Site of the Week - LDS Church History Tour

McKay home

Merthyr Tydfil, Wales - Birthplace of David O. McKay’s mother and death place of extraordinary missionary, Abel Evans.

In the Merthyr Tydfil area, Pres. McKay went in search of the birth place of his mother, Jennette Evans McKay.  Several townsfolk were inquired as to where the cottage was located.  Finally, the small four-room cottage was found.  Pres. McKay toured the home and found a six by nine bedroom in which the bed completely occupied the narrow end of the room.  Here he stood weeping at being able to be at this beloved place.  A memorial plaque was placed at the cottage which made his trip to this area extra special to him.

Prior to coming to Merthyr Tydfil, President McKay was given a dinner in his honor.  He was presented with a beautiful organ and plaque in honor of his mother to be placed at the Merthyr Tydfil chapel which was soon to start construction.

On March 2, 1961, President McKay visited Merthyr Tydfil for the groundbreaking of the LDS chapel.  President McKay was so touched by the people that he promised those present that he would return to Wales for the dedication of the chapel.  Many doubted that the church would be finished on time.  However, they underestimated the devotion of a united, dedicated people.  Men, women, and younger people from the entire area joined to have everything in readiness.  Of the 30,000 hours of donated labor on the building, 22,000 came from the Church builders, and 8,000 were given by local members.  Probably the greatest record was set when more than 220 men, women, and young people from the entire district put in over 1,600 hours of work on one day.  The donated hours for the week totaled 2,650.

The chapel went from the footing stage to its completion in less than eight months.  It is no wonder they termed it “the miracle at Merthyr Tydfil.”  On August 25, 1963, the dedication of the new chapel at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales took place.  At that time Pres. McKay officially accepted and honored the gift of the organ that was given in memory of his mother.

Abel Evans
Evans, Abel, one of the Latter-day Saint Elders who died while filling a foreign mission, was born June 24, 1813, at Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Becoming a convert to “Mormonism,” he was baptized Feb. 10, 1844, by William Henshaw and is believed to be the second person baptized by divine authortiy in Wales.

He devoted about six years to the ministry, traveling in South and North Wales and labored with great success. He was a man of strong faith, the Lord working many miracles through his instrumentality, many being healed of their maladies through his faith and prayers, among others several cases of cancer and cholera. He emigrated to America in 1850, and in the April 1865, he was called on a mission to his native country. After laboring as a traveling Elder in Wales he was appointed president of the Welsh district, where he labored with unceasing diligence. He became ill with a cough while assisting some Saints to embark on the ship “John Bright” at Liverpool in May, 1866, and while attending a conference in Birmingham the following September, he slept in a damp bed, which renewed the cold and coughing upon him.

Although his condition was serious, he continued his preaching, both indoors and out, being exposed from time to time, until he became so weak that he could not stand and until the day of his death, which occurred at Merther Tydfil, Wales, Nov. 30, 1866, he did not seem to realize his condition. Evans was a man of considerable ability and was especially endowed with the gift of healing and discernment of spirits.

Sources:
Essentials in Church History by Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 540-544.Highlights in the Life of President David O. McKay by Jeanette McKay Morrell, p. 218-257.
Internet: November 20, 2011http://mormonhistory.org/content/view/467/88/lang,en/LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 3, p.625-626

Milnthorpe

President Taylor, the only man to serve as a President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was not born in the United States, lived and worked in the area around Milnthorpe (in north England).  He was born in Milnthorpe, England on Nov 1, 1808.  He lived in the town as a boy and took from it many of the qualities that emerged in later life.  Below is a story of President Taylor as a boy in Milnthorpe, our site of the week.

“When I was a young boy of ten years, my best friend, Robert West, died from a serious illness.  The boy’s father, Allee West, moved from the village to become a shepherd, and I missed him very much.  Feeling lonely for my friend’s father, I asked one day if I could visit Allee.  My parents, knowing how close I had been to Allee, fixed a basket of food for him to take along.

