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| Heber Chase Kimball (1801-1868) |
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| Daniel Wood (1800-1892) |
Yes, our youngest boy and last child opened his mission call today. Cleveland, Ohio, to report June 10, 2015! Assuming his brother who is to be home from Japan about 3 weeks before this date stays with us this summer (we just signed a rental contract for him for Fall, in Provo, to continue at BYU) my wife and I will be empty-nesters come next August! We will have sent off all six children to do good in the world. But this isn't about us.
The first call for the Saints to gather in this dispensation was:
And that ye might escape the power of the enemy, and be gathered unto me a righteous people, without spot and blameless—
Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high; D&C 38:31-32
Context is a little different with this mission call. Yet, Kirtland is in that mission even if it is a separate, visitors center mission with mostly sister missionaries and mature couples. They send a lot of sister missionaries to visitors centers. I don't know if it's the stereotypes of "feminine mystique" or "heightened female spirituality." I probably should just leave it with those in authority and with inspiration.
I have to check on where Heber C. lived. But Daniel Wood lived out of town (he was that type, consistently through Missouri, Nauvoo, and Salt Lake only having a town named for him in Utah, not because he was called to settle there, he just happened to be there when the railroad came through.) I have researched the approximate location of his brief residence in Missouri. I am going to have to pin him down in Ohio. I know it was not at the visitors center or any site on the tour.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn't even own the Kirtland Temple. It belongs to the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And now that we've established some cousins went that way, maybe it will get us an in with them. The two Churches are very cooperative these days in sharing historical documents and sites.
The Ohio Country is of great spiritual significance to the Mormon Faith. I will let you read of the sacred occurrences at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on your own:
The Dedicatory Prayer by the Prophet Joseph Smith, March 27, 1838, D&C Section 109.
The Visitation of Divine Beings and Restoration of Priesthood Keys, April 3, 1836, D&C Section 110.There are also many historical records of the spiritual triumphs and failures in "the Ohio." I'm glad I have that book, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations, by Mark Lyman Staker. We'll see if we can get the boy into it. As a back-up, I just ordered the out-of-print Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to LDS Historical Sites Ohio and Illinois, LaMar C. Berrett, Keith W. Perkins, Donald Q. Cannon (Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 2002). Maybe that will help us find where Daniel Wood's Ohio home was. And, of course, I'll dive into Ancestry.com. And the microfilms, as necessary.
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| "KirtlandTemple Ohio USA" by John Hamer at the English language Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KirtlandTemple_Ohio_USA.jpg#mediaviewer/File:KirtlandTemple_Ohio_USA.jpg |
And, of course, "Cleveland, rocks! (Ohio. . . .)"
That is such an awesome call. He will be taught in the school of the Prophets! I'd recommend two books to read before the mission: Karl Anderson's "Joseph Smith's Kirtland" , an easy and enjoyable read, and Milton Backman's "The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830-1838" which would cover the whole mission. I hope he is lucky enough to serve in Lorain, OH: Ohio home of Parley P Pratt and Joel H Johnson, who wrote "High on a Mountain Top."
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