Greetings from Iowa!

Wow, have I been busy the past few days! And, I haven't had internet service, that's awful! It's not as critical as, say, water... but please, my life has become so much better with internet. We have been in every county courthouse in the area. Today it is Wapello County, and we found some great family records. It's a beautiful old, turn-of-the-century stone building, so elegant. Mom spent the morning helping me, and Julie worked the afternoon shift. We found my great grandparents' wedding license and certificate. Turns out, they had to hurry, because my grandma was born 7 months after the wedding. I can almost see the shotgun in the wagon as the nuptuals commenced at the courthouse. All four parents had signed an affidavit confirming that they consented to the marriage, and the original affidavits are attached to the marriage license, darkened with age, but I can still read everyone's signatures and the printed form. Pretty cool!



Some people have asked who Julie is. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends, we met in high school when her folks moved from hustling LA area to backwater Prescott. It was a tough change for her, from surfer-girl to nowhere-ville. But we hit it off, and have been chums ever since. When she learned about our trip, she wanted to come along, so she flew into Columbus Ohio on the 12th, and came along for the adventure.



Ottumwa is a charming midwestern town, it's not quite a city, although it's a bustling place. We are staying in the Ottumwa Park, which has a lot of electric sites. Today we are visiting the Shaul Cemetery here, then off to Des Moines to find Mom's great-grandfather. He's hiding up there somewhere, and I'm determined to find him...

Carthage Jail to Nauvoo Illinois

This is a really hard place to visit. Several people, including Joseph and Hyrum Smith, died here when a mob broke into the jail in 1844. I've heard the story many times, how the Mormons were persecuted, not just because of their beliefs, but because they moved as a large group. When they moved into an area, they also brought an immediate change in the political and public landscape, because they were such a large group. They worked hard, and typically became successful fairly quickly, and that upset the balance of power for the county in which they lived. Whatever the reason, Joseph had been charged with some petty offense, and was taken to jail in Carthage, IL. I was there on Friday, and although the building had changed hands several times, the original structure was standing, a bullet hole is still in the original door, the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith as he pushed against the door to protect his brother from the mob. He was killed instantly, Joseph was killed shortly afterward, and fell out the upstairs window.

Please take a moment to look at the pictures above. The first pictures are of the Carthage jail, the last pictures are of the Nauvoo Temple. Joseph Smith had started the work on that temple, but it wasn't finished when he died. The LDS people worked hard to finish it before they left Nauvoo. It was only used a month or so before they were forced out of Illinois and started for Utah. After they left, the temple was burned by several men. Before it sold to another religious group, a tornado hit it and destroyed more of it, rendering the building unusable. Over the years locals used the large stones in building other structures in Nauvoo. The LDS church built another temple, completing it in 2001. We had the opportunity to visit the temple on Saturday, and it is so beautiful, inside and out. It is a very spiritual and peaceful place to be. The town has a lot of pioneer-oriented buildings and activities, I'm so glad we came! It literally sits on the Mississippi river, tomorrow we will get down by the river and I'll post some pictures of that soon.