On Wednesday, April 27, we went to the Independence Missouri Visitor Center. We then toured the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Temple located across the street from the Visitor Center. Also located nearby were two sects that broke from the Church: the Church of Christ (they own the Independence Temple site), and the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (they broke from the Reorganized Church when the RLDS decided to ordain women to the priesthood.)

We then went to the Harry S. Truman Library and home, also located in Independence.

We spent the night in Hannibal, MO.

LDS Visitor Center

Community of Christ Temple

Church of Christ

Remnant Church Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints

Harry S. Truman Library

Truman Home

On Thursday, April 28, we toured the Mark Twain Museum and historical sites in Hannibal, MO. We then drove to Quincy, IL. The museum in Quincy has a room that pays tribute to the citizens of Quincy for the assistance they gave to the Saints when they were driven from Missouri.

We then drove to Nauvoo where we attended a short orientation and moved into our apartment.

Mark Twain Museum

We learned the following about Samuel Clemens' use of the name, Mark Twain. "The 1850s river pilots did not have modern navigational aids. When entering shallow water, a man was sent to the front of the boat with a lead weight tied to a rope. He tossed the weight out in front and let it sink to measure how deep the water was. A series of knots were tied in the rope at measured distances. A mark is the same as a fathom on the ocean, six feet. Twain means two. The knot at 'mark twin' thus meant twelve feet. For the river boats, twelve feet was safe water. Years after leaving the river, Samuel Clemens remembered this river term which could be interpreted as 'safe water ahead' and adopted the nom de plume of 'Mark Twain.'"

Museum, Quincy, IL

President Gordon B. Hinckley said the following about Quincy: "In the annals of our Church, the city of Quincy and its citizens will always occupy a position of the highest esteem. We shall always be grateful for the kindness, the hospitality, the civility with which your people met our people who were exiles from the state of Missouri. When Governor Lilburn Boggs issued his infamous extermination order, our people were compelled to leave the state of Missouri. It’s almost impossible to comprehend in this day and time that such a thing could occur. But the fact is it did occur, and
they traveled across most of the state of Missouri seeking asylum, not knowing where to go or what to do. And the citizens of Quincy welcomed them, took them in, sheltered them for the winter which
was all about them until they were able to find a place up the river in Nauvoo, where they established that beautiful city on the Mississippi."

The museum has a display of old Nauvoo Temple keys.

"The historical society received a collection of sixteen Nauvoo Temple keys decades ago from descendants of Artois Hamilton, who operated the Hamilton House Hotel in Carthage, Illinois, at the time Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred on June 27, 1844. Following the murders, while many residents of Carthage fled fearing retribution by church members, Hamilton remained behind to prepare coffins for Joseph and Hyrum and sent the bodies back to Nauvoo for burial. When the Latter-day Saints were forced at gunpoint to leave Nauvoo in 1846, Brigham Young, who would subsequently become church president, gave the keys to Hamilton. The gesture was done 'out of gratitude to him for sending the bodies back to Nauvoo.'"