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.