Leaving Nauvoo

Well,  we now know how the Mormons felt when they had to leave Nauvoo in the winter of 1846.  Our mission is completed, and we are headed home in a very short time. This has been a glorious experience, far beyond explanation, and far beyond our expectations. To walk where those early saints walked....to tell of their lives and to testify of the truth of this gospel  has been a great privilege.

Time and again we were prompted to say and do things that were not of our making. I would sit down at the piano to play prelude music for a meeting, and would be inspired to play things I had never played before.  During our site tours, we are prompted to address certain concerns our guests may have, and we are asked, "How did you know that was on our minds?" 

And the performances by the talented youth who came to Nauvoo for 3 months to entertain and inspire our guests were amazing.  Not a dry eye in the house. We are truly grateful to have been here.

Thanks to all of you who followed our progress.  And we are sorry there has been a lapse in our postings.  The summer here was about as busy as you can imagine. We increased the number of shows in which we performed....we extended the hours the sites were open...we increased the number of wagon and carriage rides each day, and we tried to keep cool in the heat and humidity that is pretty oppressive in mid Summer.

Finally, if you have not visited Nauvoo, you should come. Families by the thousands come each year and spend anywhere from 3 days to a week.  There is something for all to do, even little kids. They love playing at "Pioneer Pastimes" and never want to leave.  The Spirit of Nauvoo is present everywhere, and when you leave, you cannot doubt that Prophets of God walked this town. 

Here are a few final pictures for your enjoyment.  This will be our last Blog entry.

With Love to All.........Elder and Sister Meier

This is our "Farewell Card" we left for all the missionaries here. 

A scene from "Rendezvous In Old Nauvoo".

Time is Flying,,,,,,

We cannot believe how fast our Mission is going.  In a few days, we will have been gone for 4 months.  That means we are about 2/3 of the way through already.  Our weeks fly by, and Sunday to Sunday seems like about three days.

It has been very hot here, in the high 90s and low 100s, with high humidity.  There is this thing called the "heat index" which measures a combination of temperature and humidity, which schools and others use to determine when kids are safe to play outdoors.  Here, the mission has adopted a heat index limit of 105 for our horses to pull wagons.  When the heat index exceeds 105, the wagon and carriage rides are terminated and the horses are wet down and allowed to return to a shady pasture. They have to work too hard and get overheated if they are required to work above that level.  Last week, we surpassed 105 heat index at about 1:30 PM, when the temperature reached 94 and the humidity was 62%.

Nearly every day since, the heat index has exceeded 105, and many of the late afternoon wagon and carriage rides have been cancelled.  Friday, around 5 in the afternoon, the index reached 116, and it was quite muggy and warm.

But all our historic sites (except the Blacksmith shop, where Jerry works one day a week) are air conditioned, and quite comfortable. We have had many wonderful experiences with our visitors, and we know that Nauvoo has been a great place for them to visit. Without exception, the comments we receive are that they wish they had more time here, that a few days is not enough to see and hear all that we offer. Pam and I have seen some of the shows here many times, and we still laugh at the same things....still love to see the performances. 

Mark and Verna Olsen came to visit here this past week.  They enjoyed themselves, and it gave Pam and I the opportunity to catch up on things back home in Idaho, and to share some ice cream with them.

On a serious note, you would all be amazed at how varied our presentations are depending on the visitors.  That is not at all by design....we have a set of historical facts that we present at each site, but we don't memorize a script.  Rather, we are guided as to what we say to each group or family, depending on their individual situation. By way of example, the other day, I was in the Blacksmith shop with about 25 guests, explaining that Brigham Young had stood in this very spot, commissioning Chauncy Webb to build Brigham's wagon to go to Salt Lake. We know that fact from the diaries and journals of these men. It grew very quiet as we were all touched by the sacredness of that place. As I talked about Brigham Young's mission to move the Mormons from Nauvoo to Salt Lake, a women introduced her 19 year old son as one who was about to leave on his mission the following week, and I was guided to talk directly to him about his commitment, about his need to allow himself to be guided in his efforts, and how his commitment toward his mission should be like that of the early Mormons, who left their beloved city of Nauvoo to travel by wagon to the unknown west, leaving nearly all of their earthly possessions behind.  There wasn't a dry eye in the place..... all there felt the sacrifice of those pioneers, and realized how that sacrifice blessed not only them, but so many who followed. That happens a lot here.......

SAMUEL SMITH

Today I will tell you a little about Samuel Smith.  Samuel was a younger brother of Joseph Smith. He is one of the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon, whose testimony is found in the front of the Book of Mormon.  These eight persons signed a statement indicating they had seen and held the golden plates from which Joseph translated the Book of Mormon. They talk of feeling the pages, feeling the engravings on the pages, and observing the charactors engraved on the pages which had the appearance of "an ancient work and of curious workmanship".

Samuel also had the distinction of being the very first person formally set apart as a missionary for the church.  This occurred in June, 1830. His first mission lasted just three days, and he returned, telling Joseph that his mission had been a failure, because he had met no one who would buy a Book of Mormon from him, and he taught no one about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Little did he know how successful his mission had actually been.  He had loaned a copy of the Book of Mormon to a Methodist minister named John Green, whose wife was a relative of Brigham Young. One account indicates that Brigham Young read that book of Mormon, and shared it with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, both of whom ultimately joined the church and held leadership positions. Turns out his mission was not so unsuccessful after all. He served several other missions after that.

When Samuel's brothers, Joseph and Hyrum were arrested in 1844 and taken to Carthage Jail, Samuel tried to get to Carthage to help.  But he was turned away by the mobs, who chased him away and shot at him.  He managed to get away, found a horse, and traveled through the back country into Carthage, only to find that both his brothers had been murdered by the Mob in the Carthage jail. He took the bodies back to his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, and as he walked into his mothers home, he fell into her arms, explaining that he had a dreadful pain in his side, that would not go away.  33 days later, Samuel Smith died from those symptoms.

