Holly had found a place
for all of us to stay across from the Nauvoo temple with a balcony with a
wonderful view of the Temple. I had visited Nauvoo several times in the past,
when we moved from Falls Church, Virginia outside of Washington, DC in 1980 and
again when we took a family vacation to see Church history site before our
children left home.
This time Nauvoo was
more scenic and built up than I had remembered it. Of course, the previous two
visits were before the temple was rebuilt. The temple is very beautiful both
inside and out. This visit helped me gain a much greater appreciation for how
industrious the early saints were and for all the trials they endured. In six
years they transformed a swamp on a bend of the Mississippi river into a
community of around 12,000 people rivaling the city of Chicago in size. There
were 7 brick yards producing around 3 million bricks a year. They built some
very nice homes for their day and of course they built the temple. They tithed
their time by setting aside every 10th day to work on the Temple. And
then after all that work and sacrifice, they left it all once more so that they could
be free to practice their religion consistent with their belief in God the
Father and his Son Jesus Christ.
We heard many
interesting and faith promoting stories of life in Nauvoo. One of the buildings
in Old Nauvoo provides land and records on Nauvoo residents. We were able to
look up the parcels of land where our ancestors lived. There may be more, but
these are some of our ancestors that lived in Nauvoo or nearby.
James Allred and his
wife Elizabeth Warren
One of the more detailed
biographies of him was written by J. Terry Walker, a descendent of James Allred.
I posted in an earlier blog post and it is also on his family tree page. His page includes
26 photos, 17 documents and 20 stories. Several of the more interesting events
from his history include:
- His being kidnapped and taken back over the Mississippi river to Missouri by Missourians.
- Joseph Smith giving him his sword in Carthage and telling him he may need it for protection.
- Joseph Smith asking his wife Elizabeth to design the first temple garments.
- His role in transporting the wounded John Taylor from Carthage back to Nauvoo after Joseph and Hyrum were murdered.
Wiley Payne Allred
This is an excerpt from
a history of him in Family Tree written by his granddaughter.
At Nauvoo he was the prophet Joseph Smith's
hired hand and lived in his home as well as being a member of the Prophet's body
guard. He always enjoyed telling his experience of helping build a barn for the
Prophet: He said many times when he was working around the place, the Prophet
would come bounding out of his office and demand that he stop his work and
engage in jumping or wrestling with him or some other athletic sport. He was
with the Prophet on some of his most trying and dangerous times, disguising
himself, going with the mob to find out their plans so that he might protect
him. He was working in the mob as a spy the night the Prophet was killed and he
saw him fall from the window of the Carthage jail. After the assassination at
Carthage jail, John Taylor was rescued and taken to Wiley Payne’s father's
home, James Allred. Wiley Payne had known the names of the different herbs that
grew about their home when he was only seven years old. While he was living in
the Prophet's home, the Prophet told him that he was a natural born doctor and
that he should follow that profession. (This happened at a time when the
prophet's leg was badly hurt and gangreen had sat in. Wiley P. Allred and his
father, James Allred, doctored the Prophet's leg at that time.) The Prophet
gave Wiley Payne a Doctor's book on herbs and their uses. Then he gave him a
special blessing and told him that if he would make a study of this book and of
herbs that he would be able to put his finger on the spot where the trouble was
in his patient, and he was really able to do that. He studied and used the book
carefully and treasured it throughout his life. He and his family have thought
of it as something sacred. It is still in the family. In the last years of
Wiley Payne's life, he made the claim that no living person knew the Prophet
more than he.
Roswell Blood and his
wife Elinor Miller
An excerpt from a
biography by Gary D. Young covering his time outside of Nauvoo
Roswell then moved with the church to
Illinois, where he filed a petition in Quincy, Adams County court on 10 May
1939 for redress on $25 worth of property lost to the mobs in Kirtland
(Petitions by Clark Johnson). It is believed that Seriph had a baby on 5 Jan
1835 and then left Roswell before he moved to Illinois. Roswell was living in
Nauvoo on the 1840 census, but his brother Justin Blood remained on land five
miles from Kirtland. It is possible that Justin took custody of Seriph's baby,
and later delivered him to Roswell and his new wife Elinor Miller in Nauvoo.
