Show NAUVOO THE BEAUTIFUL its present appearance ably described and old landmarks noted i in n detail NAUVOO hancock co ill oct editor deseret Des cret news dear sir when the abe beautiful temple was adorning the most prominent point in nauvoo visitors could from its lofty spire obtain a fine view of the city and surrounding country but as there is ia no temple tower to beet ioto now we obtained from the catholic mi minister litster H J esq to ascend into the spire of the church build building ug situated on the block torta immediately north odthe of the temple block there irom from an eleva elevation tiou ut of about one hundred and fifty teet feet we aye were en abbed to lo form a correct idea of the geographical A and aad physical physical features of nauvoo the wind n nr course of the great creat mississippi all the way from fort madison in the north to keokuk in the abe south is plainly sable disable vi and the beautiful flat stretching toward la har harpe e and carthage dotted with larm housed uses here aej and there presents a view not cot soon to be forgotten while westward across the river lies the town of montrose Mont rosc and the tract ot of country on which zara liebla ambrosia and other small smail settlements founded and inhabited b by Y the saints once stood the jimb timber 0 r along sugar creer creek can plainly be amet a and ad on a clear day tie lie woodlands iong along the des moine river are faintly al risible aiole along too tat western wester ju horizon Cornn lug onia vision to a smaller ra radius dius wa observed how ully the t township of nauvoo is encircled on three sides by bv the river which here bere makes a kind afkind bi ot e bend we are arc also enabled to see that moet of the pro pre sent gent population of nauvoo live in clusters of houses lying ada adjacent cent to sheet breet the principal thoroughfare in the city anil and also on those blocks exten extending in a southwesterly direction from the ibe temple site to the present ferry landI landing Dg which willad is near the foot of parley street a short mort dia distance tance above where the ruins rains of df wm laws old eld mill still stands as aa a reminder of the past pas we bad quite ao aa interesting interest inc conversation with mr tn toc e catholic priest who said ue lie was raised in nauvoo and had bad attended school together with several of tle ade prophet i sons sona by tb e aid bf some of the me a older cler citizens and a plat of the ille city cov of nauvoo we to locate and visit a number of old residences ces which formerly be jived enned to members of the church among these were the residence of the late yarley tarley P pratt standing on the corner of 01 young and wells streets it Is a fine two tory AtorY brick building one 04 f the in nauvoo and is now the resia eRce of the catollo priest until tue the church lying immediately south 61 it was erect edthe catholics used to td hold their weeti meetings mee tinga in it on the corner of knight and durphy streets is the old home ot of the late edward hunter the me root foot or the cue nui hill up ogi the me top of the hill bill on the north aide ot of knight Knie fit street stands what was formerly known as the old mormon arsenal arenal a it to is now used ased as catholic convent and has flue fine gardens surrounding roud rounding ding it on the south side aide of white street between and streets stands a une fine two story building g on the site of willaro richards old home in making an excavation ca for a cellar on the promises premises about the year IM 1868 a stone slab covered with about two feet feat of sand was discovered by removing the dirt toe following inscription was laid bare Jea jeanetta richards born at walker fold england august 1817 married to willard richards september aith 1838 died july jtb 1845 D due ua respect was shown the remains which were carefully removed ren coved to the southwest corner of the lot and there interred where they stilt still remain under the same stone slab which at present is partly hid bid in the tall grass wh when e n the remains of sister richards were removed they were in au excellent state ot preservation we conversed with at least three persons who had assisted in moving thera them and they all described the beautiful hair nicely combed and the natural color of the skin skill OT or the corpse also the silk dress the white kid gloves and the linen in the coffin which were all as natural as when first consigned to ane tomb corat more than twenty years before the residence ol of the president brigham young on the corner of kimball and granger Gra aifer streets is sull still standing also heber C kimballs Kimo Kim alls balls old house on mansan street orson hydes house bouse on the corner ot of carlin and hotchkiss streets john taylors on main street E D woollens Wool leya leys three story brick hauae aoude on the corner of partridge ige and white streets william laws place near the mill site on the bank 0 of f the river and aad scores of others the old seventies hall on the corner of parley and bain streets has been remodeled and the taken off it is now used for school purposes being eiba known as the first ward house the upper story nas also been taken off e old masonic hall on main street and the remaining two stories covered rove redin in with modern tin roof the old times and shans printing office a two story irame building has been removed from its former location and placed upon a rock foundation near the upper steamboat landing within the site bite of formerly commerce city the building known in the earliest days of nauvoo as the upper storehouse tumbled down many years ago but the rocks have been used in erecting a new building on the old site using even part pan of tha alft nails atie Mansion josephl Joseph old residence is fast crum crumbling bilar to pieces tats taa i east wing wine lacine facing on water street has baa not been occupied for or years the west wins wing facing on main street is i inhabited by a mr madison and faintly fai family nily the property properly bi longel to david south smith youngest son aon of the prophet who is still at elgin illinois being yet somewhat demented but entirely entire lv harmless josephs old store on water street is yet in a pretty good state of preservation but is not occupied it belongs to joseph smiths odest eldest son young joseph together with the w hole adiole block on which it stands with other improvements on atie east side including the house where here the prophet lived ous to tobis his moving into the mansion ma centre of that block which is og on the bink odthe of the river is the private burial ground of tue the smith family where rests the mortal remains qt of the senior jooeph smith and his wife lucy mack the prophets pa repts here also rests the late barents emma mma smith bidamon Bid amun frederick smith one of the prophets sons the first wife of young joseph and two of his child children and a number of others according to the me best information we could ebule obtain sanel 11 II and don carlos two of the prophets brothers were also interred here from major bidamon we learned that the prophets only on sister sister catherine rry resides resles at a webster if jandock