Lucy Mack Smith has to be the most stalwart woman who ever existed. She had lost her son Alvin who died in New York, she had lost her husband who died in Nauvoo from injuries and illness he received from being driven out of Missouri, she had lost her son Don Carlos from pneumonia at age 24 in Nauvoo, she had lost a daughter in law and several grandchildren, and now, she had lost three more of her sons in the past 33 days. Yet she never lost her testimony of the truth of the Gospel, and of the fact that her son, Joseph, had seen God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, and had received the Golden Plates from an angel just as Joseph claimed.  She once commented that a mother knows her children, and that she knew, beyond any doubt, that Joseph has indeed been called of God, and had seen the things he said he saw.  With the extreme hardship that the Smith family experienced, while all the while remaining true to their claims, no one can say that Joseph Smith was out for personal gain or other false motive. It is inconceivable to me that anyone would undergo what Joseph Smith went through, (months in jail, tarred and feather, beaten, persecuted constantly) unless it was in fact true.   Our experiences here in Nauvoo only increase our personal testimonies.

MORE PICTURES

Here are a few more pictures for your perusal. There is a plant that grows in the Mississippi River called the American Lotus.  It looks like a large lilly pad, and grows a large white flower in mid summer.  We have been watching this growth along the sides of the river, where it is shallow, and have taken one picture each week to track the growth.  We will show the first few pictures in order.  Not real exciting, but this plant went from NOTHING to a solid field of plants, floating on the river, in a few short weeks.  Fun to see it progress almost daily. 

Looking West across the Mississippi.     Just starting to grow these plants........The stump in the foreground is on the river bank.

A week later.......

Another week later...............

Another week later.........flowers almost ready to come out.....we will show those next time.

Here is Pam in front of the Lucy Mack Smith Home, where she is assigned most of the time.

Taken inside the Lucy Mack Smith Home, showing china given as a wedding present in 1796.  Entire set is there, except one saucer is missing. She was too old and ill to travel to Salt Lake on the wagons, so she remained in Nauvoo until her death.

We thank those who are following this blog..... It is nothing like being here, but may give you a feeling for what is here, and why it is an important place.

We are now super excited that in two short weeks, our four daughters will come here to visit us.  We can't wait......what a thrill for us.

Love to all....till next time....

Jerry and Pam aka Mom and Dad aka Grandma and Grandpa

JUST PICTURES

Today, we just wanted to send along some additional pictures we have taken this past week.  Hope you enjoy them.

A shot of turtles sitting on a log in the Mississippi River...among the America Lotus floating plants.  Some have their necks out...looking around.  When it starts raining, they go under water so they won't get wet.....:)

One of our OXEN teams hooked up to their wagon.  We give people rides in this wagon, telling them about the experience of the Pioneers as they crossed the plains.  This is Duke and Don, our milking shorthorn oxen.  They respond to oral commands and can be driven by a 10 year old who knows the commands.

Pam, Jer, Don, and Duke.  Duke doesn't like women, so we always have the ladies stand on Don's side of the team for their pictures.  These oxen weigh around 2300 pounds each.  Your average horse weighs about 1250 pounds. 

Well, time to get ready for our district meeting tonight....a pot luck dinner. Darn, we have to eat again.....:)

Love to all.........  and HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL THE DADS.

Jerry and Pam

King Follett and more photos

Hello Everyone....

We simply cannot believe how fast time is flying by.  We have already been on our mission for 3 months....half way through already.  WOW....seems like a few weeks.  We continue to have fabulous experiences as do  those who visit here. The people here are very fun to work with. 

Pam and I have been asked to serve as District Leaders in our mission.  The mission is divided up into 10 districts, with about 12 missionaries to a district.  A leader is then called who essentially watches over the missionaries in his district. We check on their health, be sure they know how to carry out their assignments, train them in things they need to know, and pass out assignments as needed.  For example, each district is assigned a week to set up chairs for church meetings. Our chapel probably holds about  350 people, but during the summer, with all the visitors, sunday meetings will hold around 900, so we have to set up that many extra chairs in the overflow area to accomodate the people.  Then, there are certain areas of the grounds that need regular cleaning, and each month, our district is assigned an area to clean. So we pass on the assignments to our district members, and then follow up to see that the assignments are completed. It is like getting your children to do certain tasks around the house, except that here, everyone does their assignment without being checked on, and with a smile.  \\

We are doing fine, working hard, and feeling the blessings. 

We have taken a number of pictures this week, and they are attached.

KING FOLLETT

King (a first name, not a title) was a resident ot Nauvoo in the 1840's. His life as far as we know began and ended with a well.  The first time he appears in our history here, he was petitioning the City Council of Nauvoo to allow his well to remain in the location he had dug it. It seems the City wanted to place a street intersection right where his good well was located.  The well served several families.  King asked that the City locate the intersection a few feet to either side of his well, and to allow his well to remain.  The city had not yet installed the streets, so there was room for compromise here.  But, as governmental agencies will do, they told King Follett "that is not how things are done"...and they ordered him to remove his well. He did so.

Years later, King was doing his regular trade, digging wells and placing rocks inside the well around the outside to keep the mud and dirt from falling in and fouling the well.  He was at the bottom of the well, placing the rocks, and coworkers were lowering the rocks down to him in a bucket with a rope.  Yup, you guessed it. The rope broke, the large bucket of rocks fell on him, and killed him.  King's widow asked their friend, Joseph Smith, prophet and president of the church, to speak at King's Funeral. Joseph did so, and after a short eulogy, told those present that he wished to address many of the important issues relating to death, the nature and destiny of man, and of God, but that this was not the time.  He asked everyone to come to General Conference a few weeks away and he would address these things.  Many of the Mormons had never heard all of the plans that God has for Man, and so this was welcome news. Also, many had lost little children and Joseph promised to talk about what happens to little children who die before they can be baptised.

On the day set for conference, many thousands gathered to hear Joseph speak.  He talked about the subjects mentioned above.  He told how children who die before being baptised will be with their Heavenly Father and how they can be reunited with their parents in the life after. He told about God, about his plan for bringing man to earth, and many of the other important elements of Mormon teaching.  His talk was thereafter called the "King Follett Discourse" and is still a very important lesson for us regarding why we are here, where we are going, and where we came from. A little well was build in honor of King Follett here in Nauvoo, with stones believed to come from the foundation of the old Nauvoo Temple. The things Joseph Smith talked about are brought to fruition these days in our Temples, where sacred ordinances are performed that allow for families to be sealed together for eternity.

PICTURES AND COMMENTS:

This is the Nauvoo Brass Band Wagon. It is pulled around town by some of our draft horses.  The music is played by the Young Performing Missionaries, the best of the best, very talented.  They are really fun to hear.

