| 568 load their waggons [wagons] with all kinds of grain and meat, provision and clothing; and hay and provinder [provender] in abundance, that the laborer faint not, and the teams be made strong: also that journeymen, stonecutters &c. come bringing their tools with them and enlist in 'the glorious enterprize [enterprise].
Most of the plats in this city before referred to, as well as several farms and large lots of land in this and the adjoining counties are paid for, and are secured to the church by good and sufficient titles; while the town plat for the Town of Warren near Warsaw is secured on such conditions that the brethren can be accommodated with lots on very reasonable terms; but the large plat in Nauvoo purchased of Messrs. Hotchkiss, Tuttle & C. of New Haven, Conn., remains unpaid for, and the time has now arrived, when it is very desirable on the part of the church as well as on the part of the gentlemen of whom it was purchased, that payment should be made and a warrantee title secured; to accomplish which we have been called upon by the united voice of the General Conference to address the churches in the eastern states to advise with the brethren in those regions, and devise ways and means whereby this debt may be liquidated, Hotchkiss & Co. satisfied, the plot secured to the church, and the brethren in the east at the same time transfer their real estate from the place where it now is, to this city or region of country according to their desire.
The contract for the "Hotchkiss purchase" in Nauvoo, consisting of upwards of five hundred acres, was entered into on, or about the 9th of August 1839, for the specified sum of fifty three thousand five hundred dollars, and security was given to Messrs. H. R. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss], Smith Tuttle, and John Gillet, for the amount of the same in two notes of equal amount, one payable in ten years, and the other in twenty years from the date thereof signed by Messrs. Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith, and Sidney Rigdon. In August last, interest to the amount of six thousand dollars, or upwards, had accumulated on said notes which it has not been in the power of the church to pay up to the present time. The nature of this purchase and the situation of the church is such, that it is necessary that the note should be taken up, the interest stopped, and a warrantee title secured immediately; and a correspondence is now in progress with Messrs. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss] & Co. to effect this thing, and bring forward a final settlement.
But, say you, what can we do to accomplish this great and desirable object? Let the brethren in the eastern states, who have lands which they wish to dispose of, so that they may remove hither and secure to themselves an inheritance among the saints, either in the cities or farms in the vicinity, and are willing to have their lands in the east made over to Messrs. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss] & Co. towards the payment of the foregoing notes, communicate with us immediately, at this place, stating to us the extent and value of their property. Then as soon as we shall have received communications concerning property sufficient to cancel the obligations, and the necessary preliminaries are understood with Messrs. Hotchkies [Hotchkiss] & Co., we will dispatch an agent to New Haven, to complete the negociotion [negotiation], transfer your property, take up the notes, and secure a deed; and those whose property is thus transferred can have the value thereof here, in city lots, or lands in the vicinity; and thus your property will prove to you as good as money, inasmuch as you desire to emigrate, and you will no longer be obliged to tarry afar off, because that money is so scarce you cannot sell and get your pay. If there are those among you, to whom God has given in abundance, and they desire to appropiate [appropriate] some portion thereof for the benefit of his people; for the redemption of Zion; for a blessing to the widows of those who have been slain for the word of God, and been buried in a well, for a sustenance to their fatherless children, and provide for them a habitation, they cannot do it more effectually than by devoting a portion of their sustenance towards liquidating this claim.
To those brethren who live so far distant that they cannot send in their loaded teams, and yet desire to assist in building the Lord's House, we would say, gather yourselves together and bring of your substance, your silver, and gold, and apparel and of your superabundance cast into the treasury of the Lord and see if be [he] will not pour you out a blessing till there is not room enough to receive it.
Brethren the blessings of the kingdom are for you, for the body of Christ, for
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