Anger toward the innocent

With a desire to maintain peace the members of the church agreed to abide by the laws of the United States government and not seek revenge for the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. They continued to finish the Nauvoo Temple, build more homes, and increase the beauty of the city. Meanwhile, enemies of the church were busy making speeches, stirring up anger amongst anyone who would listen and banding into mobs. They were trying to remove the church from the county.[1]

There were accusations against church members of rampant theft but Thomas Ford, governor of the state of Illinois, said, “Justice, however, requires me here to say, that I have investigated the charge of promiscuous stealing, and find it to be greatly exaggerated.”[2] Unfortunately, he wrote a letter to the church members to warn them that if a mob should attack them, the state would not protect them.^[3] Even Attorney General of the State, Josiah Lamborn, Esq., said, “I have always considered that your enemies have been prompted by religious and political prejudices and by a desire for blood, more than for the common good.”[4] Yet, the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith went unpunished.

It became obvious that the church members would have to leave the country if they wanted the freedom to live their religion. Brigham Young promised their enemies that the members would begin removal from Nauvoo to the territory outside the United States in the spring of 1846 if they would stop their lawless litigations.[5] Wagons were being made as fast as possible to move them west.

Despite the efforts of the church members to prepare for an exodus, mobbers began to attack the outlying areas around Nauvoo such as Lima, Yelrome, and Bear Creek, burning homes and grain stacks in September 1845. Brigham Young, the new prophet, in February 1846 announced that those who were prepared for the trip across the plains could head west. The poor were to follow when they could afford to leave. Not satisfied to allow the poor more time to prepare, the mobbers drove out them out of Nauvoo by September 17, 1846 across the Mississippi River into Iowa. [6]

http://books.google.com/books?id=dLgUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=%22The+Historical+Record%22+George+Q.+Cannon&source=bl&ots=SPgffsRg22&sig=BkZj3y5wA6pBhm-_iT4qLuiHTWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lZFsUf79BqvPigLmj4HIDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Historical%20Record%22%20George%20Q.%20Cannon&f=false pages 800-835.

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[1] George Q. Cannon, The Historical Record, Vol.5-8, Andrew Jensen, editor (Salt Lake City, Utah: Andrew Jensen, 1889) p. 783.

[2]  Ibid., p. 801.

[3] Ibid.,  p. 784.

[4] Ibid., p. 804.

[5] Ibid., p. 816.

[6] Ibid., p. 838.

The Aftermath of a Murder

The murder of Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum was a shock to the church members of the community. Because Joseph’s life had been spared many times before, they thought it would be spared this time as well. However, God had other plans for Joseph Smith and he became a martyr for Christ instead.

Unfortunately, Robert did not record his feelings about the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. This part of his history is not mentioned at all in the Book of Memoranda. Yet, this was a time of great mourning for the members of the church and the death of their beloved prophet and his brother was not all that they would have to endure.

Nauvoo 1843-1844

On March 19, 1843 Robert and Ann received their Patriarchal blessings from Hyrum Smith.[1] However, all was not going well in Nauvoo. Because of a severe lack of rain from July through September in 1843, the harvest was very poor and caused a shortage of food in the city. A special committee was appointed to solicit food donations from the church members in the surrounding countryside to relieve the hunger.[2]

1844 proved to be another noteworthy year. In January, it was purposed that Joseph Smith run for President of the United States (by members of the church) to oppose Martin Van Buren and Henry Clay.[3] In February, at the request of Joseph Smith, volunteers agreed to explore California and Oregon for western removal of the Saints.[4] On April 7, 1844 our ancestor, Sarah Amanda Wright, was born to Robert and Ann, less than three months before Joseph Smith would be martyred.[5] On the same day that Sarah Amanda was born about 8,000 people attended April Conference in Nauvoo at the grove. That day, Joseph Smith preached the King Follett discourse on mankind’s potential to become like God.[6] On June 10^th the printing press of the Nauvoo Expositor was declared a public nuisance and destroyed for misrepresenting the truth.[7] On June 22^nd, Joseph felt it necessary to flee to the Rocky Mountains to save his life from mobocracy after causing the printing press to be destroyed.[8] He crossed the Mississippi River to Iowa on June 23^rd, but returned to Nauvoo that same day when his wife implored him by letter to return. Joseph knew that he would be killed by those who were offended at his religion.[9] On June 24^th, Nauvoo surrendered its’ military weapons, as asked by Governor Ford.[10] Now that Nauvoo was unarmed, Joseph Smith was arrested and charged with treason on June 25^th. True to his prophetic premonition, Joseph was murdered while in jail on the 27^th.[11] Two days later, his funeral was held and an estimated 15,000 people attended the viewing, most likely including Robert and Ann.[12]

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[1] “Book of Memoranda,” 1839.

