Faith in Every Footstep: Walking in the Shadows of my Noble Ancestors

Final Resting Place of my son's fifth great grandparents—
and my fourth great-grandparents—in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA.

A wise man, who had some special insight into my life and past, once remarked to me that I, "have been blessed with a rich and an illustrious ancestry."

He was right! 

I recently had a chance to take my oldest son, Tucker, to visit Nauvoo, Illinois, where many of my ancestors—on both sides of my family—spent several years during the late 1830s and early 1840s.

It was a very special trip. 

The occasion was an extended family reunion for the posterity of Joseph Smith, Sr. (1771-1840) and Lucy Mack Smith (1775-1856)—my maternal fourth great-grandparents and my son Tucker's paternal fifth great-grandparents.  

Born at the outset of the American Revolution, Joseph and Lucy Smith's posterity now numbers in the tens of thousands and live all over the world. While only several hundred were able to attend the reunion in Nauvoo, all in attendance sensed the significance of the lives and legacies left by these two remarkable Americans who loved God and cherished their faith and FREEDOM as citizens of a newly formed United States.

My son, Tucker "Joseph" in front of Carthage Jail,

where Joseph & Hyrum Smith were murdered

by an armed mob on June 27, 1844.

I am proud of my forbears and their examples of courage, faith, fortitude, integrity, and endurance. Life on the expanding American frontier in the early-mid nineteenth century was challenging, at best. For religious reformers and restorers like the Smiths, it was often downright hellish—and even deadly—as two of Joseph and Lucy's sons (Joseph Jr. and Hyrum) discovered at the hands of an armed and angry mob in a frontier jail in Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844.

My son Tucker's middle name is "Joseph" in part to honor his fourth great-uncle who was martyred that fateful day in early summer, 1844. We both had the opportunity to visit the famous Carthage Jail where the dastardly deed was done to Joseph and Hyrum—my third great grandfather and Tucker's fourth great grandfather—over 178 years ago.  

Statues of Joseph & Hyrum Smith commemorating
their last ride out of Nauvoo on their way to Carthage Jail.

The persecution of early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been well chronicled; a detailed retelling of that troubling and often tragic story is beyond the scope of this article. 

Suffice it to say, after being harassed, hunted, and hounded from New York to Pennsylvania to Ohio to Missouri, and then eventually to Illinois, Joseph Smith oversaw the building of a remarkable city of 12,000 inhabitants on the eastern shore of the mighty Mississippi. That made Nauvoo the largest city in the State of Illinois at the time (1844)—even larger than Chicago!

With my Mom and son in Nauvoo on the eastern shore of

the Mississippi. It was here that our ancestors crossed the

river to begin their 1,300 mile pioneer exodus to Utah.

After the Latter-Day Saints left for Utah, Nauvoo never regained the population it boasted in the mid-1840s. Today, 180 years later, only one-tenth as many people call Nauvoo, Illinois home. Chicago, on the other hand, passed Nauvoo in population about the time of the Saints' westward exodus, and the rest is, as they say, history! Today, Nauvoo has a population of 1,100 and Chicago is the third largest city and metropolitan area in the entire United States with approximately 3 million (city) and 10 million inhabitants (metro area), respectively.    

Of the thousands of settlers and emigrants that flocked to Nauvoo from 1839-1846, scores of them were my ancestors, and most of them were forced to leave their "Beautiful Place" (a Hebrew interpretation of the word "Nauvoo") in the years following the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. After crossing the Plains in what has since become known as the "Great Mormon Migration" along the famous "Mormon Pioneer Trail," my Smith ancestors and other progenitors settled in Salt Lake City, Utah and its environs. 

My hometown of Monticello, Utah, was settled in 1888 by Mormon Pioneers, one of which was my paternal, second great-grandfather (George Albert Adams [1864-1935]) whose family had initially been sent to settle Parowan, Utah, by Brigham Young, and then later directed by Church President, John Taylor, to settle San Juan County.  

