Martyrdom Commemoration

Carthage Commemoration

June 27,1844 Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor, and Willard Richards were in Carthage Jail.  Joseph and Hyrum were there on charges of treason, brought forth by enemies of the church. They never stood trial.  Around 5 on that hot, sultry June day a mob, with black painted faces stormed the jail, shot and killed Hyrum, then Joseph, wounded John Taylor.  A year earlier Joseph had told Willard Richards that one day he would be in a rain of bullets, with friends dropping dead around him, but he wouldn't be touched - and so it was.  In my opinion, Willard Richards and John Taylor were preserved by God as witnesses to what took place. If they hadn't been there, only the mobs account would be available.

This week was all about getting ready for the 175th commemoration of that piece of history.  Tuesday night we had a huge thunder storm. So Wednesday we picked up branches all day. We took two trailer loads to the burn pile - and I was driving! And I backed up the trailer each time in one try.  Another challenge conquered.

Getting ready at Carthage Jail

Thursday we cleaned up sticks at Carthage.  Some of our team were in charge of chairs. 900 chairs were set up - and I think they were all filled.  After work I attended the Joseph Smith Historic Societies commemoration at the Smith Family Cemetery.  The Young Performing Missionaries sang solos of the verses of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, each verse to a different tune, as we don't know what tune John Taylor sang in Carthage Jail at the request of first Joseph and then Hyrum.
Later we drove out with another missionary couple to Carthage. It was another hot June afternoon. 

This is the first hot week we've had, and it was very hot, with heat indexes around 106 degrees. It is good that we start our day at 6:00 AM and stop at noon.  That is the only way to beat the heat.

Nauvoo Brass Band

Mark Taylor with Heritage Choir behind.

The three times great grandson of John Taylor, Mark Taylor, spoke about the martyrdom from John Taylor's eye witness account.  Although Joseph Smith's scribe and the church historian,  Willard Richards had never written a description of the scene in the jail. After Richards had died it was realized that only John Taylor was left who could tell what had happened. He wrote down in as much detail as he could what took place in the jail that afternoon.  Brother Taylor shared with us much of John Taylor's writings.   Then he told us a story that he asked us never to forget - it had nothing to do with the martydom, but everything to do with our testimonies.  I will post it at the end of this blog.

Graves of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma

That evening we walked around the candle lit cemetery.  A fitting end to a day of reflection. 

My testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet of God stands on many foundation blocks.  One of those blocks is the price he was constantly willing to pay for his claim as prophet.  All he had to do to relieve the conflicts that assailed him from the time he told his story of his first vision, and increased after receiving the plates from the angel, Moroni, was to say he had been deceived.  He didn't even have to say it didn't happen, but that Satan had deceived him.  But as he said, he knew it and God knew it and he couldn't deny it. And there were many others who witnessed the unrolling of the events, and stood by and took the persecutions with him. He knew going to Carthage was a death sentence.  And maybe he knew that it was required to seal his testimony with his blood.  Three times he told Hyrum not to come.  Hyrum was willing to die with his brother. If anyone would have thought this was a fraud, it would have been Hyrum.  But he knew from first hand experience that this was the work of God.  As Jeffrey Holland says in the video shown at Carthage Jail, they wouldn't have gone, they wouldn't have given their lives, if it wasn't true.

The Story we shouldn't forget

At age 24 Heber J. Grant had been called as a stake president.  John Taylor and his counselor, Joseph F. Smith  came to reorganize the stake. Here is the story in Heber J. Grant's words.

At the lunch table after my first short speech which lasted seven and a half minutes,
President Smith said: "Heber, you said you believe the gospel with all your heart, and
propose to live it, but you did not bear your testimony that you know it is true. Don't
you know absolutely that this gospel is true?"
I answered: 'I do not.'

“What you a president of a stake!, said President Smith.

“‘That is what I said.’

"President Taylor, I am in favor of undoing this afternoon what

we did this morning. I do not think any man should preside over a stake who has

not a perfect and abiding knowledge of the divinity of this work."

I said: I am not going to complain.(Mark Taylor explained that Heber said he didn't ask for the job and would gladly pass the job over to someone else.)

President Taylor had a habit, when something pleased him excessively, of shaking his body and laughing.  He said, "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, he knows it just as well as you do. The only thing that he does not know is that he does know it.  It will be but a short time until he does know it. He leans over backwards. You do not need to worry."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-heber-j-grant/the-life-and-ministry-of-heber-j-grant?lang=eng