Deseret News | Groups unearth historical treasures

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Groups unearth historical treasures

Nauvoo-Missouri region is rich in archaeological sites

By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret News religion editor

Published: Friday, May 24, 2002 6:03 p.m. MDT

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Zion's Camp monument, placed at the grave site in Mound Grove Cemetery, Independence, Mo., where several early Latter-day Saints were reburied after they died from an attack of cholera. They were part of a march involving more than 200 men led by Joseph Smith from Ohio to Missouri in 1834, and were among scores who died from the disease. The marker describes their journey and sufferings.

John and Sarah Whitmer memorial marker, placed in the Kingston, Mo., cemetery honoring the LDS Church's first historian and his wife. Whitmer was also one of the eight witness to the Book of Mormon.

William McLellin marker, placed in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Independence, Mo., for McLellin, an early apostle, who was later excommunicated.

Another large-scale project was completed in May 2000. The Missouri-Mormon Walking Trail was a cooperative effort between the city of Independence, Mo., and the MMFF. Trail walkers will see 14 marked sites along the trail, with plaques based on drawings by a local artist that illustrate LDS history in the area during the 1830s.

The sites "fill important gaps in depictions of church history," according to the foundation. The trail begins at the Temple Lot, across from the north entrance to the RLDS Auditorium, where the first of 14 sidewalk plaques has been installed. Brochures are available from the city offices, or by calling the LDS Visitors Center, 816-836-3466.

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Baugh said he sees "sites going up all over," some done by the foundations, and others taken on by descendants of early Latter-day Saints. "There's a real keen interest in family kinds of things," he said. Some families have worked with the foundations, as in the case of a new marker in Webster, Ill., formerly known as Ramus, which was the largest LDS settlement outside Nauvoo at one time.

That project was spearheaded by a family who had ancestors there, in cooperation with the MHSF, Baugh said. "Today there are only 45 people living there, yet you go out and there is this nice Mormon marker." Located seven miles from Carthage, Ill., visitors to the town can find "Mormons buried all over in the cemetery, including Joseph Smith's sister."

Tioga and Quincy, Ill., are just two of a variety of other places early Latter-day Saints are now commemorating, with a monument in Quincy's Washington Park that rivals a city marker commemorating the place where the Abraham Lincoln debated challenger Stephen Douglas during their race for the presidency of the United States.

"Lots of these families are going back to their roots and wanting to acknowledge that their ancestors played a role there," Baugh said. "It's been going on for a while, but now it's just mushrooming. And that's a good thing."

For more information, visit the Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation Web site at www.sunflower.org/~ronromig/mmffhp.htm.

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com