28 Nauvoo, Illinois, 1840–1842

On Saturday, May 9, 1840, a notice appeared in the Quincy Whig announcing that Dr. Frederick G. Williams had removed from Quincy to Commerce (Nauvoo), where he expected to continue his medical practice.

NOTICE

Is hereby given to the citizens of Quincy and the public generally, that I have removed from Quincy and located in Commerce, Hancock county, Ill., where I expect to continue the practice of medicine as usual upon the principles of reason and philosophy, by distinguishing diseases, by an examination of the Urine, and the administration of vegetable medicines.

The citizens of Adams County have my grateful acknowledgement for their patronage—the past season having attendded since the 20th August last 1557 cases.

F. G. WILLIAMS, Botanist.

    2mo¹

We do not know specifically what prompted the move from Quincy to Nauvoo, but several possibilities exist, among which I cite the following. Perhaps it was to demonstrate his faith in the leaders and solidarity with the majority of the Saints who lived there, especially now that Frederick had been reinstated in the Church at the April 8, 1840, Nauvoo conference. By this time, most of the Saints who had originally sought refuge in Quincy had moved north to Nauvoo. Second, it may well be that Frederick had been asked to come to Nauvoo by the Prophet; after all, Williams had been Joseph’s long-time counselor, trusted friend, and family physician.² By removing to Nauvoo, the doctor could more easily care for Joseph’s medical needs as well as minister to the medical needs of the larger LDS population established there. The threat of malaria and cholera were ever-present since the area was on a bend of the Mississippi River—with the river both north and south, forming a wide peninsula—that had originally been a swamp that the Saints had had to drain before the city could be built. Third, perhaps the Williamses were motivated to move to Nauvoo to be potentially closer to family and friends. For example, Rebecca’s older sister Sarah Swain Clark (1789–1859)—who joined the Church in Michigan with her two daughters, Mary and Sarah—saw her daughters and grandchildren move to Illinois, Iowa, and Utah with the Saints.³ Fourth, perhaps by moving to Nauvoo the Williamses were answering the call to gather and help build the Nauvoo Temple. Many of the able-bodied men were constantly away from Nauvoo on missions. Ezra was now seventeen and would have been a great help, and, of course, both Frederick and Rebecca had been closely involved with the construction of the first temple in Kirtland and could participate from a position of experience. It is likely that all these reasons played some part in their decision.

Quincy Promissory Note

The May 9 notice announcing that Williams had already moved to Commerce does not answer the question of when, exactly, he did move. The best we can do is narrow it to about a four-week window. The last extant document that ties Williams to his first Quincy period was dated two days after the Nauvoo conference where he was received back into Church fellowship. The document is a promissory note for $75 signed by John Riggs and dated April 10, 1840, from Quincy. When Nancy C. Williams turned the document over to the Church Historian’s Office in 1934 along with several other documents, she gave it the number 12 and circled it. On the back of the document on one end in pencil is written “J Riggs Note 75 00”; at the other end is written “John Riggs Note $75.00,” both in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams. On the front side of the paper, John Riggs wrote:

$75,00 Ninety days after date for value received I promise to pay F G Williams or bearer Seventy five Dollars with interest Quincy 10th April 1840

John Riggs⁴

From this promissory note, we can surmise that Frederick was still in Quincy on April 10. But before May 9, he had moved from Quincy and established his residence in Nauvoo.

Nauvoo in the Early 1840s

The Mormon success at establishing the city of Nauvoo on a previously swampy but beautiful bend of the Mississippi River aroused much interest, not only among steamboat travelers who could see the construction from the river but among visitors from around the country. One complimentary account, entitled “A Glance at the Mormons,” that appeared in several newspapers,⁵ describes settlements on both sides of the river: Nauvoo in Illinois and the Half-Breed Reservation in Iowa, where Frederick would soon purchase 320 acres of land.⁶ The Quincy Whig reported:

Since the Mormons were expelled from the State of Missouri, they have purchased the town of Commerce, a situation of surpassing beauty, at the head of the lower rapids, on the Illinois shore of the upper Mississippi river. The name of the place they recently changed to Nauvoo, the Hebrew term for Fair or Beautiful. Around this place, as their centre, they are daily gathering from almost every quarter, and several hundred new houses, created within the last few months, attest to the passing traveler the energy, industry, and self-denial with which the community is imbued. They have also obtained possession of extensive tracts of land on the opposite side of the river, in that charming portion of Iowa Territory, known as the “Half Breed Reservation;” and there, upon the rolling and fertile prairies, they are rapidly selecting their homes and opening their farms. As the traveler now passes thro’ those natural parks and fields of flowers, which the hand of the Creator seems to have originally planted there for the inspection of his own eye, he beholds their cabins, dotted down in the most enchanting perspective, either on the borders of the timber, or beside the springs and streams of spring water, which are interspersed on every hand.⁷

The article also highlighted the Church’s missionary effort at home and abroad.

