The Family, The Fair, The Fun Pageants

At the Fair prior to the British and Nauvoo Pageants. Happening nightly through July!

Our 2 daughters with 2 grand daughters visited for 10 days and enjoyed the sites,  Noteworthy (the female a Capella group from BYU), the Hughes Brothers performing in Carthage, from Branson, MO, the Pageants, the games and performers, lightening storms that cancelled the fireworks for the 4th, and beating Grandma and Grandpa at Wacky 6.

   We love and enjoy our daily work in the Temple. It was a treat to have family here to reinforce us, cook dinner, give hugs and giggle with us.  Next week we'll share more of what we actually do inside the Temple. Angie was here 7 days while her husband cared for her 3 children and Jenny and 2 of her 4 played with us for 10 days. They were able to visit their favorite sites multiple times and splurge at the Fudge Factory and Annie's Frozen Custard...which is worth a trip to Illinois!
(Photos are not chronological)

 (Above) Pretending we're pulling a handcart...flat grassy surface.  See below for our next day actual creek crossings! It was a tad muddy but we managed to survive the hour long trek. Two 'pullers' and one brakeman follow the cute guide.

ARRIVAL IN IOWA CITY, IOWA from Louisa Collins Family History

(Mike's Great Grandmother)

Upon arriving in Iowa City, Iowa on 8 July 1856, they were met with major disappointment. Louisa’s father was shocked and somewhat angry to discover that although he had sent money to Salt Lake City to pay for their emigration, with the understanding that they were to cross the plains with a wagon and ox teams, they did not have a wagon for them!! The number of immigrants requiring wagons was so much larger than had been anticipated. The campgrounds were crowded with six or seven hundred people. With their arrival it raised the number to well over one thousand. There was a worried feeling in the air. Those in charge of emigration were not prepared for so many. Three handcart companies were well on their way west, having left June 9, 11, and 23. Many ox-team companies had also left. The emigration leaders in Iowa City either did not know so many more saints were coming or just simply did not have the capability of outfitting those already on the road plus the more than 1,500 saints who sailed on the Horizon and Thornton. There is some evidence that the arrival of the saints from these two ships in Iowa City was a surprise. Communication was so slow that word may not have arrived in time, or the information may have been sent to different people who did not get together in time. The Collins were disheartened not having a wagon and ox team but they were offered an alternative. Richard could build a handcart and they could join the Martin Handcart Company. This meant they would be expected to walk and pull their provisions in a handcart to Zion. Not wanting to delay until the next spring, this is what they chose to do. The immigrants had no idea of the vastness of the American West; their own countries were so small. Nor did they have any concept of the size of the mountains they would have to cross. None but the few Swiss among them had ever seen anything like them. For the three weeks of delay at the Iowa Camp they endured the intense heat of July. For Louisa’s father and many of the other men had to build their own handcarts. This was indeed a waste of precious time in which the immigrants should have been traveling. Richard also made a harness for 9 year old Louisa and her brother, Fred. It went over the shoulder and around the waist. It was fastened on the other end to the handcart. At last, on 28 July 1856, the Martin Company started westward. It consisted of 576 persons, 146 handcarts, 7 wagons, 6 mules, 50 cows, and beef cattle. The company divided into two sections, one wagon drawn by mules and two wagons drawn by oxen were apportioned to each section to carry provisions and tents.



 Thirty Minutes away we visited Carthage, Illinois

A kind stranger took our group photo and blurred us a bit. But we really were a bit blurry by the end of the day anyway.

The steep Liberty Jailhouse staircase leading to the room where Joseph Smith and his brother were assassinated

 June 27, 1844

Angie & Jenny pose in the room where the mob martyred Hyrum & the prophet Joseph Smith.

After Angie left for home we journeyed through Ft. Madison to Montrose, Iowa.

Directly across from Nauvoo is Montrose, Iowa, where the miracle of the quail saved the Saints who were forced from their homes in Feb. 1844. With little food and clothing they were destitute. Journal entries state that abundant quail fell from the skies. Some fell directly into their campsites where they were caught with bare hands. The pioneers ate their fill then captured no more. The citizens of Quincy heard of their plight and sent clothing up river to the Saints in this encampment.

Pioneer Trail, Linger Longer Park, marker in Montrose Iowa looking across the Mississippi to Nauvoo. When the 1913 dam was built down river it became 3 times wider than when the Saints crossed in 1846 on the frozen river.

Back in Nauvoo:  In one of 3 groves the Nauvoo Bagpipe Brigade sets the stage for the vignette below. These are volunteer auditioned pipers who perform for a week each before another group arrives to perform.

Dallin Bayles re-enacts for 60 minutes, in one of Nauvoo's groves, the funeral discourse given by Joseph Smith, for King Follet.  Joseph spoke for 2 hours sharing revelations

 about the nature of God.

THE BRITISH AND NAUVOO PAGEANTS

For over an hour prior to the pageants a Fair is held with all sorts of pioneer games, activities, puppet shows, dancing, for the entire family.

Missionaries in the Finale of the British Pageant. Can you find Waldo? (without Mike) Our daughter said I need to smile next time.

 The Nauvoo Pageant Finale with the real Nauvoo Temple background (not a wooden cut out!)

Actors portraying Joseph and Emma Smith with our cute grand daughter

Actors in the cast & same cute grand daughter.

Cute Grandchildren ham it up at sunset behind cutouts of the city at the Fair.

More At the Fair:  Software was written for us
 to discover the link between us and 28 of the prominent pioneer characters in the pageant casts. We're 4th cousins 10X removed from Joseph Smith or is it 10th cousins 4x removed?!

The corn rises to obscure the landmark barn this week! I wonder
if we will still see the roof next week!?