Inspiring Kirtland Day 3!

Since we were visiting places the Prophet Joseph lived in Kirtland in order, our first stop of the day was the Whitney Store.**

It was fun seeing what the store might have looked like back in the 1830's.

Upstairs was where the Prophet and Emma lived.

This room was his office and much important church business was conducted here.

Here we are standing in the School of the Prophets room.  It is the room of greatest spiritual significance in early church history that is the original and that the Church owns.  

John Murdock recorded that he saw the Savior in this room and it "left an impression of love that lasted for months."  We learned so much about all the wonderful things that happened in this room.

The room was in many ways considered a temple.

Brother Anderson pointed out that the Whitney Store was like downtown Salt Lake City today.  There was a temple (School of the Prophet's room), Administration building (Joseph's office), MTC (School of the Prophet's room), a bishop's storehouse (the Sharing room in the Whitney store where people donated what they didn't need and could receive things if they were in need).  Dan asked just to me: But where would be Cougar Stadium?
We also enjoyed seeing the Ashery and the Saw Mill.

We loved these two sister missionaries.  The one speaking is from Germany.

Here was another stop for the day:

We came to see the excavation of the Ohio and Erie Canal that connected Akron with Lake Erie and was very important in the 1830's.  We saw this lock and the Gleason building which is now a museum but was a tavern along the canal at one time.

Taking a little break with Brother Anderson

Oberlin college

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of higher learning in the world.
Lorenzo Snow was a student here.

This was our destination: The Library and in particular the Special Collections.

This is the Archivist, Ken Grossi, who is explaining to us about the Spaulding Manuscript. Those who do not accept the Book of Mormon as scripture offer many theories about its origin. One of the earliest theories was that the Book of Mormon was based on a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding, a fictional story about early inhabitants of America. It was used by Philastrus Hurlbut to discredit the Book of Mormon.  It was never published, was lost and many years later it was found.   In 1884, a man named L. L. Rice found the manuscript among some papers he had purchased, and he turned it over to Oberlin College. Rice and James H. Fairchild, president of Oberlin College, examined the manuscript. Neither man was a member of the Church, and both certified that the manuscript could not have been the source of the Book of Mormon. The Church published Spaulding’s work in 1886.

Here is the manuscript:

In 1828, Parley P. Pratt had a small frame house on this site located between Amherst and Oberlin, Ohio. After several years, Parley and his wife, Thankful, left the area to follow a prompting. Soon after, they were introduced to the Restored Gospel and embraced it.

At the end of the day after a pleasant dinner with new friends we have made, we went on a short walk to see fireflies.  What a fun and interesting day in Ohio!

**Church life in Kirtland, Ohio, from 1831 to 1834 revolved around the Newel K. Whitney and Co. store. For eighteen months, this store served as the headquarters of the Church, and it was here that the First Presidency was given the keys of the kingdom.  Joseph Smith and family also lived here for eighteen months, and during that time, the Prophet finished his work on the texts of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.
In addition, some of the most sacred events of early Church history took place in an upstairs room at a conference held 23 January 1833. Further, the ordinance of the washing of feet was given here for the first time in this dispensation.  Several of those present experienced “divine manifestations of the Holy Spirit,” including a vision of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

Inspiring Kirtland Day 2!

We had an amazing day from beginning to end!

First stop was the Cyreneus Bennett home in Orange, Ohio.

  The home has not been restored but we were allowed to meet on a back patio area on the property.  Brother Anderson is explaining the significance of the home.  It was the site of an 1831 Conference of the Church.  

 The group is listening...

 At one point he had all of the men on our tour (there were 12 of them) come forward and raise their hands and testify that the Book of Mormon was true.  He explained that something similar happened at the Conference.  It was the first time that all 11 Witnesses of the Book of Mormon were together in the same place and then adding Joseph Smith, that made 12 men.  They also raised their hands and testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Next stop: The Mantua Christian Church established in 1827

 They still hold meetings every Sunday.

 It was kind of them to let us hold a meeting there as well.

 Brother Anderson is speaking from the same pulpit that Sidney Rigdon spoke from.

 We learned a lot about Sidney Rigdon and gained a new respect for him.  He had truly been prepared by the Lord to be a companion and of great help to Joseph Smith.  It is likely he suffered brain damage when he was dragged from his bed to be tarred and feathered.   One important thing we learned on this trip was to not judge the early members of the Church.  Joseph Smith had a vision in which he saw Sidney Rigdon in the Celestial Kingdom.

We then pulled our bus up to this lovely home. 

The residents came out and told us their story.  They love history and wanted to own and restore a historic home in their town of Mantua.  A few years ago this home came up for sale and they felt prompted to buy it and restore it.  It is the home of Oliver and Rosetta Snow, parents of Lorenzo Snow and Eliza R. Snow.  Nick and Linda Ehlert are Catholic by faith but they love the history of this house so much.

"Oliver and Rosetta Snow, who built this home in 1815, immigrated to Mantua from Becket, Massachusetts, in 1805 with two daughters and raised five more children here. Oliver prospered as a farmer, served Portage County in a variety of civic capacities, and converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after meeting the church's founder, Joseph Smith, in the early 1830s."

The Ehlerts even invited us inside and let us look all around telling us many interesting things. 

This window for example has the original glass panes from the time the Snows lived here.

Dan stepping on some of the original floor:

 Here is an early sketch of what the home originally looked like.  Joseph Smith visited here often and of course, Lorenzo and Eliza lived here for a time.

They even have their pictures hanging in the living room.

It was so special to experience this!

Next stop: The John Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio

I last visited here in 1969 but in 1978 they did more excavating and research and have found many more things to restore including this carriage house in the back.  

 This senior missionary sister was excellent.

 New things they discovered since I was last there are this decorative finish on some of the wood...

...and this brightly colored flooring.  Both of these are signs that the Johnsons were very well off.

 It was a large home for its time...

 ...and could house many people.  

 This is probably the room and representation of the bed from which Joseph was dragged to be tarred and feathered leaving Emma and the sick twins on a cold winter evening.  (There is an excellent audio program on the Mormon Channel under The Saints: "Visions and Nightmares" about this).

Joseph worked on the translation of the Bible while they lived here for one year.

It was in this room that on February 16, 1832 a vision was given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon which we now know as the 76th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants.  This is often called the Revelation Room.  I loved being here!

 Final stop: Amish country!

Our itinerary said we would have dinner at an Amish home.  

I thought it would surely be more of a restaurant.  

But it was at the home of  Jacob and Saloma Miller

 They have this outbuilding in the back.  I talked to Saloma and she told me that about once a month they host a dinner here.

 The food was delicious and plentious.  

Menu: Chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cole slaw, homemade bread, creamed peas and homemade pie for dessert.  Definitely comfort food!

 As we were leaving Dan was fascinated by this teenager mowing the lawn using this pony to pull two lawn mowers.  This is zoomed in but it was huge piece of property.  

 Summing up this amazing day:

 I took a picture of Dan....

...taking this picture

 80% of the John Johnson home is the original.  And this door handle is one of those items.  The Prophet Joseph Smith and many other early Church leaders opened the door with that handle.

All day I felt like we were spending time with those wonderful early Saints!