In the spring of 1844, a Black man only identified in legal records as “Chism” was suspected of a crime, seized and whipped by a mob of drunken men in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Following the assault, the man sought safety in the office of Joseph Smith, who then served as the city’s mayor and justice of the peace.
At a time when wrongs against Black individuals were not prosecuted, Joseph did his best in his legal capacity as justice of the peace to bring the perpetrators to justice, said Jeffrey Mahas, a historian with the Joseph Smith Papers.
“It’s a great example that shows Joseph’s commitment in his role to try and bring justice to all the citizens in Nauvoo,” he said.
The lesser-known legal case is found in the Joseph Smith Papers newly released ebook, “Legal Records: Case Introductions,” a historical study aid that contextualizes nearly 200 legal cases in which Joseph Smith was a plaintiff/complainant, defendant, witness or judge between the years of 1819 to 1844.
The publication of “Legal Records” was announced at a media event at the Church History Library on Tuesday, April 17.
“Legal Records: Case Introductions” is a single volume compilation of historical introductions previously published at josephsmithpapers.org, along with explanatory essays on Joseph Smith’s criminal and civil proceedings; his role as a judge in Nauvoo, Illinois; and the Nauvoo Municipal Court’s use of habeas corpus. It is only available in an ebook format.
The project also marks the completion of the Joseph Smith Papers online Legal Records series.
“This is putting it all into one place for interested readers,” said David Grua, lead historian on the series. “We see a side of Joseph that we don’t often see in other sources.”
Joseph’s legal records
The Papers’ “Legal Records” series features surviving case files from 150 legal cases heard during his lifetime; it also summarizes 43 cases for which no papers have survived, as reconstructed from other sources. The series also presents documents from the 1845 trial of Joseph Smith’s accused assassins, as well as the records of his estate and 12 cases brought against it.
High-resolution images and transcriptions of all available documents can be viewed on the website josephsmithpapers.org.
“These legal papers provide an illuminating window into various aspects of [Joseph Smith’s] financial endeavors in building Zion, his interactions with his antagonists and his efforts to administer the law fairly as a judge,” said Grua. “In addition, legal encounters shaped some of his most significant religious teachings and revelations.”
Compiling the legal records
Historians, researchers, archivists and attorneys have spent decades locating and organizing Joseph Smith’s legal records, which were scattered among various courthouses, repositories and private manuscript collections across multiple states.
“This is the culmination of decades of work from researchers scouring out records in random courthouses throughout Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, New York, to try and ferret out where these documents were located,” Mahas said.
Some historians had gathered parts and pieces of court records in the decades leading up to 2001 when the Joseph Smith Papers received the staffing and resources to officially get started.
As the team began digging into the legal records, project archivist Sharalyn Howcroft said they realized “the field in front of them had only been plowed in places.” The initial foray into transcribing the legal documents began around 2002 and 2003.
Not every document was easily located. Some records, such as documents with Joseph Smith’s signature, were stolen and sold to private collectors. Others were lost as courthouses disposed of old records.
“Part of our work has been to try to reconstruct these case files that have documents not only in courthouses but also in private possession,” Grua said.
Unlike the Joseph Smith Papers’ document series, where each document has its own introduction to provide context for the document, the legal series has a different format. The first legal introductions were posted to the website in 2018, the historians said.
“With the legal documents, there is way too much for us to try and annotate every document,” Mahas said. “The decision was made that we would write a brief introduction for each case. So each group of documents associated with a specific case would get its own introduction that explains the historical context of what is happening.”
The first cases
Joseph Smith and his family moved to western New York in 1817. During subsequent years, according to josephsmithpapers.org, Joseph was involved in at least four legal cases. The first came in 1819 when he, as a young teen, appeared as a witness in a civil suit brought against a neighbor by his father, Joseph Smith Sr., and older brother Alvin Smith.
In 1826, and twice in 1830, Joseph was charged with violating New York’s disorderly persons statute based on allegations stemming from his use of seer stones.
Rights of women
“Legal Records” provides a glimpse into the treatment of women under the law during the period.
In 1842, a non-traditional doctor named William Brink was called to the home of a pregnant woman named Margaret Dana. While treating her for minor health ailments, he incorrectly concluded she had miscarried her baby. He administered an enema of cayenne pepper in order to induce labor and performed an invasive examination that caused her pain and harm.
Midwives later delivered her healthy baby boy, but health problems related to Brink’s treatment persisted, and he denied any wrongdoing. The Danas filed a civil suit against Brink for medical malpractice, and Joseph, who did not have legal training but did have extensive experience, presided over the case.
Due to the common law doctrine of coverture, married women in the 19th century normally were not permitted to testify in lawsuits. Joseph made an exception and allowed Dana to describe her injuries under oath. He ultimately ruled in favor of the Danas, which caused a stir in the community and led to his decision being published, a unique occurrence in his judicial career.
“This shows his commonsense approach to the law. For him, it made sense for the injured individual to be able to testify,” Grua said. “This tells how Joseph was looking at the rights of women.”
One instance of guilt
Historians found one instance in all of Joseph’s legal cases where he was found guilty of a criminal complaint.
In 1843, Joseph was involved in an altercation with a local county official named Walter Bagby. The two had a long history. Joseph suspected Bagby, a tax collector, of cheating the Latter-day Saints by overcharging their properties.
One day in the streets of Nauvoo, things turned violent as the two exchanged words. Bagby reached for a rock, but before he could throw it, Joseph jumped down from his buggy and “struck him two or three times.”
After a bystander separated the two men, Joseph immediately went to a local justice of the peace, pleaded guilty to the charge and paid a fine.
“There we see Joseph taking responsibility for his own actions after a heated moment,” Mahas said.
Promissory notes
The largest category of cases centers on debt collections.
Grua explained that without established ways of collecting on debts, people exchanged promissory notes and agreed on a certain period of time to settle the cost. If a person didn’t make the deadline, the collector often went to court and sued.
In the process of receiving revelations and mandates to build temples and establish cities, Joseph and others signed a lot of promissory notes and later faced legal action.
“These promissory notes led to litigation that made up about one-third of Joseph’s total case count,” Grua said. “More than anything, it shows us that Joseph is doing everything he can to build the kingdom of God. It requires resources, and unfortunately, because of the economic situation, he was pulled into the courts because of it.”
Howcroft added that the records provide a legal and cultural lens for Nauvoo and what is happening in the lives of Latter-day Saints, a benefit for future research.
“The value of what we are doing with the legal [series] is that you realize how much Joseph’s financial and legal matters were a part of his everyday life.”
Opposition
When contemplating Joseph and the law, some people will immediately think of false allegations that imprisoned the Prophet at Liberty Jail in Missouri and Carthage Jail in Illinois, which ultimately resulted in his death.
“Through these legal cases ,we can see that aspect of how the opposition towards Joseph and the Saints played out,” Mahas said.
A dynamic life
The Joseph Smith Papers team agreed the legal series will provide scholars, historians, researchers and Latter-day Saints with new, rich information about Joseph Smith’s life and insights for understanding the role of law in early America.
For Howcroft, the legal series also adds a new perspective to the life of the Prophet.
“For me, if we integrate Joseph’s legal experience into all the other aspects of his life that we are aware of, he has an incredibly dynamic life,” she said. “I think there’s a tendency to focus predominantly on his role as a prophet and religious leader. In looking into these court cases, we do get a sense of how dynamic his life experience was as a whole.”
