Albert Ackerley (sometimes misspelled as Ackerly in various records) was a prominent citizen of Decatur County, both Lamoni and Leon.
David Dancer was one of Lamoni's first citizens who moved here in 1877 to help found an RLDS community. He was a prominent and wealthy farmer and banker. His wife, Rosalia Harvey Dancer (1833–1894), was known for her business and banking knowledge. Rosalia is responsible for setting aside property and the naming of Rose Hill Cemetery. David and Rosalia had a son, Albert, who died at the age of 20 and is purportedly the first burial at Lamoni Rose Hill Cemetery. David, Rosalia, and their son David are all buried in plots in lot 282, Section 2.
Henry A. Stebbins was a popular minister and an influential leader in the efforts to shepherd the move of RLDS members (now known as Community of Christ) from Illinois to Decatur County, Iowa, for its new church headquarters. He was a close associate of David Dancer and took over the grain and lumber business from him.
Within an extraordinary life, Marietta was at times a housekeeper, gardener, rancher, businesswoman, artist, educator, writer, editor, musician (piano), and poet. She was one of the original landowners when Lamoni was formally platted in 1879. She was also a childhood friend of Joseph Smith III in the early 1840's.
In 1895 when Graceland College was being founded she donated the first 20 acres from her family farm. For this Marietta became known as the Mother of Graceland College (now Graceland University) and to this day one of the buildings on campus carries her name, Walker Hall (a women's dorm). She is quoted saying
Into my heart came the strong desire to see a school… established upon the broad top of rolling hills… among the violets and breezes of our… Iowa prairies and I gave myself little rest until Graceland opened her doors…
Born into a large family that followed the LDS prophet Joseph Smith, Jr, west into Missouri then on to Illinois, Marrietta, as a young child, was witness to LDS persecution. At one point her family fled for their lives from Missouri and helped settle the community in Nauvoo, Illinois. But that dissolved in trial and tribulation following the Carthage martyrdom of Joseph Smith, Jr. She became bitter toward the LDS church when two of her brothers were accused and put to death over charges they had committed a murder.
In San Antonio, she married a Confederate soldier, Robert Faulconer who died from yellow fever in 1862. Returning North in 1965 with infant daughter Lucy in tow she ran the Federal blockade first to Havana then sailed to New York.
Returning at last to her mother's residence in Plano, Illinois she was astonished to find what was left of her family still within the grasp of the Saints. In Plano she renewed childhood friendship with Joseph Smith III, now President of the Reorganization of the former LDS church. Marietta came to understand the new RLDS church as a renewal and she made the RLDS her life's devotion.
She later met and married Samuel Fry Walker. Their family grew with the church in Lamoni, Iowa. With relentless energy Marrietta wrote and worked toward educating the youth of the church. Zion's Hope, Autumn Leaves, and Stepping Stones were all her creation and she wrote a women's column in the Saints' Herald.
Perhaps Frederick Madison Smith said it best at her passing at 96 years of age in 1930: No person has done more for the development of the work of the Reorganization than has Marietta Walker.
During his 20's and 30's Samuel Walker was part Mark Twain and part Marco Polo. Wanderlust took him everywhere. He is notable for being Marietta Walker's husband and, from 1885–1889, the editor of the Lamoni Gazette.
During the 1850's and 60's he was a carriage maker in New York, an engineer on the Mississippi, both a miner and politico in Sierra County, California, and a gold prospector and cattle rancher in Nevada. His travels took him through Indian territory from Montana to Kansas City then finally to Plano, Illinois, where he became infatuated with both Marietta Faulconer and Joseph Smith III's growing Reorganization of those who did not follow the Mormons to Utah.
Samuel and Marietta, along with two new daughters, were among the first settlers at the gathering in Lamoni (1878). He tasked the RLDS the same as all his other pursuits: with a vigilant pursuit of understanding and knowledge. He rose as an RLDS Elder devoted to his church and the gospel.
In his final years he became a writer and successful editor of the Lamoni Gazette. He was a big hearted man, active and tireless to the very end. His death in 1889 left a void felt throughout Decatur County.
Mads Madison was Joseph Smith III's father-in-law who resided at Liberty Hall. Joseph III was quite fond of Bertha's father, acknowledging Mads as kindly, pleasant man of gentle dignified bearing, a skilled woodworker fashioning chests, dressers, and tables. Many homes throughout Lamoni in the 1890's sported birdhouses built by his callused hands.
