Day 39 - 7/29

We started today by attending church in Nauvoo. Since so many people who come to Nauvoo also go to church, there was easily at least 600 people there. It seemed like Stake Conference! We then spent the rest of the morning touring some of the buildings. One was the Lucy Mack Smith home. Lucy Mack Smith was Joseph Smith's mother. What makes this brick building so special to our family is that my sixth great grandfather Joseph Bates Noble built the house. Joseph Noble also was Joseph Smith's bodyguard and was one of the pioneers that settled in the Northern Utah area. It was fun to be able to tour a place where a direct ancestor had been.

Another place we enjoyed touring was Jonathan Browning's gun smith shop and home. The guy who gave us the tour played the trombone in the Nauvoo Brass Band, so it was fun to be able to compliment him on the good job they did on Lassus Trombone. The gunsmith tour covered a large area. The man who owned this home and shop was Jonathan Browning.  Browning was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and was famous for inventing guns such as the semi-automatic rifle, and the Colt 45. After inventing a new gun, he would usually sell the patent for it to a large gun manufacturing company. His son, John Moses Browning, also contributed greatly to the gun industry, including the machine gun. We were able to see some of the actual guns he invented and made. We also saw his shop and how he would manufacture a gun. The whole place consisted of his shop, a parlor, some bedrooms and even an entire cabin for his kids to sleep in. The Brownings moved with the Saints to the west as pioneers. Nathan liked seeing the guns because he used some of the same models for Scouting and shootouts.

Probably the highlight of our day was seeing the Nauvoo Temple. The original temple had to be abandoned as the Saints left for Utah because of persecution. The temple was destroyed by storms, earthquakes, and lightning. In 2002, the new Nauvoo Temple was built and dedicated. The design is practically the same and is on the same location. We got to look around the gardens and take some pictures. It was very peaceful and the spirit was strong.