June Trip Day 5 - Reunion Day 2 - The Tour

We decided to travel the next day all around the Nauvoo area to visit historical and family related sites. We started by going to Carthage where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred along with his brother Hyrum. Here are those of us who went on the trip. In the back row was Jeff Zeck (a cousin who lived here locally and was our guide), Lance Carter and his wife Linzsay in front of him, Grandpa and Grandma in front, and finally Morgan Wise and his wife Cathy who is a Carter cousin. Not pictured were Jeff's mother, Charles Carter and his wife Jan, and Elder and Sister Eichbush. The Carthage Jail has a special spirit there. This picture below is of our guide Sister Picard pointing to the bullet hole in the door where the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith passed through the door.

Grandma wasn't behaving very well so we had to lock her up in the jail cell in the jail. Joseph and his group weren't in there the day he was murdered as it was too hot in there. We were grateful for the air conditioning, but especially Grandma who had to spend the day in the jail. (Just joking.)

From Carthage we visited several cemeteries who had cousins buried there and ended up in the area of Lima, Illinois. This was the site of Morley's Settlement. Our Carters - John and Hannah and William Furlsbury all settled here - near the woods at the back of the picture below. The historical marker mentions that Morleyville had between 400 and 500 Mormon settlers until September 1845 when up to 125 homes and outbuildings here were torched. Since our John Carter never joined the Church he stayed on here when the Saints left for the Rockies with his 3 children who also didn't join the Church. Isaac Morley, whom the settlement was named after, was sealed to John's wife Hannah Knight Libby Carter so she would have someone to look after her. One of the things we wanted to do here was find the Carter Family Cemetery which was located in the woods at the back of the picture.



Our little tour ended with a visit to the Hotel in Warsaw where the mobbers who took the life of Joseph Smith met to plan their deed. From there they traveled due east to Carthage. That route would have taken then right past the home of Alexander Wilkins who lived 3 miles to the west of Carthage. Grandma Wilkins actually heard the shots that killed the prophet and later witnessed mobbers riding past their home saying they had killed their ..... ..... Mormon Prophet. I have often wondered about this but it makes total sense once you see where the Wilkins lived and the route from Warsaw to Carthage.


After our little jaunt around the county we returned to Nauvoo. We had stopped at what we thought was the Carter property but couldn't find anyone home. We wanted to find the cemetery in the worse way.
We went to the Nauvoo Temple that afternoon and took in a session. Then we scrambled for a meal and then went to the visitor center and saw two outdoor shows - Sunset on the Mississippi and the BYU Ballroom Dancers. The skys threatened to open but we made it through the two shows with only a couple of sprinkles.
Jeff Zech and his mother had eaten dinner at the Nauvoo Hotel and found a man who knew where our Carter land was located so we agreed to meet the next morning and try again to find the cemetery.