Promissory Note to John Gillet and Smith Tuttle, 12 August 1839–T
Source Note
, JS, and , Promissory Note, , Hancock Co., IL, to and , 12 Aug. 1839; handwriting of ; signatures of , JS, and ; one page; JS Collection, CHL. Includes notation.
One leaf measuring 2¾ × 7¼ inches (7 × 18 cm). The document was written on a larger sheet of paper with several other promissory notes; the notes were then cut into separate documents. All edges of the featured promissory note appear to be hand cut. A notation in unidentified handwriting was made in red ink: “Paid”.
The promissory note was likely returned to JS in 1843 when the bond was canceled; it was then filed with his other papers in , Illinois. Presumably, this note has remained in continuous institutional custody since then.
Historical Introduction
On 12 August 1839, JS, , and signed forty-two promissory notes at , Illinois, in connection with a bond to purchase Commerce-area land from and his partners, and . The bond specified that forty-two payments were due over the next twenty years. From 1840 to 1859, two payments of $1,500 were due annually: one was to be paid to Hotchkiss, and the other was to be paid to Gillet and Tuttle. In 1859, two additional larger payments were due, each for $25,000, with one owed to Hotchkiss and the other owed to Gillet and Tuttle. Hotchkiss wrote a promissory note for each of the payments due, and the presumably returned the notes to Hotchkiss after signing them.
All of the notes are extant. The promissory note featured here is for the last payment of $1,500 owed to and , due in 1859. Although the word “Paid” was written on the promissory note, this note was not paid. Rather, the agreement was amended in 1843, which voided this and other notes associated with the bond. At the time the agreement was amended, the promissory notes were presumably returned to the First Presidency.
See Historical Introduction to Bond from Horace Hotchkiss, 12 Aug. 1839–A. Each of the forty-two promissory notes bears the notation “Paid” in the handwriting of an unidentified scribe. It is unknown when these notations were added. They may have been made when the bond was canceled in 1843. Alternately, the notations may have been added when the notes were filed by clerks in the Church Historian’s Office in Utah Territory.