May Fun Happenings

Turtle Park and the St. Louis Zoo












































Julia as a missionary









Growing Crystals













Stylish Emily

Nauvoo, IL Trip: Ancestors

Looking down Parley Street to the Mississippi River


Both Mike and I have ancestors who lived in Nauvoo. We spent some time looking up where they lived and if they went to the Nauvoo Temple before they left Nauvoo. Most of the plots were empty where our ancestors lived and many of them did go to the Nauvoo Temple before they left Nauvoo.

At the end of Parley Street the road heads right into the Mississippi River. The Saints left their beautiful city by wagons, with handcarts and on foot down Parley Street where they boarded a ferry to cross the river. There is a monument there to honor many of the Pioneers who died before they made it to the West. There is also a beautiful Statue of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith pointing to the West where the Saints would be able to find a home.

Mike and I found many of our ancestors who died on this monument and took our photos by their names. I am grateful to these men and women and their families who took the leap of faith to leave their homes to travel to a new place for their knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that they are blessed for acting on their knowledge.





Anna Barnes Harmon (married to Jesse Pierce Harmon, mother of Appleton Milo Harmon)







Elias Pulsipher (married to Mary "Polly" Chubbuck)











Edward Warburton (married to Sophia Bywater and father of Richard Warburton)










Loly Ann Foote Clawson Richardson (Wife of Ebenezer Clawson, mother of Moses Clawson, remarried to Josiah Richardson)

Mary Mallalieu Richardson (married to Thomas Richardson)





Eveline Golden Conover (married to Peter Wilson Conover)

Nauvoo, IL Trip: Pioneer Life

While in Nauvoo we visited homes and shops that have survived the years, been restored, or been rebuilt from the original foundation. The missionaries there explained how equipment was used and how the Saints lived. We saw how to make rope, bread, rugs, candles, horse shoes, wagons, and the list goes on.








It took a lot of work to make a gun in the 1840's.











John Taylor's shaving stand.











John Taylor returned to Nauvoo after crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa to retrieve this toy horse for his son.





Oxen

Nauvoo, IL Trip: Photos

The Christus Statue in the Visitor Center.



Joseph Smith












Joseph and Hyrum as they left Nauvoo on their way to Carthage where they were both killed.
You can see The City Beautiful, Nauvoo, in the background with the Mississippi River.





Statue of a Family that Julia really liked.







Statue of Joseph and Emma Smith










A Sun Stone from the original Nauvoo Temple that was destroyed. There is also one in the Smithsonian.





The big and kind Belgian horses that took us on a tour of Nauvoo.

Nauvoo, IL Trip: Nauvoo Temple

The Beautiful Nauvoo Temple

One of the things that Mike and I really liked is the old fashioned chandeliers on the front of the Temple. You can see how the pioneers must have lowered them to lit them and then lifted them back up. It shows me how thoughtful the designers of the Temple were in putting in as much of the original design as possible.

















The girls even touched the Temple.

Nauvoo, IL Trip: Joseph Smith Homestead and Properties

I am going to go out of order of our actual trip and do the posts in sections of what we visited instead. If I went chronologically of what we did on our trip then everyone would know that we wandered around and did things in whatever order came to us at the time.

In Nauvoo, Joseph and Emma Smith's home is still standing. There is also The Nauvoo House which was built by the Smiths to be their home and a hotel for visitors. The property is owned and operated by the Community of Christ Church which was once called The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is a Smith Family cemetery on the property and also The Red Brick Store which was operated by Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith had offices and a meeting hall on the top floor of the store. This is where The Relief Society was started on March 17, 1842. We happened to be visiting the store on March 17th, the 167th anniversary of The Relief Society.

Joseph Smith log home







The Nauvoo House, Joseph Smith home and hotel.








Red Brick Store













Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith grave site







Joseph Smith Jr., Emma Hale Smith, and Hyrum Smith grave site

Nauvoo, IL Trip: Carthage

Back in March Mike had a week of vacation the same week as the girls had Spring Break. Yay for good planning! We decided it would be fun to go to Nauvoo. I had been there back in the 80's, but Mike and the girls had never been there. So we decided a few days in Nauvoo, IL was a good road trip to take that week.

Nauvoo, IL is a city that was settled and built up by the early Latter-day Saints in the 1840's. Both Mike and I have relatives who were early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that lived and worked in Nauvoo. The Saints built a Temple there that was destroyed, but has now been rebuilt to look close to the original from the outside. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was put in jail a few miles away from Nauvoo in Carthage, IL. He was jailed with his brother, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards. While there, a mob stormed the jail and killed both Hyrum and Joseph Smith. John Taylor and Willard Richards survived. After the Prophet's death, the Saints continued to build the Temple and live in Nauvoo. However, they were driven from the city in 1846. The Latter-day Saints became pioneers as they traveled across the country in wagons and on foot to the Salt Lake Valley.

We started driving early on Tuesday morning. We stopped briefly in Hannibal, MO where Samuel Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, lived.

Then we stopped at Carthage, IL as it is on the way into Nauvoo. This is where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred. It seemed sort of weird to visiting where they died before visiting where they lived, but it was an inspiring way to start our trip through history. We took a tour of this sacred place and our family definitely felt the Holy Ghost as we visited the place where Joseph Smith was martyred.


Statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith outside of Carthage Jail.









Window through which Joseph Smith fell and was shot.

You can see the bullet hole in the door through which Hyrum Smith was shot as he was trying to hold the door shut.













Julia, Mike and Emily outside the window where Joseph Smith fell as he died from gun shot by a mob.