It would take all day for me to get to Allee’s house and back, so I left early in the morning.  There were many hills to cross.  Once, while resting, I was tempted to eat the food in the basket but got up instead and walked the rest of the way as quickly as possible.  Allee was overjoyed to see me.  We ate the food together and talked of old times.

Late that afternoon, some storm clouds began darkening the sky, so I left for home.  Before I could get there, a thick fog settled on the hills, and I could not see very far.  A team of horses almost ran over me because the driver could not see the small boy walking on the roadside.  When I came to a fork in the road, it was so dark and foggy that I couldn’t see the landmarks that would tell me which way to turn.  I fell to my knees in prayer.  As I stood up, I felt a hand on my shoulder.  It was Allee.  He had worried about my safety and had come to help me find my way home.  That is only one of the many times the Lord has watch over me.”

Boys Who Became Prophets, by Hardy, L.C., p. 17-18

Haun's Mill Monument

Today October 30, in the afternoon of 1838, a mob consisting of more than 200 men descended upon Haun’s Mill settlement.  Haun’s Mill was named after Jacob Haun, a member of the Church, who built a mill on Shoal Creek between 1835 and 1836.  Mills of the period were typically three stories in height, to permit grain storage in the upper level, grinding on the main floor, and machinery below.  At that time there were an estimated 75 families living there, although there were only perhaps a dozen or so houses along with a blacksmith shop and a mill.

This site is mainly thought of because of its tragic incident.  However, the focus for this site of the week is on the miracles the Lord performed for those who suffered innocently from the unfortunate choices of others’ freedom to choose.

Below is an account of the Healing of Alma Smith.  Afterwards, a short summary of Haun’s Mill incidences can be found.  If interested, a  detailed account by Joseph Young can be found in History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, volume 3: 183-186.

“Flesh, hip bone, joint and all had been ploughed out… We laid little Alma on a bed in our tent and I examined the wound. It was a ghastly sight. I knew not what to do…yet was I there, all that long, dreadful night, with my dead and my wounded, and none but God as our physician and help. ‘Oh my Heavenly Father,’ I cried, ‘what shall I do? Thou seest my poor wounded boy and knowest my inexperience.  Oh, Heavenly Father, direct me what to do!’ And then I was directed as by a voice speaking to me.

…Our fire was still smouldering…I was directed to take…ashes and make a lye and put a cloth saturated with it right into the wound…again and again I saturated the cloth and put it into the hole… , and each time mashed flesh and splinters of bone came away with the cloth; and the wound became as white as chicken’s flesh.  Having done as directed I again prayed to the Lord and was again instructed as distinctly as though a physician had been standing by speaking to me.  Near by was a slippery-elm tree.  From this I was told to make a … poultice and fill the wound with it…the poultice was made, and the wound, which took fully a quarter of a yard of linen to cover…was properly dressed…I removed the wounded boy to a house…and dressed his hip; the Lord directing me as before.  I was reminded that in my husband’s trunk there was a bottle of balsam. This I poured into the wound, greatly soothing Alma’s pain.

‘Alma my child,’ I said, ‘you believe that the Lord made your hip?’
‘Yes, mother.’
‘Well, the Lord can make something there in the place of your hip, don’t you believe he can, Alma?’
‘Do you think that the Lord can, mother?’ inquired the child, in his simplicity.
‘Yes, my son,’ I replied, ‘he has showed it all to me in a vision.’

Then I laid him comfortably on his face, and said: ‘Now you lay like that, and don’t move, and the Lord will make you another hip.’  So Alma laid on his face for five weeks, until he was entirely recovered—a flexible gristle having grown in place of the missing joint and socket, which remains to this day a marvel to
physicians…It is now nearly forty years ago, but Alma has never been the least crippled during his life, and he has traveled quite a long period of the time as a missionary of the gospel and is a living miracle of the power of God.” (Quoted in James E. Faust, “The Shield of Faith,” Ensign, (May 2000), 17.)

