MMFF
P.O. Box 3186, Independence, Missouri 64055
Phone: (816) 228-3512
MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER
Number 12 Jackson County, Missouri Winter 1997
Visiting Historian Series
LOG HOUSE LECTURE
Paul DeBarthe, 9 MARCH 1997 will Share the
Remarkable Discovery and Investigation of an 1837 Mormon Period Log House in
Caldwell County, Missouri
This could be the house where Apostle C.C. Rich
lived!
The Story Told by Teenage Archaeologists
Singing by Leeann Ames
Visiting historian/archaeologist Paul DeBarthe will
give a Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation lecture at 7:00 p.m., Sunday
evening, 9 MARCH 1997 at the LDS Visitors Center, 937 West Walnut,
Independence, Missouri. Paul DeBarthe, a high school history/archaeology
teacher at Shawnee Mission East High School, will share the fascinating details
of the discovery and investigation of the possible Charles C. Rich/James
Wallace log house located on land in the heart of the former C.C. Rich Branch
during the Mormon period in Caldwell County, Missouri. Under Paul=s guidance,
students from Shawnee Mission East began an archaeological dig at the site last
fall. All who share an interest in archaeology and early Missouri Church
History sites will enjoy this lecture. Come and hear what has been discovered
so far! Paul DeBarthe also headed the significant archaeological investigations
conducted for the RLDS church at Nauvoo, Illinois, during the 1970s in
cooperation with the University of Missouri. The Log House lecture will be held
in the lower level of the LDS Visitors Center, Independence, Missouri. The
lecture is free though space may be limited. For more information contact Ron
Romig at the RLDS Archives, 8168331000 Ext. 2449; e-mail: tems03@rlds.org
Sincere apologies to any inconvenienced by confusion
over the date of this lecture. We originally announced the lecture for 9
February, but a scheduling conflict developed for Paul DeBarthe, he needed to
accompany some of his students to a UN Conference in Chicago, Illinois. We
tried to ensure that the rescheduled date of 9 MARCH was given adequate
announcement in hopes that all who were interested would learn of the change.
Again, our sincere apologies to those who came out for the lecture on 9
February. We believe that this will be a most interesting lecture and encourage
your attendance. Thank you for your kind understanding.
Time to renew your MMFF membership for the 1997
year. Memberships run from January 1- December 31 each year. Your continued
support and participation is invited.
MMFF Welcomes
the New Director of the
Independence Mormon Visitor's Center
The Presidency of the LDS Independence Stake hosted
a AFarewell@ reception for Elder and Sister Parker, Directors of the LDS
Visitor's Center, on 30 January 1997. The reception was followed by an
excellent lecture on Joseph Smith and Leadership, by William R. Siddoway,
former BYU dean.
MMFF members who were present had an opportunity to
honor the Parkers for the exceptional leadership which they have provided the
extended Restoration community during their tenure by the presentation of a
framed illustration of the five Lamanite Missionaries, drawn by board member
Henry Inouye. The Parkers are remarkable in the way they lived out their vision
of expanded community cooperation among members of the Restoration movement who
value the unique history experiences of the early church during the Missouri
Period.
MMFF and the local historical community has
benefited greatly by the Parker=s participation in and support of various
shared projects in conjunction with MMFF members over the past two years.
Elder and Sister Parker recently informed the MMFF
Board of the approach of the end of their tenure and announced that their
replacements will be Larry K. Brown and Alice Drue Barrett Brown, of Olympia, Washington.
Their two-year term of service begins in mid-February, 1997. While it is with
evident sadness over the departure of the Parkers, we are highly pleased to
extend a warm welcome to the Browns during their stay in Jackson County, and
pray for their every success.
MMFF Internet Web Site
Highlights Projects
If you haven't checked out the MMFF web page site
lately, there are two new additions: An Early Independence Sites link and a
MMFF project page for the FAR WEST CEMETERY. Our web page has been unavailable
for two months because our provider changed computer systems. The MMFF web
pages have again been reconstructed on the new server with the same address
pointer, but with one little change that makes a big difference. The previous
URL was: www.sunflower.org/~ronromig/mmffhp.html. At present the new server
does not support four letter file name extensions, so the new address is:
www.sunflower.org/~ronromig/mmffhp.htm Please check out our web site and tell
your friends who share an interest in Missouri Mormon History.
Here is a little sampling of the Far West Cemetery
web page: Tradition suggests that more than 200 early church members and family
died and were buried in the Far West Cemetery, in Caldwell County, Missouri,
during the Mormon period, 18361839.
Members of Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation are
now actively researching available documentary sources in an effort to identify
the names of individuals interred at this location. A preliminary list of
confirmed and possible burials, and sources is posted and will be updated.
You can help: As a relatively complete list is
compiled, MMFF hopes that a suitable marker may one day be erected at the site
in commemoration of those buried in the Far West Cemetery. Mike Riggs and
Leslie Brooks will present a scholarly paper on the Far West Cemetery at the
upcoming annual Mormon History Association meeting which will be held
ThursdaySunday, 2225 May 1997, at Omaha, Nebraska.
