When Church history buffs visit Nauvoo, Ill., they ought to expand their pilgrimages to Abraham Lincoln country and the state capital, Springfield, some 140 miles to the southeast, according to at least one professional historian and member of the Springfield Illinois Stake presidency.
Bryon Andreasen, second counselor in the Springfield Illinois Stake presidency, is a research historian with the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which was dedicated by U.S. President George W. Bush in late April.
On April 26, President Andreasen addressed a meeting of the Sangamon County Historical Society on the topic of "Latter-day Saint Connections to Abraham Lincoln-era Springfield." In a telephone interview with the Church News the next day, he reconstructed some of his comments, including accounts of the presence of Joseph Smith and some of the Brethren in Springfield when Abraham Lincoln lived there, and the tantalizing speculation that the Mormon Prophet and the future 16th president of the United States knew and interacted with each other.
A standing-room-only audience of some 300 — the best turnout in decades for a meeting of the historical society — packed the Hall of Representatives in the Old State Capitol, now a state historic site, to hear President Andreasen's lecture. Significantly, it was in that very room, he said, where Joseph Smith was "exhibited" on New Year's Day in 1843 prior to an extradition hearing on the attempted assassination of ex-Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs of Missouri, he who had issued the infamous Extermination Order driving the Mormons from that state.
A crowd of local citizens on that day gathered to see Joseph, but instead of speaking to them, he assigned two apostles to give sermons: Orson Hyde and John Taylor. President Andreasen said he does not know why Joseph assigned the two Brethren to give the sermons, but it was clear there was great curiosity among the townspeople to see the Prophet-leader.
Joseph had come to Springfield under assurances from the local branch president of the Church and others that judges and politicians had come to a consensus that the Missouri extradition was not legal, and that Joseph would be exonerated. As it happened, Nathaniel Pope, the federal district judge, did exonerate the Prophet.
As part of the historical society meeting, costumed guides gave candlelight tours to visitors of the Lincoln-Herndon law office, the only extant office where the future president practiced law. It is in this, the Tinsley Building, site of the 1840s federal courthouse that occupied the second floor of the building, where the extradition hearing was held.
"We talked about when they came down on the first day, New Year's Day, there was a scuffle," President Andreasen said. "As Joseph was trying to leave and get back out onto the street, Hyrum Smith and Wilson Law, who was the major general of the Nauvoo Legion at the time, almost got in a fight with a bunch of ruffians that were yelling and swearing at the Prophet. The federal marshal had to come in and break things up and stop a mob action. Joseph was able to get across the street to the American house and meet with the governor and have dinner with his attorney."
An interesting question, he said, is whether the Prophet attended a traditional party given by the newly elected U.S. senator from Illinois at that location. If so, he might have met Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, at the event. He even quoted from a historical novel, Love Is Eternal by Irving Stone, which recounts a fictional meeting between Mary Lincoln and the Prophet. "We don't know if Joseph Smith was there, but we do know that a lot of women were let into the trial the next week." Mary Lincoln, the future president's bride of two months, did attend one of the sessions, and would have seen Joseph then.
Another interesting point of speculation, he said, is that the Lincolns that prior December were living in the same boarding house where Willard Richards and other Church leaders stayed in preparation for the Prophet's coming to Springfield. It is highly likely, President Andreasen said, that they ate and conversed with the Lincolns at the boarding house table.
The historical society meeting is the kickoff event for the stake's observance of the sesquicentennial of Joseph Smith's birth. Planned events include an October festival at the state fairgrounds and a memorial fireside in December.
Mayor Timothy J. Davlin attended the historical society meeting and accepted from stake President Alonzo J. Mackelprang a bound volume of his own family history. The gesture so touched the mayor that he spoke of the event the next day at the beginning of a live interview on a local radio station, President Andersen said.
E-mail to: rscott@desnews.com