During the attack, many of the Saints ran into the blacksmith shop where members of the mob placed their rifles in the cracks between the logs and opened fire.  Many were killed during the attack or died shortly after because of wounds inflicted.  Because of the cold, and fearing another attack, fourteen of the dead were hastily interred in an unfinished well near the blacksmith shop.  Remaining survivors of the “Haun’s Mill Massacre” and church disciples were driven from the state.  Upon departure, Haun sold the mill.  It continued to operate until 1845 then it was torn down.

In 1887,  Josiah Fuller’s son came to hunt up his father’s resting-place.  With assistance, he moved a red millstone fragment from the old mill onto the well to commemorate those who died.  The stone was partially buried edgeways.  The red stone apparently remained in place at the well site until 1941 when area resident, Glen E. Setzer, cast a concrete marker near the entry road.  Perhaps unaware of the meaning of the red sandstone standing over the wellsite, Setzer moved it to the new marker site.  The location of the well has been uncertain ever since.

Taken from:
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols., introduction and notes by B. H. Roberts [Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932-1951], 3: 183-186)

James E. Faust, “The Shield of Faith,” Ensign, (May 2000), 17.

Internet 10-30-2011 :  http://www.mormonhistoricsitesfoundation.org/USA/missouri/caldwell/haunsMill/complete.pdf

Mormon Trail Center

164 years ago this week, thirty-two of the Mormon Battalion boys were anxious to meet their families at Winter Quarters.  They left Great Salt Lake City for Winter Quarters, Nebraska, our site for this week, where they arrived Dec. 18th, after a hard journey.

Winter Quarters (Florence) is on the eastern end of Nebraska, near the Missouri River and just a couple of miles from Omaha.  It is where the first Nauvoo exodus company under Brigham Young spent the hardship winter of 1846-1847.  The poor quality of the shelters and lack of nourishing food resulted in much sickness and many deaths that first winter.  The Winter Quarters cemetery has more than 600 unmarked graves as a result.  The unhealthy climate caused most of this settlement to move back across the Missouri to Kanesville.

The Winter Quarters experience shows the great leadership of Brigham Young.  There were 4000 living in hovels there, 5000 camping a hundred miles up and down the Missouri River on the Iowa side in what was called The Grand Encampment, 2000 more in various camps all across Iowa, and at least another 1000 destitute people in poor camps on the west side of the Mississippi who had not the means to travel.  By spring, one in every nine would have died as a result of these circumstances.  And in the middle of all of this wrenching hardship, dozens of fathers were called to leave their families and go to England on missions.  Franklin D. Richards, for example.  This is also the place were 500 men were recruited by the US Army to leave their families (32 of them our boys mentioned above) and assist in the campaign against Mexico.

It was from Winter Quarters that the first Mormon pioneer wagon train under Brigham Young departed for Salt Lake City April 15, 1847, arriving 111 days later on July 22.  Winter Quarters is a tremendously compelling site protraying the dedication of the early Saints regardless of the cost.

Smith Log Home

188 years ago on Sept. 21,  Joseph Smith, jun., was engaged in earnest prayer in his father’s house in Manchester, near Palmyra, N. Y.  He saw the room in which he had retired for the night filled with light surpassing that of noonday, in the midst of which stood a person dressed in white, whose countenance was as lightning, and yet full of innocence and goodness. This was the angel Moroni, who informed Joseph that God had a work for him (Joseph) to do, and that his “name should be had for good and evil among all nations.” The angel quoted many passages of Scripture, and told Joseph that the native inhabitants of America were a remnant of Israel who had anciently enjoyed the ministry of inspired men, that records engraved on plates of gold, containing their history and also the fullness of the everlasting Gospel had been preserved and were buried in a neighboring hill. While conversing with the angel, a vision was opened to Joseph’s view, so that he could see the place where the plates were deposited, and he was told by the angel that he should obtain them at some future day, if he was faithful. After imparting many instructions, the angel disappeared, but returned twice during the night, and repeated what he had said on his first visit; he also gave further instructions.  It is so amazing to go and feel the sacred spirit of this amazing rebuilt log home where Moroni’s visits took place!

