Reprinted with permission from the Daily Gate City

Two-day history symposium relates county's ties to Mormon Church
Steve Dunn, Gate City Managing Editor

Steve Dunn / Gate City Kirk Brandenberger (left), executive director of the Keokuk Area Convention and Tourism Bureau, and BYU professor Fred Woods stand by the new historic marker in Triangle Park in Keokuk that will be dedicated Saturday afternoon. Woods also is executive director of the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation that paid for new curbs in part of Triangle Park where the marker is located.

One and hundred fifty years ago Mormons helped grade Keokuk's streets.

This week they've paid for new curbs around the end of Triangle Park where a marker will be located to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Mormon encampment in the park.

The Mormons' ties to Keokuk and Montrose will take center stage during the Lee County History Symposium and sesquicentennial of the 1853 Mormon encampment in Keokuk tonight and Saturday. Most of the activities, including presentations by 10 persons, will take place on Saturday at the Holiday Inn Express.

Two of the speakers, Doug Atterberg of Keokuk and BYU professor Fred Woods, have written a 23-page paper on "The 1853 Mormon Migration Through Keokuk."

Woods also is executive director of the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, which paid for the new curbs near the new marker in Triangle Park.

Their paper cites an April 26, 1853, article in the Keokuk Dispatch which said, "A large number of Mormons are now employed in grading the streets of our city. Each man is a 'full team' behind a pick and shovel. A pile of dirt before a dozen or two of these hard fisted, strong fellows is 'nowhere.' The rough places of our city are rapidly becoming smooth and if the Mormons remain here awhile longer, our streets will present quite a different appearance from what they have presented heretofore. We are not sorry to see this improvement going on. Nothing needs improvement worse than the streets of our city."

As for the improvements this week, Woods said, "I'm happy for Keokuk to have the new curbs in the park. We want to do good."

By 1853 Keokuk's population of 3,200 had nearly doubled with the migration of Mormons from Europe, Canada and the East Coast. More than 2,500 Mormons alone from Britain and Scandinavia had come to Keokuk by then, according to Woods who will speak Saturday morning on "Mormon Maritime Migration from England to Keokuk in 1853."

In May 1853 William Belknap, who later served as a major general in the Civil War and as secretary of war to President Grant, wrote the following to his sister, Clara, about the Mormon emigrants who were outfitting in Keokuk that spring and summer: "Yesterday was Sunday and I wish you had been here to go up to the Mormon Camp with me. They had preaching at three stands in three languages - English, German and Danish. They sing - especially the Danes - very sincerely and are perfectly enthusiastic. It is a strange, strange mystery and if you were here you'd be astonished. There are nearly 3,500 here now and 'still they come' by every boat and some of them are genteel and many of the girls very pretty ... The Mormons are mainly honest, earnest and sincere."

Most of the Mormon emigrants apparently liked what they saw when they reached the encampment in Keokuk, according to Atterberg's and Woods' paper.

As one migrant noted, "Elder Isaac C. Haight, who was the Church Emigration agent at the outfitting point, selected a very healthy camping place at Keokuk, on a bluff near the river, where there was plenty of wood and grass handy. The citizens of Keokuk manifested a benevolent feeling toward the Saints, which was highly appreciated by them."

Professional artist Frederick Piercy, who published a sketch of the encampment in 1855, said that after he climbed a steep bluff on the edge of the river, he "found most picturesquely situated on top of a hill, surrounded by wood, and commanding a view of the country for miles around. The situation was admirably chosen, as there were good drainage and an abundance of wood and water combined."

Atterberg's and Woods' paper also notes that as some of the Mormons prepared for their journey to Salt Lake City, they took time to see the dilapidated Nauvoo Temple and visit Emma and Lucy Mack Smith, the widow and mother of Prophet Joseph Smith.

It appears the Mormons' presence left a moral and physical imprint on Keokuk. Belknap observed that the Mormon emigrants were "devoted to their creed and enthusiastic in faith they are models in conduct for men of more christianized churches. Public prayer every morning and evening ... Such a sound of an oath is never heard."

Montrose also played an important role in the early history of the church, Woods said. At one time, the only two stakes of the church were located in Montrose and Nauvoo. On June 24,1839, the Mormons bought 20,000 acres of land around Montrose from Isaac Galland for $2 an acre. In 1841, in fact, 750 Mormons lived in the Iowa stake. Three church presidents, including Brigham Young, lived in Montrose at one time or another. Prophet Joseph Smith also made the statement in Montrose that the Mormons would be driven to the Rocky Mountains and would become a powerful people. In addition, Montrose was the start of the Mormon Trail that ended in Salt Lake City.

A historic marker will be dedicated in Montrose at 4 p.m. Saturday.

"We're trying to get across the idea that the (Mississippi) river can divide us or connect us," Woods said. "Many Mormons don't realize that the Mormons owned more land on the western side of the river than the eastern side."

The early history of the church as it pertains to Keokuk and Montrose is also a part of Lee County's history, he added.

More than 100 people are expected to attend the symposium, which kicks off tonight with a dinner and keynote address by Dr. Loren Horton, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express.

Saturday's schedule also includes a parade from Rand Park to Triangle Park at 2:30 p.m. Persons who are fourth generation Keokukians or greater are invited to participate in the parade and wear period clothing, if they have any. The public also is invited to see horses and 1853-style wagons that will stay in Rand Park this weekend.

Copies of Atterberg's and Woods' story about the Mormon migration through Keokuk will be sold for $2 apiece as a fund-raiser for the Lee County Historical Society.