Mads Madison led a restless life. Mads immigrated to America and settled in LaSalle County, Illinois, a Norwegian community, in 1839. A year later he met and married Mary Thomasson. A large family of eight children followed, as did numerous residences. Bertha, their second child, was born in 1843. Mads' restless spirit took the family throughout the Midwest into Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa. With a large young family in tow, one can only imagine the hardships.
Perhaps it was the Reorganization that finally settled Mads Madison. He was strongly affected by the Saints (as the RLDS community called themselves), spending time with both James Strang and William B. Smith before being baptized RLDS in 1864.
Bertha married Joseph Smith III in 1869. The Madisons followed their daughter to Lamoni residing for a number of years at Liberty Hall. Mary Madison professed both love and respect for her son-in-law, but despite Joseph Smith III's reassurance, she was never able to reconcile with the Reorganization. Polygamy had turned her against the Saints. Upon Mads death she joined a daughter in Lushton, Nebraska and was buried there in 1898.
Josephine was the last of 8 children born to Mads and Mary Madison. She was 14 years younger than Bertha. History has clouded her life. Details are scarce. What is known is her life was far from ordinary given the times. She was a successful, honest businesswoman and it's not too hard to surmise that Josie's profitable ventures led Bertha to initiate her own commercial enterprises to hopefully add to the Smith accounts at Liberty Hall.
Josephine traveled a great deal and never married. In 1904 she was in Germany either on business or perhaps for medical reasons. On the return, she stopped In London and was baptized into the RLDS faith.
She passed in 1908 in Sheridan, Illinois, and was brought to rest at Rose Hill in Lamoni.
F. (Francis) Henry Edwards was born to a 'Saint' family in Birmingham, England. In his early life he was a conscientious objector in World War I. He was tried and sentenced before a military tribunal and subsequently served 2 years hard labor in prison. One might surmise that his conviction and strength in his beliefs forged a framework that served him well throughout the work of his life: the RLDS church.
Upon immigrating to America and Iowa in 1921, he immersed himself in the Reorganization. Early missionary work led to appointments as an apostle in 1922, then the First Presidency of the RLDS church in 1946–1966. He wrote and published extensively, notably a treatise on the RLDS doctrine and covenants, and updating RLDS history, with volumes 5 to 8, the period from 1896–1976.
He was a self-taught, hard-working dedicated theologian— a man of little formal education who spoke 5 languages and published 9 books; serious to an extreme except perhaps when resting comfortable with a Zane Gray novel or caught mimicking church elders to the delight of his children.
In 1966 he received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Graceland. Today at Graceland University in Lamoni there exists, in esteem and recognition, an endowed F. Henry Edwards Chair of Religious Studies.
If there were a royal court within the Reorganization, Alice would stand first rank: Great-granddaughter to the martyred prophet Joseph Smith Jr., granddaughter to Joseph Smith III, daughter to President Frederick Madison and wife to First Presidency church leader, F. Henry Edwards.
And therein lay the conundrum of Alice's life: how to separate and honor the formal responsibilities of the church, with her often wished for desire for individual freedom and anonymity. Alice had a love of the church but also a rebel's awareness as to its proper constraints.
Throughout her life she found her voice in writing and education, enthusiastically attending higher learning institutions in Kansas City, at USC and Stanford University in California. In 1964 she was attaining her doctorate at Kansas U. when health reasons caused a final withdrawal. She wrote that her challenging times at the 'university' were the best of times.
Married in 1924, she and F. Henry Edwards had two sons, Lyman and Paul, and a daughter, Ruth. With her family grown, she began teaching in earnest— extension courses for returning World War II veterans. She wrote and published beautiful poetry.
Though loved by family, friends, church members, there was always the 'mystery' of Alice— the enigma, the romance. For years she wrote a grand massive novel: This Dark Mirror. At her death in 1973 not a trace of the work was ever found.
He was the last child born to the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and his wife Emma Hale. At the time of the Carthage murders, Emma was pregnant and gave birth five months later to David Hyrum; a life that both began and ended in affliction.
David possessed an artistic gift: a poet, writer, painter and composer. Blessed with a beautiful singing voice, the 'Saints' affectionately called him the sweet singer of Israel. Many early RLDS hymns are attributed to David.