This is another set of our draft horses pulling the Sight Seeing Wagon...which gives free rides to visitors who want to see where the historic sites are.  An hour ride...all free.

This is the view from our Apartment.  Most of the historic sites are to the left of the picture, but there is much open space between the buildings.

Pam climbed up and sat by me as I was driving the wagon back to the barn after a trip.  She loves the horses and wishes they would let her drive.  These blacks are Percherons, a french breed.  They are 19 hands high....that means VERY LARGE.

We love all your emails and comments....and we love each of you.  Please keep in touch.  We will write again soon.

Love, Pam and Jerry

Porter Rockwell and other tidbits

Other Tidbits First

Time is rushing by.  We can't believe it is already three months....we are half way through our mission.  This is such an amazing place...if we did not have other responsibilities at home, we could stay indefinately....We love the peacefulness here.

Close your eyes and envision life here.  The morning dawns crisply, slight breeze, green everywhere.  Acres and acres of mowed lawns, tall trees everywhere, squirrels and Racoons race across the lawns, birds chirping from every tree, bright red Cardinals fighting on the grass, deer standing peacefully eating grass, very little traffic, completely clean, grass down to the asphault or gravel roads, quaint buildings from the 1840's spread out, perhaps 1 to every 5 acres, and the sun starting to come up over the Temple to the east.

No need to lock your doors, there is no crime here. Everyone respects and loves everyone else. If you walk somewhere, 10 cars will stop and ask if you want a ride.  In town, the store merchants love us missionaries and we get senior discounts. At church this morning, we had over 600 people in attendance, with an unbelievable spirit there. In mid summer, we will have over 900 people in church, and people come to church an hour early just to get a seat.  When you give someone an assignment, it is willingly accepted and always performed.  No one complains, no one shirks their duty, and things get done very efficiently.

We go to our Site assignments, open our buildings, have a prayer for safely and inspiration during the day, and begin greeting visitors, telling them about the early pioneers, and in almost every case, we are able to convey an important message to the visitors...either of Love, of importance of family, of the faith and sacrifice of the pioneers, of their willingness to follow Gods commandments, or such other message. Everyone leaves knowing more about the pioneers, and with a challenge to improve their lives. Time flies.  Before we know it, we are relieved by another set of missionaries, and we move on to other things.  In the evenings, we perform in the musical productions, and they are more and more fun as time goes by.   We were joined a few weeks ago by the Young Performing Missionaries, who are extremely talented, who now share the stages with us, putting on acts of their own. They are GREAT.  They could perform in any finals of American Idol, or other professional show.  Wow....what a treat to hear them.  They put on about 6 different shows, and they ride one of the horse wagons and go from place to place and put on their acts.

We go home tired, but extremely blessed for our service.  Pretty close to heaven, we think.  :)

We are healthy, maintained in our efforts, and we remember most of what we need to remember.  Despite our age.....)

PORTER ROCKWELL

One of the most interesting characters in church history, Porter Rockwell was the bodyguard to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.  He was a boyhood friend of Joseph's, but was a rough and tumble man who knew how to take care of business.  He was an excellant marksman, and many stories are told of him and his exploits, but one in particular can be related here because these facts are documented.

Porter was a large man, with a very full dark and ominous beard.  He had dark eyes that would intimidate anyone.  You did not want to get on Porter's bad side. If you recall a posting I did a few weeks ago, I talked about how the Mormons were driven from Missouri by the Missouri Extermination Order, signed by Gov. Boggs. Gov. Boggs lived in fear of the Mormons after that event, even though the Mormons assured the people of Missouri that the Mormons would not retaliate.  One day, after Gov. Boggs was no longer in office, someone took a shot at Gov. Boggs, wounding him.  He assumed it was Joseph Smith attempting to retaliate, and asked that Joseph be arrested.  When the police arrived in Nauvoo, they learned that Joseph had been in Nauvoo on the day of the assasination attempt, addressing the Nauvoo Legion, and could not have taken the shot.  Gov. Boggs then accused Porter Rockwell, and Porter was arrested and spent 8 months in jail awaiting trial.  When the case went to trial, the judge dismissed the case, stating there was no evidence sufficient to hold Porter, or try him for the shooting.  After the court proceedings, the judge called Porter in and said, "Mr. Rockwell, I have dismissed your case and no further harm can come to you. But tell me, man to man, did you try to kill Gov. Boggs?"  Porter replied, "No sir, I have living proof that I did not try to kill him.  If I had shot at him, he would be dead."  Porter was reputed to be able to shoot coins in the air...so he was quite skilled.

Porter left the courthouse and traveled back to Nauvoo, arriving there Christmas day, 1843.  He went to Joseph's home at the Mansion House as a Christmas party was in progress.  He was stopped at the door by some bodyguards, who did not recognize him, as hewas very dirty, scruffy, and unwashed after 8 months in jail.  A scuffle ensued until Joseph came to the door and saw his friend, Porter.  They hugged, and Joseph said, "This man is welcome in my home at any time and in any condition.".  Porter went west with the Mormon Pioneers and was body guard for Brigham Young for many years.  Porter settled down in the Lehi, Utah area eventually.

Joseph Smith once wrote of Porter, who had never learned to read or write, "He was an innocent and a noble child, and my soul loves him".

Porter was truly a valuable and cherished man in the history of the church.

PICTURES

Here are some additional pictures we have taken.  Hope you enjoy this posting and our photos.  Love to all.............Jerry and Pam

This is the sign that begins the Trail of Hope.  Down this road, about one mile, the wagons lined up to cross the Mississippi river in February, 1846, in a snowstorm.  The mobs were nipping at their heels. From here down to the river, there are about 20 smaller signs along the road which contain the journal entries of actual people who traved by Wagon Train or Handcart to Salt Lake City.  They are very touching to read.  In the evenings here, the Young Performing Missionaries line up at these smaller signs and they take the parts of those pioneers, They read to us, they sing, or play instruments, as though they were relating those experiences first hand.  No one can get through that without shedding many a tear.  Very wonderful. These presentations are open to the public during the summer months.  Everything here is free.

Pam & I sitting in our Carriage....with our Percheron horses, Tim and Tim. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo...we will get some better ones. 

Sunset by the Mississippi.  We see clouds like this quite often.  Dramatic.

One more of our horses.....beautiful boys.  We love them.... and we love you.

Till next time....

Jerry and Pam

Better Late Than Never....

