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Receipt from Wesley Williams, 5 September 1839

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Receipt from Wesley Williams, 5 September 1839

Source Note

, Receipt, , Hancock Co., IL, to JS and others, 5 Sept. 1839; handwriting of ; one page; JS Office Papers, CHL.
One leaf, measuring 4⅛ × 7⅝ inches (10 × 19 cm). The original size of the paper is unknown; the right side of the page was torn off, and the bottom was cut off. inscribed the document on the recto, and the verso is blank. The leaf has been folded three times. The document has undergone conservation; the front and the back are covered with silk crepeline. The receipt was apparently received by JS and has presumably remained in continuous institutional custody.

Historical Introduction

On 5 September 1839, , Illinois, recorder issued a receipt to JS and others acknowledging payment received for recording the plat of the town of , Illinois. A few months earlier, on 30 April 1839, and had contracted with and , two of the area’s early settlers, to purchase approximately 180 acres of land in the vicinity of , Illinois. On 12 August, JS, , and contracted in two separate agreements to purchase much of the remainder of the peninsula—over six hundred acres of land—from , , and , who constituted a land-speculating partnership based in . The combined areas of these land purchases were subsequently surveyed and platted as the town of Nauvoo.
law required any party wishing to lay out a town to have the property surveyed, to have a plat or map drawn based on that survey, and to have the plat recorded by the county. Accordingly, JS, , , and presented the plat to Justice of the Peace on 2 September, acknowledging the plat “to be their own act and deed.” The plat, as recorded in the Plat Book, contained a one-page physical description of the proposed town’s land, as surveyed and attested to by Hancock County surveyor James Brattle on 30 August 1839. Following the written description was a two-page drawing of the plat, drawn by John Mather on 3 September—the same day recorded Brattle’s description.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Robinson paid Galland $18,000 for approximately 47 acres of land in the southwest portion of the peninsula that became Nauvoo. Ripley purchased from White approximately 130 acres immediately east of the land purchased from Galland. (Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. 12-G, p. 274, 30 Apr. 1839, Hancock County Recorder’s Office, Carthage, IL; 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.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  2. [2]

    Bonds from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A and B.

  3. [3]

    The land acquired in the larger 12 August 1839 agreement with Hotchkiss, Tuttle, and Gillet included portions of the previously surveyed and platted town of Commerce and the entirety of the platted—but never developed—Commerce City adjacent to it. (Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 10–11, Commerce Plat, 24 May 1834; pp. 26–27, Commerce City Plat, 28 Apr. 1837; pp. 37–39, Nauvoo Plat, 3 Sept. 1839, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  4. [4]

    An Act Providing for the Recording of Town Plats [27 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, pp. 676–678, secs. 1, 4, 10.

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

  5. [5]

    Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 37–39, Nauvoo Plat, 3 Sept. 1839, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

Page [1]

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Joseph Smith <​& co​> To
Recorder of
To recording Town plot of
Dr
590 Lots at 4 cents each $23.60
Recording field Notes 2.00
Certificate of Record [.]25
$25.85
Sept. 5th. 1839 [p. [1]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Receipt from Wesley Williams, 5 September 1839
ID #
6406
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D7:5–7
Handwriting on This Page
  • Wesley Williams

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The remainder of the text was copied from Williams’s entry of the plat in the county plat book. (Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, p. 37, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  2. [2]

    The Nauvoo plat consisted of 161 blocks, the majority of which were subdivided into 4 one-acre lots. A few of the blocks, however, were not subdivided into lots, and a number of blocks were fractional, containing fewer than 4 lots because of irregular geographic features (primarily the shoreline of the Mississippi River) or limitations imposed by the boundaries of the land purchased. These exceptions account for the disparity between the 590 lots paid for in the recording and the 644 lots that would have resulted from 161 blocks of 4 lots each. The land the church purchased from Hotchkiss, Tuttle, and Gillet also included land that had already been surveyed as part of the plats of Commerce and Commerce City, but these areas were not resurveyed and, though included in the later municipal boundaries of Nauvoo, were not included on the original Nauvoo plat. (Hancock Co., IL, Plat Books, 1836–1938, vol. 1, pp. 10–11, Commerce Plat, 24 May 1834; pp. 26–27, Commerce City Plat, 28 Apr. 1837; pp. 37–39, Nauvoo Plat, 3 Sept. 1839, microfilm 954,774, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.)

    U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

  3. [3]

    The Illinois statute governing the recording of town plats stipulated that county recorders were entitled to four cents per lot recorded and that surveyors were entitled to twenty-five cents per lot surveyed and platted. (An Act Providing for the Recording of Town Plats [27 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 678, sec. 10.)

    The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

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