Jan cock county the place formerly known as or macedonia some time before nis death president young sent her as a present quite a sum of money toward her support in lier her old age she va ii I i now 76 years old lucy smith the prophets youngest sister died some years ago agal at colchester mcdonough mcdonongh county illinois julia Mur Murd docS oct adopted daughter of joseph the prophet het died from cancer in the breast six or seven saven y years t a rs ago near nauvoo she was clr first a t married to elisha dickson who was accidentally killed kitta d by the explosion of a steamboat of which he was partly owner later she married a lawyer by the name of of middleton who is still alive we have visited the site of the old grove where public meetings were held previous to the erection of the temple where joseph delivered some oi of tiia nis roost most powerful sermons and where na young mYoung was llast accept edae the prophets T legal successor the lot in which this loin grove once was is now owned by a mrs mis neato newt it is on knight Street east of robinson street unblock in block 16 of wells addition in the fourth tier of blocks east of the tew temple we h had a d t to make many inquiries among the 0 settlers sett lets before we were able to deterline terrine de deter ae toe exact location in the good did nauvoo days meetings were also held in a grove immediately west of the temple and in the hollow south of street 1 in visiting the eastern part of the city the place where the famous nauvoo battle was fought was out to us and the exact spots where william anderson andersen and his son wad and a nd brother norris fell the building in which the nauvoo expositor was printed to is still standing and is owned by 8 M walter a fine olad old gentleman who took gr great gains pains in giving as us particulars in re heaard at r to the build ing there are ten honses on tle tine T temple 1 e block the exact spot where tene the temple mple stood is owned by C W Re who keeps a little store etore and also a book in which he requests his visitors to the temple site TO register their names mr Relm bold has taken considerable pains in posting himself concerning the old places clabes and we found fouad him very correct and reliable we learned a great many historical facts ip in regard to the Temp lethe rocks of 4 which have been shipped to nearly every state in the union and some have even been sent to europe thus a Cit catholic holic church in rhode island built of the temple rock a private residence in davenport ack iowa owl not to speak of a large two story corner of the temple block itself and built by the sand and the tife many rocks used for ornamental purposes aft in many private residences to ta nauvoo A pile of picked rock containing and other designs lies I 1 in a the south part of nauvoo being hauled there py by a man who expected to erect a private residence with them of the present population of nauvoo 1700 all told about three fourths are germans the remainder consists chiefly of french english and americans in a religious point of view they are divided into catholics methodists episcopalians Episcopal ians lutherans Luth erans and josephites of toe latter there are only a very few not enough enough to hold meetings the german presbyterians rians own a sung snug little church on young street northeast of the temple it was built of the brick taken from the old john D lee residence the german luth erans also own a respectable church two blocks south of the temple site on wells street dr robert D fosters old three story house on the corner of and woodruff streets was burned down several years year 8 ago a part apart of the foundation yet remains from phineas kimball an extensive landowner with whom we stopped one night and who treated us as very kindly M M morrell the veteran lawyer of 91 nauvoo J N datin mayor of the city thomas kelley who claims to be the only member of the original church at nauvoo and a number of others we learned that sheriff jacob backenstos who took a noble stand in defending the baines during the difficulties in 1816 1846 died in oregon about af fifteen teen years ago as a highly h respected citizen he was also wealthy wead thy on the other hand athos thos S brockman one of the principal cipal mob leaders in 1846 1816 came to a miserable end in kansas whither he removed from mount sterling adams county illinois after trying in vain to be elected to office in hancock county ile he was killed billed during a quarrel in which he was the attacking attaching party in ih 1872 francis higbee died in new york his til brother rother in pittsfield pike county illinois robert D toker went to california and has not since been heard of by our informants william and wil son conlaw law are supposed to be alive yet as a they both visited nauvoo a few years ago trying to sell their claims claim on the islands in the mississippi river near nauvoo all theae will be remembered by the saints the parties wh than any the meads means of bringing about Jos Jose eotis wils and hyrams martyrdom levi williams the principal leader of the carthage jail murd murderers iwers died at his bis home hoine in gre green 1 en plans plains about the year 1858 john mcauley k a notorious died a most miserable death about the year 1872 while lying on his deathbed suffering the most excruciating pains lie he told mr merrill our informant that it if he could only blot out live five years of his life refer referring kink to the time he fought the mormons cormons Mor mons he be could die a happy man mr merrill said that a great nd number aber of the old robbers came to a miserable end and nedla ne adli not remember a single one 0 of them who ever amounted anything af afterwards ter wards on the other hand we heard of several of those who took part in defending the saints who have since occupied positions of honor and trust prominent among them we may mention mr cordil himself who has always been on the side of austice austice and right likht and took tin on active part legally in defending a number of the brethren in times ol 01 their trouble he be his has served five terms in the illinois legislature we should relate what we learned in regard to the 1 I jack cormons mormons Mor mons I 1 I 1 the french Icari aue who purchased the walls walla of the temple after the building was burned by the bands of an aa incendiary diary aad otherie who nave figured in the history of nauvoo since the saints were forced to leave suffice it to say that shortly after the exodus and after most of the so Mori Mort nans naus pot got p ot discouraged and moved to other parts the population of nauvoo was reduced to about souls and prep etty sold for almost a sons song to illustrate we will simply state that a mr father of our informant who came to nauvoo in 1848 bought a fine two story log house honse hewed logs logo at that with floors and everything complete lor the sura sum of 1 the present german geiman population woo who have come to stay have done better than any of their predecessors since the smuts left but even they cannot make it a place of ef any importance no that it is reserved lor for others t tado do andi even these others can not do it till the lords time combs |