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Pay Order from Lyman Wight for Samuel Gully, 18 May 1844

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Pay Order from Lyman Wight for Samuel Gully, 18 May 1844

Source Note

, Pay Order, to JS, for , , Hancock Co., IL, 18 May 1844; handwriting and signature of ; two pages; Newel K. Whitney, Papers, BYU. Includes dockets and archival marking.
Single leaf measuring 8¾ × 7½ inches (22 × 19 cm). Both sides are ruled with twenty-four preprinted lines (now almost entirely faded). The top, left, and right sides appear to have the square cut of manufactured paper; the bottom was unevenly torn. The order was written in blue ink and folded multiple times. The document has some discoloration due to water damage.
The document was docketed once by and twice by , who served as scribe to JS from 1842 to 1844 and as temple recorder from 1842 to 1846. In late 1844, following JS’s death, became one of the interim church trustees and was appointed “first bishop” among other Nauvoo bishops. It was presumably during this time that many of the church’s financial and other administrative records passed into his possession. This document, along with many other personal and institutional documents that Whitney kept, was inherited by Newel K. and ’s daughter Mary Jane Whitney, who was married to Isaac Groo. The documents were passed down within the Groo family. Between 1969 and 1974, the Groo family donated their collection of Newel K. Whitney’s papers to the J. Reuben Clark Library (renamed Harold B. Lee Library in 1973) at Brigham Young University.

Footnotes

  1. JS, Journal, 29 June 1842; “Clayton, William,” in Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:718; Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 18, 30–31.

    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.

    Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

  2. Richards, Journal, 9 Aug. 1844; “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:693; see also Minutes, Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, 1:30.

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

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

  3. Andrus and Fuller, Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers, 24; Wilkinson et al., Brigham Young University, 4:255.

    Andrus, Hyrum L., and Chris Fuller, comp. Register of the Newel Kimball Whitney Papers. Provo, UT: Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1978.

    Wilkinson, Ernest L., Leonard J. Arrington, and Bruce C. Hafen, eds. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. Vol. 4. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976.

Historical Introduction

On 18 May 1844, in , Illinois, wrote a pay order requesting that JS transfer ownership of a city lot in Nauvoo from Wight to . Gully had married in North Carolina in 1833, and the two lived there for several years before moving to Mississippi. The Gullys likely met Wight while he was on a proselytizing mission to the southern in 1842. They appear to have joined the church by the time they moved to Nauvoo in early 1843. The land Wight wanted to transfer to them, lot 2 of block 141, was located on the corner of Parley Street and Hyde Street in the fourth municipal ward (southwestern quadrant) of Nauvoo. This land was part of the tract that was purchased by as an for the church from in April 1839. Ripley transferred this land to JS in March 1840. On 7 October 1840, Wight and apparently arranged to jointly purchase lot 2 and an adjoining lot in block 141 from JS, though they had not completed payments by the time Wight wrote the May 1844 letter featured here. It is not clear why Wight seemed to claim sole ownership of the land in his letter to JS. After the church was incorporated in the state of , JS became the official trustee for the church, responsible for its finances. In October 1841 JS and deeded this land, which they had been holding privately for the church, to JS as trustee-in-trust.
The purpose behind the transfer of land to the Gullys is not known. may have been using the land to pay for some reason. In the cash-poor economy of , land and other assets were frequently used as payment in place of specie or other currency. It is also possible that Wight was providing the land to the Gullys as a gift. Because Wight and had not completed their payments on the land, they did not yet hold the title to it; Wight accordingly asked JS to make a deed for the land he intended to give the Gullys.
This letter contains no addressing or postal notations and was therefore likely hand delivered to JS. JS presumably received it by 20 May 1844, when one of his scribes, likely or , created a deed transferring the land from JS to . It is unclear why the deed was made out to her alone, rather than to both Jane and . All future land transactions recognized both Jane and Samuel as the owners of the land. By December 1844 the Gullys had established a home and a store on this lot.

Footnotes

  1. Johnston Co., NC, Marriage Bonds, 1768–1868, vol. G, 9 Oct. 1833, microfilm 546,457, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; 1840 U.S. Census, Lawrence Co., MS, 69.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

    Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.