Nor are they unmindful of their interests abroad while they are thus accomplishing so much at home. No sect, with equal means, has probably ever suffered and achieved more in so short a time. Their elders have not only been commissioned and sent forth to every part of our own country, but they have left their families and friends behind them, and gone to Europe, and even to the Holy Land, to reveal the wonders of the “new and everlasting covenant;” and to preach “the dispensation of the fullness of times.” They doubt not but that they shall be endued, when necessary, with power from on high to proclaim to all the nations of the earth, in their tongues, the wonderful works of God.⁸

Visitors toured Nauvoo even in the dead of winter and were especially interested to see the temple under construction and to have the home of the Prophet pointed out to them. One such account is by J. F. Daugherty.

My first recollection of Keokuk dates from February, 1842. . . . I arrived with my parents. . . . We came in road wagons from Terra Haute, Indiana. . . .

On nearing the Mississippi River near Nauvoo, the weather being very cold and disagreeable . . . we had ample time to view the beautiful temple, drive all over the city and have pointed out the different residences of the church hierarchy, including the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith’s and all the bishops and church dignitaries, including their many halls, meeting places, and ward buildings.

The temple was, indeed, a grand building then in its unfinished condition, the twelve life-sized oxen with their heads and broad horns patterned after the Texan steers, facing every point of the compass supporting the baptismal fount, although at that time only made of wood, appeared life-like. These wooden oxen were afterwards used as models and replaced by oxen hewn out of the solid white limestone ledges just below the city. This fine building, costing over a million dollars, when one dollar in skilled labor or material would go as far as five will today, and all this money was filched from the poor converts who crossed the ocean and paid into the church treasury one tenth of all they possessed and thereafter every tenth day’s labor, or its equivalent in their accumulations. There were among the thousands of Mormons that came from all points of the compass across the water to Nauvoo as fine a class of skilled mechanics and artisans in every branch or class of business as the world could produced, so the Mormons were, and have always been, independent in any enterprise they undertook.⁹

The Williams Residence in Nauvoo

According to the file on Frederick G. Williams at the LDS Information Center in Nauvoo, Illinois, the Williams family lived as tenants in the “Upper Stone House” on a tract of land known as the Joseph Smith addition, block 10, lot 4, in Commerce, right next to the Mississippi River.¹⁰ The two-and-a half-story limestone house, one of the earliest permanent buildings in the area, had been built by Captain James White in 1829 and became the center for the social and political life of the emerging village.¹¹ White sold his home and adjacent lots to Isaac Galland, who sold it, together with some forty-seven acres of adjoining land, on April 30, 1839, to the First Presidency of the Church (Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith) for a promised $9,000. On the same day, the Presidency bought for $5,000 a contiguous farm of 123 acres belonging to Hugh White, Captain White’s son, which had a log cabin on it. Joseph Smith and his family moved into the log cabin, while Sidney Rigdon and his family moved into the stone residence.¹² It would appear, however, that the Rigdons had left the stone house and moved into their two-story frame home on the east side of Main Street between Water and Sidney streets by the time the Williamses arrived.¹³

Even though I have as yet not discovered the source for the information on their housing, it would make sense for Dr. Williams and his family to move into the “Upper Stone House,” the most spacious building in the city, for its rooms would afford patients a place to stay while they were recovering from their illnesses. In August 1841, it was announced that the Stone House was to become a hotel, according to a notice in the Times and Seasons. The note indicates that the hotel would accommodate both travelers and resident boarders, something it had evidently been doing for some time:

NAUVOO FERRY HOTEL

S. BENNETT, having the occupancy of the Stone House, recently in the possession of Sidney Rigdon, will appropriate it as a

House of Entertainment.

Travelers and resident boarders, shall be well treated and reasonably charged. Commodious stabling on the premises.

