The Land Question at Adam-ondi-Ahman

I

Creating a county “expressly for the Mormons”¹ was proposed as a solution to the so-called Mormon problem in Missouri in the 1830s. All non-Mormons residing in the area would be induced to sell out and move on. No longer would the Latter-day Saints be free to settle wherever they pleased throughout the countryside. One source reports:

The proposition suited every one. The Gentiles said, “If the Mormons are willing to go into that prairie country and settle, let them have it and welcome.” The Mormons said, “If we may be allowed to remain peaceably and enjoy our religion, we will go into any country that may be set apart for us, no matter how wild and unbroken it may be, and we will make it blossom as the rose. If we obtain political control of a county, we will honestly administer it and be loyal in all things to the State government over us.”²

Many people aided in the creation of the new county, but none deserves more credit than Alexander W. Doniphan,³ personal friend of and sometime legal counselor for the Saints. Through Doniphan the Mormons petitioned the Missouri legislature to create the new county from the northern half of Ray County. Non-Mormon opposition, however, compelled Doniphan to accept a compromise. Two counties, Caldwell for the Mormons and Daviess for the non-Mormons, were created. Governor Lilburn W. Boggs signed the bill into law on 29 December 1836.⁴

II

As long as Caldwell County contained sufficient unclaimed land for settlement, both Mormons and non-Mormons were relatively content. Later, when the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, and other eastern communities were compelled to find new homes, upper Missouri once again became a focal point for tension. Caldwell County was soon fully occupied, and Mormons began to spill over into the adjoining counties of Clinton, Daviess, and Carroll. Non-Mormons immediately became concerned, insisting that the Saints had violated their agreement, although Mormons bought and paid for all lands obtained. Other accusations followed. The History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties states:

It is claimed that all the Mormon settlements outside of this county [Caldwell] were made with the prior consent of the inhabitants then living where the settlements were made; the consent was obtained, in nearly every instance, by the payment of money, either for the lands of the pioneer Gentiles or for some articles of personal property they owned. Money was scarce in those days, and although the pioneers did not approve Mormon doctrines, they did approve of Mormon gold and silver, and they were willing to tolerate the one if they could obtain the other. But afterward certain of the Gentiles claimed that the Mormon occupation had been by stealth and fraud, and perhaps in some instances this was true.⁵

In September 1837, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon visited Far West, Missouri, having been invited by the Saints in Kirtland to investigate “other stakes, or places of gathering,” and to report their findings.⁶ Shortly after the arrival of Joseph and Sidney, Oliver Cowdery, David W. Patten, Lyman Wight, and John Corrill were appointed to locate potential settlements. On 7 December Cowdery and Patten reported, and their labors were declared acceptable. At a special conference three days later, those present concluded that there were “plenty of provisions in the upper counties of Missouri” to sustain all Saints who wished to come.⁷ A new committee, composed of Oliver Cowdery, David Patten, Lyman Wight, and Frederick G. Williams, was delegated to investigate further.⁸ They centered their attention on Daviess County where Lyman Wight and other Saints were already settled. By 21 January 1838, Oliver Cowdery was able to report in a letter to Joseph Smith that he had spent twenty days exploring in Daviess County. “I found a great many of the finest mill sites in the western country,” he wrote, “and made between forty and fifty choice locations.”⁹

By the time Joseph Smith arrived in Far West as a permanent settler in March of 1838, exploration efforts had ceased entirely. Oliver Cowdery and other leading men of the Church had become disaffected, while David Whitmer and his counselors had been rejected by the Church as Presidents in Missouri.¹⁰ On 26 April 1838, Joseph received a revelation commanding the Church to give immediate attention to finding “other places . . . for stakes in the regions round about.”¹¹ Still matters lagged. Finally, on 18 May, an exploratory committee, with Joseph at its head, journeyed to Daviess County “for the purpose of visiting the north country and laying off a stake of Zion, making locations, and laying claims to facilitate the gathering of the Saints, and for the benefit of the poor, in upholding the Church of God.”¹² Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Thomas B. Marsh, and others were active in this work from 18 to 28 May 1838, and various sites for settlement were chosen. One, Spring Hill, was near the home of Lyman Wight, who had moved into Daviess County in the spring of 1837. To Alanson Ripley fell the task of making a final survey and of laying out a settlement. The name selected was Adam-ondi-Ahman.¹³

III

In actual fact, the Mormons had been settled in Daviess County for some time. A rather large group had gathered in Colfax Township on the county’s southwestern border. Public land there had been put on the market as early as 1836, and some Saints in adjacent Caldwell County lost no time in seizing the advantage.¹⁴ James H. Hunt, a local resident, reports:

It would be well to state here that at this time all the lands in Daviess County, excepting Colfax Township, were subject to pre-emption, not having as yet been brought into market. Colfax Township had been surveyed at the same time Ray and Caldwell Counties were, and was therefore in market. Here another settlement of Mormons was made, composed principally of a better class who were able to purchase their lands and improve them.¹⁵

Government lands further north in Daviess County were not yet available for public sale. These lands could be claimed, however, with what was called a preemption right. Preemption rights permitted squatters to move into an area, improve a piece of land, and have first claim to buy the land when the government opened the area for public sale.¹⁶ Laws in 1834 and 1838 extended squatters’ rights and even permitted settlement before an actual survey of the land had been made.¹⁷ Every family head was allowed 160 acres. The going price was $1.25 an acre.

