Footnotes

1. [1]

   Mead, Stafford & Co. was a wholesale grocery and commission business composed of Jonas Stafford and brothers Zalmon and Robert Mead. The firm was in operation from 1834 to 1839. In 1839, Jonas Stafford left the partnership, and Zalmon and Robert formed a new firm named Z. & R. Mead, which they ran from 1839 to 1841. (Mead, History and Genealogy of the Mead Family, 377; “Co-Partnership Notice,” New-York Commercial Advertiser, 4 Feb. 1839, [4]; Longworth, Longworth’s American Almanac [1834], 543; [1837], 429; [1839], 455; [1841], 490.)

   Mead, Spencer P. History and Genealogy of the Mead Family of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Eastern New York, Western Vermont and Western Pennsylvania from A.D. 1180 to 1900. New York: Knickerbocker, 1901.

   Commercial Advertiser. New York City. 1820–1863.

   Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Fifty-Ninth Year of American Independence. . . . New York: Thomas Longworth, 1834.

   Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, of the Sixty-Second Year of American Independence. . . . New York: Thomas Longworth, 1837.

   Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, of the Sixty-Fourth Year of American Independence. . . . New York: Thomas Longworth, 1839.

   Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Sixty-Sixth Year of American Independence. . . . New York: Thomas Longworth, 1841.

2. [2]

   Mead, Stafford & Co. to Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery, Invoice, New York City, 8 Oct. 1836, JS Office Papers, CHL; Mead, Stafford & Co. to Cahoon, Carter & Co., Invoice, New York City, 8 Oct. 1836, JS Office Papers, CHL; Mead, Stafford & Co. to H. Smith & Co., Invoice, New York City, 8 Oct. 1836, JS Office Papers, CHL.

3. [3]

   Reuben Hitchcock was born in 1806 to Peter Hitchcock and Nabbie Cook. He moved to Painesville, Geauga County, Ohio, and was admitted to the Ohio bar around 1831. He served as the prosecuting attorney in Geauga County in 1835 and 1838–1839 and was involved in legal proceedings against JS during that time. On 11 July 1837, Hitchcock and Eli T. Wilder began advertising their partnership in a legal practice. (History of Geauga and Lake Counties, 23, 61–62; “Death of Judge Reuben Hitchcock of Painesville,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 13 Dec. 1883, [3]; “Law Notice,” Painesville Telegraph, 21 July 1837, [2].)

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

   Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

4. [4]

   For a contemporary definition of mortgages and an earlier JS mortgage, see Historical Introduction to Mortgage to Peter French, 5 Oct. 1836.

5. [5]

   Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 24, pp. 211–213, 11 July 1837, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Historical Introduction to Deed to William Marks, 10 Apr. 1837. Marks’s willingness to sell the title to Mead, Stafford & Co. suggests that in April 1837 he was likely acting as an agent for JS and holding the right to the land rather than purchasing the land for his own use. The printing office and the church newspaper it printed, the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, were also transferred to Marks, as JS and Rigdon’s agent, in April 1837. (See Historical Introduction to Deed to William Marks, 10 Apr. 1837; and “Notice,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Apr. 1837, 3:496.)

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

   Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

6. [6]

   Two of the promissory notes are extant and are held in private possession. Photographs of the notes show no endorsements or cancellations to indicate any payments were made. The note due on 8 July 1839 has court information recorded on the back of the note relating to possible litigation in 1841 and 1849.

7. [7]

   According to debts recorded in Willard Richards’s 1837 journal, the three firms owed Mead, Stafford & Co. at least $3,761.90 by March 1837. An additional debt listed in the journal, for $404.47, is not attributed to a specific firm but could account for additional debts to Mead, Stafford & Co., which would bring the total owed to $4,166.37. If Mead, Stafford & Co. forgave a general amount rather than a specific debt, they would be making a profit from the three promissory notes rather than agreeing to a deficit. (Richards, Journal, 1837; Geauga Co., OH, Deed Records, 1795–1921, vol. 24, pp. 211–214, 11 July 1837, microfilm 20,240, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

   Richards, Willard. Journals, 1836–1853. Willard Richards, Papers, 1821–1854. CHL. MS 1490, boxes 1–2.

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

8. [8]

   A bill sent to JS in 1838 from the legal partnership of Hitchcock & Wilder provides evidence of a possible lawsuit. The promissory notes to Mead, Stafford & Co. are listed as outstanding debts. The bill states that no suit had been brought. (Hitchcock & Wilder to JS and Sidney Rigdon, Bill, between 9 July and 5 Nov. 1838, JS Collection, CHL.)

   Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

9. [9]

   JS, Nauvoo, IL, to Oliver Granger, 4 May 1841, copy, JS Collection, CHL. In October 1843, when JS compiled his outstanding debts in order to file for bankruptcy in Illinois, he did not include the promissory notes given to Mead, Stafford & Co., suggesting he considered the debt paid. However, the verso of one of the promissory notes due in 1838 and 1839 bears court filing notations dated April 1849, which suggests it was brought as evidence of an outstanding debt against JS’s estate. (William Marks to JS, Deed, 11 Feb. 1841; JS, “Schedule of Debts,” ca. 4–6 Oct. 1843, CCLA; JS and Others to Mead, Stafford & Co., Promissory Note, 11 July 1837, copy, CHL.)

   Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.

   Smith, Joseph. “Schedule of Debts,” ca. 4–6 Oct. 1843. CCLA.

   Smith, Joseph. Promissory Note to Mead, Stafford & Co., 11 July 1837. Copy. CHL.