#nauvoo

[unteriors]

Butternut Lane, Nauvoo, Illinois.

[starburst263]

2025 art summary

[pointandshooter]

Nauvoo, Illinois

photo: David Castenson

[riskydabritt]

Queer Mormon, Nauvoo at Christmas

Because my parents are currently serving a historical mission in Nauvoo, my siblings and I (and the littles) spent Christmas there. Due to the constant tightrope walking of being still technically a member of the church, but also being queer (biromanic and nonbinary), it gave me a lot to think about.

All of the missionaries clearly loved being there. There are four parts of the mission that most people don't know about. There's obviously the historical missionaries, who do all of the teaching, but they have a parallel mission who run the temple. The missions share a mailroom, and sometimes meet up for social gatherings. Another part of the historical mission are the Teamsters. Their wives do the tours, while they take care of the massive horses and the oxen. The final part is the one my dad wishes to be on, which is the maintenance crew. Usually during winter, they repair outdoor benches and start germinating plants, but this winter they also have the task of updating the electrical in all of the buildings that were recently acquired.

It's really sobering to go through an area that is mostly empty, and knowing that just a couple inches under the soil are the foundations of hundreds of houses. All of the houses are for tours, or house the missionaries.

Onto more religious battles. The path that the pioneers took out of Nauvoo once shared the name of Trail of Tears, but a few years ago it was renamed to the Trail of Hope. Reading the stories along there reminded me of my queer and religious siblings across the globe. One of the quotes hit especially hard from Wilfred Woodruff, who would later be a prophet: "I looked upon the Temple and the city as they receded from view, and asked the Lord to remember the sacrifices of his Saints." Queer people of faith have to give up so much to be who they were created to be, and sometimes it's overwhelming. For those of my siblings who left the LDS church, I hold nothing against you. Some days I consider it, but they will have to kick me out themselves.

It hurt, not being allowed to go into the Nauvoo temple. As a nonbinary person who is out basically everywhere, I no longer qualify for a temple recommend. The last time I was in Nauvoo, I was eight, and watched my brothers go in without me. Now, I watch as my niece goes in, and fight back the tears because I have kept every commandment, and I'm not allowed to go in because I was born into a body that isn't what I am.

Learning about the lives of the people who once lived there, and knowing what would happen was sobering. Even my soon to be sister in law, who is protestant, could feel it. But it also gave me hope. If these people got persecuted for being true to themselves, and eventually got to a place where they were safe and welcomed, then one day we will too. I'm going to keep on trucking on, and hope that one day, the world will finally stop being idiots.

[irixhye]

The Expanse 2x04

[todaysdocument]

Memorial of the inhabitants of Nauvoo in Illinois, praying redress for injuries to the persons and property by lawless proceedings of citizens of Missouri (Joseph Smith, et al)

Record Group 46: Records of the U.S. SenateSeries: Committee Papers of the Committee on the JudiciaryFile Unit: Petitions and Memorials Referred to the Judiciary Commiteee Relating to Various Subjects in the 28th Congress

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives [large and bolded] of the United States in Congress assembled The Memorial of the undersigned inhabitants of Hancock County in the State of Illinois respectfully sheweth: That they belong to the Society of Latter Day Saints, commonly called Mormons, that a portion of our people commenced settling in Jackson County Missouri in the Summer of 1831, where they purchased lands and settled upon them with the intention and expectation of becoming permanent citizens in Common with others. From a very early period after the Settlement began, a very unfriendly feeling was manifested by the neighboring people; and as the Society increased, this unfriendly Spirit also increased until it--- degenerated into a cruel and unrelenting persecution and the Society was at last compelled to leave the county. An account of these unprovoked persecutions has been published to the world, yet we deem it not improper to embody a few of the most prominent items in this memorial and lay them before your honorable body. On the 20th of July 1833, a mob collected at Independence, a deputation or Committee from which, called upon a few members of our Church there, and stated to them that the Store, Printing Office, and all Mechanic Shops belonging to our people must be closed forthwith, and the Society leave the county immediately. These conditions were so unexpected and so hard, that a short time was asked for to consider on the subject before an answer could be given, which was refused, and when some of our men answered that they could not consent to comply with such propositions, the work of destruction--- commenced. The Printing Office, a valuable two story brick building was destroyed by the mob and with it much valuable property; they next went to the Store for the same purpose, but one of the owners thereof, agreeing to close it, they abandoned their design. A series of outrages was then commenced by the mob upon individual numbers of our Society; Bishop Partridge was dragged from his house and family where he was first partially stripped of his clothes and then tarred and feathered from head to foot. A man by the name of Allan was also tarred at the same time. Three days afterwards the Mob assembled in great numbers, bearing a red flag, and proclaiming that, unless the Society would leave "en masse" [underlined], every man of them should be killed. Being in a defenceless situation, to avoid a general massacre, a treaty was entered into and ratified, by which it was agreed that one half of the Society should leave the county by the first of January, and the remainder by the first of April following. In October, while our people were gathering their crops and otherwise preparing to fulfill their part of the treaty, the mob again collected without any provocation, shot at some of our people, whipped others, threw down their houses, and committed many other depredations; the members of the Society were for some time harassed, both day and night, their houses assailed and broken open, and their women and children insulted and abused. [Full transcription at link]

[timepiececats]

Nauvoo Illinois 🏞️⛪📖

Just got back from a Long trip to Nauvoo Illinois. 😃✨ It was a very cool experience seeing all the old church history sites and learning about the testimonies and efforts of the Saints that lived there.

What was especially cool was checking out the new sites that the Church had recently acquired. 👀 Especially the Red brick store. Which was where the Relief Society—One of the Largest and Oldest Women's organizations in the world—was established on March 17, 1842.

Pretty cool stuff 😎 ✨ Maybe a bit too cool, since ya boi Toasty got caught trying to sneak into the Relief Society meeting 😅

(Tried out something a little different with these illustrations using some of the pictures I took as backgrounds. I'll probably try to do some more with the pictures in future works too. 👀)

[thebrandondowning]

NAUVOO (2022), 2 ½" x 2 ½"