Affidavit, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles]

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Introduction to City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles Complaint, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles] Warrant, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles] Subpoena, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles] Affidavit, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles] Minutes, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles] Docket Entry, circa 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles] Receipt, 7 February 1843 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles]
Affidavit, 6 December 1842 [City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles]
Source Note

Amos Davis
Ca. 20 Sept. 1813–22 Mar. 1872. Merchant, farmer, postmaster, tavernkeeper. Born in New Hampshire or Vermont. Son of Wells Davis and Mary. Moved to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Hancock Co., Illinois, ca. fall 1836. Married first Elvira Hibard, 1 Jan. 1837, in...
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, Affidavit, before JS as mayor,
Nauvoo
Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....
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, Hancock Co., IL, 6 Dec. 1842, City of Nauvoo v. Davis for Slander of Miles (Nauvoo, IL, Mayor’s Court 1842); handwriting of
George Stiles
18 July 1816–Sept. 1885. Attorney, judge, politician. Born in Watertown, Jefferson Co., New York. Son of John Stiles and Persis Cole. Moved to Le Ray, Jefferson Co., by 1820. Moved to Pamela, Jefferson Co., by 1830. Married first Julian Mackemer, 7 Nov. 1841...
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with insertions by
James Sloan
28 Oct. 1792–24 Oct. 1886. City recorder, notary public, attorney, judge, farmer. Born in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, Ireland. Son of Alexander Sloan and Anne. Married Mary Magill. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ordained an elder, ...
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; signature of
Amos Davis
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; certified by JS, 6 Dec. 1842; docket by
James Sloan
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, [
Nauvoo
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, Hancock Co., IL], [6 Dec. 1842]; two pages; Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL. Includes docket.

Single leaf, measuring 4½ × 7¾ inches (11 × 20 cm) and ruled with fourteen horizontal printed blue lines. The leaf is torn on the right side of the recto and was unevenly cut on the top and bottom. The document was folded in half and docketed.

The document was docketed by
James Sloan
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, who served as city recorder and clerk of the
Nauvoo
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Municipal Court from 1841 to 1843.
1
“Officers of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:638; “Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1843, 4:244.
Comprehensive Works Cited
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
It was presumably kept among Nauvoo city records. In 1845 the city of Nauvoo was disincorporated.
2
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Family and Church History Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley.
3
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904.
4
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
The Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection was arranged and cataloged by the Family and Church History Department (now CHL) in 2006.
5
See the full bibliographic entry for Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, in the CHL catalog.
The document’s likely inclusion with the city records listed in early church inventories and its inclusion in the Nauvoo, Illinois, records collection in 2006 indicate continuous church custody since 1845.
6
Footnotes
[1]
“Officers of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 15 Dec. 1841, 3:638; “Municipal Court of the City of Nauvoo,” Times and Seasons, 1 July 1843, 4:244.
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.
[2]
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
[3]
[4]
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
[5]
See the full bibliographic entry for Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845, in the CHL catalog.
[6]
Historical Introduction
Page [1]
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State of Illinois) State <City> of Illinois <
Nauvoo
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>

Hancock Co <Ss
1
“Ss” is a legal abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “that is to say, to wit, viz.” (“Scilicet,” in Jones, Introduction to Legal Science, appendix, 28.)
Jones, Silas. An Introduction to Legal Science: Being a Concise and Familiar Treatise . . . to Which Is Appended a Concise Dictionary of Law Terms and Phrases. New York: John S. Voorhies, 1842.
>
All insertions in this document are in the handwriting of James Sloan.
) vs

<City of
Nauvoo
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.>)
Amos Davis
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Amos Davis
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being duly Sworn makes oath that Joseph Smith Mayer is so prejudised against him that he Cannot have a fair and Impartial trial and he asks A Change of Venue to sum other Court Where the Said Causes do not Exhist.
2
Illinois law stipulated that prior to the commencement of a trial before a justice of the peace, a defendant could make an oath that he or she believed it impossible to “have an impartial trial” before that justice. At that point, the justice was to “transmit all the papers and documents belonging to the suit, to the nearest justice of peace, who shall proceed as if the said suit had been instituted before him.” (An Act concerning Justices of the Peace and Constables [3 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 408, sec. 25.)
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.

Signature of Amos Davis.
Amos Davis
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Certification by JS in the handwriting of James Sloan. Because of lack of space, Sloan inscribed the certification above Amos Davis’s signature, overlapping some of the letters.
Sworn before me, this 6th day of Decr 1842.

Signature of JS.
Joseph Smith Mayor [p. [1]]
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Footnotes
[1]
“Ss” is a legal abbreviation for scilicet, a Latin adverb meaning “that is to say, to wit, viz.” (“Scilicet,” in Jones, Introduction to Legal Science, appendix, 28.)
Jones, Silas. An Introduction to Legal Science: Being a Concise and Familiar Treatise . . . to Which Is Appended a Concise Dictionary of Law Terms and Phrases. New York: John S. Voorhies, 1842.
All insertions in this document are in the handwriting of James Sloan.
[2]
Illinois law stipulated that prior to the commencement of a trial before a justice of the peace, a defendant could make an oath that he or she believed it impossible to “have an impartial trial” before that justice. At that point, the justice was to “transmit all the papers and documents belonging to the suit, to the nearest justice of peace, who shall proceed as if the said suit had been instituted before him.” (An Act concerning Justices of the Peace and Constables [3 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 408, sec. 25.)
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.
Signature of Amos Davis.
Certification by JS in the handwriting of James Sloan. Because of lack of space, Sloan inscribed the certification above Amos Davis’s signature, overlapping some of the letters.
Signature of JS.