Nauvoo Endowments

Soon after the saints moved to Nauvoo, they prepared to build a temple. On April 6, 1841, the temple's cornerstone was laid. The beautiful structure was to be 128 feet long by 88 feet wide with a clock tower and weather vane reaching to a total height of 165 feet - a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple.

Weather-vane atop the temple tower

There were many similarities to the Kirtland Temple which they had been forced to abandon. For example, there were two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second. One difference with the Kirtland Temple was a full basement which housed a a baptismal font.

Construction was only half complete at the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1844. 

As mob violence increased during the summer of 1845, Brigham Young encouraged the saints to complete the temple even though they were making preparations to abandon the city, so they could receive the sacred ordinances before they departed on their perilous trek across the continent.

Due to persecution, the saints were not able to entirely complete the construction during the Nauvoo era, however the basement with its font had been finished and dedicated in 1841, as were the first floor assembly hall and the attic (dedicated November 1845). When these parts of the building were completed they were used for performing ordinances (basement and attic) and for worship services (first floor assembly hall).

 

Assembly Hall today in the beautifully reconstructed Nauvoo Temple

During the winter of 1845-46, the temple began to be used for endowments and sealings. The first endowments were performed in the temple on December 10, 1845, and before the saints were expelled 5,615 endowments were performed and recorded.

Erastus Snow

Elder Erastus Snow beautifully described the spiritual outpouring upon the saints during this time, “The spirit, power, and wisdom of God reigned continually in the temple and all felt satisfied that during the two months we occupied it in the endowments of the Saints, we were amply paid for all our labors in building it.” 

The building was in use for only a short period, but during that time period, many of my ancestors were privileged to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple, including the following. Many proxy baptisms for their departed loved one were also performed.

                                                            Birth date                     Endowment

• Bateman, Joseph                    04 Sep 1802                28 Jan 1846
• Bateman, Thomas                  17 Sep 1808                 27 Jan 1846
• Bateman, William                  24 Apr 1824                29 Jan 1846
• Chase, Abigail Eliza                04 Oct 1820                15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Abner                           18 May 1813                06 Feb 1846
• Chase, Amos S.                       18 Dec 1820                 06 Feb 1846
• Chase, Charlotte                     11 May 1825                 15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Darwin                         25 Feb 1816                 06 Jan 1846
• Chase, Diana                            23 Jul 1827                 15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Ezra                               04 Feb 1796                15 Dec 1845
• Chase, Isaac                              12 Dec 1791                 13 Dec 1845
• Chase, Phebe                            07 Dec 1794                13 Dec 1845
• Chase, Tirzah                           29 Jul 1796                 15 Dec 1845
• Edwards, William                    16 May 1810               31 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Edward M.                    20 Jan 1792                20 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Hannah                         24 Jan 1797                20 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Hannah E.                    24 Feb 1827                29 Jan 1846
• Fuller, Ovanda                          27 Jun 1822                20 Dec 1845
• Greathouse, Mary Ann           04 Nov 1827                02 Feb 1846
• Pond, Abigail A.                       14 Jul 1828                 30 Dec 1845
• Thorn, Abigail                          02 Apr 1821                20 Jan 1846
• Thorn, Asahel                          04 Sep 1808                28 Jan 1846
• Thorn, Joseph                         22 Dec 1811                 28 Jan 1846
• Thorn, Richard                        18 Jun 1825                 22 Jan 1846

I am certain that this group also volunteered to labor during the construction, the brethren giving one-tenth part of their time, while the sisters knitted socks and mittens, and preparing garments for the laborers.

Most of the Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo, beginning in February 1846, but a small crew remained to finish the temple's first floor, so that it could be formally dedicated. Once the first floor was finished with pulpits and benches, the building was finally dedicated in private services on 30 April 1846, and in public services on 1 May. 

In September 1846 the remaining Latter Day Saints were driven from the city, no doubt looking over their shoulder at the temple they loved.

Samuel Fuller, Pilgrim Father

Prominently among those credited with the formation of the Pilgrim Church in 1605 is the name Samuel Fuller, the brother of my 10^th Great Grandfather, Thomas Fuller.

It has been said, “The Pilgrims were not remarkable men … but they did possess fine qualities for the work which they were destined to accomplish, remarkable energy, faith, purpose, courage and patience.” (“Women of the Mayflower” by  Annie Russell Marble)

These admirable men were bound together by a common religious faith, but not common social status, representing all the different classes of English life. Yet, humbly they merged to form a community, each contributing to the good of the whole. Samuel was the son of a butcher, and before he moved from England to Amsterdam with the Pilgrim movement, had acquired sufficient education to practice medicine. Nevertheless, for the good of the group, he also learned the practical trade of “say weaver”, or the weaver of fine textured cloth (silk).

Samuel's life had not been easy. Prior to boarding the Mayflower, he had buried his first two wives, Alice Glascock and Agnes Carpenter and had wed his third bride, Bridget Lee. Bridget did not sail with him to America, staying behind with plans to join her husband later, after a settlement was established.  Samuel took with him a young servant, a fatherless adolescent boy named William Butten, who was the only passenger to die during the voyage itself, passing away three days before land was sighted.

At the conclusion of the crossing, in Cape Cod, on the 11th day of November, 1620, a platform of government known as the Compact was drawn on the lid of a chest on board the ship, and signed by forty-one of the principal men.

Although the original document has not been found, transcriptions of the period record that Great Uncle Samuel was the 8^th signer of The Mayflower Compact, which read as follows (SIC):

"In the name of God, amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. 

IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini, 1620."

The Mayflower finally set anchor in Plymouth Harbor in December, 1620. A year of extreme hardship and sacrifice followed. With sickness rampant, Samuel served diligently as physician and surgeon. His skills were also offered to native Americans who were injured during skirmishes with the settlers.

Samuel also played a prominent role in the church congregation, serving as Deacon in the church in Plymouth, a role quite different from Deacon in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today.

In early autumn of 1621, the 53 surviving Pilgrims celebrated their first successful harvest, as was the English custom.  That 1621 celebration is remembered as the "First Thanksgiving in Plymouth."

Great Uncle Samuel is listed as one of the twenty-two men present.

As a deeply religious people, the Pilgrims undoubtedly prayed at the 1621 harvest feast. Their prayers were spontaneous  and the exact words are not known. A typical prayer of gratitude of the period, as recorded in 1625 gives us an idea of what  this Thanksgiving prayer may have included (SIC):

“O Lord our God and heavenly Father, which of Thy unspeakable mercy towards us, hast provided meate and drinke for the nourishment of our weake bodies. Grant us peace to use them reverently, as from Thy hands, with thankful hearts: let Thy blessing rest upon these Thy good creatures, to our comfort and sustentation: and grant we humbly beseech Thee, good Lord, that as we doe hunger and thirst for this food of our bodies, so our soules may earnestly long after the food of eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.”

Samuel died in 1633, one of at least ten who succumbed to a smallpox epidemic in Plymouth.  This is recorded in the writings of William Bradford (SIC): 

".... and in the end, after he had much helped others, Samuel Fuller who was their surgeon and physician an had been a great help and comfort unto them.  As in his faculty, so otherwise being a deacon of the church, a man godly and forward to do good, being much missed after his death. And he and the rest of their brethren much lamented by them and caused much sadness and mourning amongst them, which caused them to humble themselves and seek the Lord; and towards winter it pleased the Lord the sickness ceased."