I apologize for missing last weekend with a new post.  We have been kept very busy, and now that the "Summer Schedule" is in effect, it will be even busier. We now open the sites an hour earlier, and close them an hour later each day, to accomodate the many families visiting here. Little girls dress  up in pioneer dresses and bonnets made by their mothers, and the boys get a rope they helped make in the Family Living Center. The kids get to play games at Pioneer Pastimes, like learning to use stilts, play hoops, strength contests, etc.  Then, the family goes to our production, "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo" that evening, and the little kids all look for the flying horse....pretty cool. 

Pam has been asked to be the Site Leader of the Lucy Mack Smith Home, and I have been assigned the Site Leader of the Blacksmith Shop. Only problem is, the Blacksmith Shop is probably the 2nd or 3rd most popular site here, and we are nearly always inundated with guests, so very little time to rest.  This coming week, I will be spending 4 days driving the teams of horses, and the rest at the Blacksmith Shop.  Pam will serve at the Lucy Mack Smith Home, the Log School House, and the John Taylor Home.  Starting next week, we will be performing in "Sunset by the Mississippi" twice a week, and "Rendezvous" twice a week. They start at 7:00 PM and each runs an hour. I have been asked to be the Narrator of "Sunset" so I have spent all my waking hours memorizing my part.  Good thing God keeps Pam and I strong and healthy,,,wow.  But it is wonderful!!!

And now another story of Nauvoo Pioneers.

PHINEAS BIRD

41 year-old Phineas Bird and his sons, age 18 and 21, were among 150 temporal Missionaries sent by Joseph Smith to harvest wood in Wisconsin, The trees in Nauvoo rot from the inside and are not good for building lumber, so the men traveled up to the Black River area of Wisconsin during 4 different winters to cut logs, and float them down the Mississippi to Nauvoo to use for building material.  The men would tie the logs together to form a barge the size of a football field, then float for 2 weeks down to Nauvoo.  While on the raft, they would cut shingles for the houses and businesses, and for the Temple.  They brought down over a million and a half board feet of lumber, and cut 250,000 shingles on the way down, 

While in Wisconsin, they shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Chippewa Indians and other native american tribes. After spending 4 winters in Wisconsin, the Birds were tired of the cold and decided to move to Texas when the Mormons left Nauvoo, rather than move to the colder climate of Utah.

But Phineas, despite being a tough old lumberjack, loved the Lord. In a letter to Joseph Smith, Phineas wrote, "We feel greatly encouraged to spend and be spent in the cause of Christ, according to the will of our Heavenly Father".

Here are some pictures of interesting things we have seen while here in Nauvoo.

There are many Amish people who live in the mid-west. Their farms and barns are very neat and they still use many of the old-world traditions, such as driving buggys, wearing traditional clothing, (long dresses, hand made shoes, etc).  Many of their barns are decorated with a large pattern such as seen here, depicting a family pattern they use on their quilts.  There are many of these barns in the area, and they are called "Quilt Barns".  Very colorful.

This is a "Barge Tow", pushed by a tug boat,,,It carries the equivilent of 870 semi trucks of material.   It is approximately the size of a football field. The Mississippi runs at about 7 miles per hour, and is 2,340 miles long.

This one may be  a little hard to read, but it is a photo of the official records of the "Seventies Hall", where Mormon Missionaries were trained to  be missionaries in the 1840's.  This one shows Pam's Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Chester Loveland, Colonial in the Civil War, resident of Brigham City Utah.  He attended the Nauvoo Temple in January, 1846, just a few weeks before departing in a wagon trail to Salt Lake City.

Lots of history here....lots of sacred places.  We are constantly in awe at the sacrifice of these people.....what they endured to worship their religion.  We are proud of that heritage.

More later.

Jerry and Pam

More stories and news

News from Nauvoo:

It is warming up here.  The other day we hit 95, with high humidity, and in the evening it poured with lots of lightening. Next day, it was 80, blue skies and a breeze.  Weather is quite unpredictable here.  One day, we were given a "Tormado Watch", but none ever materialized.  There hasn't been a tornado in Nauvoo since 1850.

Pam and I are performing in our Rendezvous shows twice a week, and starting in a week, we will be adding two "Sunset on the Mississippi" shows each week. I have been given the cast assignment of narrating the Sunset show.  I have also been assigned to be the Site Leader of the Blacksmith shop.  This coming week, we will be visited by 10 different school tours, about 40 each tour.  They come in in school buses from all over Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, and grades from 3rd to 9th.  They take wagon rides, come to the Blacksmithshop, the Brick shop, the Bakery, and the Family Living Center, then spend the afternoon playing pioneer games in Pioneer Pastimes.  We are kept hopping during those tours.,,,,shuffling kids in and out in a semi-organized fashion, giving them demonstrations and telling them about the pioneers.  Quite interesting.

We are doing great, we see the Starrs and the Nemecks fairly often, and for old folks, we feel quite alert and physically able to handle the busy-ness,

Addison Pratt:

Continuing our stories of the early pioneers, let me tell you about Addison Pratt, a native of New Hampshire.  As a young man aged 19, he was a sailor on a whaling ship in the South Seas. He visited with the Polynesians and upon his return to the United States, settled in Nauvoo and joined the Mormon church. He discussed his trips to the south seas with Joseph Smith and told Joseph he thought the polynesians would be interested in the Book of Mormon.  Little did he know that his comments would lead to his being called to a mission to the south seas in May, 1843. When Brigham Young set him apart as a Missionary, Brigham gave him a blessing that he would be a "swift messenger to the nations of the earth", and he was promised that he would return safe and sound and "rejoice again with his family".  He left on his mission leaving his wife and four daughters in Nauvoo.

He was gone for 5 years, formed the first Polynesian Branch of the church, lost two of his three companions during the mission to various illnesses, and eventually returned to the United States via San Francisco, traveling on to Salt Lake City, arriving there on September 28, 1848.  There, he found that his wife and four daughters had arrived safely in Salt Lake just 5 days earlier in a wagon train. The Lord's promise had come true.

Pictures:

These are all taken at the Sarah Granger Kimball Home here in Nauvoo.  All are real plants and flowers.  Pam is getting to be quite a photographer.

Below is one of the Plaques along the "Trail of Hope", which is the long road leading from Nauvoo down to the Mississippi river, where all the wagon trains started their travel to Salt Lake.  The plaques are all taken from the journals and diaries of the pioneers written in 1846, as they left their homes and started across the Mississippi, and traveled across the plains.

