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Show Missouri City Honors LDS The southeast Missouri town of DeWitt, whose residents drove Mormon settlers out 138 years ago, now plans to honor The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a special Bicentennial ceremony. DeWitt Bicentennial officials have invited the Church to participate in a July 4th program commemorating not only the 200th birthday of the nation but the founding of DeWitt in 1836, according to Florence S. Jacobsen, Church curator and member of the Church's Historical Arts and Sites Committee. "Misunderstandings led to the driving of Mormon settlers from the infant town in 1838 and now citizens and officials have extended their goodwill to the Church by offering to install a plaque outlining the Mormons' contributions to the community during their brief sojourn there," Mrs. Jacobsen said. The 24-by-18-inch bronze plaque will be prepared by the Church and presented to the town for dedication on July 4 as part of a new flagpole-plaques complex. Other plaques to be dedicated commemorate the founding of the town and the 1826 founding of Eppler's Landing, the first settlement in the area. The "Mormon" plaque will read: "THE MORMONS In 1838, members of Ther Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) living at Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri, were encouraged to settle at DeWitt by several landwoners. Land was purchased pur-chased near this location in June, and within a few months several hundred Mormons had created a village of tents and wagons. Land was cleared, crops were planted, and homes were built. However, the persistent per-sistent misunderstandings which had followed the Mormons Mor-mons soon reached Carroll County. By October, DeWitt was held in a virtual siege by non-Mormons from surrounding surroun-ding communities. To avoid further violence, on October 11, 1838, the Latter-day Saints loaded their possessions into 70 wagons and departed." |