| 302 On February 23, 1880, it was decided in the Court of Common Pleas, Lake County, Ohio, L. S. Sherman, judge, that the title of the Kirtland Temple was in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The following is a copy of the findings:
In Court of Common Pleas, Lake County, Ohio, February 23, 1880. Present: Honorable L. S. Sherman, judge; F. Paine, Jr., clerk; and C. P. Morley, sheriff .
Journal Entry, February Term, 1880.
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Plaintiff .
Against
Lucien Williams, Joseph Smith, Sarah F. Videon, Mark H. Forscutt, the church in Utah of which John Taylor is president and commonly known as the Mormon Church, and John Taylor, president of said Utah church: Defendants.
Now at this term of the court came the plaintiff by its attorneys, E. L. Kelley, and Burrows and Bosworth, and the defendants came not, but made default; and thereupon with the assent of the Court, and on motion and by the consent of the plaintiff a trial by jury is waived and this cause is submitted to the Court for trial, and the cause came on for trial to the Court upon the pleadings and evidence, and was argued by counsel; on consideration whereof, the Court do find as matters of fact:
(1st). That notice was given to the defendants in this action by publication of notice as required by the statutes of the state of Ohio; except as to the defendant, Sarah F. Videon, who was personally served with process.
(2d). That there was organized on the 6th day of April, 1830, at Palmyra, in the state of New York, by Joseph Smith, a religious society, under the name of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," which in the same year removed in a body and located in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio; which said church held and believed, and was founded upon certain well defined doctrines, which were set forth in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and book of Doctrine and Covenants.
(3d). That on the 11th day of February, A. D. 1841, one William Marks and his wife, Rosannah, by warranty deed, of that date, conveyed to said Joseph Smith as sole trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, being the same church organized as aforesaid, the lands and tenements described in the petition, and which are described as follows:
[The description of the land is omitted.-EDS.]
And upon said lands said church had erected a church edifice known as the Temple, and were then in the possession and occupancy thereof for religious purposes, and so continued until the disorganization of said church, which occurred about 1844. That the main body of said religious society had removed from Kirtland aforesaid, and were located at Nauvoo,
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