[2] George W. Givens, In Old Nauvoo, p. 65.

[3] Carter Eldredge Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored, p. 299-300.

[4] Ibid, p. 303.

[5] “Book of Memoranda,” 1839.

[6] Arnold K. Carr, Donald Q. Cannon, Richard O. Cowan; Encyclopedia of Latter-Day Saint History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2000), pp. 615-616.

[7] Carter Eldredge Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored, p. 305

[8] Ibid, p. 312.

[9] Ibid, p. 313.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Arnold K. Carr, Donald Q. Cannon, Richard O. Cowan; Encyclopedia of Latter-Day Saint History, p. 715.,

[12] Carter Eldredge Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored, p. 319.

First Two Years in Nauvoo.

We know from Robert’s Book of Memoranda that he studied farming mathematical problems. Surely, he grew his own garden at least. He kept a record in his “Book” of little jobs he worked in Nauvoo and what he charged.

Baptisms for the dead had been performed in the Mississippi River during the summer of 1841. But on November 8^th, Apostle Brigham Young dedicated a temporary wooden baptismal font in the basement of the Nauvoo Temple (which was under construction). The font rested on the backs of twelve life-sized pine oxen. Baptisms for the dead were now performed in this font.[1]

Several important events occurred in Nauvoo in 1842. On March 1^st the Wentworth Letter was published in the Times and Seasons giving the Thirteen Articles of Faith. The Relief Society, an organization for the women of the church, was formed on the 17^th of March.[2]  On August 6^th, the prophet, Joseph Smith, prophesied that the saints would be driven to the Rocky Mountains.[3] That fall, John E. Page ordained Robert an Elder in the priesthood on the 6^th of October 1842.[4] Then five days later, on October 22^nd, Robert and Ann’s first child was born. They named him Joseph Henry Wright.[5]

The mortality rate of children was unusually high in Nauvoo (64%) compared to the rest of the United States.[6] The most frequent causes of death in children were the ague and fever, the shakes (malaria), bloody flux (dysentery), summer sickness, and cholera infantum. They did not know at this time the causes of these diseases.[7] For instance, they did not realize that the swarms of mosquitoes they dealt with daily spread malaria. The usual remedy for the sick was blood-letting which did not help cure them.[8] However, Robert and Ann’s first child, Joseph, survived the odds against him.

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[1] Carter Eldredge Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1955) p.274-275.

[2] Carter Eldredge Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1955) p. 279.

[3] B.H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, v. II (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930)  p.181.

[4] “Book of Memoranda,” 1839

[5] Ibid.

[6] George W. Givens, In Old Nauvoo (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1990) p. 113.

[7] Ibid., p. 114.

[8] Ibid. p. 117.

Nauvoo, Illinois

On arrival in Nauvoo, the new settlers built small log cabins with clay and mortar chinks to seal the open spaces between the logs. They were often built without windows or floors.[1] Most likely, Robert and Ann’s first home was of this sort. Their property was listed as T7R9, Section 25 and T7R8 Section 32, S/2, west and northwest of Nauvoo.

The winter of 1841 in their little log cabin may have been cold and wet for them, as Warren Foote, a Mormon schoolteacher, described in his autobiography. On September 9, 1841 he wrote, “Some parts of the city is very rough broken ground. The log houses are scattered over nine square miles. It looks more like a thickly settled country than a city.”[2] That November, he described an overnight stay in Nauvoo at the home of Mr. Markham, “I awoke this morning and found myself buried in snow. The house we sleeped in had no floor and was very open and the snow had blowed through the crevices and covered us up. It snowed and blowed terribly all day…Many of the houses being very open the snow blowed into them and melting made it extremely disagreeable.”[3]

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[1]  George W. Givens, In Old Nauvoo (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1990) p.22.

[2] Warren Foote, Autobiography of Warren Foote (1817- 1846), p.45 typescript, Harold B Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/WFoote.html).

[3]  Ibid, p. 47.

Property of Robert Wright in Nauvoo

Book of Memoranda

       You are welcome to listen to the podcast about Ann Hagerty to the right. It tells a little more about her youth.
        In answer to Abby Black's question about the Book of Memoranda...The Book of Memoranda is a title which some of the descendants of Robert Wright gave to the composition book that was kept by him. The first date in it was 1839 before he was baptized (in 1841). Most of the pages contained mathematical word  problems that he worked on. Poems and song lyrics were also recorded in it. As he crossed the plains with his wife and children on the trek to Nauvoo in 1846, he penned short sentences about the route they took. About 1850, Robert included family information about his parents and siblings with their birth dates and his wife's parents and siblings with their birth dates. He also noted the deaths of both sets of parents and a sister to Ann named Lydia. His children's names and birth dates are also recorded. This book still exists and has a black cover with white mottling on it similar to the old-fashioned composition books that are sold today.