  2. In early 1842 Wight spent nearly three months on a mission in southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. When he returned to Nauvoo, almost one hundred converts from Mississippi accompanied him. Two months later Wight returned with Amasa Lyman to Tennessee and Kentucky, where they preached until early August. (Lyman Wight, Mountain Valley, TX, to Wilford Woodruff, [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 24 Aug. 1857, [17], Historian’s Office, Histories of the Twelve, CHL; “Emigration,” Wasp, 16 Apr. 1842, [2]; see also Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–A; and Letter from Lyman Wight and Others, 15 Feb. 1844–B.)

    Historian’s Office. Histories of the Twelve, 1856–1858, 1861. CHL. CR 100 93.

    The Wasp. Nauvoo, IL. Apr. 1842–Apr. 1843.

  3. Samuel Gully received a patriarchal blessing from Hyrum Smith in February 1843 and received an elder’s license in October 1843 before leaving Nauvoo the same month to return to Mississippi to serve a mission there. Gully was either a merchant by trade or became one in Nauvoo. He obtained a merchant license from the city of Nauvoo in February 1844. (Blessing for Samuel Gully, 12 Feb. 1843, in Patriarchal Blessings, 4:398–399; General Church Recorder, License Record Book, 117; W. Huitt and Samuel Gully, Nauvoo, IL, Mar. 1844, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons, 1 Apr. 1844, 5:484–485; Merchant and Grocer Licenses and Fees, Nauvoo City Council Disbursements, reverse, [3], Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

    Patriarchal Blessings, 1833–. CHL. CR 500 2.

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

    Nauvoo, IL. Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 16800.

  4. Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 1, pp. 31–32, 30 Apr. 1839, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

  5. Trustees Land Book A, White Purchase, block 141, lots 1–2.

  6. It is possible Wight had made Miller aware of the transaction and so wrote JS on behalf of both of them. Alternatively, it is possible that they reached some earlier agreement in which Wight agreed to buy both of the lots they had originally contracted to purchase.

  7. Bill to Incorporate the Church, 14 Dec. 1840; JS and Emma Smith to JS, Trustee-in-Trust, Deed, Nauvoo, IL, 5 Oct. 1841, JS Collection, CHL.

  8. See, for example, Letter from Alonzo LeBaron, ca. 29 June 1842; and Clayton, Journal, 15 Apr. 1844. Wight may have been struggling financially at the time. On 20 May 1844, a public meeting was held in Nauvoo to “obtain means for Lyman wight to go to washingt[o]n” on a mission. His financial situation may have required him to use assets other than currency—such as land—to pay for things like his mission or a debt to the Gullys. (JS, Journal, 20 May 1844.)

    Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

  9. JS to Jane Frelick Gully, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. N, p. 74, 20 May 1844, microfilm 954,600, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. Though the deed designated a purchase price of $1,000, it is likely that no money was exchanged and that the purpose of listing this amount was to establish the value of the land. The original deed is apparently no longer extant. However, both Richards and Clayton were involved with the deed—Clayton wrote two dockets (one with Jane Gully’s name) on the pay order, and the deed book attests that Willard Richards certified the original deed—which suggests that one of them created it.

  10. When the Gullys sold a portion of the land in 1846, the deed was from both Jane and Samuel, indicating that Samuel was an acknowledged owner of the property at least through coverture rights if not through inclusion in the 1844 deed. (Samuel and Jane Frelick Gully to Henry Thomas, Deed, Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 20P, p. 375, 12 May 1846, microfilm 954,602, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  11. Minutes, 11 Dec. 1844, Fourth Quorum of Seventies, Records, vol. 1, [7], in Seventies Quorum Records, CHL; Trustee-in-Trust Daybook for Donations, Property List, 14. An 1846 deed described the buildings as attached. (Hancock Co., IL, Bonds and Mortgages, 1840–1904, vol. 2, pp. 167–168, 9 Feb. 1846, microfilm 954,776, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    Seventies Quorum Records, 1844–1975. CHL. CR 499.

    Trustees Land Books / Trustee-in-Trust, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Land Books, 1839–1845. 2 vols. CHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Pay Order from Lyman Wight for Samuel Gully, 18 May 1844
ID #
4037
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Lyman Wight
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