196

Ebenezer Robinson.

Summons regarding a property dispute in Nauvoo.

Nauvoo, IL, 22 September 1841
Autograph Document Signed as Justice of the Peace. One page, 9 x 7¼ inches, with docketing, additional Robinson signature and two signed notes by sheriff William D. Abernethy on verso; folds, minimal wear.

  • Notes: "Complaint is made . . . by Henry Wilcox that Edward Cabbutt & Barnett Rigby of Nauvoo did, on or  about the first of August last . . . with a strong hand and unlawfully enter upon a tract of land of the said Henry Wilcox's situate in the city of Nauvoo . . . and with force and strong hand as aforesaid, doth unlawfully and unjustly hold possession thereof." The sheriff is directed to bring Cabbutt and Rigby on 28 September to answer the complaint. 

    The justice signing this summons, Ebenezer Robinson (1816-1891), was an important early Mormon printer. He was responsible for the 1835 first edition of the Book of Doctrines and Covenants, and the 1840 Nauvoo Book of Mormon. He was later a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

    The complainant Henry Wilcox (1813-1850) was a prominent Church member in the Kirtland and Nauvoo period; he helped build the Kirtland Temple. At least one of the accused was also a Church member, though less prominent. Barnett Rigby (1815-1871) was an emigrant from England who later went west to Salt Lake City. 

    The sheriff William Dexter Abernethy (1801-1850), however, was most definitely NOT a Mormon. He had attempted to arrest Joseph Smith on treason charges in 1840, was voted out as sheriff in 1842 on the strength of the Mormon vote, and was said to be part of the mob which killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith. 

    Provenance: collection of Larry Faria.
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