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Kirtland Safety Society Discounted Notes, circa January 1837

Source Note

Kirtland Safety Society, Discounted Notes,
Kirtland Township

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...

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, Geauga Co., OH, ca. Jan. 1837; handwriting of
Warren Parrish

10 Jan. 1803–3 Jan. 1877. Clergyman, gardener. Born in New York. Son of John Parrish and Ruth Farr. Married first Elizabeth (Betsey) Patten of Westmoreland Co., New Hampshire, ca. 1822. Lived at Alexandria, Jefferson Co., New York, 1830. Purchased land at...

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,
Reynolds Cahoon

30 Apr. 1790–29 Apr. 1861. Farmer, tanner, builder. Born at Cambridge, Washington Co., New York. Son of William Cahoon Jr. and Mehitable Hodges. Married Thirza Stiles, 11 Dec. 1810. Moved to northeastern Ohio, 1811. Located at Harpersfield, Ashtabula Co.,...

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, and unidentified scribes; docket in handwriting of
Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

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; fourteen pages; JS Office Papers, CHL.

Historical Introduction

The
Kirtland Safety Society Bank

A financial institution formed to raise money and provide credit in Kirtland, Ohio. On 2 November 1836, JS, Sidney Rigdon, and others officially organized the Kirtland Safety Society as a community bank by ratifying its constitution. Sidney Rigdon served ...

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was formed in November 1836; however, the institution did not open for business or operate a banking house until January 1837.
1

Documents, Volume 5, Part 5 Introduction: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837.


When the bank opened to the public, sometime between 4 and 7 January, the clerks began keeping a record, which they titled “List of notes for discounting.” This record consists of sequential numbers recorded in categories labeled “No. [number] 1,” “No. 2,” and “No. 3.” The list comprises seven loose sheets.
Discounting was a nineteenth-century banking term, most commonly describing the practice wherein banks accepted banknotes from other financial institutions and paid a lower amount than the face value of the note. This discount depended on the distance from the originating bank, the perceived credibility of that bank, and the difficulty the bank receiving the note might face in redeeming it.
2

Bodenhorn, State Banking in Early America, 48–49; Murphy, Other People’s Money, 58–59, 90. A less common form of discounting related to the issuing of loans. When a bank would issue a loan, it would subtract a set percentage from the loan amount, which usually represented interest, as a discount. For example, if an individual took out a loan for $1,000, and the bank applied a ten percent discount, the loan recipient would receive $900. (See JSP, D5:286n11; Kirtland Safety Society Notes, 4 Jan.–9 Mar. 1837; and Hill, Rooker, and Wimmer, Kirtland Economy Revisited, 55.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bodenhorn, Howard. State Banking in Early America: A New Economic History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Murphy, Sharon Ann. Other People’s Money: How Banking Worked in the Early American Republic. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017.

JSP, D5 / Rogers, Brent M., Elizabeth A. Kuehn, Christian K. Heimburger, Max H Parkin, Alexander L. Baugh, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Documents, Volume 5: October 1835–January 1838. Vol. 5 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017.

Hill, Marvin S., C. Keith Rooker, and Larry T. Wimmer. The Kirtland Economy Revisited: A Market Critique of Sectarian Economics. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1977.

Because there are few surviving records for the Safety Society, it is unclear if those involved in the Safety Society used the term “discounting” in the same way as other banks. If the title referred to the common form of discounting, then the numbers in the list would have corresponded with numbers written on the banknotes received by the Safety Society. Alternatively, the Safety Society may have applied some form of discounting to its own notes when they were issued for a loan or exchanged for specie, in which case the numbers on the list may represent serial numbers that clerks assigned to Safety Society notes as they were distributed or redeemed. In this case, the three categories used in the list may signify the one-dollar, two-dollar, and three-dollar denominations of Kirtland Safety Society notes. Another possibility is that the categories may refer more broadly to the three formats of uncut printed sheets of Safety Society notes, which clerks appear to have filled out sequentially, regardless of denomination.
3

Each uncut printed sheet comprised four notes, with different series of denominations. The first sheet included two one-dollar notes, one two-dollar note, and one three-dollar note. The second sheet included three five-dollar notes and one ten-dollar note. The third sheet is not extant, but likely included the twenty-dollar note, fifty-dollar note, and one hundred-dollar note. In the few extant uncut sheets of notes, clerks filled out the relevant information, including the serial numbers, for all the notes before cutting the sheet into four separate notes. (See Kirtland Safety Society Notes, 4 Jan.–9 Mar. 1837.)


The page order for the seven loose pages of numbers that comprise the “List of notes for discounting” has been changed to reflect the creation order of the record and therefore deviates from the order in which the record was archived at the Church History Library.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Documents, Volume 5, Part 5 Introduction: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837.

  2. [2]

    Bodenhorn, State Banking in Early America, 48–49; Murphy, Other People’s Money, 58–59, 90. A less common form of discounting related to the issuing of loans. When a bank would issue a loan, it would subtract a set percentage from the loan amount, which usually represented interest, as a discount. For example, if an individual took out a loan for $1,000, and the bank applied a ten percent discount, the loan recipient would receive $900. (See JSP, D5:286n11; Kirtland Safety Society Notes, 4 Jan.–9 Mar. 1837; and Hill, Rooker, and Wimmer, Kirtland Economy Revisited, 55.

    Bodenhorn, Howard. State Banking in Early America: A New Economic History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

    Murphy, Sharon Ann. Other People’s Money: How Banking Worked in the Early American Republic. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017.

    JSP, D5 / Rogers, Brent M., Elizabeth A. Kuehn, Christian K. Heimburger, Max H Parkin, Alexander L. Baugh, and Steven C. Harper, eds. Documents, Volume 5: October 1835–January 1838. Vol. 5 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey. Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017.

    Hill, Marvin S., C. Keith Rooker, and Larry T. Wimmer. The Kirtland Economy Revisited: A Market Critique of Sectarian Economics. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1977.

  3. [3]

    Each uncut printed sheet comprised four notes, with different series of denominations. The first sheet included two one-dollar notes, one two-dollar note, and one three-dollar note. The second sheet included three five-dollar notes and one ten-dollar note. The third sheet is not extant, but likely included the twenty-dollar note, fifty-dollar note, and one hundred-dollar note. In the few extant uncut sheets of notes, clerks filled out the relevant information, including the serial numbers, for all the notes before cutting the sheet into four separate notes. (See Kirtland Safety Society Notes, 4 Jan.–9 Mar. 1837.)

Page [0]

List of Notes for discounting Jany. 1837
J[oseph] C. Kingsbury

2 May 1812–15 Oct. 1898. Mining superintendent, store clerk, teacher, farmer, ferry operator, tithing storehouse supervisor, Temple Square guide. Born at Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of Solomon Kingsbury and Bathsheba Amanda Pease. Moved from Enfield...

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$300
1

TEXT: possibly “$800”.


Solomon
JB
2

TEXT: The initials “JB” were written upside down at the fold.


$100000 Rec
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Kirtland Safety Society Discounted Notes, circa January 1837
ID #
17217
Total Pages
15
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      TEXT: possibly “$800”.

    2. [2]

      TEXT: The initials “JB” were written upside down at the fold.

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