(MORMONS) Smith Emma Bond signed by the widow of Joseph Smit

Sale 2404 - Lot 199

Price Realized: $ 13,750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000

(MORMONS.) Smith, Emma. Bond signed by the widow of Joseph Smith. Document Signed, 12 1/2 x 8 inches, on lined paper; horizontal folds, minimal wear. (MRS) Nauvoo, IL, 26 October 1845

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Emma Hale Smith (1804-1879), the widow of Joseph Smith, faced financial hardship after his death because the finances of his estate were so closely connected with church accounts. In this document, she gives a $4,000 bond to her 5 children (Joseph, Julia, Frederick, Alexander, and David), pending the sale of several parcels of Nauvoo land for their benefit. Her efforts to sell two of these parcels are discussed in Brigham Young's journal for 2 August 1845: "I rode out in the new church carriage with Brother Kimball and the bishops to look at two blocks of Emma Smith's which she has agreed to sell the Trustees for $550.00. We selected block 96 and 97."
The bond is also signed by Judge James H. Ralston as witness. Ralston is perhaps best known to history for beating out young Abraham Lincoln in the 1840 electoral college race. Joseph Smith had directed his supporters to vote for Ralston, making Ralston the leading vote-getter.
Emma Smith and her children would stay behind in Nauvoo when the main body of the Mormons went west to Salt Lake City several months later, and eventually helped establish the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ) under the leadership of her son Joseph Smith III. Provenance: sold by King V. Hostick to the consignor, 11 March 1967.