Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1343, ca1844, Proposed by RBN to Depict Sally Waterman Phelps (1797-1872)

The image on the left is Sally Waterman Phelps from her biography in the Joseph Smith Papers. Sally Waterman Phelps – Biography (josephsmithpapers.org) The image on the right is cropped and horizontally flipped from the Library of Congress Grice Collection of Daguerreotypes number 1343. [Unidentified woman, half-length portrait, seated, wearing mitts and spectacles, with arm resting on a table with tablecloth] (loc.gov)

Sally and her husband William Wines Phelps both wore spectacles.

Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1508, ca1844, Proposed by RBN to Depict Ruth Moon Clayton

The image on the left is cropped from LOC Grice Collection Daguerreotype 1508. [Unidentified woman, seated half-length portrait, facing front] (loc.gov) The image on the right is cropped from LOC Grice Collection Daguerreotype 1385. see: William Clayton, Mormon Scribe, Journalist, Businessman, Musician, and Composer of “Come, Come Ye Saints” as Captured by Francis Henry Grice in a Ninth-Plate Daguerreotype Miniature in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the Summer of 1844; Also, an Image of William and His Wife Ruth in Sixth-Plate Format – Rod’s Ramblings and Ruminations (genevanotes.com)

Ruth Moon Clayton was 27 years old in 1844. She appears somewhat older in Daguerreotype 1385. where she shares the image with her husband William Clayton. The posing and composition of 1508 are far superior to 1385, raising the possibility that the former may have been taken by someone other than Francis Grice – perhaps Lucien Foster.

Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1522, ca1844, Proposed to Depict Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith

The image on the left is cropped from LOC Grice Collection Daguerreotype 1522. [Unidentified woman, seated three-quarter-length portrait, facing front] (loc.gov) The image in the right is cropped from LOC Grice Collection Daguerreotype 1383. [Unidentified man and woman, full-length portrait, seated] (loc.gov)

Bathsheba Smith was 22 years-old in 1844. She studied painting under Nauvoo portraitist William Major. “…Bathsheba found great satisfaction in providing for them. Her letters and autobiography are filled with descriptions of the shirts, carpets, curtains, cushions, soaps, rugs, caps, pillowcases, sheets, comforters, bonnets, stockings, diapers, candles, dresses, aprons, and so forth, that she made to make her family comfortable, not to mention the animals she tended, the gardens she kept, and the sick she visited. She once wrote that she had “done all we could to encourage home manufactory.” Relief Society General President (churchofjesuschrist.org) Grice image 1522 depicts her pride in her industry.

The “F Grice” is only faintly debossed on the brass surround. The ring appears to have been hand colored in gold.

Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1361, ca1844, Proposed to Depict Eliza Rebecca Robison Wells

The image on the left is cropped from the April 2002 issue of Wellesprings, the newsletter of the Welles Family
Association. Daniel Hanmer Wells, Father of the Utah Branch of our Family Microsoft Word – news02-04.doc (demandinggenealogist.com). The image on the right is cropped and horizontally flipped from the LOC Grice Daguerreotype Collection image number 1361. [Unidentified woman, half-length portrait] (loc.gov)

Eliza Rebecca (Robison) Wells did not accompany her husband to Utah or participate in his plural marriages. Following his flight from Nauvoo, she lived there for three years with her son, then moved to Minnesota when she became involved in an Episcopalian mission.

Daniel Hamner Wells (see: A Francis Henry Grice Daguerreotype, ca1844, Proposed To Be Daniel Hamner Wells, A Nauvoo “Jack Mormon” in 1844. He joined the Church in 1846. Wells Was Third in Command of the Utah Mormon Militia in 1856 Under George Smith and Brigham Young. – Rod’s Ramblings and Ruminations (genevanotes.com)) Note the similar brass surrounds of the two Wells images. This image is #1343, and the Barboza number is 6019.040. Eliza’s image is Barboza number 6019.041. However, the Daniel Wells image is one of three in the Grice Collection that appears like an example of a less contrast-intense imaging process such as an albumen print. Wells was 29 years old in the spring and summer of 1844. The man in this image appears to be older. Daguerreotypes are fragile and it is possible that the case was reused to frame a later image. Eliza was 24 years old in 1844.

Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1502, ca1844, Proposed to Depict Sylvia Sessions Lyon

The cropped image on the left is Sylvia Sessions Lyon from Smart, Donna Toland, ed. “Introduction.” In *Mormon Midwife*, 1–30. University Press of Colorado, 1997. p15. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt46nz2z.5 The image on the right is cropped and horizontally flipped from the Library of Congress Grice Daguerreotype Collection number 1502. [Unidentified young woman, half-length portrait, facing front] (loc.gov)

[Unidentified young woman, half-length portrait, facing front] (loc.gov)

Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1365, ca1844, Proposed to Depict Lucy Mack Smith

The image on the left is a carte de visite albumin print copy of an earlier round Daguerreotype. See: Romig, Ronald E., and Lachlan Mackay. “Lucy’s Image: A Recently Discovered Photograph of Lucy Mack Smith.” *Journal of Mormon History* 31, no. 2 (2005): 61–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23289932. The image on the right is cropped from the Library of Congress Grice Collection Daguerreotype 1365. [Unidentified woman, three-quarters length portrait, seated with left arm resting on table with tablecloth and book] | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

This is a quarter-plate Daguerreotype and is hand-colored, likely by Francis Grice. Very few images in the Grice collection were in the larger quarter-plate format and hand-colored. Note the black mourning dress.

