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Letter from Reuben McBride, 28 February 1844

Source Note

, Letter, , Lake Co., OH, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 28 Feb. 1844; handwriting and signature of ; four pages; JS Collection, CHL. Includes address, postal notations, dockets, notation, and redactions.
Bifolium measuring 12½ × 7¾ inches (32 × 20 cm). Each page is ruled with thirty-nine lines printed in blue ink. The letter was inscribed in blue ink. The document was trifolded twice in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive wafer. Remnants of the wafer remain on the recto of the first leaf. The document was later refolded for filing.
The letter was docketed by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844, and by , who served as a clerk in the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) from 1853 to 1859. A notation was made by 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 28 February 1844, wrote a letter from , Ohio, to JS in , Illinois, regarding property issues in Kirtland and at Oswego, New York. McBride had been JS’s in Kirtland since 1841, managing the property and debt of JS and the in the area. More recently, former church member had attempted to obtain ownership of the farm he was renting from JS as payment for a debt he claimed JS owed him, all while exposing the same property to seizure by Lake County, Ohio, for unpaid property taxes. Coe and McBride each communicated with JS directly on the matter on 1 January, and on 18 January JS directed McBride to evict Coe from the farm.
In his 28 February letter, reported that in response to JS’s eviction instruction, had enlisted the , Ohio, sheriff to place levies on property that JS and the church owned in . McBride also informed JS of some confusion surrounding a lien against three farms in Oswego that JS’s late agent purchased in 1840. These farms were previously owned by Alonzo Reed, Jonathan Harrington, and Abel Owen, respectively. The transactions possibly covered part or all of approximately two hundred acres of land that Granger purchased from church members in October 1840 using church-owned land in or as payment. Encouraged by church leaders, these sorts of land exchanges facilitated the gathering of Latter-day Saints from the eastern to , while also providing agents such as Granger with resources to pay off church debts. However, the connections of Reed, Harrington, and Owen to the church are unclear, although McBride suggested in the letter that the men now lived near . Following Granger’s death in 1841, the deed to the property transferred to Granger’s son because, as McBride reported, Oliver had apparently not purchased the farms for JS and the church as McBride originally supposed. Gilbert Granger evidently sold the farms, and, at the time McBride wrote this letter, multiple parties contested the ownership of the properties. McBride requested direction from JS on how to proceed.
sent the letter to JS by post on 1 March. Mail from typically arrived in within two or three weeks. JS presumably received the letter in mid- or late March. It is unknown if he responded.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841; Power of Attorney to Reuben McBride, 28 Oct. 1841; Letter from Reuben McBride, 3 Jan. 1842.

  2. [2]

    Letter from Joseph Coe, 1 Jan. 1844; Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 Jan. 1844; Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844; see also Letter to Joseph Coe, 18 Jan. 1844.

  3. [3]

    Obituary for Oliver Granger, Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:550.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 Jan. 1844; Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844.

Page 2

if has not got anny lease see if there was anny except the one given to or if he has a copy send that do not delay one moment I shall take Moove in to the house myself if I can till the storm is over I think it will be best I shall not delay on my part in geting out of the house and off the farm in your letter to him you Called it your farm they make conciderable handle of that expression, they pretend has recvd. his pay for the farm and that it is your individual property thinks it will depend on testimony a great deal wheather they hold it or not says if you have got a Deed of the Mummies executed by him it is a forged one for he never gave you anny your house where you used to live was forfeited to the and Sold I talked with — he thought it was not lawfull I think so too but I thought it would be better to pay $5, than to pay moore <​runn anny risk​> they are trying to get posession will tell you the situation of it it being in Johnsons hands I had nothing to do with it I recvd through the favor of a power of Atorney from Miss Vose of to take care of and rent her house and pay it <​the rent​> to you the house is very much out of repair I sent a note by to <​you​> against and & or swore out an and Levyed on s. Place being in posession of the place and doing the business for I setled it with by letting him have the old Bank house it was going to destruction, and save Mr s. by the means so I sent the note to you and you can do with it as you I think proper wheather I done right or rong in that I leave with you I hired the money to pay the tax on the farm and suceeded in getting the money of to replace it about the time he recvd your letter If I had not got it just as I did I should not probably have got it at tall wheather I shall be able to Collect the back rent or not is very uncertain but I will do the best I can [p. 2]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Letter from Reuben McBride, 28 February 1844
ID #
1287
Total Pages
4
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Reuben McBride

Footnotes

  1. [12]

    This lease is apparently no longer extant.

  2. [13]

    McBride’s language suggests that Marks had not been paid in full for his portion of the farm. It is unclear what the actual financial state of the transaction was at this time and when it was completed. In an 1845 letter to Brigham Young, however, McBride wrote that the deed for the farm “runs from Wm Marks & wife to Joseph Smith.” (Reuben McBride, Kirtland, OH, to Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, 19 Oct. 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL.)

    Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

  3. [14]

    In rebutting Coe’s claim that he owed Coe money for the purchase of Egyptian mummies and papyri in 1835, JS stated that he possessed a deed from Coe by which Coe transferred his entire interest in the mummies and papyri to JS. That deed is apparently not extant. (Letter to Joseph Coe, 18 Jan. 1844.)

  4. [15]

    This is likely a reference to the Kirtland home in which JS and Emma Smith had lived north of the House of the Lord and immediately north of the cemetery, although JS owned other property in the township. (“Kirtland Township with Plots, January 1838.”)

  5. [16]

    Babbitt had previously presided over the church at Kirtland and had succeeded Oliver Granger as JS’s financial agent there until he was disfellowshipped in 1841. Sometime before 1843, he moved to Ramus, Illinois, and returned to full fellowship in the church. (Revocation of Letter of Attorney, 2 Nov. 1841, in JS Letterbook 2, p. 213.)

  6. [17]

    Likely Ruth Vose Sayers, who had moved to Nauvoo with her husband, Edward Sayers, in 1841 and moved back to Boston sometime in 1844. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. I, pp. 309–310, 19 May 1841, microfilm 954,598, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; “Hymenial,” Times and Seasons, 15 Feb. 1841, 2:324; Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 384.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.

  7. [18]

    This note is apparently not extant.

  8. [19]

    Bump was a former church member who had lived in Kirtland since 1833. He left the church in 1838. (History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, 248; “History of Brigham Young,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 10 Feb. 1858, 386.)

    History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men. Philadelphia: Williams Brothers, 1878.

    Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

  9. [20]

    Likely attorney Lyman Cowdery, who was mentioned previously.

  10. [21]

    “The old Bank house” is likely a reference to the building that had previously housed the Kirtland Safety Society, which had also been known as the “Kirtland Bank.” The institution’s building had also been called the “Banking house.” (See, for example, Minutes, 7–8 Apr. 1838; and Constitution of the Kirtland Safety Society Bank, 2 Nov. 1836.)

  11. [22]

    In his 1 January 1844 letter, McBride informed JS that JS owed forty-five dollars in taxes on the property. (Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 Jan. 1844.)

  12. [23]

    In his 18 January 1844 letter, JS instructed McBride to collect whatever he could from Coe for the unpaid taxes and rent. McBride had previously informed JS that Coe had paid less than half of the ninety dollars of rent he owed for 1842 and again failed to pay the full rent he owed for 1843. (Letter to Reuben McBride, 18 Jan. 1844; Letter from Reuben McBride, 1 Jan. 1844.)

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