The first official surveys of Daviess County were made in 1833. The survey charts, together with accompanying notes, describe an area of prairie and timber with only isolated squatters’ cabins. ¹⁸ One of the first settlers in the area of Adam-ondi-Ahman was Adam Black. Settling in the Grand River Valley in 1834, Black claimed a preemption right and set about making improvements. In the spring of 1837, however, Black sold out to Lyman Wight, a Mormon, and moved north. Wight, at the time a resident of Caldwell County, reports: “I disposed of my property at low rate, and removed my family to [Daviess] County, and located myself on Grand River, made an improvement, gained to myself a preemption right.”¹⁹ This was in addition to his purchase from Adam Black.

Other Saints did the same. Mormons were soon scattered throughout Daviess County. James H. Hunt, again an on-the-spot observer, later wrote of the Saints in Daviess County:

Their settlements were mainly south of Grand River. They had one settlement on Lick Fork, near the Weldon settlement. Here a Mormon by the name of Bosley and a widow by the name of Ives, besides others whose names were not remembered, settled. . . . Further up the river and in what is now Monroe Township, the Mormons formed another settlement—this was on Marrowbone and Honey Creeks. . . . Here Perry Durfey, Roswell Stevens, Henry Belt, the Daleys, and John D. Lee settled, and others also came, whose names are not remembered.²⁰

Following the surveys of May and June 1838, Mormon immigration into Daviess County picked up briskly. Large companies arriving in Far West from the East were counseled to settle in Daviess County. Lyman Wight reports:

About June, Joseph Smith, together with many others of the principal men of the Church, came to my house, and taking a view of the large bottom in the bend of the river, and the beautiful prairies on the bluffs, came to the conclusion that it would be a handsome situation for a town. We, therefore, commenced surveying and laying off town lots, and locating government lands for many miles north of this place. This beautiful country with its flattering prospects drew in floods of emigrants. I had not less than thirty comers and goers through the day during the three summer months, and up to the last mentioned date [30 October], there were upwards of two hundred houses built in this town, and also about forty families living in their wagons.²¹

The rapid influx of Mormons into Daviess County greatly agitated the non-Mormons. As early as July 1837, the Saints in the Grand River area were warned to leave the county or face the consequences. The threats were ignored, and settlement continued.²²

The summer and fall of 1838 saw the county’s greatest Mormon growth. In July, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon “left Far West for Adam-ondi-Ahman . . . to settle some Canadian brethren in that place, as they are emigrating rapidly to this land from all parts of the county.”²³ Three months later, in October, more than five hundred Saints known as the “Kirtland Camp No. 1” arrived in Far West. They were also counseled to settle at Adam-ondi-Ahman.²⁴

The rapid growth of the city made necessary the immediate construction of houses. Major Joseph H. McGee, a local resident, recalled in later years that Adam-ondi-Ahman had more that five hundred inhabitants at a time when Gallatin, the nearby county seat, had but four houses.²⁵ George A. Smith records that he helped his father, John, build “a two-story log house on a lot in Adam-ondi-Ahman.” He also “helped to raise twenty-five log houses in 25 days.”²⁶ William Swartzell, writing on 19 July 1838, states: “All things are going on as briskly as ever. The brethren are getting lots and raising houses on them—two or three every day.”²⁷ This heavy stream of immigration threw the balance of political power heavily to the Mormon side. Already looking on the Saints as “rogues and thieves,” the non-Mormons of Daviess County were “opposed to their possession of the chief political influence, such as they already possessed in Caldwell, and from the fear that they would acquire more, [the non-Mormons precipitated] the first open quarrel.”²⁸ On the morning of 6 August 1838, William Penniston, a local candidate, and a group of his political supporters appeared at the polling booth in Gallatin and declared their determination to prevent the Mormons from voting. When the Saints attempted to enter the polling booth, a skirmish broke out. The Mormon War had begun.²⁹

That the non-Mormons of Daviess County wanted the Mormons out of their county is all too obvious. That they could not have accomplished this without the help of citizens from other and more populous counties is also apparent. On 13 October 1838, General Alexander Doniphan, one of the men charged with maintaining the peace in northern Missouri, received word that men from Carroll County to the south were on their way to aid the citizens of Daviess in expelling the Mormons. Led by Sashiel Woods, a local preacher, the Carroll County men numbered more than eight hundred,³⁰ greatly augmenting the non-Mormon forces.

