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More today....

Digging through my family genealogy, I think I have discovered a family link to a pioneer family that lived in Nauvoo.  It looks very legit but there are some points that need to be verified.  The family moved here in the 1840s sometime.   They buried almost a half dozen of their kids in the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds East of town (unmarked graves) but the children are listed and known on the huge listing of youth that perished here prior to the Saints being forced out of Nauvoo.

The Holden children are the ones that died here.  James was 22-23.  the rest were under 10, mostly under 2.  Various illnesses.  There is one child listed as dying in 1846 but is not listed here.  Since that child, no name, didn't last a year, and the Saints left Nauvoo in January, could have perished anytime in 1846 after they left.  Most likely passed in Council Bluffs, Iowa or Kanesville, Nebraska (across the river from each other) at Winter Quarters.  The Mom (Lucy Talley) passed away in Council Bluffs in 1851 and did not make it to Utah and is buried there, but the Dad did (Joshua Holden).  I am having a bit of trouble with some of the dates in the genealogy to prove this link to the McDaniel line.  Her mother is supposed to be the brother of one of my direct line ancestors.  Still working on this.  Joshua was ordained a 70 as well as 2 of his sons in Nauvoo.

After some research, a much needed nap, and a trip over to the Sister's that we travel with to Burlington Ward, a beautiful afternoon view of the Mississippi in the waning light of the afternoon today.  This is what they see when they step out of their home.

Setting down for dinner with Sister Webb, Sister Joines, the Sister Missionaries from Burlington Ward, you know who and myself for a nice dinner provided by Sisters Webb/Joines.

...and a rousing teaching session of "find your ancestors" taught by Arlene, of course...

Then off to the Arrival Center for an evening of Valentine fun with the other temple missionaries with a few games (Sister Russel trying to get us to guess something here)...

...the brethren signing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"...

...to their wildly applauding and cheering spouses...

...followed by refreshments and conversation...

...and pictures for Valentines to remember...forever...in Nauvoo.

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Valentine's Day here in Nauvoo and it was not a nice day.  We had a couple of inches of snow and it was cold, for here.  Mid-teens most of the day.  We started out by heading to Burlington for our ward meetings in a driving snow storm on slippery, unplowed roads till we got out on the highways where it was not much better.  It was sort of plowed there but slightly better.  1st time I have ever had to have my rear wiper on, ever, in my life, to keep the rear window clear so I could see out of it!  It just kept being covered over with snow!  Weird....  I taught the High Priest that day.  It was received well then we all headed back to Nauvoo, roads were much better and the snow had nearly stopped.  We were invited over to the Chapman's for dinner that afternoon and to look at their home they have been renovating.  It is the old Anthon-Kelly home that dates back to Daniel Wells in 1844.  It is about a block away from the Nauvoo temple.  It is pretty historic and very interesting.  I love old homes.

The doorways are very uniquely finished.  Original framing.

Original flooring.   Note the difference size of the boards.  This was typical of the way they did them in early 1800s.

At one time this was an outside wall that they have converted to an interior kitchen wall.  That center block is, yes, an actual block from the original temple.  In 1846 the temple was abandoned by the Latter-Day Saints as they moved West.  In 1848 the locals set the temple ablaze fearing the "Mormons" would return and try to rebuild it.  In 1850 a tornado finished off the structure and destroyed the outside walls.  The locals just helped themselves to the stones as they needed them for a long time for building projects for housing.  The "temple stones" can be seen throughout Nauvoo in a lot of different houses and buildings.  This structure is no different.

This is typical for the way they built the basement walls of homes.  Layers of small rocks with mortar in between.  I have seen several finished and unfinished homes that are just foundations and they look about the same.  The coal chute above was added later.

Another temple stone that is part of a basement wall that is now in the middle of the house after a couple of different additions over 150 years or so.  When the last occupant passed away, the house was scheduled for demolition but the Chapman's purchased the home and have spent a lot of time fixing it up.  It's very nice now. 

Upstairs flooring and a hallway.  The room at the end of the hallway was the last, Victorian age addition.  About 1912-1915 per the newspapers they found in the walls that they had used as insulation from Nauvoo, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The Chapman's, Dane and Barbara.  They have beautiful furniture also in various rooms of the house that they have collected over the years.  We were in the same ward in Camino in the early 1990s when we all had little kids.  

I did not get a picture of the house but will add that later.

Downtown Nauvoo on a snowy Sunday afternoon.

A wintry view of the temple from the South West corner of the temple lot.

More activities to report on for tomorrow.  So, look for the next blogspot report....

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Last Monday night we had the opportunity to go to the Willard Richards Inn for an open house and visit with Ruth and Michael Anderson as they invited all of the missionaries over for to celebrate their 50th Wedding anniversary.  Made me realize how close we're getting to that.  Not that far off.  We were able to take a tour of the inn afterwards so I snapped a few pictures with my iPhone.  Hope they turned out OK.  I forgot to take along my Nikon.  The Anderson's are nice people serving with us.  They will be going home next month and went through the Salt Lake temple with us for the initial training back in  March of 2015.  Wow, that seems like ages ago...well, I guess it was!

Their life story in pictures.

Elder Anderson speaking about his experiences of 50 years with his sweety.  President/Sister McArthur, the temple president, seated on the couch.

One of the upstairs bedrooms.  After all, it is a bed & breakfast Inn.

One of my favorite rooms in the Inn.  Gotta love the "rustic" nature of that wall.  Wonder if it leaks, much?

Good thing this isn't California, they'd make them put in an elevator.  Something about Nauvoo and steep stairways in this town but they all look like this.

The happy couple.

...and, of course, the Inn, itself.  A quaint little place just off Highway 96, just outside the thriving downtown Nauvoo.  Walking distance to the temple.  They had a picture of the Hollands in the famous people board.  They stayed there last summer.  I guess they are regulars when they come visit.   

Well, it's supposed to be 19 tonight and head towards 0 later this week so I guess our 40+ degree weather is in decline for a while.  Winter isn't quite done with us yet.  That nasty winter storm just slipped right around us.  The locals are saying we have had a "mild" winter.  I'm not thinking sub zero temperatures is mild but what do I know.

I finally got Elder Kevin's date of release from his mission and have requested an extension for ours for 45 days to coincide with his release date.  If our president is willing to give that extension, and he said he was, we'll all come home together in about mid-November.  But, we'll get that nailed down in a few weeks.  More news to follow...