Letter to Horace Hotchkiss, 10 December 1841

Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 11 Oct. 1841; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 9 Nov. 1841.  

In his letter of 9 November 1841, Hotchkiss stated he was “gratified in the perusal yesterday of the proceedings of your Conference relative to the ‘Hotchkiss purchase’ published in the Times and Seasons.” The conference minutes published in the 15 October issue of the Times and Seasons briefly mentioned the purchase by reporting JS’s instruction that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles write a letter to the Saints about a plan to repay Hotchkiss. The resulting “Epistle of the Twelve, To the brethren scattered abroad on the Continent of America” recommended that Saints moving to Nauvoo from the eastern United States transfer their property to Hotchkiss, Tuttle, and Gillet to pay the church’s debts to these men. That letter was included in the same issue of the paper, and Hotchkiss likely read it as well. (Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 9 Nov. 1841; Minutes and Discourse, 1–5 Oct. 1841; “An Epistle of the Twelve,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1841, 2:568.)  

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

JS wrote to Tuttle on 9 October 1841 regarding the four interest payments (for $1,500 each) then due but not yet paid to Hotchkiss, Tuttle, and John Gillet. JS informed Tuttle that Hyrum Smith and Isaac Galland had been sent to the eastern United States with power of attorney to sell or transfer church properties and thereby acquire the $6,000 due. Hyrum returned from the trip before making payment, leaving it to Galland to do so. JS informed Tuttle that Galland had means in his possession to pay the entire amount due but that for some unknown reason Galland had failed to pay Hotchkiss or to report his activities to church leaders. On 18 January 1842 JS signed a statement, published in the 15 January issue of the Times and Seasons, revoking Galland’s power of attorney. (Letter to Smith Tuttle, 9 Oct. 1841; Revocation of Power of Attorney, 18 January 1842; JS, “Special Notice,” Times and Seasons, 15 Jan. 1842, 3:667.)  

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

In his 9 November 1841 letter, Hotchkiss requested “six or eight copies” of the 15 October 1841 issue of the Times and Seasons. Ebenezer Robinson was the editor of the Times and Seasons at the time. (Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 9 Nov. 1841.)  

The church bought 89½ acres of land in the Commerce, Illinois, area from Hotchkiss and William White on 12 August 1839. The $1,000 due William White was paid on 23 April 1840. The $2,500 mentioned here was the portion due Hotchkiss. According to Hotchkiss’s letters of October and November 1841, Ivins met with him in New Jersey and gave him two notes worth $721 each as well as $1,200 worth of land for payment in full. Hotchkiss informed JS that Riley Allen, the debtor on the two notes, had since died and that Hotchkiss had been able to sell the land for only $1,000. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–B; Receipt from William White, 23 Apr. 1840; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 11 Oct. 1841; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 9 Nov. 1841.)  

Cook’s Mills (later Cookstown) was a small town in Burlington County, New Jersey, located just a few miles away from Hornerstown, where Ivins lived. (Fort, “Account of the Capture and Death of the Refugee John Bacon,” 151; Fleming, “Early Mormonism in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey,” 78.)  

Fort, George F. “An Account of the Capture and Death of the Refugee John Bacon.” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society 1, no. 4 (1846): 151–153.

Fleming, Stephen J. “‘Sweeping Everything Before It’: Early Mormonism in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.” BYU Studies 40 (2001): 72–104.

Illinois law allowed each religious organization incorporating in the state to elect up to ten trustees, who would be legally responsible for all physical property owned by the organization. Pursuant to this law, JS was elected on 30 January 1841 as the “sole Trustee in Trust” for the church. (An Act concerning Religious Societies [6 Feb. 1835], Laws of the State of Illinois [1834–1835], p. 147, sec. 1; Appointment as Trustee, 2 Feb. 1841.)  

Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835. Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835.

In addition to giving Hotchkiss payment for the $2,500 due on the 89½ acres, Ivins had offered to transfer to Hotchkiss 137 acres of pine land, as well as the “Tavern Stand at Cooks Mills belonging to the Church.” Hotchkiss and Tuttle had offered to take the land for $3,000—to be applied against two of the four $1,500 overdue interest payments on the church’s larger August 1839 land purchase. (Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–B; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 11 Oct. 1841; Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 9 Nov. 1841; Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A.)  

When Hotchkiss wrote to JS in October 1841 with his offer to buy the land for $3,000, he said that it had previously been valued at $2,500. (Letter from Horace Hotchkiss, 11 Oct. 1841.)  

The area in which Nauvoo was located was prone to malaria, particularly on the marshy flats in the lower part of the city along the Mississippi River. By winter 1839 plans were being made to begin draining the land—an improvement that significantly reduced the number of health issues in the area. (Crosby, Reminiscences, 11; see also Proclamation, 15 Jan. 1841.)  

Crosby, Caroline Barnes. Reminiscences, no date. In Jonathan Crosby and Caroline Barnes Crosby Papers, 1848–1882. CHL.