(MORMONS.) Summons issued to Joseph Smith and others to appear as witnesses in an Illinois court case. Partly printed document, 6 x 7½ inches, signed on recto by Jacob B. Backenstos as county clerk and on recto by his brother William Backenstos as sheriff, with embossed court stamp; fold, minimal wear. In custom ¼ morocco folding case with gilt label on board. Carthage, IL, 21 September 1843, docketed 5 October This summons was served to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo less than a year before his death, as part of a debt suit by William Niswanger against Lyman Wight and Hamilton Jett. It was issued on 21 September, and was served to Smith and three others on 2 October, then filed by the sheriff on 5 October. The appearance was set for the Hancock County Circuit Court in Carthage on 17 October.
Summoned along with Smith was Stephen Markman [Markham] (1800-1878), then a colonel in the Nauvoo Legion and an LDS Elder; he was later a settler of Spanish Fork, UT. One of the defendants in the case, Lyman Wight (1796-1858), was an aide-de-camp in the Nauvoo Legion and member of the Nauvoo City Council.
The document is recorded and illustrated in the digital Joseph Smith Papers project, with its location noted as "private possession."