Power of Place: Reflections on the Continuing Story of the Kirtland Temple

Good morning, friends. It's an honor to share with you this morning in this historic space. I remember the last time MHA gathered here in the lower court in 2003, and then-Community of Christ president/prophet Grant McMurray kicked off the conference with his opening address shared from the pulpits behind me.As President McMurray shared that evening over two decades ago, I remember standing in the back serving as the newly appointed Kirtland Temple site director. I had arrived in November 2002, a twenty-five-year-old fresh out of graduate school and ready to step into her dream position here in Kirtland. It was truly a dream come true, and I was full of all the enthusiasm and optimism you would find in a new site director. I had no idea how much this historic and sacred site would change me in the years that followed. I was raised with the stories of the temple builders: Joseph and Emma Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and others. But my time serving here in Kirtland became deeply personal. The temple builders weren't just people I read about. I could see their handiwork all around me. Their stories were in the fabric of this building, the historic Rigdon and Smith homes where I lived, and the cemetery I walked by as I made my way to the temple. The responsibility of sharing their stories openly and honestly was a privilege and one I took seriously.I'll confess that some of my favorite moments from my time in Kirtland were sitting alone here in the lower court of the temple. Sometimes, in the early morning hours or at the end of a long day, I would take a seat in one of the old wooden pews. It was a place where I felt I could take a moment to commune with God, to be vulnerable as I discerned God's will in my life, or wrestled with a difficult decision that needed to be made. This was sacred time for me in my faith journey. I would look over the historic space, immersing myself in the history and thinking about the hands who helped create this house of worship. People like Jacob Bump and Truman Angell who created the woodcarvings and fretwork that decorate the pulpits, columns, and windows of the upper and lower courts.1 I'd think about the dedication service in 1836 and the accounts that described the 900–1,000 people who attended and wonder how on earth they could fit fifteen to twenty people per pew box that day or how Sidney Rigdon was able to give a 2.5-hour sermon from those pulpits, let alone James Strang preaching for eight hours a decade later. I could imagine listening to the choir singing from the corners of the room. The 1830s version of surround sound must have been amazing. I would look around and wonder where the women sat during the service: the women who housed and fed the temple workers, the ones who sewed clothes for the workers, those who made the curtains that hung from the ceiling above, the women who George Smith described as “right huffy” about not being able to attend some of the special gatherings that took place in the temple.2This historic place is filled with the stories of those who have gone before us. It is a symbol of our journey as a people and the historic lives that continue to speak to us, especially in times of isolation and uncertainty. Community of Christ Doctrine and Covenants, Section 162 (2a) reads: Listen to your own journey as a people, for it is a sacred journey and it has taught you many things you must know for the journey yet to come.I have lived this scripture over and over again on these grounds. Shortly after I was hired as the site director in 2002, Lachlan Mackay, the historic sites lead and my immediate supervisor, encouraged me to research the story behind a woman named Catherine Kelley. Catherine, or “Cassie” as she was known, was the wife of E. L. Kelley, a counselor to the then-RLDS Bishop. Cassie and her family moved here to Kirtland in the early 1880s during an exciting time when Latter Day Saints were gathering to Kirtland once again, and the RLDS church was financially investing heavily into the repair and restoration of the historic temple. Cassie was 29 years old, just a few years older than I was, when she arrived in Kirtland in 1882, 120 years before I called Kirtland home.3I didn't realize it at the time, but I think Lachlan knew I would face a number of unique challenges as a young woman serving as the first female site director, challenges that he didn't have to face when he was appointed site director seven years earlier at a similar age. His research assignment during those slow days of winter opened up a world of stories about three historic women who cared for the Kirtland Temple with resilience and determination. These women held their ground and dedicated themselves as caretakers and storytellers here in Kirtland. To understand Cassie Kelley's story, you have to know the stories behind two women who paved the way for Cassie here in Kirtland.Rebecca Dayton was a member of the local RLDS congregation who served as caretaker and tour guide in the late 1870s. When Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith passed through Kirtland in 1878, they called on Rebecca because she had keys to the temple and she lived nearby. They described the widow as “far advanced in years and feeble.” She was 82 years old at the time. Rebecca shared her experience caring for Jerusha Barden Smith, wife of Hyrum Smith, before Jerusha's death in 1837 and referred to the Smith family with great affection. Rebecca's affection also extended to Orson Pratt, whom she well remembered from his early days in Kirtland.4 There are numerous accounts of “Grandma Dayton” or “Granny Dayton,” as locals affectionately called Rebecca, meeting with temple visitors, fielding questions about church beliefs, handing out missionary leaflets, and renting out the temple to local organizations, such as the temperance society. She closely monitored who entered and exited the temple day and night like her own little neighborhood watch. The presiding elder of the Kirtland congregation at the time was Joseph McDowell whom church leaders placed in charge of overseeing the temple activities, but he resided several miles away and was not as accessible to visitors as Rebecca. Thus, she held the temple keys and felt a sense of ownership over the temple as she was the one meeting with people in the community. She also had a direct line to RLDS president Joseph Smith III and wasn't afraid to use it. Whenever she and Elder Joseph McDowell disagreed on an issue, like removing the first row of pew boxes or altering the temple pulpits, she would fire off a