Appointment as Trustee, 2 February 1841
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Source Note
JS, Appointment as Trustee, , Hancock Co., IL, 2 Feb. 1841; attested by , , and , , IL, [3 Feb. 1841]; certified by , 3 Feb. 1841. Featured version copied 8 Feb. 1841 in Hancock County, Illinois 1840 Record Book of Mortgages, Title Bonds, Leases, Deeds of Trust and Sales of Personal Property, vol. 1, p. 95; handwriting of ; Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL. Includes notations and archival marking.Hancock County, IL, Clerk and Recorder, “Hancock County Illinois 1840 Record Book of Mortgages, Title Bonds, Leases Deeds of Trust and Sales of Personal Property,” Bonds and Mortgages, vol. 1, 27 Apr. 1840–16 Oct. 1844; handwriting of and unidentified scribes; Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL. Includes notations, redactions, and archival markings.Bound volume measuring 17½ × 11¾ × 3 inches (44 × 30 × 8 cm) and containing 282 leaves measuring 17 × 10¼ inches (43 × 26 cm). A large, commercially produced book with brown leather binding, the volume is made of either heavy wood or pressed boards, with ledger binding. Each of the inside covers contains two leaves of heavy yellow endpaper that serve as a pastedown and a flyleaf. The first recorded transactions in the book are dated 15 April 1840, and the last are dated 12 March 1844. By 1974, the original brown leather binding was covered with white canvas and red leather corners. The spine of the canvas was stamped with black ink: “BONDS & MORTGAGES | 1 | HANCOCK COUNTY”. The volume has been in the continuous custody of the Hancock County Clerk and Recorder since its creation.
Footnotes
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Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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Historical Introduction
law required any religious society conducting business and land transactions to do so through legally appointed trustees. The following document from 2 February 1841 represents JS’s appointment as trustee-in-trust of the to meet the requirements of this law and thus officially incorporate the church.At a special held in January 1841 in , Illinois, JS was elected the sole trustee-in-trust for the church. Acting as justice of the peace, certified the appointment on 3 February, and , , and attested it. With the official appointment recorded on 8 February 1841 in volume 1 of the Bonds and Mortgages record book in , Illinois, JS had complete legal authority to oversee all of the church’s land and business dealings.
Footnotes
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Efforts to legally incorporate the church in Illinois began in late 1840 and accompanied the incorporation of the city with the Nauvoo charter. As of 1835 charters were no longer required to incorporate religious societies in Illinois—incorporation occurred instead through the election and appointment of a trustee-in-trust. (Bill to Incorporate the Church, 14 Dec. 1840; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)
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J Smith Appointment Trustee
Recorded 8th February 1841
City of Hancock Co. Ills
February 2nd A D 1841
To the County Recorder of the County of
Dear Sir
At a meeting of the “” at this place on Saturday the 30th day of January A D 1841 I was elected Sole Trustee for said Church to hold my office during life (my successors to be the of said Church) and vested with Plenary Powers as sole Trustee in Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints to receive acquire manage or convey property real personal or mixed for the sole use and benefit of said church agreeably to the provisions of an Act entitled “an act concerning religious Societies” approved February 6th 1835
Joseph Smith
| State of Illinois) | Ss |
| ) |
This day personally appeared before me a Justice of the Peace within and for the and aforesaid, , and who being duly sworn depose and say that the foregoing Certificate of Joseph Smith is true
Sworn to and subscribed this Third day of February [in the] year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and forty one before me
Justice of the Peace [p. 95]
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