Nauvoo

We drove the rest of the way to Nauvoo Friday and arrived just in time to surprise the kids with a Vocal Point concert. Soooooo awesome! The girls kept edging closer to the front before it began, and ended up with front row seats in the center section. Ali got high fives from singers when they came down during songs, and the girls had a BLAST!. And Jeff, of course, was in seventh heaven as evidenced by our only picture of the night: Jeff with McKay and Keith of The Sing Off fame. The girls went up on stage afterwards to get autographs from as many of the singers as they could. So fun.

We spent the night in one very hot campground right in Nauvoo. Location: fabulous. Air conditioning: an insufficient breeze off the Mississippi River. In the morning, Hannah and Jeff went early to do baptisms at the Nauvoo Temple. They had a lovely time, and returned uplifted AND freshly showered. lol!

We spent the day in Nauvoo and had a very nice time, but the heat and humidity encouraged us to make it a one day stay. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the outlying areas of Nauvoo, visited many shops and homes, watched a play . . . and bumped into a Sister Broadbent in the Post Office. I held out my copy of "My Broadbent and Murdock Heritage" and it turned out that her mother-in-law was the author. This was my sweet cousin Marilyn that my uncle Emer Dean told me about a week or two ago. Her husband, my dad's cousin Curtis, was two doors down in the Print Shop. Marilyn had us surprised him by standing in front of him holding the book as he greeted visitors. I think we gave him quite a surprise! We had such a lovely visit with both of them. Curtis told us all about John Deans Murdock, our ancestor Nymphas' older brother, who was assigned with the eldest brother Joseph, to herd the Church's livestock across the plains from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. They worked hard ferrying the cattle across the Mississippi during that cold winter of 1846 and John Deans died from the exposure after the ferrying and was the first martyr to die during the exodus from Nauvoo. Joseph continued working to oversee the transport of the cattle, and Nymphas at age 14 drove the wagon that he and his mother Sally Stacy Murdock rode in behind. Their group was just behind Brigham Young when they entered the Salt Lake Valley and just before the next wagon train since the cattle needed space to spread out and roam.

The Broadbents encouraged me to run over to the Lands & Records Office and I am so glad that I did. I filled a CD up with tons of records that I didn't have time to look through. Birth and death certificates, land ownership documents, pedigree charts, and so forth all on ancestors who lived in Nauvoo in the 1840s. Murdocks, Barneys, Stacys, Wrights, and Carters on the Snarr side. I know that there are more, but I ran out of time. I left with instructions on how to request copies of more when I get a little more organized. Super cool.

A Mississippi River Box Turtle

We finished off the day by walking down Parley Street . . . well, the kids & Jeff drove along slowly in the car with the AC while I walked. They're still learning about sacrifice. And it WAS hot. The street is lined with quotes from diaries and letters written by those who left so much behind in Nauvoo. Their words inspired me and reminded me what an incredible foundation was laid by these pioneers. A monument by the river listed the names of all of those known who left Nauvoo and never reached their destination in the Rockies. I recognized several names I knew of, as well as several family names that left me wondering if there are more family stories that I need to dig up. For instance, there are two Tippetts names on that memorial. Are they family? What are their stories? So much of the temple work has been done on all of the lines for both Jeff and me, but I am left with the feeling that ordinance work is just the beginning. Who were these people? What is their story? What happened to that sweet little baby boy who died at just over a year old? Who was the mother left behind and what did she do with the sorrow in her heart? The stories that I do have are so moving and full of both immense loss and sweet joys. These people have contributed in incredibly significant ways to the family culture that I benefit from today and I find their stories humbling and so compelling. The girls certainly enjoyed the horses, and their new Nauvoo bricks, the cookies and bread from the bakery and the cooking demo . . . hopefully some piece of their little hearts began to turn to their fathers as well.