Archaeologists on Monday began the tedious, careful process of digging up the remains of an LDS Church leader buried in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 1857.

Family members want to exhume Parley Parker Pratt, who was killed in Arkansas, and move his remains to Utah.

Pratt will be reburied in the Salt Lake City Cemetery if the project goes as planned, said Robert J. Grow, Pratt's great-great-great grandson and the president of the Jared Pratt Family Association.

Parley Pratt, the son of Jared Pratt and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was killed by Hector McLean on May 13, 1857. McLean, of California, pursued Pratt through Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, angry that his estranged wife, Eleanor, had become Pratt's 12th wife.

Pratt was buried in another family's cemetery just east of Interstate 540 near Rudy, Ark. A granite monument in the cemetery, now owned by the LDS Church, has marked the site since the 1950s.

The slow digging using small archaeological tools approached 10 inches deep by 2 p.m. Monday, Grow said.

"We're being very careful," Grow said. "We're taking photos and marking everything we find. We're not down far enough to find anything historic yet."

Grow expected the digging to be over late today or sometime Wednesday.

Ground-penetrating radar helped determine that the remains are 18 to 30 inches below the surface. Historical accounts show the remains were placed in a walnut casket that's surrounded by a pine box.

Pratt's dying wish was to be buried in Utah.

"As an institution, we leave such matters to family," said Richard E. Turley Jr., assistant historian with the LDS Church.

Grow gained permission from Crawford County Circuit Judge Gary Cottrell on April 2 to exhume Pratt.

Radar indicates multiple bodies are buried in the cemetery. Only the remains believed to be Pratt may be dug up. If more digging is required, Cottrell said the family must return to court.