springdellgirl

Church History Day

We set Tuesday aside to spend the whole day checking out various church history sites in the Missouri area. Tyler and I were so excited for the kids to get to experience this...the kids...not so much. They would have rather stayed at Jordin's house and hung out at the pool. But we did not let their lack of enthusiasm damper our enthusiasm. So bright and early in the morning we headed to Liberty, MO. On the way we listened to this fantastic talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland called "Lessons From Liberty Jail." It was perfect and really put us in the right frame of mind for our visit.

First stop Liberty Jail:

I have been here twice before. Once when I returned to church during my senior year of high school; our Mutual went on a little field trip there; and then we came again when my LDS grandparents came out for a visit. I felt the Spirit on those visits and I appreciated what I learned about Joseph Smith there but it was so much more meaningful this time. Back then, I was reading the Doctrine and Covenants for the first time...learning church history as I went along. I had so little understanding of the whole time period and what was going on. This time the Doctrine and Covenants and I are old friends and I have a much greater understanding of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the history of the church. My appreciation of what he went through and what those early saints endured was so much deeper.  I was so curious to know what my children and husband...who have all been born and raised in the church...would feel. 

You could have heard a pin drop as they walked into the jail area. The Spirit was so strong and they were so reverent and respectful. There were a few teary eyes. They already know so much more than I did during my first visit. They have such strong testimonies already. I am so grateful that they will forever have this experience to draw upon as they read and study the Doctrine and Covenants and the history of the church. I am grateful that they will remember the feelings that they felt and it will help the scriptures come alive for them. That is worth it's weight in gold.

We left Liberty and drove about another hour to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This is a place I have really wanted to go. Even having lived in Kansas City for a few years, this was one place that I had never been.

A little background info:

This gorgeous place...3000 acres...lies at a bend in the Grand River in northern Missouri, about 70 miles north of Kansas City. On the highest elevation of Spring Hill, a temple block was dedicated. No cornerstones were laid or temple constructed, however, as just days later, the Saints were ordered to leave the settlement and the state of Missouri. The Church has since acquired the site and much of the surrounding area, which is leased to local farmers. (It was also the site of a Civil War skirmish.)

This place is silent. It is so very quiet there. The peace you feel is like no other. You know that you are walking on holy ground. There is a feeling there that I can't even describe or articulate...and believe me we tried. During our visit, the Midwest was being ravished by drought, so it is much browner and dried up than it normally is...but it was still incredibly beautiful...and silent.

The internet can be a wonderful thing. As we traveled here and there we were googling everything. By the time we got there we had a pretty good understanding of the feelings about Mormons during that time in the state of Missouri. As we stood on Spring Hill and looked out over that gorgeous valley we could feel how heart-breaking it must have been for the saints to have endured all that they did and then been forced to leave that beautiful area. We could empathize with those early saints in a way that I don't think we ever could have before.

We walked around for quite awhile and walked the trails to the different overlooks. It was hard for us to leave. I can only imagine what those early saints must have felt to have angry mobs run them out.

Oh yeah...during our church history fest we did make another stop at the delicious Culver's for...oh yes...more frozen custard. Can you truly ever get enough?

Not too far away from Adam-Ondi-Ahman was Haun's Mill. I almost cut this from the trip. We had so many other places we wanted to go to and I very nearly eliminated this stop. Thank goodness Tyler felt very strongly that we should go. It turned out to be the highlight of the day...and definitely a highlight of our trip. If you ask any of us which place was our favorite to visit...I think hands down all of us would say Haun's Mill. I am so very glad we went. It was powerful.

On our way we googled the Haun's Mill Massacre and were reading the history to the kids. It's always interesting what Wikipedia has to say, isn't it?

From Wikipedia:

The Haun's Mill massacre was an event in the history of the Latter-Day Saint movement. It occurred on October 30, 1838 when a mob/militia unit from Livingston County Missouri attacked a Mormon settlement in eastern Caldwell County, Missouri after the Battle of Crooked River. By far the bloodiest event in the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, it has long been remembered by the members of the Latter-Day movement. The fifty-five men known by name to be involved were never prosecuted.

 Haun's Mill was a mill established on the banks of Shoal Creek...in 1835 by Jacob Haun an early Latter-Day Saint settler. By October 1838 there were approximately 75 Mormon families living along the banks of Shoal Creek, about 30 of them in the immediate vicinity of Haun's Mill and the blacksmith shop.

On October 30 at approximately 4 p.m., the militia rode into the community. David Evans, a leader in the community, ran towards the militia, waving his hat and calling for peace. Alerted to the militia's approach, most of the Latter-day Saint women and children fled into the woods to the south, while most of the men headed to the blacksmith shop. Unfortunately, the building was a particularly vulnerable structure as the widely-spaced logs made it easy for the attackers to fire inside. The shop became a deathtrap, since the militia gave no quarter, firing about one hundred rifle and musket shots into the building.

After the initial attack, several of those who had been wounded or had surrendered were shot dead. Members of the militia entered the shop and found ten-year-old Sardius Smith hiding under the blacksmith's bellows. William Reynolds put his musket against the boy's skull and blew off the top of his head. Reynolds later explained, "Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon." Seventy-eight year old Thomas McBride surrendered his musket to militiaman Jacob Rogers, who then shot McBride and hacked his body apart with a corn knife. Several other bodies were mutilated or clothing stolen, while many women were assaulted. Houses were robbed, wagons, tents and clothing were stolen, and horses and livestock were driven off, leaving the surviving women and children destitute.