A Glimpse of Far West
Another Obscure Account from the
Turn of the Century
Editor Ensign:--On Saturday night we held a
satisfactory meeting in Delano branch, Bro. D.S. Holmes having started home, or
for Galesburg, Illinois, to all appointments. Sunday morning, Bro. J.C. Elvert
and I started for Far West, arriving at 10:20, being kindly received by Bro.
and Sr. Wm. Shearer and Mr. and Mrs. Sloan, her parents, where they now live on
account of sickness of Bro. Shearer. A few gathered at the church for morning
service, but at night a fair sized audience greeted the elders who dispensed
the word with freedom. Monday night we were also greeted with a fair audience,
and on last night there was a decided increase in numbers. Bro. Elvert returned
home on account of dryness, to procure water for stock, I remaining to do
battle alone. I am now seated by the corner stone of the temple which I use as
a writing desk, while penciling these few lines.
As I walk over this desolate corner, and think what
might have been, my heart aches. I look out upon this beautiful undulating
country from this high point, and think how grand it will be when Zion is
redeemed. I now write upon the very stone where Uncle Wm. B. Smith stood some
eighteen years ago and delivered the gospel; also on the same day Bro. G.T.
Griffiths, when a few congregated to hear [were] seated on the ground where the
temple was to stand, where today, instead of a beautiful temple surrounded by a
city of the Saints, grow the weeds and the grass, with only a faint glimmer of
the distant future of any restoration. The original large corner stone
(so-called) has been broken into smaller pieces which lie scattered around. The
land is owned by Mr. Jacob Whitmer, son of John Whitmer of early church fame.
He has never plowed the temple site, leaving about two acres untouched by plow
or otherwise, since the cruel exodus about sixty years ago. On Zion, which wilt
thou arise and cleanse thyself from sin, put on the beautiful garment and
return with song of everlasting joy?
I am stopping mostly with Mr. John Sloan who owns
the land opposite the temple lot on the west where much of the town was
located; near the house is the site of the house where Joseph the Prophet
lived, and where Bro. A.H. Smith, our patriarch and president was born. I
visited the spot and thanked God that they were living, the seed of the prophet
who were honoring the good name and fame of a notable father by holding aloft
to the world the banner as unfurled in 1830, and insisting upon a continuance
in the old paths. My fervent prayer is that God may bless them in their noble work.
No houses remain, but relics of chimneys and wells may be seen yet. The wells
were very small, walled with brick. An immense amount of work was done in the
short possession of the Saints.
In my sermon last night I was very strangely led to
show up the Utah apostasy and the introduction of polygamy, blood atonement,
and other abominable doctrines. I remarked I did not know why it was so.
After services I went home to the house of Sr.
Jones, (now a widow, with whom lives her married daughter Elizabeth, and
husband Mr. Carp) who told me that she learned that two Utah elders passed
through Kingston en route to Far West to attend the meeting. I saw nothing of
them at meeting, but this morning in walking over the temple site and measuring
the circumference of a cottonwood tree which has grown up since the excavating
was done (it measures five feet) I discovered a name written on the tree,
"T. Loynd, Utah, Oct. 5, 1897," which showed his presence there
yesterday. This is one of the elders which spent so much time in St. Joseph
last winter without results. I can now begin to see why I was so led last
night.
I visited the cemetery where over two hundred were
buried. It is now a pasture field covered mostly with cockle burs. There were
twenty-four acres in the original grounds, but all save one-fourth of an acre
has been farmed, the grave stones being removed and used for fence chunks and
other purposes. A protest was once made in the courts against such inhuman
work, by Mr. Jones, deceased husband of Sr. Jones, but the prosecuting officer
winked at the effort, and it passed unnoticed. The surface of the unplowed spot
is uneven, but no definite outlines of the graves can be discovered. While
standing there alone viewing the beautiful country around, and the temple lot
in plain view one mile to the east, and some north, our soul was filled with
solemn meditation and we uttered audibly, "sleep sweetly, thou who hast
died in the Lord. He in whose cause thou didst suffer will remember thy ashes,
though they repose in this neglected spot; and when he comes to call for his
`Saints' thou wilt come forth and receive thy portion with those who come out
of great tribulation.'" We also said, "Oh Lord remember thy servant
who is trying to rebuild the waste places and plant a few foundation stones,
that his work be done in righteousness.
Sr. Jones, who, with her parents, came to this
country in 1842, and who has lived upon the farm where we now write, for
twenty-nine years, has a vivid remembrance of much that has passed of the
history of the place. She has growing in her garden asperagus planted over
twenty years ago which she found growing in the thick brush on the town site,
having been planted by the Saints, also a very choice grade of blackberry
lilies indicating the advanced taste of the Saints in those early days.
