Reasons for the Original Exodus

In a bone-chilling temperature of -12°Fahrenheit, 1,000 people gathered in Nauvoo, Illinois, on February 3, 1996, to remember the original Mormon Exodus from the Saints’ beloved city. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often inadvertently referred to as “Mormons”) had been forced from their homes many times before, but this occasion in 1846 was the last time. Then president of the Church, Brigham Young, said:

We could have remained sheltered in our homes had it not been for the threats and hostile demonstrations of our enemies. Our only means of avoiding a rupture was by starting in midwinter. Our homes, gardens, orchards, farms, streets, bridges, mills, public halls, magnificent Temple . . .  we leave as a monument of our patriotism, industry, economy, uprightness of purpose and integrity of heart (History of the Church, 7:603).

The Saints were, this time, leaving not only their homes and city behind, but (as they thought), their country. Heading for the unsettled West, they intended to leave the United States, where they had endured so much persecution. However, the Utah Territory, where they settled, soon became part of the United States after the war with Mexico.

Bathsheba W. Smith, who had already been driven from her home in Missouri, recalled her feelings and actions when leaving Nauvoo:

My last act in that precious spot 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 and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God and with no less assurance of the ultimate establishment of the Gospel in the West and of its true, enduring principles, than I had felt in those trying scenes in Missouri.

Joseph Smith, first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had been martyred on June 27, 1844, and since that time, tensions had steadily mounted between the Saints and their neighbors. Despite efforts at peace and resolving differences, Brigham Young (Joseph Smith’s successor as prophet) realized the Saints would have to leave if they hoped to be left alone. Tensions were so high, they couldn’t even wait for the spring. As temperatures plummeted, the Saints gathered what they could bring with them and prepared to leave in the middle of winter for an as-yet-unknown destination.

Crossing the Mississippi

Most of the Saints travelled to the Utah Territory, but some, like the Prophet Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, were too old to make the journey. One of her granddaughters remembered saying goodbye to her grandmother:

I was five years old when we started from Nauvoo. We crossed over the Mississippi in the skiff in the dusk of the evening. We bid goodbye to our dear old feeble grandmother, Lucy Mack Smith. I can never forget the bitter tears she shed when she bid us goodbye for the last time in this life. She knew it would be the last time she would see her son’s family (Martha Ann Smith).

It was with astounding faith that so many left behind their homes in the dead of winter for a completely unknown future. This is why their courage is still so inspiring today and why it is important to remember their sacrifices.

Flags of Different Nations Represented in the Nauvoo Exodus

Nauvoo Celebration

Celebrating the sesquicentennial of the original Saints’ departure from Nauvoo, more Saints gathered in Nauvoo to remember the trials and sacrifices of those who had gone before. The weather in 1846 was even colder than normal, finally allowing the covered wagons to cross a frozen river rather than taking a precarious ferry ride dodging ice flows.

George Q. Cannon, who later became an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ, recalled the trials of the Saints’ departure in the frigid winter.

Those of us who can remember when we were compelled to abandon Nauvoo, when the winter was so inclement, know how dark and gloomy the circumstances of the Saints were, with the mob surrounding our outer settlements and threatening to destroy us and how trying it was to the faith of the people of God. The word was to cross the Mississippi and to launch out into an unknown wilderness–to go where, no one knew. Who knew anything of the terrors of the journey thither, or of the dangers that might have to be met and contended with? Who knew anything about the country to be traversed? Moving out with faith that was undisturbed by its unknown terrors. It was by faith that this was accomplished.

Since the sesquicentennial in 1996, an annual commemoration has been held in Nauvoo. Those who wish to participate gather and walk through the town down to the river. In 2013, many Latter-day Saint senior missionary couples participated in the walk. Many carried flags of countries where many of the original Saints had immigrated from. While singing hymns and being able to feel personally at least a part of what the original Saints must have felt, participants carried the American flag down to the river and raised it there.

Nauvoo Commemoration Includes Whole Community

Beginning in 2011, another annual event has been held in conjunction with the Exodus walk. The Untold Nauvoo Stories Symposium (sponsored by the City of Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Tourism Office, the Joseph Smith Historic Site, and the Historic Nauvoo Visitors’ Center) is growing larger every year with participants from the community. Historians and residents share stories of many of Nauvoo’s past inhabitants—Mormon and non-Mormon alike—to learn more about Nauvoo’s past through stories, photos, and music.

