by Derek—2006.05.10 @ 0905
While reading some articles, I came across a link to the Historic Nauvoo website, and I started reading some information about the original Nauvoo Temple. In one section it mentioned names that seemed wrong somehow and so I had do do some extra searching to verify. The process was enlightening and I am grateful for the history lesson I had along the way.
The first name that gave me a double-take was a mention of Joseph Young giving the dedicatory prayer and I thought, “did they mean Joseph Smith?” Next I saw a reference to Wilford Wood who was sent to repurchase land in Nauvoo in the mid 1900s (did they mean Wilford Woodruff?). My search took me around several websites and ended with a search about “the Evening and Morning Star,” the pentagram, or five-pointed star used symbolically in many ancient and modern architechture, including many LDS buildings like the Nauvoo Temple.
In doing my ‘background check’, I found this reference to Joseph Young who gave one of the first dedicatory prayers for the original Nauvoo Temple:
The dedicatory prayer was given by Joseph Young, Senior President of the Seventy, who had been left in charge by Brigham Young of the men working to finish the temple for dedication. (Watson. Manuscript History of Brigham Young, pp. 147-148.)
Excellent. Case closed.
Next, I discovered that there really was a Wilford Wood who went back to Nauvoo in 1937 to negotiate the repurchase of land in Nauvoo, including the temple lot. I found a very thourough article on the history of the Nauvoo Temple that included this quote:
In 1937, the Church started to repurchase property in Nauvoo. Wilford Wood of Bountiful[, Utah] drove twelve hundred miles from Salt Lake City to negotiate for the purchase of the temple lot from the Bank of Nauvoo. Church leaders had instructed him to pay no more than $1,000 for the land. Brother Wood later related:
Came back to the bank and in the back room sat in the most important Council Meeting held in Nauvoo since the Saints were driven from here nearly one hundred years ago. I pleaded for the price to be within reason so I could buy the property. I told them the Church would put up a Bureau of Information which would be a credit to Nauvoo and that what they might lose in the price of the lot would come back to them many times with the people who would come back and pay homage to a desolate city that once had 20,000 people, and only has 1,000 today. I told them of the true principles of the Gospel, of the agency of man, and of the worship of God according to the dictates of conscience.
They all took cigarettes and offered them to me. I told them I had never tasted tea, coffee, or tobacco in my life. I asked them to name the price for which they would sell to me; they had previously said they could not see how they could sell for less than $1,000 to $1,500 and it seemed as though no agreement could be made as I was limited to the price I could pay. An impression came to me, and I said: “Are you going to try to make us pay an exorbitant price for the blood of a martyred Prophet, when you know this property rightfully belongs to the Mormon people?” I felt the spirit of the Prophet Joseph in that room. Mr. Anton said, “We will sell the lot for $900.00.” I grasped his hand, then the hand of the cashier of the bank and the agreement was made and signed.
It also turns out that Wilford Woodruff (the fourth president of the LDS Church) died in 1898. I guess I could have saved myself some time searching with a simple lesson in Church History. The entire history lesson, however, was very interesting and a meaningful and I enjoyed learning more about it.
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