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Deed to John Smith, 10 February 1844

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Deed to John Smith, 10 February 1844

Source Note

JS, Deed for property in , Iowa Territory, to , 10 Feb. 1844. Featured version copied [ca. 10 Feb. 1844]; handwriting of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes redaction and archival notation.
Single leaf measuring 11⅛ × 7⅛ inches (28 × 18 cm). The leaf is ruled with thirty-two horizontal lines printed in blue ink. The left and bottom edges of the recto are hand cut. The verso is blank.
The document, apparently a retained version, may have been kept among JS’s papers. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s likely provenance and inclusion in the JS Collection suggest continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On 10 February 1844, JS’s private clerk, , drafted a deed for JS to transfer all the property he owned in to his uncle . The property included all the land JS had acquired in , Iowa Territory, from in 1842, along with any other interests JS held in any Iowa properties. The sale price was to be one dollar, an amount commonly specified when one party was effectively gifting property to another.
JS’s land in was part of the “,” a 119,000-acre area in the southeastern part of the territory that the Congress set aside for the mixed-race children of white soldiers and Sauk and Meskwaki women in 1824. A subsequent act in 1834 removed the federal government’s interest and allowed the owners of the land to sell it directly. In 1836 the Land Company purchased much of the area through its trustee . Through , leaders purchased nearly 18,000 acres of land in Iowa Territory from Galland in 1839, but it is unclear in what portion of that land JS had an interest in February 1844. Despite plans to develop the area around , Iowa Territory, as a twin city to , Illinois, questions about title and negative experiences with led JS in April 1843 to instruct the Latter-day Saints to abandon their interests in and settle on the side of the .
It is unclear whether the transaction between JS and occurred, as no signed or witnessed copy of the deed exists. Although JS would have given the original to John Smith, typically even retained versions bore original or at least copied signatures of the parties involved. The deed was also never recorded in the deed books. Recording deeds with the county was not legally required but was in the interest of the grantee—particularly in cases where title was as notoriously contested as the lands in the federally designated were—and was therefore common.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians [4 Aug. 1824], Public Statutes at Large, vol. 7, p. 229, art. 1.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

  2. [2]

    An Act to Relinquish the Reversionary Interest of the United States in a Certain Indian Reservation Lying between the Rivers Mississippi and Desmoins [30 June 1834], Public Statutes at Large, 23rd Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 167, p. 740.

    The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.

  3. [3]

    Cook, “Isaac Galland,” 264–265.

    Cook, Lyndon W. “Isaac Galland—Mormon Benefactor.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 261–284.

  4. [4]

    Deeds, Isaac and Elizabeth Wilcox Galland to Oliver Granger, 29 May 1839–A and –B, Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds [South, Keokuk], vol. 1, pp. 507–509, microfilm 959,238, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Deeds, Isaac and Elizabeth Wilcox Galland to Vinson Knight, 26 June 1839–A, –B, –C, –D, and –E, Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds [South, Keokuk], vol. 2, pp. 3–6, 13–16, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Cook, “Isaac Galland,” 270–275.

    Cook, Lyndon W. “Isaac Galland—Mormon Benefactor.” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 261–284.

  5. [5]

    Revelation, ca. Early Mar. 1841 [D&C 125]; JS, Journal, 6 Apr. 1843.

Page [1]

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Know all men by these presents that I Joseph Smith of the County of and State of for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to me in hand paid by of the and aforesaid the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledge have granted bargain and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release convey and forever quit-claim unto the said and to his heirs and assigns forever all my right, title, interest, claim and demand, of, in, and to all those tracts and parcels of land situated and being in the County of and Territory of , which were deeded to me by said Deeds being on Record in the recorders office at . together with all my interest to said lands and all lands now owned by me in said County of and Territory of whatsoever.
To have and to hold the said premises to the said his heirs and assigns, forever together with all the privileges and appurtenances to the same belonging or in anywise appertaining so far as the same is owned by me and free from any claim or claims whatever of the said Joseph Smith
To have and to hold <​In witness whereof​> I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 10th day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty four. [p. [1]]
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Source Note

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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Deed to John Smith, 10 February 1844
ID #
1943
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • William Clayton

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    On 20 January 1842, Isaac Galland appointed Remick as his attorney with authority to recover or sell any of the Iowa Territory lands for which Galland was a trustee, amounting to roughly 119,000 acres. On 1 September 1842, Jacob and Hannah Shaw Remick transferred property in Iowa Territory to JS in two transactions. One of the deeds, for $12,500, conveyed about 20,000 acres that Galland had deeded to church member Vinson Knight in 1839. The second, for $20,000, transferred to JS the “undivided half part in common” of all of Remick’s remaining land in the Half-Breed Tract except for a few parcels of land that Remick had already conveyed to other people. Remick’s September 1842 transfers to JS were quitclaim deeds, meaning that the transfer documents did not include any legal warranty that Remick owned the title to these lands, merely that he was conveying to JS any interest Remick may have had in these properties. Consequently, JS’s deed to John Smith would also have to be, as it declares itself, a quitclaim deed. (Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds [South, Keokuk], vol. 3, pp. 178–180, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Deeds from Jacob Remick, 1 Sept. 1842–A and –B, Lee Co., IA, Land Records, 1836–1961, Deeds [South, Keokuk], vol. 3, pp. 449–451, microfilm 959,239, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; “Quit Claim,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:402.)

    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: Deacon and Peterson, 1854.

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