The Commemoration of the Martyrdom

The headstones for Hyrum, Joseph and Emma

The headstones of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith

The Young Performing Missionaries

The three brethren reading statements from Joseph Smith III, Max Smith and Melvin J Ballard

In Nauvoo, they do not celebrate the arrival of the saints in Salt Lake on the 24^th of July 1847.  Instead they commemorate the exodus of the saints on February 4, 1846 and the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum on June 27, 1844.  Today is the 174^th anniversary of the martyrdom and the 16^th anniversary of the dedication of the Nauvoo temple. 

We attended the first of two commemorations of the martyrdom at the Smith Family Cemetery at 12:15. We celebrated the anniversary of the dedication by serving in the temple during the second commemoration in Carthage which took place at 5:00.  The service at Smith Family Cemetery was a joint effort between the LDS Church Restoration Branches ( a break off from the RLDS Church in 1984) and the RLDS (Community of Christ Church) with th members from each church.

The major part of the program was a history of the burial places for Joseph and Hyrum.  When the bodies were brought back to Nauvoo from Carthage, they were prepared for burial and placed in the Mansion House (Joseph and Emma’s home) for viewing.  Thousands of saints passed through the home to pay their respect for these beloved brethren.  Emma and Mary Fielding were afraid someone would try to desecrate their husband’s graves, possibly to get the reward for Joseph in Missouri.  To prevent this, they had two coffins filled with sand and buried in a public place.  The bodies were actually buried in the basement of the Nauvoo House then under construction.  When construction resumed on the Nauvoo House, Emma and Mary Fielding were afraid the bodies would be discovered so they planned to move the bodies on a night agreed upon.  Emma told Mary Fielding that the time to move the bodies needed to be postponed.  That night Mary Fielding could not sleep so she went for a walk and discovered Emma with two men moving the bodies to a location just South of the current resting place (The Bee House).  This was on property owned by Emma. This location was marked by a small building called the Bee House, build over the graves.  There is some speculation as to why Emma acted this way.  One theory is that Brigham Young wanted to place the bodies in a tomb near the temple or take them West.  Emma disagreed with this plan and was afraid that Mary Fielding would tell Brigham where the bodies were.  In addition, there were a lot of problems sorting out what belonged to Joseph and what belonged to the church after his death.  This lead to some hard feelings between Emma and Brigham Young along with the issue of polygamy.

Emma’s holdings were eventually transferred to Joseph Smith III who became the first the president of the Reorganized Latter Day Saint  (RLDS) Church.  When Emma died in 1879 she was buried near the graves of Joseph and Hyrum. Joseph III transferred this property to his son, Fredrich Smith, with instructions that if the property were sold or the bodied moved, he must coordinate this with the descendants of Hyrum.  Frederick ignored this instruction from his father and in 1928 moved the bodies of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma to their current resting place without consulting members the of Hyrum’s family.  This upset Joseph Fielding Smith a great deal and increased the tension between the two churches.  Over time hearts were softened.  Joseph Fielding was the one who negotiated with the RLDS Church to be able to use parts of the Joseph Smith translation of the bible in the footnotes of the new scriptures published in 1978.

The Smith cemetery was closed to the public until 1991.  At that time, the two churches got together and formed the Smith Family Foundation.  The RLDS Church donated the land, the LDS Church provided funds to improve the property and well as the current headstones that mark the graves.  Elder Melvin J Ballard, great-great grandson of Hyrum and Max Smith the then president of the RLDS Church were trustees of the foundation.  The cemetery is now open to the public at all times.

It was a very nice commemoration service.  At the end, statements were read from Joseph Smith III, Max Smith and Melvin J. Ballard. e Community of Christ taking the lead.  The prelude music was provided by the Nauvoo Brass Band and the songs were provided by the Young Performing Missionaries.  The program was written by someone from the Community of Christ Church and was presented by members from each church.

The major part of the program was a history of the burial places for Joseph and Hyrum.  When the bodies were brought back to Nauvoo from Carthage, they were prepared for burial and placed in the Mansion House (Joseph and Emma’s home) for viewing.  Thousands of saints passed through the home to pay their respect for these beloved brethren.  Emma and Mary Fielding were afraid someone would try to desecrate their husband’s graves, possibly to get the reward for Joseph in Missouri.  To prevent this, they had two coffins filled with sand and buried in a public place.  The bodies were actually buried in the basement of the Nauvoo House then under construction.  When construction resumed on the Nauvoo House, Emma and Mary Fielding were afraid the bodies would be discovered so they planned to move the bodies on a night agreed upon.  Emma told Mary Fielding that the time to move the bodies needed to be postponed.  That night Mary Fielding could not sleep so she went for a walk and discovered Emma with two men moving the bodies to a location just South of the current resting place (The Bee House).  This was on property owned by Emma. This location was marked by a small building called the Bee House, build over the graves.  There is some speculation as to why Emma acted this way.  One theory is that Brigham Young wanted to place the bodies in a tomb near the temple or take them West.  Emma disagreed with this plan and was afraid that Mary Fielding would tell Brigham where the bodies were.  In addition, there were a lot of problems sorting out what belonged to Joseph and what belonged to the church after his death.  This lead to some hard feelings between Emma and Brigham Young along with the issue of polygamy.

Emma’s holdings were eventually transferred to Joseph Smith III who became the first the president of the Reorganized Latter Day Saint  (RLDS) Church.  When Emma died in 1879 she was buried near the graves of Joseph and Hyrum. Joseph III transferred this property to his son, Fredrich Smith, with instructions that if the property were sold or the bodied moved, he must coordinate this with the descendants of Hyrum.  Frederick ignored this instruction from his father and in 1928 moved the bodies of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma to their current resting place without consulting members the of Hyrum’s family.  This upset Joseph Fielding Smith a great deal and increased the tension between the two churches.  Over time hearts were softened.  Joseph Fielding was the one who negotiated with the RLDS Church to be able to use parts of the Joseph Smith translation of the bible in the footnotes of the new scriptures published in 1978.

The Smith cemetery was closed to the public until 1991.  At that time, the two churches got together and formed the Smith Family Foundation.  The RLDS Church donated the land, the LDS Church provided funds to improve the property and well as the current headstones that mark the graves.  Elder Melvin J Ballard, great-great grandson of Hyrum and Max Smith the then president of the RLDS Church were trustees of the foundation.  The cemetery is now open to the public at all times.

It was a very nice commemoration service.  At the end, statements were read from Joseph Smith III, Max Smith and Melvin J. Ballard.