And one more plaque

We appreciate and love all of you......thanks for the emails and comments.  We will send more next week. 

Jerry and Pam

Geneology and Browning

Geneology:

Some very interesting information was found at the Land and Records Office here in Nauvoo.  This is one of the historic sites, maintained by the residents of Nauvoo in the early days, and it contained all records pertaining to everyone who lived here at between 1838 and 1850. This included land and property records and transactions, family tree history, newspaper articles about them if any, and just about every document that might have mentioned or pertained to them.

We looked up Pam's Great-Great Grandfather, Col. Chester Loveland, Pam's Grandmother's grandfather. We knew he had lived in Nauvoo for a short time, but we had no idea of the details.  When we pulled up his records in the Land and Records office, we found 60 pages of material about him.  We found two generations of HIS ancestors that we had not even known existed. This means that for that line of Pam's geneology, we now have 7 generations back. One of his wives was Fanny Call, Pam's great-great grandmother. They were married and sealed in the Nauvoo Temple just a few days before the Mormons left Nauvoo for Salt Lake City under threat of extinction.

There is a lot written about Col. Loveland, who was a major figure in the Nauvoo Legion, and later, an important pioneer and church leader in Brigham City, Utah.  This will be great fun reading and we will be glad to share all we find as we dig into these records.

We did find one fascinating piece of history as we looked through Col. Loveland's records.  It turns out that he sold a piece of property in the Nauvoo area in the late 1840's, and there is a deed concerning the transfer.  The deed was notarized by a man named.........Abraham Lincoln.........yes...the real Honest Abe himself....who at that time, ( about 20 years before becoming President), was a Notary Public and Justice of the Peace in the area.  How is THAT for finding something noteworthy.  Wish I had that original deed with that original signature........  More about this later.

Jonathon Browning

Coincidence...but we now know that both Joseph Smith and Jonathan Browning  had met Abraham Lincoln in the Quincy area in about 1841. Jonathan Browning, a young gunsmith from Brushy Fork, Tennessee, moved to Quincy, Ill., a  river town on the Mississippi, around 1830. By 1834, Browning was a well-known gunsmith in Quincy.  There, he invented the first repeating rifle. He became acquainted with the Mormons in Quincy when the Quincy residents took the Mormons into their homes in 1838 and saved them from the cruel winter. Jonathon had heard of Joseph Smith, and Jonathon traveled up to Nauvoo by steamboat to meet the Prophet and find out about the Church.  Jonathon decided to immediately become a member of the Church. Jonathon finished out his term as Justice of the Peace in Quincy, and in 1842, moved his family and his gunsmithing business up to Nauvoo.

The journals mention that Jonathon and Abraham Lincoln were friends.  Browning once told Abe that he, Jonathan, had traded a gun for a New Testament, only to find that half the pages of the New Testament were missing. Abe and Browning reportedly joked about Browning's getting the worst of that deal.

 The weapons Browning designed became legendary, and when he traveled to Salt Lake with the Pioneers, he and his sons continued the gunsmithing business, eventually licensing his patents to Colt, Winchester, and Remington, and selling firearms, including the Browning 45 semi-auto and 9 mm semi-auto to the military and to many of the law enforcement agencies of the world, who still use them today. The Brownings also invented the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) which was standard issue for the soldiers of the second world war, and thereafter.

Jonathan had wanted to join the Mormon Battalion, but Brigham Young asked him to remain in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to help the Mormons get west.  Thus, he and his family delayed going to Salt Lake for 5 years at the request of BrighamYoung, President of the Mormon Church in 1846, to assist the departing pioneers to obtain wagons and be ready for the long trip west.  Once in Utah, Jonathon and his family moved to the Ogden area, and the Browning corporate offices are still located in Morgan Utah, a few mile north and east of Ogden. The Brownings ended up with 22 children in Utah, (they had only 8 when they left Nauvoo.)

Miscellaneous:

We love it here.  Such an historic place. Something new to learn every day. We see the Nemecks and the Starrs (from our home ward in Idaho) on a regular basis, but we are in different casts for the productions.  We are being asked to do more and more as time goes by...Pam is now the Assistant Site Leader at the Lucy Mack Smith home, and I am the Assistant Site Leader at the Blacksmith Shop. I drive the horses several days each week, and that will increase as summer approaches and we get more visitors. 

We hope each of you are doing well, and we love to get emails from each of you so we can keep in touch with you individually. 

Here are a fews fun pictures.........the first is of the Nemecks, Starrs and Meiers in the Visitors Center in Nauvoo, and the other is of the same three couples dressed in our historic clothing goofing off on the stage at the Cultural Hall where the musical production "Rendezvous" is staged.  Our show costumes are different, but we all posed in the site clothing we wore today at our various assignments.

Take care....more next week.

Love to all,     Elder and Sister Meier ( Jerry and Pam)

More to See and Hear.........

Here are a few pictures you might like.  The first is one taken in the fall in front of the Joseph Smith Home in Nauvoo.  The people in the picture are actors who took part in a fall production commemorating the exodus from Nauvoo in 1846. Part of this old home is still the original cabin they built in about 1838, and the rest has been added on over the years.  The Mississippi River is in the background.

The other pictures I will explain as I attach them.

But I also wanted to start a series of stories about various groups or individuals who were instrumental in the building of Nauvoo, or in making substantial contributions to the city and the welfare of the Church. One of our horse-drawn vehicles is called the "Wagon ride", and the other is called the "Carriage ride".  The Wagon ride takes you around the city streets and talks about the various parts of town, who lived there, and what went on there.  The Carriage ride goes back into the wilderness area surrounding Nauvoo and talks much more about the people...who did what, and why, and what happened to them.  It is the "people" stories that I will tell about. Those of you who come to visit will take both rides, but on the Carriage ride, you will hear more about the people stories I am highlighting here.

We start in Missouri in 1838.  The Mormons had established settlements north of St. Louis, after being chased from place to place over 8 to 10 years. Prejudice against the Mormons led the Governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, to declare that the Mormons were not welcome in Missouri, and he issued the famous Extermination order, stating that it was legal to shoot any Mormons found in Missouri unless they were headed out of state. This was based entirely on religious persecution, not upon anything else the Mormons may have done.