By the end of the skirmish at least seventeen Mormons were dead: Hiram Abbott, Elias Benner, John Byers, Alexander Campbell, Simon Cox, Josiah Fuller, Austin Hammer, John Lee, Benjamin Lewis, Thomas McBride (78), Charley Merrick (9), Levi Merrick, William Napier, George S. Richards, Sardius Smith (10), Warren Smith, and John York. Thirteen more had been injured, including a woman and nine-year-old child. A non-Mormon sympathizer was also killed. Three of the 250 militiamen were wounded, but none fatally. After the massacre, the dead were placed in an unfinished well and covered with dirt and straw. The survivors and their wounded gathered at Far West for protection.

Although participants in the massacre boasted of their acts for years, none of the Missouri attackers were ever brought to trial and the Latter-Day Saints' efforts at receiving justice in the Missouri courts failed.


<sup>(I had to include that because the reading of it was so powerful that our children stopped talking, laughing and playing around and just listened intently.)

Haun's Mill is truly out in the middle of nowhere. The land has previously been owned by the RLDS church and they have not done anything with it. Our church purchased the land back just this year and has yet to beautify it and make it an area for people to visit. The historical marker sign is missing due to vandals, the Haun's Mill stone has been removed, even the stone marker marking the mass grave has been moved from it's original location. 

To get there you drive down a very narrow and rutted dirt road through acres of farmland...we had to GPS it or we would have never found it. Finally there was a small crude sign nailed on a tree that said Haun's Mill...and a bit of a clearing near the creek...and this stone marker.</sup>

There is nothing nearby...only farm land...no houses...no barns...nothing. Just this narrow dirt lane. No cars passed. There were no signs of civilization to be seen. I am sure it looked very similar to the way it did in 1838 minus the settlement and mill. We could have walked back in time. It is very beautiful there and you definitely get the sense that it is hallowed ground. The sorrow was palpable.

Shoal Creek

The kids standing by the oldest tree they could find...one they thought might have stood back then.

It was very easy to imagine a day around 4pm (which was very near the time that we were there) and to imagine seeing a cloud of dust rise from the road as a 250 member mob thundered up the road and began firing and to feel the panic of where to run as those women and children fled. As most of you know this scene was depicted in the movie Legacy and is heart-breaking.

While there we got the brilliant idea of playing the audio from that scene in Legacy (the internet is amazing) while actually there. That will be something I will remember for the rest of my entire life. Truly one of the most spiritual moments of my life occurred in the clearing at Haun's Mill. I am so grateful that we went there; that we got to see Haun's Mill in it's raw and un-churchified form; and that we got to experience what we did.

Then we drove on to Far West, Missouri:

Far West was were the Mormon settlers fled after a series of escalating conflicts...including Haun's Mill and being driven out of Adam-Ondi-Ahman...the Governor of Missouri eventually called out 2,500 state militiamen to put down what he alleged to be a "Mormon rebellion."...aka The Extermination Order. Latter-Day Saints poured into Far West for protection and found themselves under siege. Joseph Smith Jr., Sidney Rigdon and others surrendered...and were put on trial by the state for treason. The main body of the Mormons were then forced to sign over their property in Far West and Caldwell County to pay for the militia muster and then leave the state. It was briefly the headquarters for the Church and the four cornerstones were laid for a temple that was never built.

From there we traveled to Richmond, MO to see the Pioneer Cemetery and the grave sites of some early leaders and witnesses of the Church.

We saw the grave of Oliver Cowdery...one of the Three Witnesses.

We saw the grave of David Whitmer

Also, in our journey we passed the birthplaces of both Jesse James and JC Penney. Also, buried at the same cemetery as David Whitmer...was Robert Ford..."the man who shot Jesse James". How's that for diverse?

We saw quite a few other historical sites and so wanted to see even more. We were so close to so many interesting areas. There just wasn't enough time. We also had to scrap Independence, MO from our route...no time. I have been there before and although it is interesting it was really fun to see some of these other sites. I guess we will have to save some things for another trip.

On our way back into Kansas City we drove to see the new Kansas City Temple. Boy is it a beauty. I am so used to our little temple here that to see one of the big temples is quite impressive.

How pretty is that? It was so neat to see this gorgeous temple...one finally completed in this area...after so many many years. It was wonderful to see a packed parking lot and to know that despite all the trials and persecutions of the past that the gospel continues to roll forth. It will honor the memories of those who came before and were forced to leave and signifies a bright future.

When I lived in Kansas City, when the youth would do temple trips, we would get to miss a day of school and would fly to Chicago to attend the temple there. That was a lot of fun but it doesn't compare to seeing this gorgeous temple looking out over the city.

It was the perfect ending to a pretty perfect day. Even though the kids weren't always thrilled to be on the "church history tour"; I know that the memories made and the feelings felt will stay with them always.

I just have to add that rural Missouri is one gorgeous place. It is lush and green (usually) with rolling hills and lazy winding rivers and creeks. It is just beautiful.