Lucy Mack Smith home

I had this blog post almost completed in March, but then I got a new calling to be the Rendezvous director.  More about that in a later post.  I haven't had any time since so I didn't finish this blog post--until now.  That is why it is kind of wintery. 

Recently I worked in the Lucy Mack Smith home with Sister Monney.  Lucy Mack Smith was the mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  She had 8 sons and 3 daughters.  Her photo hangs in her home.  She was a very small lady but very determined and always believed her son to be a prophet and that the Book of Mormon was true.

She said, "I would declare, as long as God should give me breath, that Joseph has that record, and that I know it to be true."

She was born in 1775 in New Hampshire. 



Lucy Mack Smith

The home was built by Joseph Bates Noble who was a Justice of the Peace in Nauvoo.  When the Saints left for the west, the LDS church leaders purchased the home for Lucy Mack Smith to live in.  She was too old and not well enough to go west.

Lucy Mack Smith home--with S washer attached to a rod, strengthening the home.

Here I am welcoming you to the Lucy Mack Smith home



Dishes that belonged to Lucy Mack Smith's sister in law

These are my favorite dishes in Nauvoo.  They were given to Lucy's sister-in-law at her wedding in 1796.  Only one saucer is missing.

Me and the lying-in room

This may have been where Lucy slept.  In those days they often had a lying-in room for people who couldn't climb the stairs because of advanced age, arthritis, or advanced pregnancy.  You can see why when you see the stairs they had in those days. 



The steepest stairs in town

Often I go down these stairs backwards.  It's easier that way.

Stairs with door

This door would shut down over the steep staircase.  If you had children sleeping upstairs, you would sure want to put that door down in case anyone woke up in the night.

Beautiful lace gloves from the period

These lace gloves are in the upstairs parlor.

Lovina Smith Walker portrait--from Lucy Mack Smith home

There are also some portraits upstairs of Lucy Mack Smith's granddaughter, Hyrum Smith's daughter by his first wife Jerusha who died before they came to Nauvoo. The granddaughter is Lovina Smith Walker. There is also a portrait of her husband, Lorin Walker. They were married by Hyrum Smith, her father, on June 23, 1844--the day before Hyrum and Joseph went to Carthage where they were martyred. What a blessing for her to be married by her dad before he was killed.

A doll in the children's room

Socks and shoes and a doll in the children's room

A little cradle and chest in the children's room

Some pictures on the wall upstairs.

 

Lucy Mack Smith told the women at the second Relief Society meeting, "We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together."
That was her goal for her family and friends and what a worthy goal for all of us.

Pelicans in the River

Eagles in back and ducks in front

An eagle in flight

Pelicans



Eagle



On the sleigh with Tim and Tom

 

 

This spring there was a lot of mud and the carriage route was pretty muddy.  It was too hard for two horses to pull the carriage.  So the teamsters hooked the horses up in a four-up hitch.  

 

Four-Up Carriage Ride with Dan and Doc and Bill and Bob

 

 

Mark driving & Elder Nunn narrating the Carriage Ride

 

 

Another four-up hitch.  Horses are Tim and Tom and Mike and Ned