So in mid winter of 1838-1839, the Mormons headed east, across the Mississippi river, into Illinois and the town of Quincy. They had only the clothes on their back. They had to leave everything else behind. They received nothing for the property they had purchased from the government. They arrived in Quincy, 5000 strong, destitute, hungry, and freezing.  The 1500 residents of Quincy took them in for the winter, fed and clothed them, gave them jobs, and housed them until spring when the Mormons could move about 30 miles north to Nauvoo to start a new life.  That meant that each Quincy household of 5 volunteered to take in about 15 Mormons for the winter. One Quincy resident, writing in his journal, said, "I would wake up in the morning and could not even cross my floor without stepping on a Mormon". 

The Mormons have, since that time, been eternally grateful to the residents of Quincy for their generosity and kindliness. In 2002, when President Gordon B. Hinckley came to Nauvoo to dedicate the re-built Temple here, he brought the Tabernacle choir for a mid-west tour. The choir gave two concerts in Quincy, and at the conclusion of the second concert, President Hinckley called the Mayor of Quincy to the stage.  President Hinckley gave the Mayor a check for $75,000.00 and told the Mayor it was our way of saying "Thank You" for what their ancestors did for our ancestors. There were tears all around.

The Mormons today still talk in great reverence about what those Quincy people did for us.

Next week, I will tell you about Jonathon Browning, inventor of the repeating rifle and a resident of Quincy, and his meeting with Joseph Smith. 

Here is the Joseph Smith House.



This is the west side of the Lyon Drug and Mercantile Store. The street and the front of the store is on the left, or north end.  This is where we live.  We use this west side door, and immediately climb a set of steep stairs to the second floor. The Lyon Drug store occupies the entire main floor, including the smaller building on the right.  Lyon Drug is now an historical site, with very old apothacary jars, pharmacy tools, etc,

This walkway runs north and south in front of our entrance to our apartment.  Because the owner of the Lyon Drug was a herbologist, he grew all sorts of herbs on his property.  This long row of chives is now in flower, but the place is surrounded by all sorts of exotic plants....quite well maintained.

Out in the herb garden, there are a number of larger bushes.  Pam found this Robin's nest in one of those bushes. 

Pam also found a pile of weeds in the garden outside the store. When she went to pick up the pile to throw them away, the ground seemed to be moving.  She found the weeds were sheltering a large family of little tiny rabbits,a probably six or 8 of them.  The next picture is a close up of the tiny bunnies.

Well, that's it for today.  We hope you have enjoyed yet another small chapter of life here in old Nauvoo.....A truly remarkable place.

We are hearing of more and more of you coming out to visit, and we are very excited. 

Love to all,  Pam and Jerry

God's Tender Mercys at Work

       There is a great spiritual nature to our mission here in Nauvoo.  I want to tell you a little about that aspect of our service here, but first, a word of explanation. This blog is being sent to many persons of differing beliefs, and some of you may not share our interest in this topic. So if you think this discussion might not appeal to you, you might want to skip down to the bottom of this posting where we have added a few more pictures. We can even arrange for a life size picture of Pam and I in costume to be sent to you for mounting on your living room wall.  But we invite all those who want to share in the full experience to read and enjoy.

       On Good Friday before Easter, we were able to participate in a rather amazing event. We were pleased to learn that the various religions in Nauvoo (Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Mormon, etc) have a very cordial and cooperative spirit toward each other, because such is not always the case elsewhere in the world. As I am sure you all know, some of the churches throughout the United States are quite antagonistic toward our Church, but in Nauvoo, there is great respect among the 8 or 9 church congregations here.  On Good Friday this past week, Pastors, Ministers,  Priests and other clergy and their members from most of the other churches gathered in our Church's Stake Center, (the main Mormon Church building in Nauvoo) for a joint Interfaith service to remember Christ's resurrection. Each church was assigned to set up in one of the large rooms of the Stake Center, and the entire audience moved from room to room to hear each of the Ministers, Priests, Pastors and other clergy give a 10 minute presentation or sermon about Christ and his ministry and his sacrifice for us. They had gotten together ahead of time and assigned each a small part of the Easter Story to tell. It was very heartwarming to hear how each of the teachers felt the same love for the Savior, and to realize how much we have in common. We all commented to each other afterward that had we not known who was presenting the lesson, it could have been the very presentation our own clergy would have given in our own church buildings.  We all stood around afterward, thankful for the Savior, not as 9 different religions, but all as Christians, worshipping Christ.  And each was thankful for the good works done by each other church congregation. 

        Nauvoo is an amazing place. There are 32 historic sites in and around Nauvoo, each of which gives you the strong sense of the hand of God in the lives of those early pioneers. Visitors constantly comment on the special spirit they feel as they tour our various facilities.  Miracles abounded here, as told in the journals of those who resided in Nauvoo in the 1840's. We have yet to see a tour at the Carthage Jail, for example, (where Joseph Smith and his brother were assasinated by a mob), where many of the visitors did not leave the jail with tears in their eyes.

      A favorite spot is the Riser Boot shot, owned by George Riser.   In 1840, George, not then a member of our Church, owned a boot and shoe business in Ohio, about 600 miles from Nauvoo.  An employee of his told him about Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (known to many as the Mormon Church). As the employee told George about the Church, God's spirit confirmed that George was hearing the truth, and  George was inspired to sell his business, put his wife and infant son in a wagon, and drive them to Nauvoo to meet the prophet and learn more about this new religion. (This was a 28 day journey by wagon.....not just a sunday afternoon drive).  Shortly after their arrival in Nauvoo, the little boy became gravely ill and George asked Joseph Smith to give the boy a priesthood blessing. Joseph did so, and the child was immediately healed. George and his family were baptised and became strong members of the Church, and George was known for his boots which were of very good quality, but relatively inexpensive.

       The pioneers' journals tell story after story about miracles that occurred as they began to prepare to leave Nauvoo and travel across the plains to Salt Lake City,  The dedication of these early pioneers is truly an inspiration to all of us.  They knew many would die on the arduous journey across the rockies, but they knew that God was with them, and that those who died along the way would be waiting in heaven and be reunited as a family because of the sealing power of the Temple.