Latter-Day Saints owe a debt of gratitude to

President Abraham Lincoln for his "hands-off"

policy towards Utah Mormons during the Civil War.

As bad as the persecution and forced removals of the Latter-Day Saints had been in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, the crucibles my ancestors passed through had a significant silver lining. 

What was that you say?  

It was just this—their exodus from Missouri and Illinois enabled them to safely escape the unspeakable horrors of the American Civil War. 

If he had seen fit to do so, President Abraham Lincoln had the authority to force conscription upon the Latter-Day Saints—like the Polk Administration had done to the Mormon Pioneers during the Mexican-American War in 1846, which led to the formation of the famous "Mormon Battalion." The soldiers of the Mormon Battalion were blessed to avoid combat duty. Instead, they were ordered to blaze a trail of over 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California, through some of the most arid and desolate landscapes in all of North America.

Long gone into far-off Utah Territory, my people were even more fortunate when the Civil War broke out 15 years later. Unlike James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln's policy toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was simple; said Lincoln: "You tell Brigham Young that if he will let me alone, then I will let him alone."

What a windfall for my ancestors, who, by the 1860s were almost all in Utah!

My maternal grandfather, great-grandfather, and

2nd great-grandfather pose for a picture in 1900.

My 2nd great-grandfather, Joseph F. Smith

(1838-1918) would have been of prime age to fight

in the Civil War. Because he lived in Utah, he—and all

of his family— remained safely out of the conflict.

I will forever be grateful for that policy of Abraham Lincoln's. The Civil War was a truly terrible, dreadful, and even colossal calamity—the likes of which our nation has never seen before or since—and I am so thankful my ancestors were able to avoid it entirely.  

If any of my direct ancestors had remained in Missouri or Illinois—instead of Utah—heaven only knows how many of them would have fought (and died) in that miserable war—and whose to say I would even be here today had that alternative version of history played out?

Things being what they were, literally ALL of my ancestors managed to entirely avoid the American Civil War, thereby helping to ensure I would be here today to write and speak about it.  

What a blessing!  

Thus, it is, that Shakespeare rightly surmised that we humans are often wiser to "bear those ills we have, [rather] than fly to others that we know not of" (Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1, Lines 89-90).

I am grateful for the examples my ancestors set for me. They were strong, courageous, and noble men and women who blazed pioneer trails, settled new communities in the mountains, deserts, and plains, and in more extreme cases, sacrificed their lives for their faith.

Amidst the deluge of derision, hate, and bitterness that so often fills our present culture and media, I am further grateful that my parents and grandparents never taught me to resent or (even) dislike the New Yorkers, Ohioans, Missourians, or Illinoisans who persecuted my ancestors. Instead, they directed my entire focus toward honoring and emulating the remarkable character that enabled my forbears to sacrifice so much and demonstrate so much patience, persistence, faith, and forgiveness.

I actually have a friend who is descended from some of the very Missourians who once hated and persecuted my ancestors. We play on a fantasy baseball league together and harbor no ill will towards each other. In fact, my friend is, like me, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which has grown from a paltry six members in Upstate New York in 1830 to nearly 17 million spread throughout nearly every nation on Earth in 2022.     

Standing next to statues of Hyrum Smith

(my third great grandfather) and Joseph Smith

(my third great uncle) outside of

Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois, USA.

One of the things I admire about my ancestors is their love of liberty and the incredible value they placed upon personal and organizational FREEDOM, including religious freedom. Indeed, when you examine my life and ancestry closely, it isn't hard to see why I have chosen to dedicate my life and career to these same values and IDEALS.

Indeed... is it really any wonder that I am so FREEDOM FOCUSED; focused, that is, on freedom?  

One of the things I came across during my time in Nauvoo was a reproduced pamphlet of the "Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States" by "General [Joseph] Smith"—who, in addition to serving as the Latter-Day Saints spiritual leader, was also commissioned as a Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion (local militia).