Participating in events like these help us to remember and learn from our past — not only remembering sacrifices great people made in order to make life easier for the rest of us, but also remembering the injustices that others helped perpetuate out of ignorance. We need to be aware of others’ beliefs and try to understand them. We need to remember that it is not right to act in fear and anger to the harm of those around us.

dwhite

Doris White is a native of Oregon and graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English and a minor in Editing. She loves to talk with others about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio. This was the first temple built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often called Mormons.

This temple was built for a somewhat different purpose than modern Mormon temples. It was a place where heavenly beings could come to restore important parts of the gospel that were lost during the apostasy which followed the death of Jesus and His apostles. It was also a place where Mormons, even children, could come to receive an education in both secular and spiritual matters. Many of the early Mormons were uneducated and many were immigrants. The academic classes were not just for children; adults were free to attend them as well, allowing them to make up for a lifetime of poverty or lack of education.

Joseph Smith, the first prophet and president of the restored Mormon Church, took classes there himself. He had only three years of formal education, supplemented by a little education at home from his father, and worked hard all his adult life to make up for that lack of education. One class Joseph attended was a popular course in Hebrew, taught by a leading Jewish instructor named Joshua Seixas. The instructor said Joseph Smith worked harder than any other student and at the end of the course, he received not only a certificate of completion, but a certificate authorizing him to teach Hebrew. It was through this Hebrew class that Lorenzo Snow, a future Mormon prophet, would become interested in joining the Church. His sister, a Mormon, invited him to attend it, giving him an opportunity to meet Joseph Smith and other leaders.

Today’s temples are not open to the public and are used to carry out sacred ordinances, such as marriage and baptism for the dead. Baptism for the dead is an ordinance done vicariously through a living person in the name of someone who died without receiving the ordinances necessary for salvation. For instance, the Bible says we must be baptized in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven, but many people die never having been baptized or without even knowing they needed to be baptized. A loving and fair God does not punish people for things beyond their control and so he has created a way for them to receive the ordinance. This baptism does not automatically make the person a Mormon—each person will be given the opportunity to accept or reject the ordinance, just as he would have during his lifetime if he’d had the opportunity.

The Kirtland temple is now owned by the Community of Christ, not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This group organized after the death of Joseph Smith as a splinter group from the main body of the Church. The apostles were to become the governing body at the death of a prophet, with the senior apostle becoming the new prophet. However, a number of groups organized around people who wanted a different plan. The Community of Christ, which was initially called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wanted the role of prophet to be handed from father to oldest son. However, Joseph’s oldest son was only eleven when Joseph was murdered by a lawless mob, and so the three men who proposed this plan intended to operate their church through a proxy group until he was old enough to do it himself. Joseph Smith III was initially unwilling to take on leadership, but eventually agreed to do so when he was an adult.

The Community of Christ has opened the temple to tours and, naturally, many of their visitors are Mormons. Our guide was very knowledgeable about Mormon history and, upon figuring out we were Mormons, he gave scripture references from the Doctrine and Covenants using our numbering system rather than the numbes from his church’s version. Both groups use this book of modern revelations, but they have removed some sections, and, of course, some occurred after they left the main body of the Church, so their book is not identical to ours.

I had some familiarity with this religion, so the night before the visit I first read the history of the temple and of Kirtland’s Mormon period on my own church’s website. Then I went to the Community of Christ website and to their temple website to read about it from their perspective. There were some differences, naturally, because history is not just facts and figures, but is also a narrative. Those who tell the story of history will tell the narrative based on their own values and ongoing storyline. For instance, the way I tell my life story is probably different than the way my mother would tell it, since she was seeing it from a mother’s perspective, not mine. The Civil War narrative will be told differently by a Southerner than by a Northerner and differently still by a soldier who was there than by a civilian who lived outside the war zones. In each case, the version might be accurate, even though it is different.

