Illinois History Online
By Mark W. Sorensen

Hancock County http://wwv.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/ normally has a resident population of about 22,000 people. But from Mother's Day to Labor Day this year, more than 600,000 visitors are expected to venture into this far western Illinois county located along the Mississippi across from Iowa. The main draw this year is the open house and dedication of the newly reconstructed Nauvoo Mormon Temple.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded in New York by Joseph Smith. He and his followers believed that special religious rites only could be administered in the sanctity of a "temple." They completed their first temple in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836, but left that community to settle in Missouri. Smith and the Saints proved unwelcome there and fled to Illinois during the winter of 1838-'39 and were helped by the citizens of Quincy as memorialized on an Illinois State Historical Society marker in the town square http://www.nauvootemple.com/articles/MormonslnQuincy.html.

Smith rejoined his fellow Saints in April 1839, and decided to establish their community about 45 miles to the north in the town of Commerce. The site earlier was home to a large Fox Indian village known as Quashquema ("peaceful place"). Local legend has it that in 1824, the natives relinquished their land for 200 sacks of corn. On March 13, 1830, Hancock County's first post office was opened there and initially was called Venus. The Mormons called it Nauvoo, (Hebrew for "beautiful place") and began to gather together Saints from all over the world. Under the direction of William Weeks the temple cornerstone was laid April 6, 1841, and dedicated on May 1, 1846. By this time Nauvoo had become the state's most populated city.

Joseph Smith was viewed by the Saints as a holy prophet who was also the mayor, chief magistrate, lieutenant general of the militia, newspaper editor, real estate promoter, businessman and candidate for President. Antagonisms with non-Mormon neighbors grew to such extremes that Governor Thomas Ford called out the state militia. On June 27, 1844 Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob while in protective custody in the Carthage jail http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/carthage.html. Brigham Young soon led the Mormons out of Nauvoo on the Great Trek to Salt Lake City. In 1848 an arsonist destroyed the interior of the temple and in May 1850 a tornado knocked down and weakened its walls. A brief history of the modern Nauvoo Temple, along with photos of construction details can be found online at http://www.lds.org/temples/nauvoo/history/0.10605.1616-1.00.html.

About the time of the Mormon exodus, a group of French Utopians were forced to leave France because of their political beliefs. The group was known as "Icarians" and members were followers of Etienne Cabet http://www.nauvoowanery.com/who are the icarians.htm. After a brief stay in Denton County, Texas, the communalists moved to Nauvoo in 1849, later building their school on the ruins of the Mormon Temple. Some 500 Icarians lived in Nauvoo until the community disbanded in 1860 http://www.nauvoo.net/icarian.html.

In 1990, the Icarian Living History Museum opened in an 1846 Nauvoo house. Documents and writings about the Icarian era can be found at the Center for Icarian Studies at Western Illinois University http:/www.alliancelibrary system.com/Projects/IllinoisAlive/files/wi/htm4/wiOOO182. html. The WIU archives also contain collections of Mormon and Hancock County material accessible at: http://www.wiu.edu/library/units/archives/coll/hancock/. Among the legacies left by the Icarians are Illinois' oldest winery, established in 1857 by Emile Baxter http://www.nauvoowinery.com/index.html and domestic blue cheese. These taste treats are celebrated each fall at the Nauvoo State Park http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/ R4/NAUVOO.HTM in "The Wedding of the Wine and Cheese."

Hancock County http://freepagcs.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~majorville/hancock/hancockmap.html was created on January 13, 1825 and named for John Hancock, first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and first signer of the Declaration of Independence. Many of its first settlers were veterans of the War of 1812 who received free land in the "Military Tract" as a bonus for their sendee. In 1829 a ferry to cross the Mississippi was established at "Montebello" (near Hamilton) and the first county courthouse was constructed there on the riverbank. In 1833 the county seat was moved to Carthage, where the government yet resides in a 1908 court-house.

From 1860 to 1962 one of the Lutheran Synods maintained "Carthage" College in Carthage. The college relocated to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1962 http://martin.carthage.edu/about/history.html and later so were two college landmarks: "Old Main (victory) Bell and the two-ton granite "Kissing Rock." Robert Morris College http://www.rmcil.edu/about/a history.shtml was chartered in Carthage in 1965 and merged with Moser School of Business (founded in Chicago in 1913) in 1975. The Carthage campus closed about 1988. Falling under foreign ownership the campus has been deserted for the past several years and is a mystery even to the Hancock County Journal-Pilot http://www.jounalpilot.com/.

There are 38 small communities in the county, 18 of which are mapped online http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/com map hancock.html. Several of these towns have small historical museums http://www.carthage.lib.il.us/community/museums.html. The Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum in Carthage (famous for its two-headed pig) is currently hosting the exhibit "Photographic Tour of Historic Mormon Sites in 1904" daily from 1-4 p.m. until Labor Day. The town of La Harpe (formerly Franklin) claims being the site of a 1715 French fortification http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/hancock/laharpe/history laharpe.html. Its museum features information about favorite son Charles Duryea, inventor of the first gasoline-powered automobile and an 1882 graduate of the nearby Gittings Seminary.

Although considered "remote," Hancock County is well worth the drive on the Great River Road http://www.emilebymile.com/main/United States/Illinois/byway/Great River Road hyphen Illinois.html. Future President Zachary Taylor stopped there to build a fort in Warsaw in 1814, and the county citizens will be happy to tell you every where Abraham Lincoln walked or sat in 1858.

Mark Sorensen is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists and on the Board of the Illinois State Historical Society.

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