The final cost of building the Nauvoo temple was variously estimated to be between $800,000 and $1,000,000. (John S. Fullmer, Nauvoo, IL, to H. H. Blackwell, 24 Apr. 1846, in Fullmer, Letterbook, 250–251; Lanman, Summer in the Wilderness, 32; “The Temple in the Market,” Hancock Eagle [Nauvoo, IL], 8 May 1846, [2].)

Fullmer, John S. Letterbook, 1836–1881. John S. Fullmer Journal and Letterbook, 1836–1881. CHL.

Lanman, Charles. A Summer in the Wilderness; Embracing a Canoe Voyage up the Mississippi and around Lake Superior. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1847.

Hancock Eagle. Nauvoo, IL. 1846.

Church members began digging the Nauvoo temple’s cellar in February 1841 and laid its cornerstone that April. Hundreds of volunteers provided the labor for the temple’s construction, including stonecutters, who worked on the edifice’s foundation and exterior walls, and lumberjacks and mill workers, who cut and manufactured wood for the floors, roof, and interior finishing. By the end of fall 1843, the temple had a basement with a baptismal font, a first-story floor, and walls “as high as the arches of the first tier of windows all round.” (Clayton, History of the Nauvoo Temple, 5–6, 15, 23, 32, 41; “Celebration of the Anniversary of the Church,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1841, 2:375–377; “The Church and Its Prospects,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1841, 2:543; George Miller, St. James, MI, to “Dear Brother,” 26 June 1855, in Northern Islander, 16 Aug. 1855, [4].)

Clayton, William. History of the Nauvoo Temple, ca. 1845. CHL. MS 3365.

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Northern Islander. St. James, MI. 1850–1856.

Eber D. Howe, a vocal critic of the church and the author of the 1834 publication Mormonism Unvailed, asserted that the word Mormon came from the “English termination of the Greek word ‘Mormoo.’” In a letter printed in the 15 May 1843 issue of Times and Seasons, JS refuted this idea and stated that the word was revealed through the “true spirit of prophesy” and “stands independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation.” He further indicated that the word meant “more good.” Though the official name of the church during this period was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, some contemporaries referred to it as the “Mormon” or “Mormonite” church because of the church’s recognition and use of the Book of Mormon as part of its scriptural canon. During the mid-1830s, some church members viewed these nicknames as derogatory. By the late 1830s, however, members themselves, including JS, used the terms Mormon and Mormonism to describe church members and their religion. (Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 21; Letter to Editor, ca. 20 May 1843; Revelation, 26 Apr. 1838 [D&C 115:4]; Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., title page; “The Saints,” The Evening and the Morning Star, May 1834, 158; “An Appeal,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Aug. 1834, 183; Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839; Letter to James Arlington Bennet, 8 Sept. 1842; Discourse, 23 July 1843.)

Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

The identity of the preacher is unknown; it may have been Benjamin Clapp. Clapp reportedly preached in Tuscaloosa in April 1842 and was also listed as an agent for the Times and Seasons during that period. He may have remained in the vicinity through at least a portion of the following winter before returning to Nauvoo. The unidentified preacher could also have been Samuel Turnbow, a convert baptized by Clapp in 1840, who lived in and reportedly helped build up a branch of the church in nearby Perry County around this time. (“A Mormon Preacher,” Independent Monitor [Tuscaloosa, AL], 13 Apr. 1842, [3]; “Agents for the Times and Seasons,” Times and Seasons, 16 May 1842, 3:798; Turnbow, Genealogical and Blessing Book of Samuel Turnbow, 39.)

Independent Monitor. Tuscaloosa, AL. 1837–1872.

Turnbow, Samuel. Genealogical and Blessing Book of Samuel Turnbow with Brief Sketch of His Life, 1804–1876. Mormon Diaries, vol. 10, no. 6. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Library, 1940.