Deed from Ethan Kimball, 20 June 1842
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Source Note
, agent, on behalf of Ethan Kimball, Deed for property in , IL, to JS, 20 June 1842. Featured version copied 27 June 1842 in Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, vol. K, pp. 329–330; unidentified handwriting; Hancock County Recorder’s Office, Carthage, IL; microfilm at Family History Library.The deed was recorded in Hancock County Deed Book K, the original physical dimensions of which are unknown. The volume contained 294 leaves (588 pages) and endpaper, now measuring 16⅜ × 10½ inches (42 × 27 cm). Nothing is known of the original binding, but by 1974 the volume was rebound and covered in white canvas, with “DEED RECORD | K | HANCOCK COUNTY” stamped in ink on the spine. A twenty-four-leaf (forty-eight-page) index in an unknown hand was inserted in the front of the volume, presumably around the same time. At an unknown time, the text block and index were cut from the new binding, inserted into individual Mylar sleeves, and placed in a metal-and-board binder with a red exterior. The binder measures 18½ × 13 × 3¾ inches (47 × 33 × 10 cm). The volume contains handwritten deeds recorded 11 December 1841 to 2 June 1842.The volume has remained in the continuous custody of the , Illinois, recorder since its creation.
Footnotes
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Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. K, 1841–1842, microfilm 954,599, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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Historical Introduction
On 20 June 1842, JS received a deed completing a land transaction with Ethan Kimball—a resident who speculated in land—for 480 acres approximately four miles east of , Illinois. Six days earlier, JS had traveled with to the property, which included what he and others commonly called “the mound,” to assess the land. As part of this transaction, JS purchased three quarter-sections of land east of Nauvoo for $1,500. The purchase extended JS’s landholdings of the prairie land near Nauvoo, allowing him to provide land to the growing number of Latter-day Saints to the area while at the same time giving him an opportunity to potentially profit from the resale of the property.In 1838 Ethan Kimball had granted power of attorney over “all the real estate of which [he] possessed or own[ed]” in and to his brother , who was an influential resident of . Acting as Ethan’s financial , Hiram likely prepared the deed and signed it on his brother’s behalf in the presence of , who acted as witness. Justice of the peace certified the document the next day. On the same day the deed was created, JS provided Kimball with three promissory notes totaling $1,500 for the property’s purchase; only one of the three notes is apparently still extant. This extant note stipulated that JS would pay Kimball $500, plus six percent interest, within one year. Notations on the extant promissory note indicate that JS made an initial payment of $320.90 to Hiram Kimball for the property on 27 June 1842, the same day the deed was copied into the recorder’s deed book. While the deed is representative of JS’s many land transactions during the summer of 1842, this deed is somewhat unique in that it represents JS purchasing the land privately and not on behalf of the as trustee-in-trust.
Footnotes
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1
The mound was located in the prairie east of Nauvoo, an area where JS already owned land and where he often liked to ride. The property was characterized by its natural rise in elevation. JS’s journal noted that he purchased “3/4 Sections of Land of Hiram Kimball” on 14 June 1842; the deed completing the purchase was not signed until 20 June. (JS, Journal, 14 June 1842; see also JS, Journal, 3 and 6–7 June 1842.)
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2
The purchases included the southwest quarter of section 25 and two contiguous quarters in sections 26 and 35.
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3
Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12G, pp. 227–228, 21 July 1838, microfilm 954,195, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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4
JS, Promissory Note, Nauvoo, IL, to Ethan Kimball, 20 June 1842, JS Collection, CHL.
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5
See also JS, Journal, 27 June 1842.
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6
In his capacity as trustee-in-trust, JS both initiated transactions and received deeds for land transactions made on behalf of the church during this period. (See, for example, Nauvoo Registry of Deeds, Record of Deeds, bk. A, 24–26, 40–42, 84–85, 91–92; bk. B, 4–5; and Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. U, pp. 383–384, 13 Aug. 1842, microfilm 954,605, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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