Stranger Provides $500 in Gold to Joseph Smith for Purchase of Mr. White's Farm at Commerce (Nauvoo), 1839

In 1839, when Joseph Smith and other brethren were attempting to buy Mr. White’s farm in Commerce (later Nauvoo) for $2,500 with $500 down, the group despaired because they lacked the required down payment. According to the accounts, Joseph emptied his purse and gave each of the brethren a half dollar, leaving himself with nothing, and told Bishop Knight to go complete the purchase. He declared, “Now you all have money, and I have none; but the time will come when I will have money and you will have none!”

The next morning, as the papers were being signed at Mr. White’s table, an unnamed stranger drove up in a carriage and asked for Joseph Smith. The man said he was "on a speculation" and wanted to buy land; when he could not inspect land that day he asked if Joseph needed money. Joseph asked for $500. The stranger walked in, emptied a small sack of gold on the table and counted out $500. One report adds that the stranger then gave Joseph an additional $100 (some summaries have characterized the gift as $600 total). The incident is reported in Benjamin F. Johnson’s recollection, is recounted in Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus’s They Knew the Prophet (1974), and is summarized by the Joseph Smith Foundation.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (1947), pp. 35-36):

At this time, the brethren were very anxious to secure the White farm, but they had no money to make the first payment. The Prophet Joseph, however, felt confident that the way would be opened. He told Bishop Knight to go and make the purchase, and he would provide the money. The Bishop went, but he had no money. The Prophet then called the brethren together and told them that he had no money, but that he would give them what he had. He emptied his purse and gave each of them a half dollar, and then he had nothing left. He said to them, 'Now you all have money, and I have none; but the time will come when I will have money and you will have none!' The next morning, as the papers were being signed at Mr. White’s table, a stranger drove up in a carriage and asked for Joseph Smith. The man said he was 'on a speculation' and wanted to buy land; when he could not inspect land that day he asked if Joseph needed money. Joseph asked for $500. The stranger walked in, emptied a small sack of gold on the table and counted out $500. He then gave Joseph an additional $100.