To the church as a whole, he was the son of promise; charismatic, a lightening rod, with a deportment that reminded many of his father, the Prophet. A missionary early on, his was a ministry of kindness, wit, and humor. In 1870 he married Clara Charlotte Hartshorn. A son, Elbert, was born a year later. With his oldest brother Joseph III firmly at the helm of the Reorganization, with David ordained second counselor to the president, never, perhaps, had the future of the young church seemed brighter.
But with his blessed gifts there came a sensitive fragile nature. A second missionary trip to Utah in 1872 proved ruinous. In retrospect, with a new wife and child back in Plano, Illinois, the yearlong ministry west was ill conceived. David's mission was met at times with LDS defiance and open hostility. He sought testimony of those that knew his father and the role the Prophet may have played regarding polygamy. Stress and agitation grew. There was an engagement with spiritualism and séance. He became ill with fever. The end result proved too heavy a burden. His health and heart were broken. Upon returning to Plano, the affable, energetic David who left was far removed from the troubled David that returned.
As time wore on, melancholic dementia set in followed by delusion. His once adoring congregation now stood apart concerned and somewhat fearful. There were fits of temper and violence. At last in early 1877, with the elders urging, Joseph III had David committed to a hospital for the insane in Elgin, Illinois. Reason and rationality never returned and he remained there for the final 27 years of his life. In 1904, the family brought David's body to Lamoni for burial at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Clara's parents were both RLDS. Her father, Elder William W. Hartshorn took part in early conferences and played a role at the birth of the Reorganization in the 1850's.
Clara was literally born and raised within the RLDS church— baptized at 16 in 1867 by Joseph Smith III. She met and married David in May of 1870. They lived for a time at the old Mansion House in Nauvoo, Illinois, where David was born. Later, at Plano, Illinois, both labored at the Saints Herald, the RLDS publication. A son, Elbert A. was born in 1871.
Their union of promise and joy was shattered upon David's return from a long ministry in Utah in 1872. David's mental illness deepened. Upon his hospitalization she remarked He may recover. If he does, he will find me his wife, as I was when he left me.
She lost David, but not her faith, remaining with the RLDS church her entire life, offering up her son to carry on for his father. During the final years of her life she resided in Independence living with her son and his wife. Her body rests with David at Rose Hill Cemetery.
It was always said she was a woman of fortitude who never shrank from the harsh disappointments in her life. Researching the lives of Clara and David together during their courtship and the early years of marriage, one easily gets caught up in the dashed Camelot… the "what might have been"… both for themselves and the growing Reorganization.
What would a congregation be without music? A question the early RLDS had no need to ask thanks in no small part to Norman Smith. He was an organist. From his baptism in 1868 in Michigan to the end of his life in Lamoni in 1917, he devoted his life's work to music within the Reorganization. He was a steward in the compiling of hymns and their subsequent publication of both the Saints Harp (1870) and Saints Harmony (1889) hymnals.
Norman, his first wife, Ellen Granger, and 4 children moved to Lamoni as part of the Gathering of Saints in 1882. Ellen soon passed from illness. Norman later married a Lamoni girl, Mary Bell, in 1894.
Norman was ordained to the offices of deacon and teacher. He taught music for decades and was still composing in his final years.
Joseph Smith III tragically lost 3 members of his Liberty Hall family during a short span in the 1880's: Blossom died at birth (1883), Bertha Azuba (5) died after a school yard accident (1884) and Don Carlos (16), his oldest son, passed from heart failure in 1886. Overwhelmed with sadness, striving to understand his trials, Joseph wrote Tenderly, Tenderly Lead Thou Me On. Upon Joseph's request, Norman composed the music, an RLDS hymn that has endured and inspires to this very day.
Among the brothers of Joseph Smith III, only David was favorable to his assuming the reins of the RLDS church. Frederick and Alexander disagreed with the decision initially.
With Frederick's untimely death in 1862, the fact that his brother had not been baptized disturbed Alexander greatly. Through prayer and assurance by Joseph III, he became aware that in time his lost brother's baptism would be secured, and in 1862 Alexander was baptized into the Reorganization.
He was an avid outdoor sportsman, a crack shot, and a carpenter by trade. Alexander at first felt he was not capable to hold priesthood office, but devoted his life to missionary work. He traveled extensively in the west, including California, western Canada and Mexico. Later, he made trips to Australia, the South Seas, New York, and Boston. In his mission to Utah he had sharp debates over polygamy.