    Aug. 2, 1841.¹⁴

The Williamses in Nauvoo

As we’ve seen, Dr. Williams gave notice in the Quincy Whig that he had moved to Commerce to practice medicine. Although we don’t know for sure where they lived, we do know with surety, from four additional sources, that the Williamses lived in Nauvoo: (1) the 1840 Federal Census, (2) Helen Mar Kimball Whitney’s autobiography, (3) the membership roll of the Nauvoo First Ward, and (4) Sarah Kimball’s autobiography, where she discloses she and her husband boarded with the Williamses in Nauvoo for six months soon after their marriage.

The 1840 Census

Instructions to the marshals for the 1840 U.S. Census stipulated that the enumeration “shall commence on the first day of June 1840 and be completed 10 months after (viz. April 1, 1841).”¹⁵ Since the Williamses are listed in the 1840 census as residents of Hancock County, which is where Nauvoo was being constructed, the census confirms that the Williamses had in fact moved to Nauvoo in May, as the newspaper notice announced. The name F. G. Williams is listed as the 18th among “head of families” on page 169 of the census for Hancock County, Illinois, township of Nauvoo. The printed headings on the census sheet divide the page between “Free White Persons, Including Heads of Families” and “Free Colored Persons, Including Heads of Families.” It distinguishes further between “Males” and “Females” and provides thirteen columns of options for their ages, ranging from under 5, the lowest, to 100 and upwards. The table below shows the numbers written in the columns next to Williams’s name as head of the household and my attempt to identify the thirteen people listed in Dr. Williams’s “family.”

US Federal Census 1840 Illinois (0007642)

I surmise that the Riggses did not plan to move to Nauvoo permanently but kept their home in Quincy, where Burr probably continued with his father-in-law’s medical practice. However, since Burr Riggs does not appear as “head of family” in the 1840 U.S. Census in either Quincy, Adams County, or Nauvoo, Hancock County, it may be that he and his wife, Lovina, had come to Nauvoo to help the parents with the move and were at the Williams home when the census was taken. We know that Lucy Eliza Williams did not marry Nathan Pinkham of Quincy until September 18, 1842, so it would be two years too early to have Nathan be part of the 1840 Williams household.

If we include Lovina and Burr Riggs in the count,¹⁶ the unidentified persons in the household would include one female between ages 10 and 15 (likely a servant girl), and five males: two between the ages of 20 and 30, and three between the ages of 30 and 40. The extra people in the household could have been boarders: perhaps laborers on the temple, visitors, patients, or even neighbors who were at the Williams home when the count was taken.¹⁷ It is interesting to note that the census taker, when filling out the livelihood of those in the household, included only three males (Frederick, Ezra, and Burr?) and listed them under agriculture.¹⁸

The results of the census of Hancock County were published in the Times and Seasons on December 15, 1840.

CENSUS OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

Through the politeness of Mr. Williams, Clerk of the Circuit Court, we have the returns of the census for Hancock county. From which it appears that the whole number of male inhabitants is 5,284, whole number of females 4,724; total population 10,008. Number subject to military duty 1838.¹⁹

Letter regarding the Census

An interesting postscript to the 1840 census is a reply to an inquiry Frederick G. Williams had made concerning the census information on Nauvoo. Dr. F. G. Williams received a letter in reply from R. F. Haynes, dated November 4, 1840.

Mr. Williams Nov. 4, 1840

Sir, Agreeable to your request, I transmit to you at the earliest opportunity the information you desired, concerning the census of Nauvoo. There were 2450 in town, and about 3000 in Commerce prescient; and 9898 in the county of H’ancock

I subscribe myself your abt Sert

    Re R. F. Haynes

To Dr. F. G. Williams²⁰

Dr. Williams’s Medical Patients in Nauvoo after May 9, 1840

As he had proposed to do in the Quincy newspaper announcement, Frederick did indeed establish his medical practice in Nauvoo. Those patients listed in his medical ledger that carried a post–May 9, 1840, date (until the end of 1840) are as follows:

The patients listed at the end with the year 1840 (but with no month), may have been seen in Quincy prior to May 9, 1840, as was obviously the case with Miss Dimmick, who carried the notation “Quincy, Illinois,” next to her name.