letter to the church president informing him of Brother McDowell's grievous curatorial sins. Joseph Smith III responded to her letters, as did the church bishopric.5 The phrase, “don't make me go Rebecca Dayton on you,” was an inside line (and chuckle) among us Kirtland Temple history nerds. Eventually, Rebecca's rocky relationship with Brother McDowell reached a breaking point when McDowell wanted a portion of the donations for himself since he was the presiding elder in charge.6 Nothing could infuriate her more than him wanting compensation with her doing all the work as temple guide, janitor, security guard, and doorkeeper. By the end of 1879, Rebecca Dayton's key privileges were taken from her. The 83-year-old widow fired off a letter to Joseph Smith III to inform him of the great injustice and that Brother McDowell had given her keys to another sister in the Kirtland congregation.7 When Rebecca passed away in 1892, her obituary read, “She was thoroughly imbued with the ideas and views, hopes and expectations of the Saints. For a number of years, she was in charge of the temple at Kirtland and took pride in defending the faith before all who she met as best she could.”8It's very possible the unnamed “sister” that received Rebecca Dayton's keys was Electa Stratton, another local Kirtland woman whose family dated back to 1830s Kirtland. Electa hosted journalist Frederic G. Mather on a two-hour-long tour that would later appear in the August 1880 edition of Lippincott's Magazine. Mather said that Stratton shared stories about the glory days of 1830s Kirtland. Mather noted, “As she spoke of the early worship services, she noted the elevated choir lofts where ‘an insane woman’ was in the habit of rising and toting on a horn whenever the sentiments of the officiating minister did not meet with her approval.”9 Electa also shared a memory of Joseph Smith Jr.’s habit of “announcing from his lofty pulpit, ‘The truth is good enough without dressing up, but Brother Rigdon will now proceed to dress it up.’”10Electa Stratton's 1830s memories were especially helpful when the RLDS restoration work on the temple began in the early 1880s. Her recollections served as a resource when considering the original appearance of the lower court and she was often sought out by those wanting to know about the early church in the area. When H. W. Johnson visited in 1883, he reported that she enthusiastically showed him an image of the present Joseph Smith III with the assurance that “the ‘Dear old man’ would soon send on elders with money to repair the Temple and reestablish worship.”11 I'd like to note that Electa was around 81 years old at the time of this interview, and Joseph Smith III, the “dear old man” she referred to, would turn 51 years old later that year. But what's thirty years anyway? When the RLDS General Conference was finally held in the lower court of the temple in the spring of 1883, Electa was seated on the steps leading up to the top of the pulpits so that she might not lose a word during the opening service. The fact that the presiding elders allowed her to sit alongside the pulpits reflects Electa's standing within the RLDS community.12 That respect was mentioned when the Cleveland newspaper the Plain Dealer noted that “several papers spoke of old Mother Stratton, the keeper of the temple, as a ‘witch.’” The article went on to say that this description of Electa infuriated the anti-polygamists [meaning RLDS members], some of which “felt like fighting the man who called their ‘dear good sister’ a witch.”13The contributions made by Rebecca Dayton and Electa Stratton as unofficial caretakers of the temple paved the way for Catherine “Cassie” Kelley's arrival in 1882. Although her husband E. L. Kelley's responsibilities were to direct temple repairs, he was also called on to fundraise and travel as an appointed minister throughout the 1880s. When he was unable to supervise temple activities and restoration efforts, the responsibilities would fall on his wife, Cassie, to serve as his substitute.Unlike Rebecca Dayton and Electa Stratton, Cassie was only 29 years old, and she was a firecracker. Her decisions in Kirtland influenced the RLDS Church's reputation, the local congregation's relations with the Kirtland community, and the financial welfare of her family.As her husband traveled, Cassie managed the church-owned hotel where their family resided and she supervised restoration work on the temple. Monitoring the temple was no easy task as the restoration and repair work was ongoing and somewhat dangerous. The temple caught fire at least twice under her watch, and twice the fires were put out, one of which was her rounding up a bucket brigade (with the assistance of Brother Scott) to put out the fire.14 In addition to leading tours and fielding reporters’ questions about history and theology, Cassie was often approached by local residents wishing to use the temple for various activities. The decisions on who could use the temple often rested on her shoulders. For example, in 1885, when Roger Plaisted approached her about using the upper court of the Temple for a skating rink, trying to sell it to her as “think of the entertainment and proselyting opportunities for the RLDS church if they would just let guests roll around on the second floor.” It should come as no surprise that she turned him down.15 Six months later, she was approached by the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal society for Union Civil War veterans, about using the temple property for a fundraiser. She penned a letter to her husband about the potential event with the GAR; he wrote back immediately, sharing his concerns about the event and telling her to reject their proposal.16 Either she didn't receive his letter, or she ignored it, because in the next letter she sends to her husband, she tells him, “well the affair passed off as a grand success. It was an honor to those connected with it. They had tents from here to Mrs. Turk's lighted up with 50 lights and it did seem remarkable.”17 By the end of the decade, Cassie forged relationships with a number of community organizations as an unofficial community administrator and church leader in Kirtland.In her husband's absence, Cassie served as an unofficial pastor of the local congregation. She filled her schedules with home visits, prayer meetings, hosted meals for traveling missionaries, and more. In 1885, Cassie and her daughter, Laura, made several house calls within walking distance of their home. One of those home visits was to Electa Stratton who was then in her year. It was a as she to E. Stratton me and me on her I was she wanted to