Saturday, June 25, 2016 – Temple, Shopping, Land & Records office, 70’s Hall, Mexican Restaurant, 95 degrees!

It is our P-day so bright and early we were off to attend an endowment session in the Nauvoo Temple. It is always a special session when asked to be the “Witness Couple.” We enjoyed our time in the temple very much.

While we were in downtown Nauvoo we did some shopping and checked out some leads on where I can find some original 1844 Nauvoo Temple limestone. I’ve found a couple leads, hopefully they will pan out. I know that during the excavation of the foundation of the new temple, all of the old 1844 limestone blocks pulled out of the ground were hauled to a “Rubble Pile” and discarded here in Nauvoo. I would like to find a small piece of the original limestone from the temple to add to my paper weight collection.

 

Next we were off to the historic sites of the “Land & Records Office” and the “70’s Hall” to explore Sis. Johnson’s roots that go back to Nauvoo. Here is what Sis. Johnson wrote about today’s research and the ancestors she found:

(Begin Sis. Johnson’s Comments)

While in Nauvoo, we have been researching our family history to see if we had any family that lived or owned land here in Nauvoo. Though no one on the Burk side owned land here, they were certainly involved here which gives me an indication that they lived here.  Allen Burk who is my great-great grandfather journeyed west with Brigham Young and was one of the five horsemen sent ahead to check out the Salt Lake Valley for Indians, safety and good land while the saints were camped at immigrant pass. A monument at that pass has his name on it.  He was sent to Arizona by Brigham Young and helped settle Alpine, AZ. That is where he is buried.

Allen Burk’s wife’s mother (his mother-in-law and my great-great-great grandmother) was Rhoda Hough Smith.  We were excited to find out that she was one of the first members of the original Women’s Relief Society here in 1842 Nauvoo.

Allen Burk’s father, Charles Burk (My great-great-great grandfather) was a Seventy in the 35^th Quorum of 70’s.We found out that Nauvoo had over 2450 Seventy’s by the time of the westward exodus. I have an amazing heritage I didn’t even know about.

(End Sis. Johnson’s Comments)

We finished our P-day by going to the local Mexican food restaurant here in Carthage named, “Los Charros.” Sis. Johnson’s favorite restaurant food is Mexican food.  So. . . if you ask me was the food good? I would say, when you are as hungry as we were, anything tastes good! But seriously, how authentically Mexican can a restaurant in a small town in the middle on Illinois be? It must have been Mexican food because they did have salsa with chips and corn tortillas, right? We went away very full and satisfied. I must say the flan for dessert was great. We’ll probably go back and eat there again.