Smith had the pamphlet published in early 1844 as a part of his campaign to run for President of the United States during that quadrennial election cycle. Had Joseph lived and pursued his campaign to full fruition, he would have faced off against James K. Polk—the eventual winner of the election who authorized the formation of the Mormon Battalion two years later.  Joseph Smith, of course, was murdered in late June 1844, so his name never made it to the ballot. Nevertheless, the publication of said pamphlet evinces the seriousness of Smith's intentions. While he knew his chances of actually winning were marginal at best, he was eager to bring greater attention to the ills and illegal treatment of his people. For better or for worse (remember how the Latter-Day Saints avoided the Civil War?) Smith's presidential aspirations were terminated at the end of a mobber's musket months before the election was held.  

Statue of Joseph Smith and his
successor—Brigham Young—
in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA.

I close this article with some excerpts from "General Smith's" "Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States." I do so as a means of endorsing said quotes in a good-faith effort to harmonize his statements—and others like them—in an ongoing effort to continually proliferate the message of personal growth, liberty, and freedom throughout our troubled, but still tenuously united, United States of America—and world.

In selecting these quotes, I have been careful to steer clear of Smith's specific political policies and views and focus instead on both the largeness and largesse of his heart as it relates to his fellow countrymen and fellowman as well as his desires for both their individual and collective happiness, prosperity, FREEDOM, and peace.  

"Born in a land of liberty, ... I ever feel a double anxiety for the happiness of all [people], both in time and in eternity. My cogitations like Daniel's, have for a long time troubled me, when I viewed the condition of men throughout the world, and more especially in [my homeland], where the Declaration of Independence "holds these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," but at the same time, some two or three millions of people are held as slaves for life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours: ...

Upstairs room in Carthage Jail where my third

great-grandfather (Hyrum Smith) and his younger brother,

Joseph Smith, were murdered by an armed mob at a little

past five o'clock p.m., on Thursday, June 27, 1844

"The wisdom, which ought to characterize the freest, wisest, and most noble nation of the nineteenth century, should, like the sun in his meridian splendor, warm every object beneath its rays: and the main efforts of her officers, who are nothing more or less than the servants of the people, ought to be directed to ameliorate the condition of all: black or white, bond or free; for the best of books says, "God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on the face of the earth." ...

"Unity is power, and when I reflect on the importance of it to the stability of all governments, I am astounded at the silly moves of persons and parties, to foment discord in order to ride into power on the current of popular excitement; nor am I less surprized [sic] at the stretches of power, or restrictions of right, which too often appear as acts of legislators, to pave the way to some favorite political schemes, as destitute of intrinsic merit, as a wolf's heart is of the milk of human kindness: a Frenchman would say, "prosque tout aimer richesses et pouvoir:" (almost all men like wealth and power). ...

The original door and bullet hole through
which my third great-grandfather was struck
and killed at Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844.

"No honest man can doubt for a moment, but the glory of American liberty, is on the wane; and, that calamity and confusion will sooner or later, destroy the peace of the people. ...

"In the United States the people are the government; and their united voice is the only sovereign that should rule; the only power that should be obeyed; and the only gentlemen who should be honored; at home and abroad; on the land and on the sea: Wherefore, were I the president of the United States, by the voice of a virtuous people, I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom: I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious patriots, who carried the ark of the government upon their shoulders with an eye single to the glory of the people. ...

[I say] let there be universal peace. ... and let reason and friendship reign over the ruins of ignorance and barbarity; yea I would, as the universal friend of man, ... open the eyes; open the ears and open the hearts of all people, to behold and enjoy freedom, unadulterated freedom: ...

Standing next to the grave markers of: left-to-right:
Hyrum Smith, Emma Smith, and Joseph Smith, Jr.

With the highest esteem,
          I am a friend of virtue,

                      and of the people,

                      JOSEPH SMITH

Nauvoo, Illinois, February 7, 1844.

—Dr. JJ

August 17, 2022

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 279th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 108th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

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