mortgaged land was held “merely as a pledge or security” and the person paying the mortgage “is held to be the real owner of the land, the debt being considered the principal, and the land the accessory.” In the case of the mortgage featured here, the agreement with gave JS and his fellow purchasers immediate access to the title and the legal right to the land but required them to pay for the property over an extended length of time. As part of the mortgage, the four men agreed to yearly payments of $1,000 to French for thirteen years beginning on 5 April 1838, with a final payment on 5 April 1851 of around $400.
This transaction with was the largest documented land purchase JS made in . During a three-month period in the fall of 1836, JS (individually and in connection with other members) purchased several documented tracts of land totaling approximately 440 acres in and around . The French land transaction is representative of these land purchases and illustrates JS’s increased involvement in temporal and financial affairs and his personal investment in facilitating the development of Kirtland. The land purchased in the fall of 1836 appears to have provided space for newly arrived members of the church as well as increased the church’s assets. The French mortgage may have also provided financial security for the . JS sold land at this time, though primarily in small sections in the platted area of Kirtland near the and not from his recent purchases. Just over six months later, on 10 April 1837, JS transferred his interest in the French land to in the form of a deed. This was part of several land transactions made between JS and Marks in early April 1837.
William Miller was born in Avon, New York, in 1814. He married Phebe Scott in May 1834 and was baptized into the Latter-day Saint church on 28 October 1834. He first bought land in Kirtland in November 1834, and he and his wife moved there in fall 1835. Miller may have been involved because he was in a position to help finance the purchase. He may have also been intended to act as a caretaker or overseer since he owned land in an adjacent lot. (Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:481–482; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 19, pp. 178–179, 1 Nov. 1834, microfilm 20,238, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.
Peter and Sarah French to William Miller et al., Deed, Kirtland, OH, 5 Oct. 1836, Geauga County Deed Record, vol. 23, pp. 94–95, Geauga County Archives and Records Center, Chardon, OH. Peter French was one of the earliest settlers of Kirtland, moving there in 1811, and was a major property owner in Kirtland. The church had purchased 103 acres from him in 1833, including the land on which the House of the Lord had been built as well as part of the area JS and other church leaders platted for the use of the Saints. (Crary, Pioneer and Personal Reminiscences, 6; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 17, pp. 38–39, 359–361, 10 Apr. and 17 June 1833, microfilm 20,237, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Minutes, 23 Mar. 1833–A and 23 Mar. 1833–B; Historical Introduction to Covenant, 29 Nov. 1834; Historical Introduction to Minutes, 18 Jan. 1835.)
Crary, Christopher G. Pioneer and Personal Reminiscences. Marshalltown, IA: Marshall Printing Co., 1893.
This was the first of two extant mortgage agreements JS and others made for land bought in fall 1836. The second mortgage was for over 132 acres, purchased from Alpheus Russell by JS, Jacob Bump, and Reynolds Cahoon on 10 October 1836. (Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 23, pp. 539–540, 10 Oct. 1836, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
“Mortgage,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary [1839], 2:150–151.
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.
See JS History, vol. B-1, 733. The population of Ohio grew significantly in the 1830s, as did the number of Latter-day Saints in Kirtland. Milton Backman estimated the number of Saints in Kirtland in 1836 at 1,300, with an annual growth of 200 to 500 members and the period of 1835 to 1837 seeing the greatest amount of growth. By December 1836 there was a shortage of land for arriving church members, and guidelines were established for those intending to move to Kirtland. Sidney Rigdon later described the objective of purchasing land: “that there might be a place of rest, a place of safety, a place that the saints might lawfully call their own.” He instructed the elders to discuss the gathering of the Saints and “urge the necessity and propriety of the measure from the fact that we have a place for them, and not only so, it is the will of God that they should come.” (Backman, Heavens Resound, 139–140; Minutes, 22 Dec. 1836; “Anniversary of the Church of Latter Day Saints,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1837, 3:488–489, italics in original.)
Backman, Milton V., Jr. The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830–1838. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 23, p. 539, 10 Apr. 1837, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. Bouvier’s legal dictionary defines a quitclaim deed as a release of the possession of land by the owner. A quitclaim deed was used to release an individual’s title, interest, or claims to property. It did not act as a warranty deed granting title but merely conveyed all of that individual’s ties, if any, to another person. (“Quit claim,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary [1839], 2:321; Greenwood, Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 409.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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.
Greenwood, Val D. The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2000.
in and to the above described premises. The condition of this deed is such that whereas the said Wm Miller , & Joseph Smith Jr. have executed and delivered to the said , fourteen promissory notes payable to him or bearer as follows: (to wit,) one of One thousand dollars on the fifth of April in the year one thousand Eight hundred and thirty Eight, & one of one thousand dollars in on each successive fifth of April thereafter until the fifth of April in the year one thousand Eight hundred and fifty one when they are to pay one of three hundred and ninety Eight dollars and Eighty cents. Now if the said Wm. Miller , & J. Smith Junr. their heirs assigns, executors, or administrators, shall well and truly pay the aforesaid Notes, according to the tenor thereof to the said his heirs or assigns, then the above deed shall be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this fifth day of October in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty six.
Phebe Miller Seal
Wm. Miller Seal
Seal
Seal
Seal
Seal
Seal
Joseph Smith Jr Seal
Signed sealed and delivered in presence of Joseph Pine
The State of Ohio
ss.
Oct. 5. 1836
Personally appeared Wm. Miller & Joseph Smith Jr. who acknowledged that they did Sign and seal the foregoing instrument; and that the same is their free act and deed. I further certify that I did examine the said Phebe Miller, & separate and apart from her said husband and did then and there make known to her the contents of the foregoing instrument; and upon that examination she declared that she did voluntarily sign seal and acknowledge the same and that she was still satisfied therewith
Before me Justice of the peace
Recd. 24th. at 1/2 past 2 o’clock PM & Recorded 26 Octr. AD 1836 Recorder [p. 384]
This section of the deed specifies that the wives of the sellers were relinquishing their dower rights, or rights to the property after their husband’s death, to Peter French. To ensure the release of dower rights was a voluntary action, the justice of the peace would ask each wife individually to acknowledge that she understood the terms of the release and willingly agreed to it. A similar section was included in most deeds that involved a married man.