Receipt to Executors of Edward Lawrence Estate, 4 June 1841
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Source Note
JS, Receipt, to Executors of the Estates of Edward Lawrence, , Hancock Co., IL, 4 June 1841; handwriting of ; one page; private possession. Includes docket. Transcription from a digital color image made of the original in 2003.One leaf with unknown dimensions. The receipt was written on the recto. The document was later folded for filing, and a docket was added on the verso in the handwriting of justice of the peace : “Filed 14 Apl. 1845 | D Greenleaf of P.J.P”.The receipt was in custody of the Probate Court after it was recorded on 14 April 1845. The receipt remained in the probate court’s custody until circa 2001, when the document was sold into private custody.
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Historical Introduction
In conjunction with several other documents dated 4 June 1841, the receipt featured here officially transferred guardianship of ’s estate to JS. Around the same time, two of Lawrence’s children chose JS as their legal guardian, and JS’s support for all the surviving Lawrence children began on 4 June 1841.and his family converted to the in Ontario, Upper Canada, before immigrating to , Illinois, in 1839. At the time of the move, Lawrence and his wife, Margaret Major Lawrence, had six children: , age fifteen; , thirteen; James, eleven; Nelson, nine; Henry, four; and Julia Ann, three. Margaret was also pregnant with a seventh child. Within months of their move to Lima, Edward Lawrence died. As a woman, Margaret did not have immediate legal claim to her children or her husband’s property; thus, after Edward’s death, the law required that his assets—totaling $3,831.54 in value—and the seven children be assigned a legal guardian. Lawrence’s will—penned in November 1839—explicitly named the executors as his wife, Margaret; his brother John; and a trusted friend, , but it apparently did not name a legal guardian for the children. In such cases, the court appointed a guardian for surviving children under fourteen. Children over fourteen could select a guardian themselves.For unknown reasons, the eldest Lawrence children chose JS to be their guardian, and probate judge Andrew Miller then officially appointed JS as guardian for all seven of the children on 4 June 1841. As guardian, JS became legally responsible for the children, though during the process of executing the will, Margaret Lawrence married , and the couple began supporting the youngest three children on 4 June 1841 in the Lawrence home in . The four oldest children moved to , Illinois. The eldest son, James, boarded with and his family, and the other son, Nelson, resided with another family in the Nauvoo area. The two oldest daughters, and —who were then seventeen and fifteen, respectively—lived with JS and .As guardian, JS was also charged with managing the finances of the Lawrence estate, which required him to make payments from the estate to cover recurring and new charges, such as one third of the interest on the estate’s value, owed annually to Margaret Lawrence. also charged the estate for expenses related to housing the youngest Lawrence children; records show that payments for those charges were made to Margaret and Josiah Butterfield.The receipt for the estate was originally copied into the Circuit Court Clerk’s Records; in that collection, the receipt appeared at the conclusion of an itemized list of the estate’s assets. The itemization primarily consisted of promissory notes due the estate, and the total value of the items listed equaled the amount given in the receipt featured here. The original is no longer extant; this copy of the receipt was written by and was submitted as part of a claim against JS’s estate in , Illinois, in 1845.
Footnotes
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1
On 4 June 1841 the receipt was created along with an affidavit and bond (both signed by Hyrum Smith and William Law as securities) and an official order from the county probate judge to appoint JS as guardian of the estate.
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2
Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 474; Adams Co., IL, Old Deeds, 1818–1847, box 1, case 39, 15 Feb. 1839, microfilm 1,869,476, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; “Lawrence, Edward,” Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Illinois State Archives, Springfield.
Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Illinois State Archives. http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/home.html.
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3
Insufficient sources make it impossible to be certain of the children’s ages. (See Madsen, “Joseph Smith as Guardian,” 172; and Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 474, 742.)
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith as Guardian: The Lawrence Estate Case.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 3 (2010): 172–211.
Compton, Todd. In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001.
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4
Adams Co., IL, Will Records, 1837–1908, vol. 1, pp. 44–46, 5 Nov. 1839, microfilm 961,242, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Madsen, “Joseph Smith as Guardian,” 172.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith as Guardian: The Lawrence Estate Case.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 3 (2010): 172–211.
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5
Under Illinois law, children of deceased fathers were not automatically placed under the guardianship of their mothers and were legally orphans. Children over the age of fourteen could nominate a guardian for themselves and their younger siblings. (An Act concerning Minors, Orphans, and Guardians [5 Feb. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 465, sec. 1. For more information about the execution of the will and JS’s guardianship, as well as photographic reproductions of the original documents, see Madsen, “Joseph Smith as Guardian,” 181–187.)
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.
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith as Guardian: The Lawrence Estate Case.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 3 (2010): 172–211.
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6
Adams Co., IL, Will Records, 1837–1908, vol. 1, p. 45, 5 Nov. 1839, microfilm 961,242, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Madsen, “Joseph Smith as Guardian,” 176–177.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith as Guardian: The Lawrence Estate Case.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 3 (2010): 172–211.
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7
Andrew Miller, Order, Quincy, IL, for JS et al., 4 June 1841, in Adams Co., IL, Circuit Court, Chancery Case Files, 1827–1854, box C7, microfilm 1,839,547, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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8
Josiah Butterfield to JS, Invoice, Nauvoo, IL, 4 June 1842, photocopy, Adams Co., IL, Circuit Court, Selected Court Files, CHL. Payments from the estate were also mentioned in JS’s journal. (JS, Journal, 4 June 1842.)
Adams Co., IL, Circuit Court. Selected Court Files, 1840–1852. Photocopy. CHL. MS 14306.
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9
The exact date of the children’s relocation to Nauvoo is unclear, but it likely coincided with JS’s appointment as guardian. The children’s names are recorded in the 1842 Nauvoo census. (Nauvoo Third Ward Census, [6]; Nauvoo Fourth Ward Census, [4]–[5], Nauvoo Stake, Ward Census, CHL.)
Nauvoo Stake. Ward Census, 1842. CHL.
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10
Two years after assuming guardianship, JS provided a detailed account of his efforts to manage the estate, which was approved by the court in Adams County. JS “gave instutins [instructions] to have the accou[n]t of [the] Lawrenc[e] estate made out” during a meeting on 29 May 1843. (Madsen, “Joseph Smith as Guardian,” 188–192; JS, Journal, 29 May 1843.)
Madsen, Gordon A. “Joseph Smith as Guardian: The Lawrence Estate Case.” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 3 (2010): 172–211.
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11
“List of Notes and Bonds in Favour of the Estate of Edw. Lawrence,” ca. 4 June 1841, in Adams Co., IL, Circuit Court, Chancery Case Files, 1827–1854, box C7, microfilm 1,839,547, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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12
Hancock Co., IL, County Court, Probate Journals, 1839–1923, vol. A, p. 415, 14 Apr. 1845, microfilm 954,481, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
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