me. are well on that Cassie was not about her a letter to her husband by a she to E. L. I I read it he so Nothing of a good by some one would for him, I In a letter in of she her husband on the local to and see has been some to after your with him here that to give a of Her and were not to those of the RLDS In some of her best come from her with the local Brother have helped Cassie the temple from a fire in 1883, but it didn't him from her as she to E. and the him, but he to as much as two if he he will some as an unofficial leader in the church and community long after her family moved to the new church in in and to where she passed away in at the of Shortly after she RLDS church president Smith in the my own experience I to the given on numerous when in a few she would and by direct I that not she knew how much good she a young woman out as the first female site director in Kirtland over twenty years ago, the stories of Rebecca Electa Stratton, and Cassie me and showed me that I wasn't the first but one of many women whose contributions were into the of the Kirtland Temple three women me as I some of the challenges that about their and but also their dedication to and sharing the Kirtland Temple with in their own time and space, me I if they could it over a ago, who I to in the face of It was the of these “right huffy” women that made me to their hands and continue the journey into the I wanted to continue the responsibility of sharing their stories openly and honestly because they are no here to This is the story of the Kirtland last time I sat in the Kirtland here in the lower court my over of this to a in the of my It was late in the evening on the last day the Community of Christ ownership of the Kirtland I sat in the pew box trying to a of connected to this sacred space, trying to imagine the next day would I was with memories shared within these here was where I received my at the of these pulpits, the place where have and shared in and over the I remembered the time I sat with a man who had just his wife, who in his and with no in but up I remember standing at the end of a tour when another man on one and to his I remember sitting at at night during a worship service where I from whose lives were full of challenges and young and women who and and the to share with in this space. I was sitting at the during my first Kirtland community service and listening to the local share the sermon from the pulpits behind me. The sat where he his and that the of the opening the read a and the fire the for a local The community service felt like it was out of a stories about the Kirtland gathered in the lower court for a the night before they in the they exited the temple those and were by the the temple as they to the school for a I remembered from the local school who the and for their also the times shared with Kirtland and local history as they the temple. In I was standing when a the a visited the Kirtland I know to this day if a has visited the Kirtland make themselves remember standing in the back during the first Emma Smith her in The lower court was and the that night were from three Latter Day gathered to and honor our That special night became an and one I long into the also the so sitting next to that during a worship service with a gathering of guests from the community and to their stories of and of and but also and was for me. I was by the of in this that I remember sitting during a Community of Christ gathering of for a that was by a newly named she shared her story in this space, I her in a new There was a about and through her faith journey that was and That memory was one that to when I the earlier this that was as the Community of Christ She will be the first woman to the once her is at the Conference or are to this historic and sacred from a of and in their my the lower court that I was of the of and that to these historic visitors to the difficult questions on their for to into a of and I young being with for the just a few a widow once sat the of a the of his I have sacred community here because it is one of the few where people are enough to their and be vulnerable with one this historic of have and these are the stories of the Kirtland is in the and at Latter Day historic sites that people a place to experience that the where to and from their lives and but also as on a sacred journey filled with and memories of the work within these during my many years in Kirtland me over the last few months as my faith community felt the of the I on the shared in this that have and me over the years, I of Community of Christ Doctrine and Section 162 not for times that are but that you have been given a of as you a for is yet to the days and my to into for those who have gone before us, a of faith and resilience that has an number of my for the Community of Christ had as a of these historic for well over a for the to share the history of this place with of people from all over the an honor it has been to for this historic house of worship and to the of those who before The Rebecca Electa Cassie and her bucket those who have the temple time and time again for my faith time of temple to a this end our time with a sense of have served these historic well and have all could to and the here in Kirtland and to the best of our faith It's now time for another faith community to have the privilege and honor of caring for these historic and sacred sites with the dedication and have held for so ongoing story of the Kirtland Temple to us that are a people, that challenges often give to our and that our to continue I that the early who so much to the Kirtland Temple are also the who the temple behind in I imagine many of the the temple builders must have felt as they Kirtland are not from the many of those within my faith community have over the three of Christ Doctrine and Section 162 to us the of the is not in one moment of time but is the to to to in own and the and history must that our history is just as much about the as it is about the on the of the or the of are of where visitors and history are the difficult questions and the and of Day like the Kirtland are no for but where ground and the of as historic sites continue as of and for people who are an experience that the a of the us our and in a and our and us. The people and of the as us in our own this historic and sacred space, of the is not just because it has a great story to but because of the that are within those the that are within these very and wooden that change our lives if only That is the of That is the of is my prayer that as here the story of the Kirtland Temple will long a and that to and within all of us.