Illinois offers regrets to LDS

Almost 160 years after the Mormon exodus began, the Illinois Legislature is seeking "the pardon and forgiveness" of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the events that led to the death of church founder Joseph Smith in 1844 and the expulsion of his followers from Nauvoo.

Spurred by a Chicago alderman who heard the Nauvoo story from Myron Walker, husband of Utah Gov. Olene Walker, a lengthy resolution detailing the history of the LDS Church settlement in Illinois and apologizing for driving church members from the state following Smith's death has been passed by the Illinois House.

The resolution states that the "biases and prejudices of a less-enlightened age in the history of the state of Illinois caused untold hardship and trauma for the community of Latter-day Saints by the distrust, violence and inhospitable actions of a dark time in our past . . . ."

It also describes members of the LDS Church as "a people of faith and hard work" and asks them to forgive "the misguided efforts of our citizens, chief executive and the General Assembly in the expulsion of their Mormon ancestors" from Nauvoo.

Nauvoo was founded on the banks of the Mississippi River by Smith after church members were expelled from another state, Missouri, in 1839. There they built "the city beautiful" and began work on the Nauvoo Temple. After Smith's death, members of the church, led by Brigham Young, began to migrate west, eventually settling in Utah.

Next week, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and Gov. Olene Walker will accept a copy of the March 24 resolution from a visiting delegation of Illinois officials, including the Chicago alderman and his wife who came up with the idea.

A spokesman for the LDS Church, Dale Bills, called the resolution "a thoughtful gesture" and said the church will have more to say about the apology next week. President Hinckley and Walker are scheduled to hold a press conference with the Illinois officials on April 7.

"I think it brings closure," the governor said Wednesday from Vancouver, British Columbia, where she is on a trade mission. "It was certainly a very generous gesture on their part to realize historically they had really driven a whole group of people out of their state.

"Now they're saying they're sorry it happened. I think it does bring a great deal of friendship and, at least for me, warm feelings about Illinois that they would care that much and pass this resolution."

Chicago Alderman Ed Burke said he heard the story of Nauvoo from Myron Walker during a dinner party in Deer Valley just over a year ago. Myron Walker is the great-grandson of a Nauvoo survivor who made the trek to what became Salt Lake City.