Receipt from Samuel Musick, 14 July 1838
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Source Note
, Receipt, , Caldwell Co., MO, to JS, 14 July 1838; handwriting of ; signature of ; one page; JS Collection, CHL.One leaf measuring 2⅞–3 × 7½ inches (7–8 × 19 cm). The top and the left side of the recto are unevenly hand cut or torn. The document was folded, perhaps for transmission and storage. The document was presumably filed with JS’s financial papers in , Missouri, and has remained in continuous institutional custody. The Historical Department of the LDS church cataloged the receipt in the JS Collection in 1973.
Footnotes
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1
Johnson, Register of the Joseph Smith Collection, 10.
Johnson, Jeffery O. Register of the Joseph Smith Collection in the Church Archives, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1973.
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Historical Introduction
On 14 July 1838, signed a receipt for rent that JS paid to lease Musick’s tavern in , Missouri. Musick, a native of , joined the church and moved to by 1834. By November 1836, Musick apparently began operating the tavern. The receipt mentions “an article”—presumably an article of agreement—between Musick and JS. However, because this article is apparently not extant, the specifics of JS’s agreement with Musick are unclear. The receipt could be for a payment of an earlier promissory note for rent or could be for a scheduled payment as part of a rental contract. JS and others seem to have treated the tavern as JS’s personal property, and several reminiscences suggest that JS may have purchased the tavern. However, the language in the receipt suggests that if JS purchased the tavern, he had not done so by 14 July 1838.When JS began renting the tavern, likely by May 1838, he apparently used it as a home for his family. By 23 June, JS was apparently planning to move his family to ’s home in . That day, Hinkle purchased property in , Missouri, with the intention of moving his family there, and the in Far West instructed to “dispose of it [the tavern] as he pleases.” Two weeks later, the high council assigned Partridge to purchase Hinkle’s Far West home for JS.Despite these arrangements, this 14 July receipt indicates that JS did not entirely relinquish control of the tavern. In late June or early July, JS turned over the tavern to his parents and extended family to serve as their home and a source of income. JS’s mother, , later recalled that when the family arrived in , they lived in “a small log house having but one room.” Seeing that this was “a very inconveinient place for so large a family,” she continued, JS proposed that she and “take a large tavern house . . . and keep a tavern.” It is unclear when the extended Smith family moved into the tavern, but records suggest the move may have occurred sometime between 23 and 28 June. The Smith family maintained the tavern until they were expelled from .The 14 July receipt was prepared by , who helped manage JS’s financial affairs after JS arrived in in early 1838. Because of Partridge’s role as bishop, he already had a number of financial responsibilities in the church, such as collecting donations, providing for impoverished members, and overseeing church lands. His management of JS’s personal finances was likely seen as an outgrowth of these responsibilities. In addition to preparing the receipt, Partridge likely engaged in the 14 July transaction with on JS’s behalf since JS was in , Missouri, at the time. Musick presumably signed the receipt and returned it to Partridge to keep on JS’s behalf.
Footnotes
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1
According to census records, during spring 1834 Samuel Musick’s wife, Elizabeth, gave birth to a son in Missouri whom they named Teancum, after a soldier mentioned in the Book of Mormon. In 1835 Sally Waterman Phelps wrote a letter to her husband, William W. Phelps, in which she mentioned a “Bothe [Brother] Music” living with the Saints in Clay County, Missouri, but provided no other identifying information. (1850 U.S. Census, Ward 6, St. Louis, MO, 473[A]; 1860 U.S. Census, Pike, Stoddard Co., MO, 483; 1900 U.S. Census, Mansfield City, Wright Co., MO, 229B; Sally Waterman Phelps, Liberty, MO, to William W. Phelps, Kirtland, OH, 29 July 1835, William W. Phelps, Papers, BYU.)
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
Phelps, William W. Papers, 1835–1865. BYU.