Smith Family Members Appearing in Dr. F. G. Williams’s Medical Ledger

Dr. Williams’s earliest ledgers have not been found. But the one begun in 1837 has survived and lists seven male members of the Smith family by name. After the initial entry (which would correspond to the first doctor consultation), the later entries do not generally include dates. For example, there is an initial consultation with the doctor on January 28, 1837, for Joseph Smith Sr., followed by eight subsequent entries, none of which were dated. The seven Smiths found in Dr. Williams’s ledger include the following, together with the number of entries and the total charges.

The older Smiths, John and Joseph Smith Sr., did not pay their doctor bills. Since females are mentioned by name in the ledger only when they are single adults or widowed, it is likely that Lucy Mack Smith was represented in one or more of the nine entries under Joseph Smith Sr. Similarly, Emma would most likely account for several of the thirty-two entries under the Prophet Joseph Smith’s name. I have already noted that Emma and Joseph lost their infant son on August 15, 1841.

DIED.—In this city, on the 15th ultimo, Don Carlos infant son of Joseph and Emma Smith, aged 14 months and 2 days. Like the bud of a beautiful flower, ere it had time to expand twas cut down, but it rests in peace.²¹

Young Don Carlos (named for his uncle, who passed away on August 7, 1841) was born on June 13, 1840. Hence, it is entirely possible that the Prophet asked Dr. Williams to come to Nauvoo to tend to Emma’s pregnancy and the birth of this child. Beginning with May 24, 1840, there are eight entries under the name of Joseph Smith Jr.²²

Sarah and Hiram Kimball Board with the Williamses in Nauvoo

A recently married couple, Sarah and Hiram Kimball, boarded with the Williams family for six months in Nauvoo. Taking in boarders was not unusual, especially for the Williamses who, as previously noted, had had boarders living with them in Kirtland.²³ What is unusual in this case is that Hiram Kimball was an established merchant and store owner in Commerce before the Mormons arrived.²⁴ A short distance from his store (which no longer stands) was their house (which is still extant). Their home, a one-and-a-half-story frame house on the north side of Young Street beyond Bain Street (the house is usually referred to by his wife’s name, the Sarah Granger Kimball Home, because she was one of the founders of the Relief Society), had been built in the pre-Mormon period, probably soon after Hiram arrived in Commerce in 1833, when he was twenty-seven years old.²⁵ We do not know at present why the Kimballs lived with the Williamses instead of in the Kimball homestead; perhaps the home had been rented out and would not become available for six months. In any case, Sarah Kimball’s account helps establish the Williamses’ whereabouts in Nauvoo.

I am the daughter of Oliver Granger and Lydia Dibble Granger, was born December 29, 1818, in the town of Phelps, Ontario Co., New York. Of my father and mother’s eight children, only myself and two younger brothers (Lafayette and Farley) remain. . . .

I was married in Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, by Warren Cowdery, Esq., September 2nd, 1840, to Hiram Kimball, eldest son of Phineas and Abigail Kimball, of West Fairley, Orange Co, Vermont. My parents had previously spent a year in Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Ill.; their present stay in Ohio was considered only temporary (my father sickened and died there the next year). I returned with my husband to his home in Nauvoo, Ill., three weeks after my marriage. We boarded six months in the family of Dr. Frederick Williams, then went to housekeeping. My eldest son was born in Nauvoo, November 22nd, 1841.²⁶

If we take Sarah’s words literally, three weeks after the September 23, 1840, marriage in Kirtland, when she “returned with [her] husband to his home in Nauvoo,” would be October 14, 1840. Evidently his home was occupied, so they began to board with the Williamses. A corroborating document found in Dr. Williams’s medical ledger (see below) shows that the actual date the Kimballs began to board with the Williamses was November 4.

Hiram Kimball’s Account

On page 170 in Dr. Williams’s medical ledger (essentially the last page of the account book used by Frederick G. and Rebecca Williams), there is a sheet with Hyrum [sic] Kimball’s name written at the top and above that the year 1840. Below, beginning with the date November 4, is an account, most probably in Hiram Kimball’s own hand, that begins, “Returned from east, Self & wife commenced board.” Kirtland, Ohio, is, of course, east of Nauvoo, Illinois, and November 4 is close to three weeks after their marriage at the end of September. The narrative continues with a listing, in abbreviated form, of dates of such things as “3 dinners for cutters,” “19 days board,” “3 meals to cutters 3 to cutters & others,” “3 meals to hired girl,” and more. It would appear that Hiram was keeping a tally of his board and room and the board and room of others who appear to be cutters, most likely stonemasons, who were working on the temple.²⁷ If this interpretation is correct, then the extra people in F. G. Williams’s family in the 1840 U.S. Census are stonemasons, one of whom was called Van, who boarded from August 22 to November 10, and the reference to a “hired girl” likely corresponds to the female between the age of 10 and 15 that is listed in the census count. Hiram Kimball’s account reads:

	1840
[p] 170	Hyrum     Dt      Kimball	Cr
Nov 4	Returned from east
	Self & wife commenced board
Augst 22	Van commenced board
Nov 10	and left
13	3 dinners for Cutters
21	2 oz hot D/ 4/ - 1 Do. Canker Pck	75
	2 [gemanteen] 4/ - 1 Large Do. 4/	100
	1 oz Cank Pack 2/	25
	19 days board	$3.00 [p h]
	3 meals to Cutters 3 to Cutters & others
	2 to Cutters 1 Do. to Cutters
	[ ] for [wife] 3/ minutes 1/
	[ ] L & Tea/ - wife 3/ sundry and 4/
	3 meals to men drawing hay
	Tippits act. 3/ - 4 oz botl Dp 4/
	Fem [ ] L & tea 4/ - 2 Doz fem Rice
	2 0z hot D/p 3/ [Jaggon bell] ll/
	astgt wsh 3/6 [Haz] [Lean] 1/6
	3 meals to hired girl28

Nauvoo First Ward

On March 1, 1841, the Nauvoo City Council passed an ordinance, signed by Mayor John C. Bennett, that divided Nauvoo into four civil wards, with the First Ward occupying the northwest section of the Upper City where the original Commerce had been and where the “Upper Stone House” was situated on the Joseph Smith Addition. The Times and Seasons wrote: “Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, That the city be, and the same hereby is, divided into four wards, as follows; to wit: all that district of country, within the city limits, north of the center of Knight Street, and west of the center of Wells Street, shall constitute the first ward.”²⁹ The ordinance further allowed each ward to be represented in the city council by one alderman and two councilors. In the case of the First Ward, Samuel H. Smith was the alderman and John P. Greene and Vinson Knight were the councilors.³⁰ The Church also appointed a bishop over each ward. Vincent Knight was the First Ward bishop and wrote the following in the Times and Seasons:

PROCLAMATION.

To the Saints who are coming to the conference—Forget not your tithes, and your offerings, for we have in this place the blind, the halt, the widow and the orphan, and we desire that they all may have a blessing. Forget not those whom God has placed at your head to instruct and teach you, for they have to eat and drink and be clothed. I will say that if the poor can eat, and the needy have their wants supplied, the Saints will get a blessing worthy of their profession; I say it by the authority of my office, and in the name of Jesus Christ.

V. KNIGHT Bishop.
Nuvoo [sic] March 1st, 1841.³¹

The Williamses Are Listed in the Nauvoo First Ward

The Williamses were members of the Nauvoo First Ward, which confirms the overall location of their residence in Nauvoo: “north of the center of Knight Street, and west of the center of Wells Street.” The journal bearing the names of the ward members lists each family member and whether or not he or she had been baptized. Although Ezra was younger, he appears ahead of Lucy Eliza Williams, and her first name is omitted.

	Name	Bap over 8	Under 8	Not baptized over 8
p. 62	F. G. Williams	x
	Rebecka [sic] Williams	x
	Ezra Williams	x
	Eliza Williams	x32

Baptism for Rebecca’s Deceased Parents Done in the Mississippi River

While the Williamses lived in Nauvoo, the Prophet introduced a new doctrine that undoubtedly brought them great joy: the performance of baptism on behalf of their deceased kindred. On August 15, 1840, at the funeral for Seymour Brunson, the Prophet Joseph Smith introduced this new doctrine. Thereafter, until the temple baptistry was completed and dedicated, the members were baptized for their kindred dead in the Mississippi River.³³ According to Susan Easton Black, “From that time forward, Saints in Nauvoo waded knee-deep into the Mississippi River to be baptized as proxy for their deceased kindred and friends (see Doctrine and Covenants 127, 128). . . . Aroet Hale wrote, ‘The prophet set the pattern for the baptism of the dead. He went into the Mississippi River and baptized over 200. Then the apostles and other elders went into the river and continued the same ordinance. Hundreds were baptized there.’”³⁴