As both a Mormon and a history buff, I felt it important to understand the narrative in terms of the larger picture of my faith, but since my guide would be from the Community of Christ, I also wanted to understand it in the larger picture of his faith. It helped me to understand the ways our churches have moved in very different directions since parting ways. They have become largely an evangelical church while we have continued in the restorationist pattern. The guide put disclaimers before some historical accounts of miracles, saying there was no proof of whether or not they happened other than the personal accounts of witnesses, whereas we tend to accept these miraculous events without question.

Our guide was very kind and when I asked a few questions about his religion—with the sole intent of learning, not converting or debating—he answered them with the same spirit in which they were asked. I enjoyed learning more about his faith, as well as my own. It was fascinating to see our shared history through a new lens and I enjoyed the testimony we shared of Joseph Smith and many of the events our people shared, having been one unified people in those days. Today, the two churches have a good relationship, since each has some of the historical sites and documents of our shared history. We work together to preserve and study early Mormon history.

As I toured the temple and learned of the many sacrifices that went into building it and the miracles that occurred at the dedication, I could feel the Spirit testifying of the sacredness of the temple space. The current owners treat it with a great deal of loving respect for its sacredness and have done a lovely job of restoring it and protecting it.

Gale

Gale is a former fibro and CMP sufferer. She hopes this information will help other sufferers on their journey to good health.

The Kirtland Temple included two large meeting halls, an upper and lower one.  The uppermost floor contained offices and smaller meeting rooms used for the Presidency of the Mormon Church and later for the School of the Prophets, which trained some of the first Mormon missionaries.  The large meeting halls were used as chapels and classrooms and could be divided into smaller rooms by large curtains which hung from the ceilings.  The purpose of this temple was not to house ordinances and ceremonies like later Mormon temples, but to provide a place for the education and edification of the Mormons, to try their faith through sacrifice, and to provide a sanctuary where Jesus Christ could appear to His people.

This first Mormon temple was built after much hardship and required some of the greatest sacrifice in Mormon history.  Construction was slowed by persecution, and some members described working with a trowel in one hand and gun for protection in the other hand.  Men sacrificed time to work on the building and to procure materials, while the women sewed curtains and clothing.  Many women later donated their glassware to be mixed with the external plaster to give the building a shimmering glaze.

The Kirtland Temple was dedicated on March 27, 1836.  The 1,000 gathered Mormons, the maximum who could fit inside, sang hymns, listened to sermons on sacrifice and the House of the Lord, and listened as Joseph Smith read the dedicatory prayer he had received by revelation, which is now recorded as Doctrine and Covenants 109.  They also instituted the “Hosanna” shout as a form of praise to the Lord.  Many of those present reported seeing visions of angels and of hearing a mighty rushing of wind and seeing tongues of fire as on the day of Pentecost.  This manifestation came as a result of the early Mormons’ great faith and sacrifice.  The Kirtland Temple provided a place for religious education in the form of the School of the Prophets and for many important revelations.  It was in the temple that the first revelations regarding salvation for the dead, later expanded in Nauvoo, were received. On April 3, 1836, Jesus Christ himself appeared in the temple to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.  He approved of the sacrifice of his people and accepted the House (Doctrine and Covenants 110:7).  Then Joseph and Oliver saw Moses, Elias, and Elijah, each of whom restored certain Priesthood keys, or authority, over the gathering of Israel, the Gospel of Abraham, and the Sealing power of the Priesthood (see Doctrine and Covenants 110).  These Priesthood keys are necessary to build and operate the later Mormon temples with all their ceremonies and covenants.

Within a couple of years, the Mormons were forced to abandon Kirtland, as persecution grew too severe.  They moved to Missouri in 1838 and to Nauvoo in 1839.  They abandoned their beautiful House of the Lord and all the sacrifice it had required, knowing that greater things lay ahead.

Anita Stansfield

Anita Stansfield began writing at the age of sixteen, and her first novel was published sixteen years later. For more than fifteen years she has been the number-one best-selling author of women’s fiction in the LDS market. Her novels range from historical to contemporary and cover a wide gamut of social and emotional issues that explore the human experience through memorable characters and unpredictable plots. She has received many awards, including a special award for pioneering new ground in LDS fiction, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Whitney Academy for LDS Literature, and also a Lifetime Achievement Award from her publisher, Covenant Communications. She has fifty-six published books. Anita is the mother of five, and has three grandchildren.