       Jonathan Browning, the inventor of the repeating rifle, (his company is now called Browning Arms, one of the most successful firearms companies in the world) became a member of the Church in 1840. Just before the mormons were driven out of Nauvoo by the mobs, he and his wife lost a child who was only 6 weeks old.  While one might expect Jonathan to be angry with God for this loss, he instead dedicated the last few months of his time in Nauvoo to helping to complete the Temple, donating much money and time so the Temple could be finished in time for the residents of Nauvoo to attend the Temple and have their families sealed to them for eternity.  It was that important for him to know that he would have that little child with him again in the life to come, because he also knew that it only through such sealing that families are assured of being together. When it came time for the Pioneers to leave Nauvoo, Browning was among the first to leave in one of the first Wagon companies.  He left behind his gunsmith business and his home.  When the wagon train reached Council Bluffs, Nebraska, Brigham Young asked Browning to remain in Council Bluffs for awhile to help the ensuing wagon trains to get fitted properly and head to Salt Lake.  Browning ended up fulfilling that assignment for 5 years, then he eventually joined one of the wagon trains heading to Salt Lake.  I marveled at that dedication and wondered if I would have been able to be so faithful in the face of such adversity,

       In the blacksmith shop, we tell visitors about the families who made many of the wagon parts for their own wagons that would eventually take them to Salt Lake, how they left their homes and farms and businesses to go west, all because a Prophet of God told them they had to leave and go west to avoid the serious bloodshed that would follow if they remained. The visitors get tears in their eyes as they read the journal entries of those who left, and as they visualize the long line of wagons heading down Parley Street to the Mississippi River in February of 1846 to cross the river and head west, never again to see their beloved city. One of those entries reads:

     "My last act in that precious spot [she is describing her beloved home] was to tidy the rooms,sweep up the floor and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. Then with emotions in my heart, I gently closed the door for the last time and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God.............".

       As you can imagine, we feel a wonderful spirit as we share these events with our guests.

       In the Book of Mormon, which is a series of scriptures translated from ancient plates by Joseph Smith through the help of God, there is an event portrayed that is of great importance to present-day Mormons. It records that in approximately 600 BC, a prophet named Lehi had a vision which we call the "Tree of Life".  It showed Lehi that to reach God's Kingdom in the life hereafter, one has to stay on a straight and narrow path, avoiding the temptations of the world. The vision showed Lehi that one could go astray easily through pride, disobedience of commandments, and other such temptations. And then God showed Lehi that the way to avoid these temptations was to hold on to an "Iron Rod" that led through the darkness and allowed people to avoid the river, the fog, peer pressure, and the other pitfalls of life.  The "Iron Rod" was God's teachings and commandments, meaning that if we take that path in life, not letting go of the important principals we know about, we can make it to the end, and live again with God after we die. The children in our church are taught about holding onto the Iron Rod, and there is even a song they sing to remind them. I tell you all this because in the Blacksmith Shop, we make miniature horseshoes for the children to take home as a remembrance of their time in Nauvoo.  While we make these horseshoes, we start with a rod of iron, and we heat, shape, pound, and mold the end of the rod to make it into a tiny horseshoe.  But all the while we do so, we have to hold tight to the Iron Rod...or we cannot make the horseshoe.  They quickly see the correlation.....holding to the Iron Rod in life makes our lives more successful just as it made our horseshoes more successful.

       The idea to use the "Iron Rod" reference came to me my first day in the Blacksmith shop, when one of the new Missionaries tried to make a horseshoe without keeping the Iron Rod attached.  It was quite hilarious.  He would lay the horseshoe on the Anvil, hit it with the hammer, and it would fly across the room. He tried to pick it up and burned his fingers.  I said "You needed to hold onto the Iron Rod till the horseshoe is finished.....".  I was then inspired to use that in my presentations there, and it has been quite interesting to see the responses.

        That is all I have time to tell about here, but we will continue to write about our experiences.  If I have brought up any subjects that any of you would like to know more about, please feel free to call, or email, or write me, and I'd be glad to explain.  We love sharing this important aspect of our lives, as we have seen what the gospel of Jesus Christ has done for so many persons and families.

       We love all of you and look forward to seeing some of you when you arrive in Nauvoo to visit.  For those who want to come, you will need reservations to see the Musical Productions (although they are free) so either let me know you are coming, and when, or you can call the Nauvoo Visitors Center and make those reservations.  Also, there is a Wagon Ride and a Carriage Ride pulled by our giant Percheron and Belgian draft horses  (Our favorite teams are Bill and Bob, and Tim and Tim) (please be sure to take BOTH rides) and those also require reservations.  Those spaces fill up fast, so make reservations for those also at the Visitors Center, or through me. (I was checking the reservation book the other day and many rides are already booked up for July and August).

       Thanks for letting me share our thoughts............. And Pam provided much of the input for this posting.

Now for a few more pictures:

Here is Pam and I in front of the Cultural Hall, about to being our show, dressed in our "Show" outfits.

This is the old Blacksmith/Wainwright shop. (A wainwright makes wagons, a wheelright makes wheels, and the blacksmith makes all the metal parts for each)

Till Next time............:)



Jerry and Pam

MORE PICTURES AND NEWS

We are moving along rapidly here. We are now performing in two musical productions 4 nights a week, showing guests around 32 different historical sites, driving teams of horses around Nauvoo, and eating and sleeping when we can.  But we are loving it.

The first musical is called "Rendesvous in Old Nauvoo".  It is about an hour long, and tells the story of Nauvoo, in comedy, song and drama. All of the performers are senior missionaries, meaning we are all about 70 or older.  Sort of a poor man's Palm Springs Follies, except we are fully dressed in pioneer clothes, and are a lot slower.  The story essentially tells about the struggle of the Mormons to find a place to live and worship, being driven from place to place, and finally having to leave their homes, farms, and beautiful city of Nauvoo, which at that time held about 12,000 people, and was second only to Chicago as the largest city in Illinois.  At the end, the people have a difficult choice to make....stay in Nauvoo and fight the mobs and the government militias and have many people killed, or follow their Prophet, Brigham Young, and his instructions from God to leave Nauvoo and travel across the plains to Salt Lake where they could be free.

Most agreed to leave, and thereafter, about 10,000 saints crossed the plains to the west.  At the end of the show, there is the tearful scene of the saints leaving their homes, crossing the Mississippi river on the ice in February, and heading for the west.

At the end of the show, the cast all gathers outside the entrance to the theatre and the guests come out and talk with us about the show.  One young man, about 22, came up to one of the cast members and asked, "Who does your makeup?".  When the cast members told him we don't wear makeup for the show, the young man replied, "Then how do they get you to look so old?"  That gave us quite a laugh.