In that early day, women could act as proxies for their male ancestors. In April 1841, Rebecca was baptized in the Mississippi River—first for herself (a rebaptism); then on behalf of her father, Isaac Swain (1759–1838); and then on behalf of her mother Elizabeth Hall Swain (1755–1813).³⁵ It is likely that Rebecca’s husband, Frederick G. Williams, performed the baptisms. Rebecca lost her mother when she was fifteen years old, whereupon her father remarried. She had tried to interest him in the restored gospel and had written to him bearing a strong testimony, but he had rejected her overtures.³⁶

William Kimball Boarded with the Williamses in Nauvoo

Another boarder at the Williams home was fifteen-year-old William H. Kimball, son of Heber C. and Vilate Kimball, some two and a half years younger than Ezra. The two boys had been friends in Kirtland and had been baptized on the same occasion by the Prophet and confirmed by Hyrum Smith. According to William’s younger sister, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, William stayed with the Williamses during the summer months of May and June 1841 while their father was on a mission to England. The quote implies that William was working at the Williamses’ (perhaps in a medical capacity?), which gave him the means to purchase clothes and help his mother. The reference corroborates that the Williamses were living in Upper Commerce. It also indicates that people were continuously plagued by disease, which would confirm the need for Dr. Williams’s services.

The second winter after my father left us we were once more in the enjoyment of health. William and I attended school taught in a room belonging to Brother Winchester by Justin Johnson brother to Mrs. Marinda Hyde, who was living in our neighborhood. The next summer William went to live with an old friend, Dr. F. G. Williams, in Upper Commerce and by this means was able to clothe himself and help mother. While living there a circus came through and he knowing that I had never seen one came up to take me with him, but found me very sick, as I had been again attacked with chills and fever and was so delirious that I knew nothing about his coming. I mention this circumstance to show how long a time we were afflicted with this disease, after a short recovery we would be again taken with a relapse. Those who were strong enough wore it out in time, but many died because they were previously worn out and had not sufficient vitality to battle with this and other diseases brought on by suffering and privation and they died martyrs to the truth.³⁷

Dr. Williams’s Medical Patients in Nauvoo and Quincy in 1841 and 1842

The small number of dates included with the patient consultation entries in the medical ledger for 1841 and 1842 makes it very difficult to determine when Dr. Williams left Nauvoo with his family to return to Quincy. The earliest medical date in 1841 is for S. F. Lani on February 28, 1841; the latest date in 1842 is for Mrs. Ann Purdue on February 29, 1842.

1841
Lani, S. F.		Paid 28 Feb 1841	“balance by cash .69”
Rose, Andrew	23 Sept 1841	Paid 25 Oct 1841
Younger, Joseph W.	1841
1842
Purdue, Mrs. Ann	29 Feb 1842

The 1840 U.S. Census lists J. F. Lani living in Nauvoo and Andrew Rose living across the river in Lee County, Iowa. Hence, from the ledger alone we can only confirm that Dr. Williams was still in Nauvoo through October 25, 1841. But from a medical advertisement in the Quincy Whig we learn that Dr. Williams remained in Nauvoo for another six months, or until April 16, 1842, before he and his family returned to live in Quincy.

NOTICE is hereby given to the citizens of Adams county, and the public generally, that I have returned to Quincy, and have commenced the practice of medicine on the

Indian and German System

as formerly; for further particulars see handbills.

Office on Hampshire street.

April 16—4t F. G. Williams, BOTANIST³⁸

Cornerstones Laid for the Temple: 
A Rousing Celebration Attended by Thousands

Many events of interest in the history of the Church occurred while the Williamses were living in Nauvoo. Frederick and Rebecca would have been familiar with them firsthand and, in some instances, perhaps, even participated in the events. Unfortunately, we have no record of their activities or thoughts on the subjects, and we have no journals, biographies, or letters written by them to consult.

The Times and Seasons newspaper, however, published reports about such occasions as the granting of a charter for the City of Nauvoo by the Illinois legislature;³⁹ the Nauvoo Legion’s activities and regulations;⁴⁰ the establishment of the University of Nauvoo with its various departments, administrators, and faculty;⁴¹ the introduction of the doctrine of baptism for the dead;⁴² the city council’s ordinances establishing that all religions were to enjoy tolerance in Nauvoo;⁴³ the mission of Orson Hyde to Jerusalem to dedicate the land for the return of the Jews;⁴⁴ Joseph Smith’s acquittal in court, which set the precedence on habeas corpus still followed in the U.S. today;⁴⁵ the visit of Judge Stephen A. Douglas, later a candidate for president of the United States running against Abraham Lincoln;⁴⁶ a report on the growing improvements made in Nauvoo, especially in terms of health;⁴⁷ the return of W. W. Phelps to the Church and Joseph Smith’s attitude of forgiveness;⁴⁸ the publication of the Book of Abraham and the Egyptian facsimiles;⁴⁹ the organization of the Relief Society;⁵⁰ and many more notable occurrences they would have experienced.

