A discover from Joseph Smith’s attorneys, Miron Leslie and Roswell Discipline, within the case of Joseph Smith vs. Marshall Brotherton, March 1842. Missouri State Archives, St. Louis
Newly found paperwork in a Missouri court docket archive that contain a authorized case in opposition to Joseph Smith have supplied new perception into the historical past of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The paperwork current the case of Joseph Smith v. Marshall Brotherton within the St. Louis County Circuit Courtroom, dated March 1842.
In October 1841, the Latter-day Saint church chief despatched males to purchase provides for a retailer he deliberate to open in Nauvoo, Illinois, in January 1842.
A kind of males, George Miller, traveled to New Orleans. Throughout his return journey, Miller was sued by two folks to whom he owed cash in St. Louis, Missouri. The newly acquired items have been hooked up to the lawsuit and seized by the sheriff.
Joseph Smith countersued, claiming the products didn't belong to Miller, however to the church.
The paperwork, solely just lately discovered as court docket archivists sifted by way of outdated recordsdata and papers within the St. Louis court docket system, embrace depositions about church enterprise and testimonies in regards to the character of Joseph Smith and different church leaders.
“Not solely does it give extra perception into how church leaders and members have been perceived throughout that point, it additionally provides one other perspective of the enterprise and dealings that Joseph Smith was a part of within the 1840s in Nauvoo,” Jeffrey Mahas, a historian for the Church Historical past Division, advised The Church Information.
Learn the total story for the result of the lawsuits at TheChurchNews.com.