David, in a poem, called himself and his older brothers Joseph III and Alexander, the Three Pillars of the RLDS church.
Alexander's life's work included being an apostle and patriarch within the RLDS and serving on the Board of Directors of Graceland College. Born and raised in the old Mansion House in Nauvoo, he had homes in Andover, Missouri and Lamoni. He died in Nauvoo while visiting there in 1909 after 47 years devoted to the faith. He is buried in Rose Hill.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Alexander Smith were married in 1861 in Nauvoo. All reports reflect that for 37 years they held a strong lasting relationship. But 1861 was hardly their beginning.
Alexander was raised in the old Mansion House in Nauvoo, Illinois. Lizzie was born in Liverpool, England. After the death of her father, Lizzies' mother, accompanying other LDS converts, immigrated with the family to America. They arrived in Nauvoo in early 1844 with no place to stay. Emma Hale Smith (the widow of Joseph Smith, Jr.) put them up at the Mansion House for a time. At that time Lizzie was an infant and Alexander was 6.
Lizzie's mother, also named Elizabeth, married a Wellington. She died in 1850 and Wellington remarried. In effect the spunky Lizzie was orphaned. Emma Hale once again welcomed Lizzie back to the Mansion House. Lizzie was now 8 and Alexander was 13.
The County census of 1860 shows Lizzie, now a daughter to Emma in all but name, was 18. Alexander was 23. A year later that daughter became a daughter-in-law— and a blessed union it was; except, perhaps, for the loneliness brought on by Alexander's long missionary treks.
They had 9 children and surprisingly, given the 'times,' all lived to maturity. At Alexander's death in 1909, there were 48 grandchildren. 45 lived to maturity.
As a young man Elijah felt the power of the 'spirit' and experienced a life altering fulfillment being baptized into the LDS church in Pittsburg in 1844. There he met and married Emeline Hodge, sister to Marietta Walker. Much later, after the Civil War, it was Elijah who urged Marietta toward accepting the Reorganization.
Elijah was a man of means having inherited a large property from his father in Indiana. He had a speech impediment, a stuttering, that he always said by God's grace simply disappeared during his ministry. Regardless, Elijah Banta was, by all accounts, successful in all endeavors be they financial, agricultural, public affairs (elected to and served in both the Indiana 1864 and Iowa 1883 state legislatures), church affairs, or private life. He embodied both character and generosity that endeared him to all his family and associates. He became a prominent and influential member of the RLDS.
Elijah was baptized RLDS in 1863, ordained an Elder in 1865 and served as a bishop in 1873–1874 and in 1882–1889. To Joseph Smith III, Elijah Banta was quick witted, quick tempered, and indispensable.
Reviewing Betsey's life one almost has to suspend disbelief as to the hardships. Her story begins with the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844. With no appointed LDS successor, a few came forward proclaiming a divine right to succeed the Prophet, including James Strang who eventually led a faction of his followers to first Voree, Wisconsin, then Beaver Lake Island in northern Michigan. The Strangites, as they were called, were missionary minded and induced the McNutt family to leave Ohio and join the colony in 1850. Betsey, a daughter, was nearing 30 in 1852 when she became James Strang's 3rd wife (plural). She bore him 3 children. The situation in Michigan was ripe for disaster which occurred in 1856 when Strang was shot to death by two estranged followers. He left 5 wives, 4 of whom were pregnant, one being Betsey. The Beaver Lake colony was ransacked and destroyed by a mob. The Strangites, homeless and destitute, scattered in all directions.
For the next 25 years Betsey and her brother John (also a Strangite) became nomads moving some 10 times, residing on occasion with family members or alone in the wilds of northern Wisconsin and Canada. In 1866, at a Mormon settlement, Betsey's daughter, Evangeline, age 14, married 40 year old John Denio. The resettlements continued. Oftentimes Betsey was perceived in public as a curiosity, sometimes bothered and baited over her past. They endured. The Denio marriage held. In 1883 they all landed in Decatur County, Iowa.
John Denio was baptized and became a devout leader within the RLDS. Betsey was in her 60's, in poor health, and remained living with John and her daughter Evangeline, who had 4 sons. Betsey died in Lamoni in 1897. There is no record of Betsey ever joining the RLDS church, but that did not preclude the Strangites from ridiculing her and besmirching her character for having sided up with the Reorganization. Joseph Smith III rose to her defense shaming in print all those who dared defame her.