None of these compare, however, with the pageantry and excitement that surrounded the celebration that took place at the laying of the cornerstones of the temple on April 6, 1841. It involved the Nauvoo Legion and other military units, resplendent uniforms, a military band under the direction of Captain Duzett playing trumpet flourishes and lively patriotic airs, a choir under the direction of Professor B. S. Wilber singing anthems to God, the presentation of a specially made silk flag by the ladies of the city, well-timed artillery fire, cavalry, processions, appropriate speeches, and prayer. Many thousands of people—including out-of-towners, distinguished visitors, family, friends, curious neighbors from the region, and some antagonists—attended the proceedings, so we can be confident that the Williamses were among them. R. B. Thompson made a lengthy and detailed report in which he first commented on some of the preparations that preceded the celebration and on the great number of people who poured into Nauvoo to witness it. He begins as follows:

Laying the corner stone of the Temple. General Conference.

        “Oh! that I could paint the scenes
        Which on my heart are sketch’d”

The general conference of the church together with the laying of the corner stones of the Temple of our God, now building in this city, have long been anticipated by the saints of the Most High, both far and near with great pleasure, when they should once more behold the foundation of a house laid in which they might worship the God of their fathers.

It frequently happens, that our anticipations of pleasure and delight, are raised to such a height that even exceeds the enjoyment itself, but we are happy to say, this was not the case with the immense multitude who witnessed the proceedings of the sixth of April, and subsequent days of conference. The scenes were of such a character, the enjoyment so intense, that left anticipation far behind.

However anxious we are to portray the grandeur and majesty of the celebrations, the union and order which every way prevailed, we are confident, we shall come very far short of doing them justice.

For some days prior to the sixth, the accession of strangers to our city was great, and on the wide spread prairie, which bounds our city, might be seen various kinds of vehicles wending their way from different points of the compass to the city of Nauvoo, while the ferry boats on the Mississippi, were constantly employed in wafting travelers across its rolling and extensive bosom.

Among the citizens, all was bustle and preparation, anxious to accommodate their friends who flocked in from distant parts, and who they expected to share with them the festivity of the day, and the pleasures of the scene.

At length, the long expected morn arrived, and before the king of day had tipped the eastern horizon with his rays, were preparations for the celebration of the day going on. Shortly after sun rise, the loud peals from the artillery were heard, calling the various companies of the legion to the field, who were appointed to take a conspicuous part in the days proceedings.

The citizens from the vicinity, now began to pour in from all quarters, a continuous train, for about three hours and continued to swell the vast assembly.⁵¹

We know the Williamses were involved in performing baptisms for the dead in 1841 (a soon-to-be temple-exclusive ordinance), and Nancy C. Williams says they were involved in helping to construct the temple,⁵² which is safe to assume, since all members were asked to contribute a tithe of their time and means. But were they involved with the cornerstone laying ceremony in some way? Did Rebecca help make the silk flag? Was Ezra one of the marchers? We may never know if they were participants or spectators, but we can be confident they were present to witness the activities of that day.

Some Queries and Enigmas

We know the Williams family lived in Nauvoo for nearly two years, from May 9, 1840, through April 16, 1842, according to the medical notices Frederick published in the newspaper,⁵³ but there are some enigmas regarding the Williamses’ property, and it is difficult to distinguish between investment purchases and property on which they lived. For example, why did Frederick purchase property in Kingston, Caldwell County, Missouri, on December 26, 1837,⁵⁴ and in June 1838 purchase an additional 160 acres of allocated land in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Daviess County, Missouri?⁵⁵ Was the property Frederick claimed in his 1840 deposition to have lost in 1838 in Far West⁵⁶ the same or different property than the thirty-eight acres he purchased in Caldwell County, Missouri, that was registered in Washington, D.C., on September 20, 1839?⁵⁷ Why did Frederick purchase property in Quincy on July 10, 1840,⁵⁸ soon after he had moved his family from Quincy to Nauvoo in May 1840? Why did Frederick purchase 320 acres in the Sac and Fox Half-Breed Reservation in Iowa on February 10, 1841?⁵⁹ Why did he sell his Quincy, Illinois, property (block 30, lot 7) on November 6, 1841 ⁶⁰ and buy property (block 6, lots 7 and 8) in Lima, Illinois, the same day?⁶¹ All we know for sure is that Frederick G. Williams was in Quincy when he died on October 10, 1842,⁶² and had been living there since April 16, 1842, some six months earlier.⁶³

