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Land Ownership in Nauvoo and Vicinity

James L. Kimball, Jr.

The City of Nauvoo was incorporated by the General Assembly of Illinois in December of 1840. Its charter delineated boundaries that made Nauvoo, territorially, the largest city in the state. Roughly six square miles, the city contained 3,733 acres located on a peninsula in the northwestern corner of Hancock County, Illinois. Only a small portion of this was originally divided into lots. Encircled by the Mississippi River on three sides, the area was naturally divided into two geographic regions. From the river's edge the flat sloped gently upward some 65 feet to a bluff, which in turn stretched eastward to the prairie. The northern part of Nauvoo was interspersed with several ravines, springs, and streams, while some 15 or 20 acres on the central western edge was considered wet and swampy. Several large and small thickets of trees speckled both flat and bluff. All these elements lent to the entire area an unusually pleasing aspect. One can easily comprehend why Joseph Smith named the city Nauvoo after a Hebrews term connoting "pleasant." Not surprisingly, the entire peninsula upon which Nauvoo developed had been purchased by speculators by the mid 1830s and three town sites laid out to lure prospective buyers.

Between 1839 and 1846 some 16,000 converts gathered at the site at the behest of their prophet-leader Joseph Smith. To aid the newcomers, many of whom were sick and poverty-stricken, Joseph Smith purchased 660 acres from non-Mormons Hugh and William White, Isaac Galland, and Horace Hotchkiss. These lands were then resold in parcels of various sizes to the new arrivals. Additions to the newly plotted town extended the borders of the newly plotted community to the east upon land included in the original charter. Located on the bluffs, these additions were known by the name of their original owner or developer. The largest additions were made by the family of Phineas Kimball of Orange County, Vermont. He and his sons, Ethan and Hiram, were responsible for three additions. Hiram, who acted as a resident agent for the family, was easily the most prosperous and influential. Daniel H. Wells also held sizable tracts of land and was active in Nauvoo governmental functions. His addition to Nauvoo was adjacent to those of the Kimballs. Other additions on the bluffs of the city were Davidson Hibbard (two), Hyrum Smith (two), heirs of James Robison (two), Hugh Herringshaw and Edward Thompson (two), Benjamin Warrington (one), William Spears (one), and George W. Robinson (one).

Nauvoo citizens were natives of almost every state in the Union, Canada, and the British Isles. Nearly one-third of the emigrants spoke with a British accent, but German-speaking Saints also held regular church meetings. Native Norwegian converts came from Norway, Illinois, and at least 21 African Americans resided in Nauvoo, contributing to a diverse ethnic mix. Adults over age 20 tended to be natives of New England and those under 20 of New York and Illinois.