Initial construction
In January 1841, Joseph Smith received a revelation with instructions to construct a house in Nauvoo which would be "a resting-place for the weary traveler." The revelation also instructed that the building should be called the Nauvoo House, and set out detailed instructions about how the building of the house would be financed. [1] George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider, and Peter Haws were appointed as the overseers of the project, and they created the Nauvoo House Association on February 23, 1841.
Construction of the Nauvoo House began later in 1841, with Smith placing the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon in the cornerstone of the building. [2] Construction continued until 1844, when resources were pulled away from the Nauvoo House to concentrate on completion of the Nauvoo Temple.
After Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob in June 1844, their bodies were secretly buried in the cellar of the unfinished building to prevent their bodies from being stolen. [3] Later, their bodies were removed and buried close to the Homestead, and even later still, they were relocated to the nearby Smith Family Cemetery.
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its historic importance and its religious significance to members of several groups: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS); other groups stemming from the Latter Day Saint movement; and the Icarians. The city and its immediate surrounding area are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Nauvoo Historic District.
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was an American homesteader, the first wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a women's service organization, she was elected by its members as the organization's first president.
The Latter Day Saint movement is a religious movement within Christianity that arose during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century and that led to the set of doctrines, practices, and cultures called Mormonism, and to the existence of numerous Latter Day Saint churches. Its history is characterized by intense controversy and persecution in reaction to some of the movement's doctrines and practices and their relationship to mainstream Christianity. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the different groups, beliefs, and denominations that began with the influence of Joseph Smith.
Joseph Smith III was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith. Joseph Smith III was the Prophet-President of what became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, renamed Community of Christ in 2001, which considers itself a continuation of the church established by Smith's father in 1830. For fifty-four years until his own death, Smith presided over the church. Smith's moderate ideas and nature set much of the tone for the church's development, earning him the sobriquet of "the pragmatic prophet".
William Marks was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and was a member of the First Presidency in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Marks is mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants in sections 117 and 124 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints edition and in section 115 of the Community of Christ edition.
The Kirtland Temple is the first temple built by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement and is located in Kirtland, Ohio, United States. Designed by Joseph Smith, the founder and original leader of the movement, the architecture mixes the Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic Revival architectural styles. The temple was owned and operated by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) for more than a century. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has owned the site since March 5, 2024. It has been a National Historic Landmark since 1969.
The succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement occurred after the murder of Joseph Smith, the movement's founder, on June 27, 1844.
The Amboy Conference was the setting of the official "re-organization" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints into the Latter Day Saint denomination known since 2001 as the Community of Christ. Held on April 6, 1860, this conference recognized movement founder, Joseph Smith's eldest son, Joseph Smith III as his rightful successor and sustained the young Joseph as President of the Church.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to being a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for weekly worship services. Temples have been a significant part of the Latter Day Saint movement since early in its inception. Today, temples are operated by several Latter Day Saint denominations. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church has 335 temples in various phases, which includes 188 dedicated temples, 53 under construction, and 94 others announced. Several others within the movement have built or attempted to build temples. The Community of Christ operates two temples in the United States, which are open to the public and are used for worship services, performances, and religious education. Other denominations with temples are the Apostolic United Brethren, the Church of Christ, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
David Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader, poet, painter, singer, philosopher, and naturalist. The youngest son of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith, he was an influential missionary and leader in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was born approximately five months after the murder of his father. Joseph told Emma before he died what the child's name should be. From December 1847, David was raised by his mother and her second husband, Lewis C. Bidamon.
Don Carlos Smith was the youngest brother of Joseph Smith and a leader, missionary, and periodical editor in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement.
The Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois, was a building that was constructed and owned by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Nauvoo Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District containing the city of Nauvoo, Illinois. The historic district is nearly coterminous with the City of Nauvoo as it was incorporated in 1840, but it also includes the Pioneer Saints Cemetery, the oldest Mormon cemetery in the area, which is outside the town boundary.
The history of Nauvoo, Illinois, starts with the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes who frequented the area, on a bend of the Mississippi River in Hancock County, some 53 miles (85 km) north of today's Quincy. They called the area "Quashquema", in honor of the Native American chief who headed a Sauk and Fox settlement numbering nearly 500 lodges. Permanent settlement by non-natives was reportedly begun in 1824 by Captain James White. By 1830, the community was called "Venus", and it was the site of the first post office in the county. In 1834 the name Venus was changed to "Commerce" in anticipation that the town would prosper under the United States' westward expansion.
Lewis Crum Bidamon was a leader in the Illinois militia that assisted Latter Day Saints in the 1846 "Battle of Nauvoo". In 1847, Bidamon married Emma Smith, the widow of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement; from this time, Bidamon was the stepfather of Joseph Smith III and the other surviving children of Joseph and Emma Smith.
The Joseph Smith Mansion House in Nauvoo, Illinois is a building constructed by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith used the house as a personal home, a public boarding house, a hotel, and as a site for the performance of temple ordinances.
In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with the ordinances performed in Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith. The term has referred to many such gifts of heavenly power, including the confirmation ritual, the institution of the High Priesthood in 1831, events and rituals occurring in the Kirtland Temple in the mid-1830s, and an elaborate ritual performed in the Nauvoo Temple in the 1840s.
The Smith Family Cemetery, in Nauvoo, Illinois, is the burial place of Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, and brother Hyrum. Joseph Smith's parents Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith are also buried there, as are Joseph Smith's brothers Samuel and Don Carlos. Others buried there include Robert B. Thompson and Emma Smith's second husband Lewis C. Bidamon.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the life and influence of Joseph Smith:
