Adam-ondi-Ahman - History

History

In the 1830s, Mormons being forced out of Jackson County, Missouri, settled just south of Daviess County in Caldwell County, in the settlement of Far West. In February 1838, Lyman Wight built a home and established a ferry on the Grand River at a spot known as "Wight's Ferry."

That spring, Joseph Smith, Jr. visited the site. He proclaimed there were either two or three (depending on subsequent interpretations) altars built by Adam at the site. One altar called the "altar of prayer" was by Lyman's house on Tower Hill. It was described as "sixteen feet long, by nine or ten feet wide, having its greatest extent north and south. The height of the altar at each end was some two and a half feet, gradually rising higher to the center, which was between four and five feet high — the whole surface being crowning." The other altar — called the "altar of sacrifice" — was said to be a mile to the north on top of Spring Hill.

On May 19, 1838, Smith formally revealed his belief that Adam-ondi-Ahman was the place where Adam went after being exiled from the Garden of Eden. On June 25, 1838, at a conference in Wight's orchard, a Mormon settlement at Adam-ondi-Ahman was formally established. Within a few months, its population grew to 1500.

Non-Mormon settlers grew worried that the Latter Day Saints would seize political control of Daviess County. On August 6, 1838, a group of non-Mormons tried to prevent Latter Day Saint settlers from voting in the local elections at Gallatin. The Mormons fought back and defeated the mob in a skirmish that came to be known as the Gallatin Election Day Battle. This was the opening skirmish in the Mormon War.

In the course of the conflict, non-Mormon vigilantes from neighboring counties came to Daviess and burned Mormon homes. Mormon refugees gathered at Adam-ondi-Ahman for protection. Latter Day Saints responded to the attacks by leading their own forces from Caldwell County. Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44, in which he called out 2500 militiamen and threatened to "exterminate" the Mormon community.

In October 1838, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and other Latter Day Saint leaders gathered to dedicate the temple square on the highest point on the bluff. Smith, Wight and others surrendered on November 1, 1838 on charges of murder, arson, theft, rebellion, and treason. After a preliminary court hearing was held November 12 to 29 in Richmond, Smith and Wight were transferred to the Liberty Jail in Liberty.

On November 7, 1838, the Mormons were told they had ten days to abandon the settlement. They moved to Far West, Missouri.

On April 9, 1839, Smith was sent to the Daviess County Jail in Gallatin for a hearing, where a grand jury indicted him. On April 15, following the granting of a change of venue, Smith was allowed to escape while en route to Boone County, Missouri, a day after getting supplies at Adam-ondi-Ahman. Most of the Latter Day Saints had left Missouri by early 1839. The refugees gathered in Illinois and later regrouped at the new Mormon center of Nauvoo. Although many Latter Day Saints were tried for their part in the war, no non-Mormon vigilantes were brought to trial.

Because the Latter Day Saints held their lands in Adam-ondi-Ahman by preemption, all of their rights and improvements were lost when they were forced to leave. Their losses are recorded in a set of Mormon Redress Petitions collected and edited by Clark V. Johnson. Most of the land in Adam-ondi-Ahman was purchased by John Cravens, who renamed the town "Cravensville."

Today 3000 acres (12 km²) of Adam-ondi-Ahman is owned and maintained as a historic site by the LDS Church and remains largely undeveloped farmland.