Events in Daviess County led to a standoff. To maintain control and prevent bloodshed, General Doniphan stationed his troops squarely between the warring factions and declared his intention to remain there until both sides disbanded and went home. He was assisted by Lieutenant General Hiram Parks and a hundred men.³¹

In the meantime, repeated letters from the field generals to Governor Boggs of Missouri to come to the troubled area brought no response. When at last the chief executive did decide to act, it was to issue his well-known Extermination Order: “The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State.” Under the command of Major General John B. Clark several brigades of men from various parts of the state were rushed into northern Missouri. The Saints had little choice but to surrender.³² The Mormons were given ten days to vacate Daviess County, which they did. All preemption rights and improvements were, of course, left behind.³³

IV

It was common knowledge that the lands in central Daviess County would be opened for public sale on 12 November 1838,³⁴ and both Mormons and non-Mormons openly discussed the topic throughout the summer. The imminence of the sales and the Mormons’ critical need for more land spurred the Saints to claim ever-increasing areas of country. The Saints later blamed Governor Boggs’s Extermination Order for the loss of their property because it gave the non-Mormons license to drive the Mormons from their homes and to take Mormon property for their own.³⁵ Lieutenant General Parks was sent to Adam-ondi-Ahman on orders of General Samuel D. Lucas to effect the surrender of the Mormons there.³⁶ On 4 November, General Clark, commander of all state troops, wrote to Lieutenant General Parks and ordered him to take all Mormon men prisoners and to confiscate and hold all property, Mormon and non-Mormon alike.

Parks did as he was ordered. He also gave the Mormons ten days to leave Daviess County and ordered them to gather in Far West. Two days later, on 7 November 1838, Brigadier General Robert Wilson was dispatched by General Clark to Daviess County to oversee final operations.³⁷ By the time the land opened for public sale five days later, the Mormons had been ordered from the state and forbidden to return. The Saints at Far West, in addition, were made to deed their property over to the state to cover expenses of the war. The Saints were now almost entirely landless.

It has always been the Mormon contention that their property in northern Missouri was stolen.³⁸ One lengthy affidavit, submitted to the United States Congress as part of the Saints’ appeal for redress of their grievances in Missouri, states:

And let it be here observed, in passing, that Judge Adam Black had, before that time [the election day battle] sold his improvements and pre-emption claims on which he then resided to the Latter-day Saints, and had received his pay for the same; that through his instrumentality the Saints were broken up and driven off; and that he now unlawfully retains both their money and improvements.³⁹

This statement is probably not entirely true. While the lands in Caldwell County were entered and paid for at the public land office in Lexington, Missouri, the properties in and around Adam-ondi-Ahman were almost solely preemption lands to which the Saints and others were entitled under law but for which no money had, in most instances, been paid. (One could, for a price, transfer his improved preemption if he wished.) Eviction from the State effectively prevented the Saints from legally entering and occupying their preemptions as intended, but Adam Black did not end up with Mormon property; other non-Mormons did.⁴⁰

Such appears to have been the intention of some from the very first. On leading his men from Carroll to Daviess County to aid the non-Mormons there, Sashiel Woods was allegedly overheard to say that “the land sales . . . were coming on, and if they [those living in Carroll County] could get the Mormons driven out, they could get all the lands entitled to pre-emptions,” while the old settlers in Daviess County “could get all the Lands [which they had sold to the Saints] back again, as well as [keep] all the pay they had received for them.”⁴¹

Although these are Mormon charges and therefore biased, this, in effect, is precisely what did happen. Once the Saints had been evicted, the land on which their homes and crops rested in Daviess County reverted once again to its original owners. This was accomplished without compensation, while the improved preemptions at Adam-ondi-Ahman proper were entered in the names of Sashiel Woods and his sons-in-law, John Craven and Thomas Calloway. These entries are dated 25 and 28 November and 18 December 1838, less than one month from the time the Saints were forced to vacate. Other participants from the non-Mormon side did the same. Many of these preemption entries were made within two weeks of the eviction of the Mormon settlers.⁴²

In order to take over Mormon lands, including those in line for preemption purchase, it was necessary for the non-Mormons forcibly to evict their Mormon neighbors. So long as the Saints continued to reside upon their claims or purchases, ownership was guaranteed by law. Removal from one’s claim, improved or not, was tantamount to relinquishment of ownership. Inasmuch as the land sales were imminent, at least some of the non-Mormon residents of Daviess appear to have been determined to hasten Mormon evacuation. One such incident, among many that could be cited, will suffice to show how this was done. Lorenzo Dow Young reports:

Mr. Richard Welding,⁴³ of whom I had bought my farm, came to me, accompanied by three or four others. He gave me warning to leave the country at once.

