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Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 January 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Lake Co., OH, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 1 Jan. 1844; handwriting of ; two pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notations, endorsement, docket, and notations.
Bifolium measuring 12¼ × 7⅞ inches (31 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with thirty-six lines printed in blue ink. The letter was written in blue ink on the first two pages. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer that obscures some text. The letter was later refolded for filing.
The document was endorsed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, and docketed by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. The document also features a notation in the handwriting of Andrew Jenson, who began working in the Church Historian’s Office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. The document was listed in an inventory that was produced by the Church Historian’s Office circa 1904. By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL). The document’s early dockets and notation, its listing in a circa 1904 inventory, and its later inclusion in the JS Collection indicate continuous institutional custody.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718.

    Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901–1936.

  2. [2]

    “Obituary of Leo Hawkins,” Millennial Star, 30 July 1859, 21:496–497.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  3. [3]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Cannon, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Cannon, George Q. Journals, 1855–1864, 1872–1901. CHL. CR 850 1.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  4. [4]

    “Letters to and from the Prophet,” ca. 1904, [3], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.

    Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.

  5. [5]

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

Historical Introduction

On 1 January 1844, wrote a letter from , Ohio, to JS in , Illinois, to apprise him of the financial state of JS’s farm in Kirtland and his suspicions that former member was plotting to take ownership of it. McBride joined the church in in 1834 and received a power of attorney from JS as his authorized in 1841, replacing , who had died shortly before, and , who had been disfellowshipped. As agent, McBride was responsible for managing church property in Kirtland, elsewhere in , and in neighboring states and took care of paying taxes the church owed and handling church debts.
had written to JS earlier on 1 January. Though did not know the precise content of Coe’s letter, he suspected that it pertained to land JS and the church owned in . According to McBride, Coe began renting JS’s farm in Kirtland in 1842. Coe agreed to pay ninety dollars per year in rent and half of the tax on the land. In his letter, McBride informed JS that Coe paid less than half of the rent in 1842 and, despite promising to settle the account, did not pay the full rent in 1843 either. McBride also stated that Coe had not paid his portion of the taxes on the land and that without timely payment, McBride would not be able to pay the forty-five dollars of taxes owed to the county. A reliable source had informed McBride that Coe would not pay the rent and instead planned to write to JS to try to get ownership of the farm. McBride suspected Coe would intentionally not pay his portion of the taxes owed on the property so that the government would seize the farm, thereby allowing Coe to purchase it at auction for less money.
sent the letter to JS by post on 2 January. JS received the letter in on the night of 17 January. On the morning of 18 January, JS wrote separate replies to McBride and .

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841; Power of Attorney to Reuben McBride, 28 Oct. 1841; Revocation of Letter of Attorney, 2 Nov. 1841, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 213.

    JS Letterbook 2 / Smith, Joseph. “Copies of Letters, &c. &c.,” 1839–1843. Joseph Smith Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155, box 2, fd. 2.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Joseph Coe, 1 Jan. 1844.

  3. [3]

    See Letter from Joseph Coe, 1 Jan. 1844. In January 1842, Coe was seeking a house to rent in Kirtland in which he could live and board students of a local seminary. (Letter from Reuben McBride, 3 Jan. 1842.)

  4. [4]

    Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844; Letter to Joseph Coe, 18 Jan. 1844.

Page [2]

I give it as my belief that if he had the place and house no one here to see to it he would let it be sold for tax and bid it off him self and get a sheriffs. Deed of it fo[r] he certainly would let it be sold this year if I were not here cannot manage the place nor anny one that belongs to the here there is a number here who believe because they belong to the Ch that they own a share in of the farm they throw down fences and cut timber and burn rails turn their cattle into thier the Lots &c my op[in]ion is it would be better to let some one who would be responsible have it who did never belong to the Ch.— I have not the least objections against s haveing it if you think proper so to do but I thought it my duty to let you know how he had managed I should have been there last fal[l] if it had not been for the sickness of my wife I shal[l] come there next season if the Lord will
the old Long Shop is allmost fallen down had I better try Sell it for what it will fetch or try to save it till it is needed here it will probably fetch about $50— or $75 Dollars in property nothing more at present please answer this imediately
Give my respects to — an &c
Yours in the bonds of the Everlasting Gospel
[6 lines blank] [p. [2]]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 January 1844
ID #
1239
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Reuben McBride

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    A sheriff’s deed granted ownership rights for property sold at a sheriff’s sale. Properties available at these sales had been seized by the county based on the prior owners’ failure to pay the property taxes or to recompense a court judgment that was overdue and still unpaid. (An Act Regulating Judgments and Executions [1 Mar. 1831], Statutes of the State of Ohio [1840–1841], chap. 63, pp. 467, 475–476, secs. 1, 16.)

    Statutes of the State of Ohio, of a General Nature, in Force, December 7, 1840; Also, the Statutes of a General Nature, Passed by the General Assembly at Their Thirty-Ninth Session, Commencing December 7, 1840. Columbus, OH: Samuel Medary, 1841.

  2. [2]

    TEXT: Text here and on the next line is obscured by the adhesive wafer.

  3. [3]

    McBride married Mary Ann Anderson in 1833.

  4. [4]

    “The old Long Shop” may be a reference to the building that housed a store JS operated in Kirtland in 1836. (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 443, 453–454.)

    Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.

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