Minutes, 8 March 1840
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Source Note
high council, Minutes, [, Hancock Co., IL], 8 Mar. 1840. Featured version copied 7 Feb. 1842 in Nauvoo High Council Minutes, fair copy, pp. 49–50; handwriting of ; CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for Minutes, 27 Oct. 1839.
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Historical Introduction
JS and the met on 8 March 1840 at ’s residence in , Illinois, to discuss various aspects of business. JS had only recently returned from , arriving in Commerce by 29 February 1840. On 6 March, he attended a high council meeting in , Iowa Territory. At that meeting, he emphasized to the high council that the attempt to gain redress for the Saints’ expulsion from was “the only thing that ought to interest the saints at present.” As these minutes of the 8 March high council meeting indicate, however, other business—especially related to land purchases—still needed consideration.One item discussed in the meeting involved a financial dispute between and former church member . Whitmer claimed Partridge owed him money on an existing mortgage on land Partridge held in , Missouri. Because Whitmer continued to demand payment on the mortgage, which church leaders did not believe was legitimate, JS and Partridge brought the matter before the high council. The high council also considered items related to other land debts, including a $1,000 payment church leaders owed for approximately ninety acres of land in that they had purchased from him and in August 1839. In January 1840, stated that he did not believe church leaders would be able to raise the money by the time it was due, necessitating the high council’s involvement. The high council additionally continued its efforts to establish a ferry across the and also considered the case of , who had published an unauthorized church hymnal in .As clerk of the meeting, took the minutes, which he copied into the high council record book on 7 February 1842.
Footnotes
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1
John Smith, Journal, 1836–1840, 29 Feb. 1840, [58]; Minutes and Discourse, 6 Mar. 1840.
Smith, John (1781-1854). Journal, 1833–1841. John Smith, Papers, 1833-1854. CHL. MS 1326, box 1, fd. 1.
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3
Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–B; JS History, vol. C-1, 965; Leonard, Nauvoo, 58.
Leonard, Glen M. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002.
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5
At meetings in October 1839, the high council instructed Vinson Knight to pay $150 for the ferry at Montrose and voted to place Daniel C. Davis in charge of it. (Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 20 Oct. 1839, 24; Minutes, 27 Oct. 1839; Agreement with Daniel C. Davis, 21 Oct. 1839.)
Nauvoo High Council Minutes, 1839–1845. CHL. LR 3102 22.
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