15 - Monday, July 28, 2025 -- Pioneer Leftovers

 We are often asked if the Church had the original plans for the Nauvoo Temple.  There were only a couple of photographs that existed, none gave view of all sides of the temple.  Here's the miracle that happened told in the words of Elder Vern Thacker, an LDS missionary in the California Mission in 1946:

"While we were tracting on the outskirts of town one day, we both felt inspired to stop at a small home. A man named Leslie M. Griffin invited us in and told us that he was a descendant of William Weeks, the architect for the Nauvoo LDS Temple."  The missionaries visited him several times to discuss the gospel. Nearing the end of his mission, Elder Thacker made one last visit to Mr. Griffin who "excused himself for a few minutes and went into the back part of his house. He soon returned with a roll of what looked like poster paper about three feet long, ten inches in diameter, and secured with a rubber band. He explained that these were the original plans for the Nauvoo Temple and that they had been handed down in his family from his grandfather William Weeks. He opened the bundle and showed the plans to us. The largest of the papers was a side view of the Temple exterior. Rolled inside of this piece were several other smaller drawings showing various views of the Temple."  He asked Elder Thacker if on his way home he would carry "these plans to the headquarters of the Church in Salt Lake."  The plans were deliver to the Church Historian's Office 28 September 1948, photographed and secure4d in a steel-locked safe."  (Sacred Stone, The Temple at Nauvoo)

* * * * *

These are some of the "pioneer leftovers" around town. (There could possibly be a couple of reconstructions in the lot.) 

		Original well on the Homestead property
		Grave of Jeanetta Richards (wife of Willard Richards) next to sidewalk in historic Nauvoo
Farm Implement	Hitching Post	Millstones
Root Cellar - on many homes		Cement Mixer (?)
		George W. &  Almira Bosley home foundation
Remnants of the canal used to drain Nauvoo - looking North	Looking south at the canal -- 100 steps from our house.	Buggy

Standard schedule this week.  We've had some severe weather watches, a fair amount of rain, which brings the temperature down and the humidity up.  Higher temperatures predicted this week, but so far it has not been as hot as we expected.  And inside all buildings the air conditioning is kept VERY cool.  So no complaints there.