Pay Order to Nauvoo City Treasurer for James Sloan, 30 January 1843

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Pay Order to Nauvoo City Treasurer for James Sloan, 30 January 1843
Source Note

JS as mayor, Pay Order, to Nauvoo city treasurer [
William Clayton
17 July 1814–4 Dec. 1879. Bookkeeper, clerk. Born at Charnock Moss, Penwortham, Lancashire, England. Son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. Married Ruth Moon, 9 Oct. 1836, at Penwortham. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Heber...
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], for
James Sloan
28 Oct. 1792–24 Oct. 1886. City recorder, notary public, attorney, judge, farmer. Born in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone, Ireland. Son of Alexander Sloan and Anne. Married Mary Magill. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ordained an elder, ...
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,
Nauvoo
Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....
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, Hancock Co., IL, 30 Jan. 1843; handwriting of
James Sloan
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; signature of JS; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes notation.

Single leaf, measuring 3½ × 7⅝ inches (9 × 19 cm). The leaf is made of blue paper and is ruled with eight horizontal lines printed in blue ink with header space. It was hand cut along the bottom edge. Sometime after the document was inscribed,
William Clayton
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added a notation. The document was folded in half twice for filing.

The document was presumably kept among treasury records in the Nauvoo city records. In 1845 the city of
Nauvoo
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was disincorporated.
1
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Comprehensive Works Cited
Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Many if not most of the city records were likely included in the various collections of city records listed in an inventory produced by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) in 1846, when they were packed up along with church records and taken to the Salt Lake Valley.
2
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
Historian’s Office. Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904. CHL. CR 100 130.
The city records are also listed in inventories of church records created in 1855, 1878, and circa 1904.
3
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
By 1973 the document had been included in the JS Collection at the Church Historical Department (now CHL).
4
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
The document’s likely inclusion with the city records as well as its inclusion in the early church inventories and in the JS Collection by 1973 indicate continuous institutional custody.
Footnotes
[1]
“An Act to Repeal the Nauvoo Charter,” 14th General Assembly, 1844–1845, Senate Bill no. 35 (House Bill no. 42), Illinois General Assembly, Enrolled Acts of the General Assembly, 1818–2012, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Illinois General Assembly. Bills, Resolutions, and Related General Assembly Records, 1st–98th Bienniums, 1819–2015. Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
[2]
“Schedule of Church Records. Nauvoo 1846,” [1], Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
[3]
“Inventory. Historian’s Office. 4th April 1855,” [1]–[2]; “Index of Records and Journals in the Historian’s Office 1878,” [11]; “Index to Papers in the Historians Office,” ca. 1904, 7, Historian’s Office, Catalogs and Inventories, 1846–1904, CHL.
[4]
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection, 1827–1844, in the CHL catalog.
Historical Introduction
On 30 January 1843, JS signed a pay order as mayor of
Nauvoo
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, Illinois, directing the city treasurer to pay $34.50 to
James Sloan
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for his services as city recorder. A new city ordinance, passed on 14 January 1843, stipulated that the recorder would receive $100 per year for his services as secretary of the city council and that the recorder might receive 12½ cents for every 72 words of city records and ordinances he copied, 50 cents for each marriage he recorded, and 50 cents for every document to which he affixed the corporate seal and for which he created a certificate.
1
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 14 Jan. 1843, 141.
Two weeks later, during a 30 January 1843 meeting, the city council directed that eighteen individuals, including Sloan, be paid “for their services in the City Council.”
2
Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 30 Jan. 1843, 6.
Although Sloan signed the pay orders for seventeen individuals, JS signed this particular order.
3
While several of these pay orders were retained, the pay orders for Newel K. Whitney and Orson Spencer are no longer extant. It is unclear why JS signed this particular pay order. Sloan issued and signed another pay order to himself that same day, which evidently did not require JS’s approval and signature. (Pay Orders, 30 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)

On 30 January 1843,
Sloan
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wrote the pay order on a loose sheet, which JS subsequently signed. On 22 February 1843,
William Clayton
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, the city treasurer, entered a record of the pay order in the
Nauvoo
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city treasury ledger.
4
Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 52, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.
Neither the pay order nor the treasury ledger indicates when Sloan received the payment, but he presumably received it on or shortly after 22 February 1843, when Clayton recorded the order.
Footnotes
[1]
Nauvoo City Council Minute Book, 14 Jan. 1843, 141.
[2]
Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 30 Jan. 1843, 6.
[3]
While several of these pay orders were retained, the pay orders for Newel K. Whitney and Orson Spencer are no longer extant. It is unclear why JS signed this particular pay order. Sloan issued and signed another pay order to himself that same day, which evidently did not require JS’s approval and signature. (Pay Orders, 30 Jan. 1843, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.)
[4]
Nauvoo City Treasury Ledger, 52, Nauvoo, IL, Records, CHL.
Nauvoo, IL, Records, 1841–1845. CHL.
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I hereby certify that the sum of thirty four Dollars and fifty cents has been this day allowed by the City Council, to be paid to
James Sloan
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, City Recorder, out of the City Treasury, which amount the
City Treasurer
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1
William Clayton was elected as Nauvoo city treasurer in September 1842. (Nauvoo City Council Rough Minute Book, 9 Sept. 1842, 40.)
will pay him.

Given under my hand, at
Nauvoo City
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, Ills., Jan.y. 30th. 1843.

Signature of JS.
Joseph Smith

Mayor [p. [1]]
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