Francis Henry Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype 1509, ca1844, Proposed to Depict Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde

The image on the left is Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde cropped from AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARINDA NANCY JOHNSON HYDE (1818-1868) cited in Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom. New York, 1877. Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde – Doctrine and Covenants Central The image on the right is cropped from the Library of Congress Francis Grice Daguerreotype Collection image 1509. [Unidentified woman, seated half-length portrait, facing front] – digital file from original | Library of Congress (loc.gov) Neither image has been flipped.

Marinda Nancy Johnson married Orson Hyde in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1834. [Unidentified woman, seated half-length portrait, facing front] – digital file from original | Library of Congress (loc.gov) see: Orson Hyde, Member of the First Morman Quorum of Twelve, As Seen (Twice) by Francis Henry Grice – Rod’s Ramblings and Ruminations (genevanotes.com)

Two Francis Henry Grice Daguerreotype images of Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, ca 1844. The image on the right is cropped from Grice LOC image 1354. [Unidentified man and woman, seated, facing front] | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

A Francis Henry Grice Daguerreotype Proposed to Depict Sarah de Arman (Dearman) Pea Rich (1814-1893)

The image on the right is cropped from the Library of Congress Grice Collection Daguerreotype 1350 and is not flipped horizontally. [Unidentified woman, half-length portrait, facing front] | Library of Congress (loc.gov) The image on the left is cropped from a painting done by William Major, ca1842, held by the International Society, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.SarahPeaRich.jpg (1254×1629) (google.com)

[Unidentified woman, half-length portrait, facing front] | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

Charles and Sarah Rich oil portraits by William Major

Charles and Sarah Rich Daguerreotypes by Francis Henry Grice

A Francis Henry Grice Daguerreotype, ca1844, Proposed to Depict Vilate Murray Kimball

The left image is proposed to depict Vitale Murray Heber (1806-1867). The image has been cropped and flipped horizontally from Grice Library of Congress Daguerreotype Image 1373, a ninth-plate Daguerreotype. [Unidentified woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left] | Library of Congress (loc.gov) The right image is identified as Vitale Murray Heber and is from an engraving from a photograph. PHOTO: Vilate Kimball, Daughters of Utah Pioneers KIM0013 or Church History Library PH 3355 fd.1 item.2; see frontis of Orson F. Whitney, “Life of Heber C. Kimball.” published by the Kimball Family, 1888. frontis. online at: https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball/page/n7/mode/2up

[Unidentified woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left] | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

The Short Life of the Geneva Pharmacy, Another Tragedy from Tax Increment Financing: An Open Letter to the Geneva City Council

Dear Geneva City Council:

The Geneva Pharmacy at 501 East State Street is for sale for $400K. It opened less than a year ago. The for-sale ad does not suggest that the business is being sold as a going concern.

501 E State St, Geneva, IL 60134 – Retail Property for Sale – 501 E. State Street (crexi.com)

By the way, the for-sale ad lists a drive-thru on State as an amenity. Of course, you denied the Geneva Pharmacy applicant a drive-thru because one of you lives up the street. Somehow the truth is always the first of the many casualties when the City of Geneva acts. The applicant said his business plan would not work without a drive-thru. He was right.

Thanks only to inflation, TIF 2 “worked” at 501 E. state…the property tax doubled from 2002-2021 even in the face of the “Great Recession.” Last year TIF2 took $4K of the $7k total property tax while the schools got $2K. The Geneva Tax Assessor now lists the fair cash value as $247K. But the TIF only worked to fund your slush fund. The only other thing that “incremented” was the tax bill of every City of Geneva property owner and many others outside the City.

Property Tax for 501 E State Street During TIF2. The City gambled away $93.5K with a TIF gift to Geneva Pharmacy, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Sage of Sandholm predicted this result: everyone loses.

So the news is not good. You might recall that I suggested that the pharmacy use was ill-advised and inconsistent with Geneva’s Comprehensive Plan. Plus another drive-thru was the last thing needed on East State Street. (How’s that Dunkin’ coming?) May-13-Public-Comment (geneva.il.us) But with the 2023 end of TIF2 fast approaching and the cash burning a hole in council members’ pockets, you greased through a TIF grant of $93.5K by amending text in the B3E zoning ordinance specifically for this one applicant (“spot zoning” in its purest form). See: Geneva OKs two TIF projects worth nearly $200,000 (dailyherald.com)

The applicant paid $265K for the property in 2021 (see tax bill) and claimed he invested $517K total in it, plus the $93.5 TIF2 gift for a total of $610,500.00. The applicant hopes to get back $400K for a 900-square-foot building.

So “but for” the TIF gift from the City of Geneva taxpayers (plus the money stolen from the taxpayers living outside the City but within other Geneva taxing bodies like school, library, and park districts), this fiasco might have been avoided. Geneva Pharmacy is yet another example of “Cummins’ Rule” which states “When the City of Geneva gets involved, it makes losers out of everyone.”

Please suspend all further activity in TIF2 and refund the remaining balance, if any, to the other taxing bodies in 2023 at its expiration. Help make Geneva affordable again.

Thank you.

Rod Nelson

ps: Let us hope that another even heavier shoe won’t drop due to this blunder. (See: Has Geneva TIFed Away Both Net Tax Revenue and the East Side CVS Pharmacy? – Rod’s Ramblings and Ruminations (genevanotes.com))