They named the baby Moroni, which was the angel that appeared to Joseph Smith
to show him where the gold plates of Mormon were hidden. Elinor had three
additional children by Roswell; Daniel, born about 1841; Timothy, born about
1843; and a baby girl, born about 1845. Roswell Blood, his wife Elinor and two
sons Moroni and Daniel were listed on the 1843 Lima, Adams Co Illinois church
records, but sadly, Daniel drowned in an irrigation ditch shortly after. Lima
(also known as Bear Creek Settlement; now Tioga, Illinois) was part of the
Yelrome Stake, 25 miles south of Nauvoo, Hancock Co Illinois, organized by the
church on 22 Oct 1840 with Isaac Morley as president. A conference report of 23
Oct 1840 lists 424 branch members. The entire settlement was burned out by
anti-Mormon mobs in 1845. It is believed that Roswell's wife Elinor was killed
along with the baby daughter when mobbers pulled the roof of their cabin down
on them. Moroni loved his mother Elinor as later indicated by his naming a
daughter after her. Seriph was the unfaithful wife, not Elinor as stated by
some descendants of the family. All these trials only served to make Roswell a
stronger member of the church. He was ordained to the 20th quorum of Seventies
by Brigham Young's brother, John Young in 1845. In June of that year, he arose
in a quorum meeting and "instructed the brethren to be faithful in keeping
the commandments of God; to become Saviors, and said that they must hold out
faithful to the end." On another time, the record states that Roswell
arose and said he "rejoiced that he had another opportunity to be heard
that day." On 27 Jul 1845, "Roswell stood and told the brethren to be
faithful and do their duty in all things and not to fear men but to fear
God." Roswell and his two sons, Moroni and Timothy followed the church to
Winter Quarters where it is believed that Timothy died in about 1850.
Eliphaz Marsh and his
wife Hanna Husted
The following is from a
history written by Gary D. Young
Eliphaz Marsh and his family lived in Nauvoo
for nearly six years, their daughter Louisa died at the age of 14. Soon after,
Eliphaz died at age 52, on 19 Feb 1844.. Before his death in Nauvoo, Eliphaz
and his wife Hannah performed many baptisms for their dead ancestors:
I did find Eliphaz Marsh’s name on a list of names at the
Old Nauvoo Cemetery.
Mary Jane Marsh
Edited from an earlier version by Gary D.
Young, full history in Family Tree
Mary Jane was baptized twice, in 1838 by the
Prophet Joseph Smith, once for her health. She told of her sister Louisa who
died when she was 14 years old, and of a brother George who died when he was a
small boy. Joseph Smith had given George a blessing, telling him that he would
be a great missionary, but he passed away soon after. It was not until years
later when Mary Jane understood that George could be a missionary even after
his death.
The family followed the church to Nauvoo, Illinois. They loved the city of Nauvoo and wished they could stay there. Mary
Jane remembered the day that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed, and she said
that it was almost too much for the church members to understand. She told of
the wagon with the two crude boxes covered with an Indian blanket as they were
carried through the city, and how sobs and weeping was heard everywhere. The
bodies where taken to the Mansion House and prepared for burial. Mary Jane went
with her parents to view the bodies as they lay in state in the Mansion House,
but she did not know until later that bags of sand were deposited in the graves
to trick the mob. The real bodies were buried in the unfinished Nauvoo House
during the night, and later in the year were moved to the rear of the house
where they lived. Mary Jane married Jacob Lance in August 1845. He was born 15
Aug 1819 at Perth, Bath Township, Canada, the son of Samuel Lance and Marie
Louise Allard. The Lance family were converted in Canada and moved to Ohio in
1840, and then to Nauvoo. Mary Jane lived in the 4th ward in Nauvoo. Jacob and
Mary Jane were sealed together in the Nauvoo Temple on Friday, 30 Jan 1846 at 8
o'clock a.m. Mary Jane's parents, Eliphas and Hannah Husted Marsh were endowed
and sealed together in the Nauvoo Temple on 6 Feb 1846. Soon after, they were
driven out again by mobs of anti- Mormons. Mary Jane told how they looked back
across the Mississippi River for the last time and saw their wonderful temple
and homes, where they had been so happy, now in the hands of the mobs.
Samuel Lance
Excerpt from history written by Alaire L
Johnson full history is in Family Tree
John Page came into Lanark in 1836 and taught
the Lance family the gospel. They joined the church and Samuel was baptized by
him 5 March 1838. (LDS book 298.3 page 3 347-349 & film # 0483732) It is
very likely that they came with John Page when he led a company of Saints from
Lanark to Far West in 1838. After Joseph Smith announced that a branch of the
church should be organized in Iowa in 1839, the Saints began to gather there in
great numbers. Samuel and his family lived in Nashville, which was a tract of
land just west of Montrose Iowa, a town across the river from Nauvoo. The
family seemed to be very active in the church as Samuel and Maria were sealed
by the prophet in the presidents office 20 March 1853 according to family
records.(This date would have to be after he passed away as his wife had
married William Draper 4 years earlier.) He ordained one Lyman Mott to the
office of Elder on the 15th of January 1845 and probably others were also
ordained by him. He was ordained a High Priest in January of 1843 &
received his endowment in the Nauvoo temple 6 February 1846.
All of the above
individuals had family members living with them in Nauvoo, so I am sure there is
much more that we could learn.
