Footnotes

1. [1]

   Hitchcock was a prosecuting attorney in Geauga County, Ohio, in the 1830s. Wilder was a young lawyer from Connecticut who moved to Ohio in 1837. Hitchcock and Wilder formed their law firm in July 1837 in Painesville. (History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, 23, 61; Curtiss-Wedge, History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, 96; “Law Notice,” Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 21 July 1837, [2].)

   History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men. Philadelphia: Williams Brothers, 1878.

   Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. History of Goodhue County, Minnesota. Chicago: H. C. Cooper, 1909.

   Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.

2. [2]

   The mercantile firm Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery was a partnership comprising Sidney Rigdon, JS, and Oliver Cowdery that began by June 1836 and purchased wholesale goods in New York in 1836. These goods were then sold by the firm Rigdon, Smith & Co., which operated at least one store, located in Chester, Ohio. The exact relationship between the two firms is unclear.a The mercantile firm Cahoon, Carter & Co. included Reynolds Cahoon, Jared Carter, and Hyrum Smith; the firm was selling goods in Kirtland by June 1835. Cahoon, Carter, and Smith’s mercantile efforts appear to be related to their assignment to supervise funding for the construction of the House of the Lord in Kirtland.b

   (^aSee J. F. Scribner, Invoice, Buffalo, NY, for Rigdon, Smith & Cowdery, 16 June 1836, JS Office Papers, CHL; Rigdon, Smith & Co., Store Ledger, 1; “Mormonism in Ohio,” Aurora [New Lisbon, OH], 21 Jan. 1837, [3]; and Notes Receivable from Rigdon, Smith & Co., 22 May 1837. ^bSee Advertisement, Northern Times, 2 Oct. 1835, [4]; and Minutes, 6 June 1833.)

   Aurora. New Lisbon, OH. 1835–1837.

   Northern Times. Kirtland, OH. 1835–[1836?].

3. [3]

   See Invoices, June and Oct. 1836, JS Office Papers, CHL. For more information on the Kirtland firms’ efforts to repay New York merchants, see Statement of Account from Perkins & Osborn, ca. 29 Oct. 1838.

   JS Office Papers / Joseph Smith Office Papers, ca. 1835–1845. CHL. MS 21600.

4. [4]

   In February 1837, Rounds sued JS, Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney, Frederick G. Williams, Horace Kingsbury, and Warren Parrish because of their involvement in the Kirtland Safety Society. Ultimately, only JS and Rigdon were brought to trial, and in October 1837 they were found guilty and fined $1,000 each. After the case concluded, Rounds transferred the judgment to Grandison Newell, an opponent of JS and the church. Acting as agents for JS and Rigdon, William Marks and Granger signed an agreement with Newell and on 1 March 1838 paid him $1,600. Hitchcock was likely unaware of the agreement between Newell and the agents and therefore still considered the original debt unresolved. (See Historical Introduction to Kirtland Safety Society Notes, 4 Jan.–9 Mar. 1837; Introduction to Part 5: 5 Oct. 1836–10 Apr. 1837; Transcript of Proceedings, 24 Oct. 1837, Rounds v. JS [Geauga Co. C.P. 1837], Final Record Book U, pp. 362–364; and Transcript of Proceedings, 24 Oct. 1837, Rounds v. Rigdon [Geauga Co. C.P. 1837], Final Record Book U, pp. 359–362, microfilm 20,279, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; see also Walker, “Kirtland Safety Society,” 32–148.)

   Walker, Jeffrey N. “The Kirtland Safety Society and the Fraud of Grandison Newell: A Legal Examination.” BYU Studies 54, no. 3 (2015): 33–147.

5. [5]

   For example, JS and other church members acted as sureties when they signed promissory notes that Reynolds Cahoon, Jared Carter, and Hyrum Smith created on 1 September 1837 to renegotiate their outstanding debts with New York mercantile firms. (See JS et al., Promissory Note, Kirtland, OH, to Holbrook & Ferme, 1 Sept. 1837, photocopy, CHL; JS et al., Promissory Note, Kirtland, OH, to Holbrook & Ferme, 1 Sept. 1837, BYU; Hyrum Smith et al., Promissory Note, Kirtland, OH, to Halsted, Haines & Co., 1 Sept. 1837, photocopy, CHL; and Hyrum Smith et al., Promissory Notes, Kirtland, OH, to Halsted, Haines & Co., 1 Sept. 1837, Brigham Young Office, Halsted, Haines & Co. File, CHL.)

6. [6]

   See Transcript of Proceedings, 6 Nov. 1838, Eaton v. Potter et al. [Geauga Co. C.P. 1838], Final Record Book W, pp. 149–152, microfilm 20,280, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

7. [7]

   Granger apparently took the same proactive approach in requesting information from Hitchcock & Wilder as he did with the law firm Perkins & Osborn. (See Letter from William Perkins, 29 Oct. 1838.)

8. [8]

   See Historical Introduction to Letter of Introduction from John Howden, 27 Oct. 1838.