On 17 September 1877, the corner stones of the Logan Temple were laid.  Here are some Temple Facts for this site of the week.

• The Logan Utah Temple was the second temple built in Utah.

• The Logan Utah Temple was the only temple dedicated by President John Taylor.

• The five-story Logan Utah Temple was built entirely by volunteer labor over a seven-year period from 1877 to 1884.

• The exterior walls of the Logan Utah Temple were originally painted an off-white color to hide the dark, rough-hewn limestone. In the early 1900s, however, the paint was allowed to weather away, uncovering the beautiful stone that characterizes the temple today.

• On the evening of December 4, 1917, fire broke out in the Logan Utah Temple, engulfing the southeast staircase, destroying several windows and paintings, and causing extensive smoke and water damage. The origin of the fire was discovered to be electrical wiring.

• The Logan Utah Temple was flood lighted at night for the first time during the month of May 1934 as part of the temple’s Golden Jubilee celebration. Everyone entering the valley was astonished by the brilliant spectacle. Thirteen years would pass before the temple was lit again on the temple’s 63rd anniversary—this time with an elaborate permanent system.

• The Logan Utah Temple is the only temple to be completely gutted and rebuilt inside. The two-year project replaced the progressive-style ordinance rooms with motion-picture ordinance rooms. President Spencer W. Kimball, who rededicated the completed temple in 1979, regretted the need to reconstruct the interior because of the loss of pioneer craftsmanship.

Taken from:  http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/logan/

This week’s site is the Mansion House which served as Joseph and Emma’s second home in Nauvoo.   The Mansion House served to entertain many individuals that came to Nauvoo. Initially, Joseph hosted guests free of charge, but was unable to continue to support himself doing so. It eventually became necessary for him to start charging guests in September 15 of 1843.  Additionally, the Mansion House served as the venue where several temple ordinances were performed before the completion of the Nauvoo Temple. Joseph leased the Mansion House to Ebenezer Robinson in January of 1844 who continued to use it as a public-house.

After the martyrdom of the Prophet and his brother in Carthage, the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were displayed in the Mansion House for the Saints to view. It is estimated that over ten-thousand people viewed Joseph and Hyrum’s bodies that day.  Additionally, George Cannon made death masks of Joseph and Hyrum while at the Mansion House.  Zina Jacobs, a member of the Church living in Nauvoo, described the experience of Joseph and Hyrum’s bodies being returned:

“This afternoon the bodies of the martyrs arrived in town. . . . I went into this house for the first time and saw the lifeless, speechless bodies of the two martyrs for the testimony which they held. Little did my heart ever think that mine eyes should witness this awful scene.”

Emma continued to live in the home after Joseph’s death until moving into the Nauvoo House in 1869.  In the 1890s, the hotel portion of the home was removed. The Community of Christ currently maintains the home and tours are available.

Taken from: Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols., 5: 556. and  http://www.mormonhistoricsitesfoundation.org/USA/illinois/nauvoo/mansionHouse/history.htm

Adam-ondi-Ahman - 173 years ago this week, Joseph Smith, jun., Sidney Rigdon and others visited a place on the north side of Grand river (about twenty-five miles north of Far West) called by the Saints Spring Hill, which by revelation was named Adam-ondi-Ahman, because “it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by the Prophet Daniel.”

Where Adam and Eve dwelt after leaving the Garden of Eden.  Also where a great meeting or council will soon be held involving church leaders from this world and the next.  Millions will be in attendance.  All prophets who have ever received keys will be there with Adam.  This site is so sacred that the Church makes no effort to advertise it to the world.  There is no visitors’ center there and the plaques at the overlooks tell very little about it.  Visitors should already know and appreciate what they are looking at.