As noted, on November 6, 1841, Frederick G. Williams sold lot 7, block 30, in Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois, and bought lots 7 and 8 in block 6, Lima, Adams Co., Illinois, but recorded the deed in his eighteen-year-old son’s name, Ezra Granger Williams. This exchange of property (both the sale and the purchase price was $500) and placing the property in his son’s name suggests he was looking out for Ezra’s future. It may also suggest he was not contemplating a move back to Quincy at that time.

There was likely never serious consideration given to crossing the Mississippi and moving to Iowa, even though Frederick purchased 320 acres in the Sac and Fox Half-Breed Reservation in Lee County, Iowa, on February 10, 1841 (Frederick and Rebecca would perhaps think they were too old to start homesteading on the frontier again). However, Frederick G. Williams; his wife, Rebecca; daughter Lucy Eliza; and son Ezra Granger may have planned to move from Nauvoo to Lima, Illinois, in November 1841.

It could be that Frederick wished to stay in Nauvoo, but Rebecca may have wanted to return to Quincy to be near Lovina. Planning a move to Lima was, perhaps, a compromise. That would explain why they sold the Quincy property and bought the Lima property on the same day, November 6, 1841. Why Lima? There was a strong branch of the Church there, presided over by Isaac Morley,⁶⁴ their old friend and neighbor from Kirtland days, and, since Lima was located midway between Nauvoo and Quincy, perhaps Dr. Williams thought he could practice medicine among the three communities. But this plan, if it ever was considered, is mere supposition, for there is no indication that the Williamses ever resided in Lima.

Dr. Williams’s Good Standing in the Church Confirmed in the Press

A fitting close to the Nauvoo chapter of Frederick G. Williams’s life appeared unexpectedly in the Times and Seasons on December 15, 1841. It was a recognition of the sacrifice and service he had performed as one of the first missionaries to Missouri and an unsolicited confirmation of his faithful standing in the Church. It came from the pen of Apostle Parley P. Pratt in an open letter to the authorities and members of the Church, dated August 12, 1841, from Manchester, England. In it Elder Pratt recalled the first mission to the Lamanites, eleven years before, and what had become of those five early missionaries.

LETTER FROM P. P. PRATT

Manchester, Aug. 12, 1841.

To the Authorities and Members of the church of the saints in Nauvoo and vicinity, and to my old friends and associates in the kingdom of Jesus Christ:—

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It is now eleven years since I first embraced the fullness of the gospel: three small branches, consisting of about fifty members in all, were then the only people connected as Latter Day Saints. I was one of those who took the first mission to the western states, in which the fullness of the gospel was first introduced into Ohio, (commencing at Kirtland,) Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and into the Indian territory, among the Lamanites.

When countless millions shall throng the courts of the New Jerusalem which is soon to be built in Jackson county, Missouri, upon the consecrated spot, then perhaps it may be remembered that in 1830, in the depth of a howling winte[r] five men penetrated Missouri’s wilds, and traveled on foot from St. Louis to Independence, Jackson county, wading in snow to the knees the greater part of the way for 300 miles; and all this as may be said, without money or friends, except as they made them. These are the first footsteps ever made in that state by Latter day Saints—these first placed their feet upon that holy ground, where shall stand the great temple of our God, the resort of the nations, and the joy of the whole earth.

Elder Pratt then spoke of the present standing of the five men.

Of those five men, Peter Whitmer is now in his grave, two [Oliver Cowdery and Ziba Peterson] are turned away from the fellowship of the church, and the other two, F. G. Williams and myself are yet alive, and blessed with the grace of God we are yet counted worthy of a place among you. Thus I find myself a monument of mercy, spared like an oak amid the tempest, and to God be ascribed all the glory; for were it not for his peculiar longsuffering and goodness I might now have been an outcast from the commonwealth of Israel, or cut down by untimely death without beholding in this life the establishment of Zion.⁶⁵