History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

NAUVOO.
the City of Joseph in prominence and importance is
the house of Joseph, hotel and residence, called the
Nauvoo House, 5 which is to the material man as the
ghost; even so, amen.' Times and Seasons, ii. 37G. A revelation was published
in Jan. 1S41. ' Let all my saints come from afar, and send ye swift messengers,
yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them: " Come ye with all your gold
and your silver and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities, and with
all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come; and bring
the box-tree and the fir-tree and the pine-tree, together with all the precious
trees of the earth, and with iron and with copper and with brass and with
zinc and with all your precious things of the earth, and build a house to my
name for the most high to dwell therein.'" Smucker's Hist. Mar., 132. For
reference notes on temple: minutes of conference, relating to building a
church, etc., see Times and Seasons, i. 185-7. Laying the foundation stone, Id.,
ii. 375-7, 380-2; Mackay's The Mormons, 118-20; Smucker's Hist. Mor., 133.
Laying of the capstone, Times and Seasons, vi. 926. Progress of its building,
Id., in. 775-6; iv. 10-11; The Prophet, in Mackay's The Mormons, 1S9-91.
Description of the temple with cut, Smucker's Mormons, 129; Ferris' The Mormons,
137-9; Pratt's Autobiography, 378; without cut, Smucker's Mormons,
202-4; Bertrand Mem. Morm., 61; Cincinnati Times; Deseret News, March
22, 1S76; church claims, Times and Seasons, iii. 735-8; 767-9; v. 618-20; Kimball,
in Times and Seasons, vi. 972-3; misappropriation of funds, Hall's Mormonism
Exposed, 7-8. 'One of the most powerful levers which he had invented
for moving his disciples in temple building was the doctrine of baptism
for the dead... which baptism must be performed in the temple^ no other
place would give it the requisite efficacy.' Ferris' The Mormons, 97-S. 'Another
mode of making the dimes was that of giving the blessing, as it was said,
from heaven. This was the sole province of the patriarch, which office, till
his death, was exercised by Hiram Smith. No blessing could be obtained for
less than one dollar; but he frequently received for this service twenty,
thirty, and even forty dollars.' Hall's Mormonism, 22.
5 It was ordered by revelation given to Joseph Smith, Jan. 19, 1841, that
a hotel should be built and called the Nauvoo House; that it should be
erected under the supervision of George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider,
and Peter Haws, one of whom should be president of a joint-stock company
to be formed for the purpose, and that stock subscriptions should be for not
less than fifty dollars nor more than fifteen thousand dollars by any one
man, and that only by a believer in the book of Mormon. Vinson Knight,
Hyrum Smith, Isaac Galland, William Marks, Henry G. Sherwood, and William
Law were directed by name to take stock. 'And now I say unto you,
as pertaining to my boarding-house, which I have commanded you to build
for the boarding of strangers, let it be built unto my name, and let my name
be named upon it, and let my servant Joseph and his house have place therein
from generation to generation.' The Nauvoo House Associaton was incorporated
Feb. 23, 1841, by George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider, and
Peter Haws, and associates. Copy of act in Bennett's Hist. Saints, 204-5.
Plan of city, with cuts of temple, baptismal font, and Nauvoo Legion,
with description, in Bennett's Hist. Saints, 1SS-91, which is quite erroneous,
the building being then not completed. I have taken this account chiefly
from Phelps' description in The Prophet. The Nauvoo House, says Bennett,
'though intended chiefly for the reception and entertainment of strangers
and travellers, contains, or rather when completed is to contain, a splendid
suite of apartments for the special accommodation of the prophet Joe Smith,
and heirs and descendants forever.' Cut of temple, and best description of
Nauvoo institutions, in Mackay's The Mormons, 115, 190-1. The Nauvoo
House, in form of an L, had a frontage on two streets of 120 feet each,
by a depth of 40 feet; the estimated cost was §100,000. Times and Seasons,
ii. 363. Another building opened in Nov. 1S43 was the Nauvoo mansion.
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