I asked him why I must leave, saying, “Have I not bought my land, and paid you for it? Have I not tended to my own business?”

He replied: “. . . The Mormons must all leave the country, and if you do not renounce them, you must go too.”⁴⁴

Young refused to vacate his land. A few days later, a friendly neighbor warned him that a company of about forty men was on its way from Gallatin to enforce the eviction notice. He was urged to leave within the hour, and he did. A few days later he attempted to return to claim his household goods and stock which his hasty departure had compelled him to leave behind. He added: “I found the road strongly guarded, and the Missourians threatened to kill me if I went on. I never obtained goods, cows nor anything that I had left on my place.”⁴⁵

Events in Caldwell and Daviess counties soon became critical. Those Saints who still possessed their homes and lands by title deeds needed to sell them in order to obey the governor’s order to vacate the state. As soon as it became a certainty that the Mormons would leave as ordered, the value of Latter-day Saint real estate went down. At the same time, speculators appeared on every hand, eager to take advantage of the destitute Saints who were forced to sell valuable improvements at a fraction of their worth. The legislature was drawn into the matter when it was subsequently learned that those buying Mormon lands were the very men who had been most active in the war against the Mormons. What was true of titled land was even more true of preemptions. If the non-Mormons could simply wait until the Mormons had vacated Daviess County, the latter’s preemptions could be entered in the name of whoever happened to reach the land office first.

Many in the state were critical of the underhanded methods employed by the citizens of Daviess County. The influential Missouri Republican Daily urged an immediate investigation by a special committee appointed by the legislature. Such an inquiry, the paper insisted, would “lead to a better understanding” of the recent disturbances and would remove the heavy shadow which hovered over the reputation of the state.⁴⁶

The investigation did not materialize. According to Reed Peck, “Being compelled as a people to leave their county and their homes within a stated time, great quantities of property were thrown into market, simultaneously opening a field for speculators who now reap the advantages of labor done by the banished Mormons.”⁴⁷ On the authority of a gentleman who had recently arrived from the land office in Lexington, the St. Louis Missouri Republican Daily reports and concludes as follows:

At the recent land sales, the lands of Caldwell and Daviess were brought into market and some of the citizens who have been most active in the excitement against the Mormons purchased a number of Mormon tracts of land. Where the Mormons had made settlements and improvements, it is said, these citizens have purchased them for speculation. It is said that the town of Adamon Diamond [sic], a Mormon town, in Daviess, in which are several houses—a very valuable site for a town—was purchased at these sales for a dollar and a quarter an acre. . . .

Much as we censure the course of the Mormons, there is no act, of which we have any knowledge, which will at all compare with the unrighteousness of those who, it seems, got up this crusade, in order to obtain possession of the houses and lands of their victims.⁴⁸

Thus the anxiety of certain non-Mormons to be rid of their Mormon neighbors appears to have been prompted in part by a desire to secure the lands of the Saints as soon and as cheaply as possible. In some instances, at least, non-Mormons actually forced the Saints to vacate their lands in order that the same might be secured without any price at all. As one local Missourian writes:

What adds immeasurably to the shame of the transaction [forcing the Saints from the state by executive order] is the fact that there are grounds for believing that not a little of the intolerance shown on this occasion [for the Mormons] may have been due to a desire on the part of the Gentiles to get possession of the Mormons’ land. . . . A gentleman who has enjoyed exceptional advantages for acquainting himself with the facts of the case . . . tells us that “in many instances conveyances of land were demanded and enforced at the mouth of a pistol or rifle.”⁴⁹

V

This study sustains the long-standing Mormon contention that their preemption lands in Daviess County were illegally taken. Whether in all instances such were simple acts of stealth and fraud or were consummated with the view in mind of preventing future Mormon settlement in the county may never be completely known. What can be said with relative certainty is that much of what occurred was motivated by dishonesty and greed. When Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his infamous Extermination Order, illegal non-Mormon doings were justified under the vivid color of law. Preemption rights, particularly those belonging to the Latter-day Saints, were effectively denied. When it came time for the Saints to enter their legitimate claims, circumstances had rendered such claims moot and nugatory. Non-Mormon opportunists entered the lands in their own names, thus claiming both the lands and their improvements.

Repeated calls by some Missourians for an impartial and thorough investigation fell on deaf ears. With the eviction of the Mormons from Daviess County in general and from Adam-ondi-Ahman in particular, all hope for a speedy and immediate restitution vanished. Mormon entitlements in Missouri were dead.