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2
Missouri law differentiated between licensed taverns, which were authorized to sell “wine or spirituous liquor,” and private inns. The tavern operated by Musick and later by the Smiths was likely a licensed tavern. John Whitmer recorded purchasing brandy from Musick, and in June 1838 the high council in Far West instructed JS and other tavern keepers to no longer allow drinking at their establishments. In addition to regulating the sale and consumption of alcohol, Missouri law required innkeepers with tavern licenses to “find and provide . . . good and wholesome diet and lodging for travellers and other guests, and also provide and furnish sufficient stabling and provender for horses.” (Musick Account, 30 Nov. 1836–18 May 1837, in Whitmer, Daybook; Minute Book 2, 23 June 1838; An Act to Regulate Inns and Taverns [18 Mar. 1835], Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri [1835], pp. 316, 317, 319, secs. 1–2, 13, 29.)
Whitmer, John. Daybook, 1832–1878. CHL. MS 1159.
The Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, Revised and Digested by the Eighth General Assembly during the Years One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Four, and One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five. . . . St. Louis: Argus Office, 1835.
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See, for example, Kimball, “History,” 105–106; and Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 15, [6].
Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.
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4
In documents produced as late as 13 April 1838, the tavern was strictly associated with Musick, suggesting that JS began renting the building sometime after that date and before the featured receipt was issued on 14 July. Heber C. Kimball later wrote that JS purchased a house in Far West “which had been formerly occupied as a public house.” According to Kimball, JS later related that shortly after his family moved into the home, one of his children became very sick and JS performed several healing blessings for the child. Although there is no contemporaneous record of this event, JS’s journal states that he spent much of 3 May 1838 “administering to the Sick,” which may have included this incident. (Minutes, 13 Apr. 1838; Kimball, “History,” 105–106; JS, Journal, 3 May 1838.)
Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.
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Murdock, Journal, 23 June 1838, 95; John Murdock, Affidavit, Adams Co., IL, 10 Jan. 1840, photocopy, Material relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843, CHL; Minute Book 2, 23 June 1838.
Murdock, John. Journal, ca. 1830–1859. John Murdock, Journal and Autobiography, ca. 1830–1867. CHL. MS 1194, fd. 2.
Material Relating to Mormon Expulsion from Missouri, 1839–1843. Photocopy. CHL. MS 2145.
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JS’s mother mentioned the tavern was “recently purchased from brother Gilbert,” but she was apparently mistaken about the identity of the tavern’s previous owner because there is no record of a Far West tavern owned by someone named Gilbert. Contemporaneous sources name only two taverns in Far West: the one operated by JS and one operated by church member John Burk. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 15, [6]; Minute Book 2, 23 and 28–29 June 1838; see also History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, 121.)
History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources. . . . St. Louis: National Historical Co., 1886.
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On 23 June 1838, the high council in Far West appointed a committee to visit tavern keepers John Burk and JS to ensure that they keep “good orderly houses, and have no drinking, swearing, gambling, and debauchery carried on therein.” On 28 June, the committee reported that “Mr J. Smith jr, Mr J. Burke and families manifested a perfect willingness to comply with the request of your Honorable body.” The 23 June minutes do not mention the tavern keepers’ families, but the 28 June minutes do, suggesting JS’s extended family may have moved into the tavern between those dates. (Minute Book 2, 23 and 28–29 June 1838, italics added.)
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10
Revelation, 4 Feb. 1831 [D&C 41:9]; see also Pay Order from Robert Snodgrass, 18 Sept. 1838; and Receipt from Timothy Clark, Oct. 1838.
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11
Swartzell, Mormonism Exposed, 17–18.
Swartzell, William. Mormonism Exposed, Being a Journal of a Residence in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August, 1838, Together with an Appendix, Containing the Revelation concerning the Golden Bible, with Numerous Extracts from the ‘Book of Covenants,’ &c., &c. Pekin, OH: By the author, 1840.
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Cite this page
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Document Information
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Footnotes
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Signature of Samuel Musick.
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Inscription, in the handwriting of Edward Partridge, is surrounded by a hand-drawn representation of a seal. “L S” is an abbreviation for locus sigilli, which is Latin for “location of the seal.”
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