There is a special spirit in Nauvoo. It is something that you feel - almost tangibly - when you visit this western Illinois town on the banks of the Mississippi River.
And the spirit of Nauvoo is even stronger for visitors who can locate where their ancestors lived and are able to stand on the same ground their forebears once owned."It's a very exciting experience," declared Elder Loren C. Dunn of the Seventy and president of the North America Central Area and of Nauvoo Restoration Inc. (NRI). "To actually stand on the spot where their ancestors lived just personalizes for visitors the whole experience of coming to Nauvoo. It brings them so much closer to their heritage.
"They leave with a greater feeling of the reality and significance of Church history," said Elder Dunn.
To help visitors learn of their ancestors who lived in Nauvoo primarily during the 1839-45 period is a facility in the Nauvoo Visitors Center that is one of the best-kept secrets in the Church, according to W. Garth Andrus, visitors center director.
The facility is the Nauvoo Family History and Property Identification Department, located upstairs in the visitors center.
Because the facility is away from the normal areas of heavy tourist traffic in the visitors center, a great many people don't know that it even exists. However, the facility, which has been in operation for two years the way it is now set up, contains a gold mine of information for family history enthusiasts.
Among its many reference works, the facility contains the files of Nauvoo Restoration Inc., which are the result of 20 years of research, primarily by Rowena Miller, formerly secretary of Nauvoo Restoration Inc.
The NRI files include 50 volumes of Nauvoo area historical facts and land records, list of Nauvoo residents from 1840-46 by last name and by block and lot numbers, and occupations of residents and home locations.
Other reference works include autobiographies and biographies of early Church members who lived in Nauvoo; a collection of personal family histories with Nauvoo connections, 1839-46; Hancock County cemetery records, including a list of those buried in the Old Nauvoo Burial Ground; records of marriages in Nauvoo, 1839-46; and 50 volumes of Church membership records from Kirtland, Nauvoo and Missouri, compiled by Susan Easton Black.
Most of the information from these and many other reference materials at the facility has been stored on computer and available to visitors.
Elder Dunn said information is available on about 6,000 heads of household who lived in Nauvoo during the period the Church was headquartered here. This represents almost all the families in Nauvoo at that time, he said.
Once visitors identify by name their ancestors who lived in the Nauvoo area, then service missionaries at the facility can provide a computer printout of available information about the ancestors. If the ancestors owned property or had any land transactions, the available information usually includes the location of the ancestors' property. The service missionaries then can plot that location on a map, and visitors can take the map to find the site once owned by their ancestors.
"It's especially exciting to be able to help visitors find where their ancestors lived," said Sister Mary Isom, the wife of Nauvoo manager D.J. Isom, who supervises the facility. "Some of them just squeal with delight when we're able to give them that kind of information about their ancestors."
The Isoms arrived in Nauvoo last June. Previously the family history facility was directed by Sister Donna Taylor, whose husband, James C. Taylor, served as Nauvoo manager. Development of the center began with Sister Taylor and F. Lant Haymore, who at the time was serving as a missionary in Nauvoo. The Taylors are now in Michigan, where Brother Taylor is serving as president of the Michigan Lansing Mission.
Albert and Mavanee Jeffery and their family of the Jordan North 6th Ward in West Valley City, Utah, visited Nauvoo this past summer. They didn't know the family history facility existed until another ward member told them about it.
They came prepared with the names of several ancestors who lived in Nauvoo during the Mormon period. The service missionaries helped them find the location of about a half dozen of their ancestors.
"It was marvelous," related Sister Jeffery. "When we stood on land once owned by our ancestors, I was so excited. It felt like we were back in time. It brought us close to them, and we realized that they were real people."
She said the experience of visiting the sites where their ancestors once lived gave her "a feeling of awe."
Elder Dunn said such experiences "strengthen the faith of the people."
"To be able to personally visit the actual location of where their ancestors lived, and where they had a house, where their children were born, where they conducted a business, and to know what type of work they were engaged in just adds to the spirit that you feel in Nauvoo. It's a wonderful feeling."
In addition to identifying where early residents of Nauvoo lived, Nauvoo Restoration Inc. also has identified many people who are buried in the Old Nauvoo Burial Ground, which was recently acquired and renovated by NRI.
"We're still gathering information about the cemetery. We'd still like to hear from anyone who has any information about who is buried in the cemetery that they find in old diaries or wherever," said Elder Dunn. "We're adding names to the cemetery list as we hear about them."
Elder Dunn said "a dear price" was paid by those who are buried in the cemetery, as well as those who were forced to leave the comforts of their homes in Nauvoo during the great Mormon exodus.
"We need to be loyal to what has gone on before," said Elder Dunn. "We need to make sure - in how we live our lives day to day - that their sacrifices haven't been in vain."
In addition to Mormon records available, the family history facility also includes records of other churches in Nauvoo.
"It's our way of helping to heal the old traditional wounds," said Elder Dunn. "You see members and non-members side by side, searching for their ancestors, and both experience the same great joy when they find out something about them."