Source: Vickie Speek essay – Vol 25 2005 The Journal of the John Whitmer Historical Association
Heman Smith was appointed as the RLDS church historian in 1897 by Joseph Smith III. His mission was to write a detailed history of the church. He produced 4 volumes up to the year 1890. He also was an editor for the Saints' Herald from 1895 to 1900, for The Journal of History, and with Professor Howell edited the 1915 History of Decatur County Iowa.
He grew up in Texas. His family, who was part of Lyman Wight's group, after Wight's death came north to flee the war fever building in the South. Missionaries W. W. Blair and Edmund C. Briggs converted the family to the Reorganization. Twelve year old Heman was baptized in 1862, ordained an elder in 1874 and an apostle in 1888. He traveled extensively on missionary work throughout the States.
In 1886 Heman married Vida Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Alexander H., Joseph III's younger brother. Soon after he was appointed to the Pacific Slope Mission. The union produced 4 children, all born in San Bernardino. After another missionary stint in the South in '93, the family settled in Lamoni. His was a life spent both writing and producing Saint history.
Very late in his life Joseph Smith III said directly, Heman, the secret of your power, and you had lots of it, was your sincerity. At his eulogy he was remembered as stalwart; an eloquent, powerful teacher and writer whose works have become standard RLDS texts.
Her name, Vida, was actually derived from David Hyrum Smith's first name by dropping the 'd' and moving the letters around.
Vida's grand moment of inspiration occurred in 1903 listening to the Sunday gospel at the old brick church in Lamoni. As she recalled, The glory of the ancient prophet Jeremiah flooded my soul. Right there sitting in the pew she penned the lyrics to what became a favored RLDS hymn, The Old, Old, Path. The very next day, Audentia Smith Anderson answered with the music. To Vida's ears, Audentia's composition was perfect, as if the two of them had been riding the same wavelength. Their hymn has become an RLDS church standard.
Vida was the daughter of Lizzie and Alexander H. Smith. She married an RLDS church historian and apostle, Heman C. Smith and had 4 children. After his death, she met and married James Yates in 1926. Vida served as the Dean of Woman at Graceland College from 1922–1925
Carrie was born to Joseph Smith III and his first wife, Emmeline Griswold, who died in 1869. Her father married a second time to Bertha Madison. In 1881 RLDS President Smith and his growing family joined the church gathering in Lamoni. Carrie who was then 20 moved into Liberty Hall along with her 6 step-siblings and younger sister, Zaide, 18.
Today at Liberty Hall, Carrie's restored 2nd story bedroom is one of the guided tour highlights. She was an artist.
During her young adult years Carrie assisted her father at Herald Hall, both in Plano, Illinois and Lamoni. She was a more than capable compositor, assembling texts and illustrations for printing.
Carrie married Francis Weld, the town pharmacist, in 1887. They had a daughter, Emma Rebecca, in 1889. Rebecca loved to walk with her grandfather during the noon lunch hour and would race to catch him when he came home to eat with them.
Audentia was Joseph Smith III and Bertha's second child who in 1881 at the age of 9 traveled west with her family to Liberty Hall in Lamoni.
Multi-talented from a young age, the list of her accomplishments is extraordinary. At 12 Audentia was the church organist. She was an accomplished singer. She headed the department of music at Graceland College. She served as choir director at the Old Stone Church in Independence, Missouri. With Vida Elizabeth Smith she wrote a favorite RLDS hymn, The Old, Old, Path. She also composed music for 17 other hymns. She wrote and edited two ambitious literary works: a 720 page genealogical study entitled, The Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale (1929) and edited her father's detailed autobiography, The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith III 1832–1914.
Audentia was an active member in many historical societies including The Daughters of the American Revolution, The Mayflower Society, and the Daughters of 1812 among others.
She married Benjamin Anderson of Lamoni in 1891. They had 7 children— 4 of whom grew to adulthood.
With the heartbreaking death of her mother, injured in a horse and buggy accident in 1896, she and Ben plus the children moved back into Liberty Hall for a time to assist her father and help care for the family. After the death of her father in Independence in 1914, the Andersons resided in Omaha until 1959.