Joseph Fielding Smith wrote a great deal about Adam-ondi-Ahman:
“This council in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman is to be of the greatest importance to this world. At that time there will be a transfer of authority from the usurper and impostor, Lucifer, to the rightful King, Jesus Christ. Judgment will be set and all who have held keys will make their reports and deliver their stewardships, as they shall be required. Adam will direct this judgment, and then he will make his report, as the one holding the keys for this earth, to his Superior Officer, Jesus Christ. Our Lord will then assume the reins of government; directions will be given to the Priesthood; and He, whose right it is to rule, will be installed officially by the voice of the Priesthood there assembled. This grand council of Priesthood will be composed, not only of those who are faithful who now dwell on this earth, but also of the prophets and apostles of old, who have had directing authority. Others may also be there, but if so they will be there by appointment, for this is to be an official council called to attend to the most momentous matters concerning the destiny of this earth.  When this gathering is held, the world will not know of it; the members of the Church at large will not know of it, yet it shall be preparatory to the coming in the clouds of glory of our Savior Jesus Christ as the Prophet Joseph Smith has said. The world cannot know of it. The Saints cannot know of it — except those who officially shall be called into this council — for it shall precede the coming of Jesus Christ as a thief in the night, unbeknown to all the world.”  (Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., The Way to Perfection, p 291)

On April 15, 1840, Apostle Orson Hyde left Commerce, Ill., on his mission to Jerusalem.  This week’s site is dedicated to him and his mission there.  ORSON HYDE MEMORIAL PARK/GARDEN

Orson Hyde Park

Located on the Mt of Olives, just below the BYU Center.  On October 24, 1979, President Spencer W. Kimball and 2000 other Church officials and members gathered here to dedicate the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden, a 5.5 acre park developed with a $1 million gift from the Orson Hyde Foundation, headed by Apostle LeGrand Richards.  The Garden was one of the largest and most prestigious parts of the Jerusalem National Park, a greenbelt of small parks and landscaped gardens around the Old City.  It features a 150-seat stone amphitheater near the top of the Garden and on the north side of the amphitheater a bronze plaque was placed with excerpts of Elder Hyde’s prayer in English and Hebrew.  The plaque has since been removed due to vandalism most likely caused by hurt feelings over misunderstandings from things said in the prayer.  The wall that held the plaque now has an obvious empty space where the plaque was encased.  Olive trees and other indigenous vegetation are growing throughout the park and a stone path winds back and forth in a gradual descent to the lower slope of the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane.
DWB p. 43.

Karl Anderson is 2nd from right

A special commemoration was held at the Kirtland Temple in honor of the 175th Anniversary of its dedication.  This special event was highlighted in the Church News.  In attendance was Karl Ricks Anderson, also known as “Mr. Kirtland”.  Karl’s incredible knowledge of the area’s spiritual history as well as the important role he has played in the restoration of Kirtland’s Church historical sites has certainly earned him this title.  He is featured in the picture at left.

When the Prophet Joseph Smith dedicated the Kirtland Temple 175 years ago, he described the experience as a great spiritual outpouring:

“…a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels…The people of the neighborhood came running together…seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple, and were astonished at what was taking place.”

Now 175 years later, Karl Anderson and other LDS Church Leaders helped many members who attended the special commemoration to leave the temple expressing that they had experienced “a small glimpse of the great spiritual outpouring witnessed at the dedication 175 years ago.”

You could spend eight inspiring days with Karl Ricks Anderson on his Sharon to Kirtland Tour as he uniquely shares uplifting insights and information about these incredible sites, the prophet Joseph Smith, and the faithful Saints who joined with the Church.   Visit our Sharon to Kirtland tour web page for more details.

For the full Church News story visit:   http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/60700/Built-175-years-ago-Ohio-Church-members-observe-Kirtland-Temple-anniversary.html