Bro. Wm. Shearer, lately baptized, is sorely
afflicted with an accumulation on the side of his face and neck, also with
rheumatism. We ask all who read this to earnestly pray for his recovery. He is
a man of influence, and worthy the confidence of all, and if spared will be an
instrument for good. Pray for him. Interest in meetings increasing; will close
Sunday night.
Bro. G.W. Carter has located here on Shoal Creek
with his saw and corn mill. Encouraged with the prospects.
Yours engaged, J.M. Terry. -Zion's Ensign, 8, No.
42(14 Oct. 1897):3.
Far West, detail from "Surrender of Far
West," early lighograph.
From the Whitmer Perspective
We are fortunate to be able to include a reflection
on the above article written from the perspective of a member of the Whitmer
family. Those who had an opportunity to go on the John Whitmer Historical
Association tour of Richmond, Missouri, last September, had the pleasure of
meeting Harold D. Barchers and know of his genuine interest in better
understanding his family's experiences with the Restoration movement. In the
following statement, Harold provides valuable information which may be useful
in clarifying the identity of several Whitmer family members. Harold writes,
There is an article in the Zion's Ensign, Vol. 43
(21 October 1897): 2, fourth column, which mentions Jacob Whitmer. So often
people have written about these past events not understanding the situation.
This has led many people to believe things that are absolutely false. I would
like to point out that this is not the Jacob C. Whitmer who was one of the
eight Book of Mormon witnesses. This article is about John D. Whitmer, son of
Jacob David Jefferson Whitmer, who lived on and farmed John D. Whitmer's land
in Far West, Missouri, after his father died. It is interesting to read about
the different things that were in and around Far West.
As to Jacob David Jefferson Whitmer's faith in the
Book of Mormon, Peter Whitmer III and all of his sons and all of his grandsons
to my knowledge had full faith in the Book of Mormon as it was originally
translated by Joseph Smith, Jr. They believed that Joseph Smith was called by
God to translate the golden plates.
The Whitmers talked and had an understanding with
Joseph Smith, Jr., that the church name was commanded to be the Church of
Christ by the translation from God. The Whitmer's believed that Joseph was
under another influence when he started having revelations that were contrary
to the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The Whitmers believed both books taught
the same commandments and that the Book of Mormon brought them out much clearer
and no one had the right to change what God gave.
Here comes the good news: David D. Whitmer never
left the Church of Christ. Read on. He did not agree with the group in Kirtland
that changed the name of the church to Latter Day Saints. When they did that he
quit attending that group's meetings. After Joseph was run out of Kirtland
coming to Far West and the leading forces saw David D. Whitmer would not bow
they dismissed him from the Latter Day Saints as they claimed to be at that
time. The whole Whitmer family believed David D. Whitmer was right and upheld
him. After all, the brothers and sisters had been there at the time the church
was organized and knew what the church name was to be. When David D. Whitmer
and his family were warned they escaped from Far West minutes before shots were
fired. This was only one of several main reasons for the Whitmer's departure.
David D. Whitmer moved to Richmond, Missouri, where
he lived out his days. He was known as an honest man and was voted into city
offices by non Mormons. He continued the Church of Christ and appointed his
nephew John Christian Whitmer as the head Elder in 1876. John Christian Whitmer
was the son of Jacob C. Whitmer. All of David D. Whitmer's brothers belonged to
this church. This includes John D. Whitmer and his son Jacob David Jefferson
Whitmer. The Church of Christ continued in existence at least until 1903 when
Mayme Janetta Whitmer, the youngest daughter of John Christian Whitmer was
baptized.
When the Reorganized church was started the
Whitmer's rejected it because its name was not what was commanded.
-By Harold D. Barchers, Richmond, Missouri, Peter
Whitmer III's third great grandson. February 1997
Comments on the Newsletter
This issue of the MMFF Newsletter is somewhat
delayed - and we want you to know why.
Last year, our newsletter editor's house suffered a
devastating fire. The house and contents were nearly forever destroyed. But
thankfully the fire was extinguished and enough was saved to merit repair and
rebuilding. However, newsletter editor Annette Curtis' and husband Bill's lives
have been turned upside down every since then. The light at the end of the
tunnel is beginning to appear as they have recently moved back into their newly
refurbished home. But the heartache and muscle ache continue to take a toll as
they try to arrange stacks of unpacked boxes and identify where everything belongs.
As a result, the MMFF Board presents this issue without the usual dependence
upon Annette's valuable skill and expertise. We anticipate that when Annette's
life gets back to normal your MMFF Newsletters will again become more regular.
Our sincere appreciation and best wishes to the Curtises and their valuable
contribution to MMFF.
Don't Forget the
LOG HOUSE LECTURE
Sunday, 9 MARCH 1997
7:00 p.m.
At the Independence LDS Visitor's Center
1997 Membership
Time to renew your membership for 1997.
Membership runs from January 1 to December 31. Your
newsletter address label indicates the year through which your membership is
current.
Settlement on the BIG BLUE RIVER GUIDES
Are now available.
Contact:
Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation
P.O. Box 3186
Independence, Missouri 64055
You are invited to join in and support MMFF
activities!