The other show, "Sunset By the Mississippi" is lighter, more dancing, fun songs, etc.  One of the songs we do is "All God's Creatures Got a Place in the Choir". You can see the Celtic Thunder group do that number on YouTube, just click on the link here and see what it looks like.  We have some very talented young performers from BYU and other Utah schools who come and do the major parts for that show, but us older missionaries do the background singing and dancing... Some 450 youth auditioned for 20 parts in "Sunset", and of those 20, many will go on to sing and dance in the "Young Ambassadors" group or become professionals.

Heritage - A Place in the Choir - YouTube

Another song is "Mississippi Mud" clapping, waving arms, and other such stuff. Very fun to do.

If you are ever in Nauvoo, be sure and see these productions.  Now for the pictures we have taken recently.

Following are a few pictures taken at the Nauvoo Pioneer Cemetary, headstones from about 1820, most are weather worn and you cannot read the inscriptions. But it was a beautiful peaceful place with many children buried here.

Tulips and beautiful trees at Nauvoo Visitors Center, Womans Garden

 

FINALLY, more of us....looking cute again. 

Here is Pam in front of our apartment, ready for a day's work.

Here she is again with Jerry, both going to work. (Some of the sites we wear hats and bonnets, and some we don't.  Depends on the site and what we will be doing. 

Jerry works part of the time at the Blacksmith Shop, making horseshoes.  Here is the Blacksmith shop and Jerry working at the Forge inside.  He uses bellows, a coal fire in the forge, an anvil, and a big hammer.

Thats it for now,,,,but we know you are all jealous of what we wear,,,,when we come home, we will bring things back and you can all try them on.

Love from Nauvoo,     Pam and Jerry

Here in Nauvoo

Seems like only yesterday that I posted our last comments, but it has probably been a couple of weeks.  Time has flown by, and we are occupied here from dawn till dusk, and then some.  We will try to catch up on what has been happening.

The Drive Here

The ride across America was relatively uneventful.  Weather was great.  We heard a storm was coming as we left Salt Lake City, but we were a day or so ahead of it all the way to Illinois.  We went from the tall mountains of Utah, then across the high plateaus of Wyoming, imagining the wagon trains that crossed the plains at this location.  We crossed the Platt River and the Sweetwater River several times, recalling the stories of the wagons and the pioneers who had to cross those rivers when they were half frozen with ice, and everyone got soaked, then got frostbite when they could not dry out. In Nebraska and Iowa, it flattened out to farm land, and we immediately missed the mountains and forests of Idaho.

We stayed the first night in North Platt, Nebraska, and the second night in Iowa City, Iowa.  The next morning, we traveled about an hour and a half south into Nauvoo.  What a beautiful spot.  It was starting to get green, with blooming red bud and pear trees, alongside the Mississippi river.  The Mississippi is about a mile wide at this location, very slow and meandering. We were shown to our apartment, a small fully furnished unit over the very old "LYON DRUG AND VARIETY STORE".  See picture with Pam and I in our period clothes, standing in front of the store.  The apartment is on the second floor, and we climb a steep set of stairs to a very nice little place, with a great view.

Our first day there confirmed our worst fears....we would be busy day and night.  We looked at each other and said, "Can we do this?"  And immediately said "YES".....because we would have lots of help,,,,heavenly and otherwise.

Monday with the SEWING LADY

The sewing room is a rather large area with about 6 sewing machines and several layout tables, where the pioneer outfits are made.  There are several racks of dressed already made, along with stacks of hats, vests, aprons, shirts, pants, and other things.  Pam found a dress that fit, and had it altered for length. Jerry found what he needed, several vests, pants and shirts and after a few hours of fitting and measuring, we returned home to study our outlines for assignments the next day.

We were all given a wagon ride around the city, and shown the places we would be working.  In the evening, we were taken to see "Rendesvous in Old Nauvoo", an hour-long musical in which the senior missionaries are the stars.  Then home to bed.

Sunday morning, we attended church services, then were taken on a tour of the Carthage jail, where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by an angry mob. We will tell you more about the jail later, as we had one of our first assignments as guides at that location a few days later.  That evening, there was a meeting of all of the new missionaries and we were given our schedules and got our first look at how busy we would really be.

Typical weekday and Saturday:

Up at 6:00 am: eat breakfast and study for our days assignment. Be at song practice for the musicals at 9:00 AM, practice 12 songs till 10:30.  Then to our site location at 10:30, then work at that location till either 4 or 5 pm. Eat lunch when we get a minute.  We will tell you about the sites and what we do there later.  Home for a quick dinner, then to the theatre at 6:30 for the first of two performances of "Rendesvous in Old Nauvoo", the show lasts an hour....a short rest, then do the second performance at 8:15, end by 9:30, greet the audience for about 30 minutes, then home to bed.  Up again at 6.....so yes, we hope to lose weight because is so little time to eat.  But we are loving every minute....it is a real honor to be here.  We are told that this is the Mission that is the second-most requested by Senior Missionary couples in the world....Martins Cove, (the site of the Martin-Willie handcart tragic winter disaster) in Wyoming being the most requested.

We want to get this posting "on the way" now, so will post it, then tell more details later.  Below are some pictures we have taken recently.

Taken at the Missionary Training Center in Salt Lake City just before we departed for Nauvoo.  The other couple is Lois and Paul Nemeck, also from Hayden, Idaho, who are here in Nauvoo with us.

As you turn off of Interstate 80 in Iowa City, Iowa, heading south to Nauvoo, the highway is named "Mormon Trek Blvd", because it follows the route of the Mormon pioneers as they left Nauvoo, crossed the Mississippi River, and headed north toward Council Bluffs where many spent the winter before heading to Salt Lake City.  Hiway markers along the route spell out, "Route of the Saints", as the exodus from Nauvoo of about 10,000 Mormons was a pretty dramatic event in this area, taking Nauvoo from the third largest city in Illinois in 1846, about the same size as Chicago at the time, to under a thousand people within a few years.

And finally, the picture you have all asked for,,,,Sister Meier and I in our site clothing...in front of our apartment. This is the front door of the Lyon Drug and Variety Store...and our apartment is above on the second floor.  Pam is cute, I am not.

More later.  Love to All.