Comments on: A Photograph: Oliver Cowdery Monument Dedication

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:55:54 +0000

One dramatic incident I remember from that article is that the Choir sang “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” to an audience that wept and cheered, in an auditorium only half a mile from the site of the old Richmond jail where Joseph had been held under sentence of death, and where he stood and commanded, “Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit!”

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:35:02 +0000

Jeff, yes, and yes. I’ll get the article to you — the Choir’s business manager wrote a long, multi-part report of their travels that year, which was published in, I think, 1913. In the picture, there is a box (or maybe a short set of steps?) front and center. I think that the man directly above that box (which might be for the director to stand on so he’ll be visible to his chorus) is Evan Stephens. He was definitely there, anyway, and that man looks the most like him to me.

By: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:41:12 +0000

Ardis: Is Evan Stephens in the photograph with the choir? If so is there an article about their visit there?

By: larryco_

larryco_ — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:27:01 +0000

Ardis: I always learn something when I visit your site. Thank you.

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:25:23 +0000

Bookslinger: Here is a link that might help.

http://www.mormonhistoricsitesregistry.org/USA/missouri/richmond/threeWitnesses/history.htm

Good luck. I really should have stopped there and taken some pictures. I saw it once when I was about 13 years old. I don’t remember much.

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:22:47 +0000

Does anyone know where can you get the text or clear photos that show the text of all sides of that monument?

THanks.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:47:06 +0000

Thanks Steve. I had brainstormed a couple of ideas that would explain what happened, and that was one of them. I won’t embarrass myself by describing the others.

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:50:54 +0000

Bruce: I don’t know much either, but he was married to a Whitmer and after his rebaptism went to Richmond to convince his in-laws to return to the Church. It was there that he got sick and died. Beyond that, I don’t know much else.

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:43:40 +0000

We were actually up in that area last month. I had wanted to stop in Richmond, MO, to see the monument, but we were short of time. Now, after reading this post, I wish we would have made the time.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:42:36 +0000

That is quite a history. The part after his rebaptism, however, is brief indeed. It says he was rebaptized at Council Bluffs in 1848 and then died at David Whitmer’s house in 1850.