In Old Nauvoo: Everyday Life in the City of Joseph

by George W. Givens

Beginning in 1839 exiled Mormon settlers transformed a marshy wilderness tract along the Mississippi River into a model frontier community--Nauvoo the Beautiful. Only seven years later the Saints abandoned their flourishing city and fled westward, leaving behind a brief but dazzling history. What was life like in Nauvoo? How did people earn their living? What kinds of shops were there? Where did the children go to school? What did people do for fun? In Old Nauvoo answers these questions and many others as it paints a vivid picture of home life and cultural activities, merchants and craftsmen, women and children, government and religion in Nauvoo--the daily life of a people whose industry, courage, and faith continue to inspire later generations of Latter-day Saints.

Genres: Religion, History

290 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Educational

Makes me grateful I didn’t live back then. The living conditions were very primitive and knowledge of Heath, education and cleanliness were not yet learned. But at the same time, loving a simpler and shorter life would have been nicer than today’s complicated and long long lives we have today.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read.

[Jacob Lines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written by a history teacher, is an excellent look at life as it was lived in the seven years of Nauvoo’s existence as a Mormon city. Givens does a great job of aggregating a lot of research to give a picture of a spectrum of topics: food and cooking, recreation, buildings, work, farming, courtship and marriage, schools, newspapers and books, the law and lawyers, sickness and death, transportation, and the Church and Temple. So much of what we take for granted did not exist then. For example, money as we know it did not exist. There were many kinds of currency and bank notes, so a person doing business would have to know what they were actually worth and how to exchange them. Even sending a letter was completely different from what we know – the receiver usually paid the postage, and the price depended on the number of sheets of paper and the distance it traveled. And the idea of childhood we understand it was just being formulated. Children then were just miniature adults, and were doing adult work before they even hit puberty. An example is given of a 10-year-old boy being sent to drive a team and wagon 20 miles in the dark on an errand, and nobody thought it strange except the traveler who wrote about it. As for church meetings, there weren’t even meetinghouses – preaching was done outside or in houses or whatever other building was available, like the temple once it was partially finished. And their understanding of nutrition and medicine was much different from ours. This book is a very good resource for trying to understand Nauvoo and its people on their terms.

Understand that this is not a history of Nauvoo. It does not deal with chronology or analyze events or speak of cause and effect. It does not attempt that. Rather, it seeks to help 20th century readers understand what life people lived in Nauvoo. It does an excellent job at it.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comprehensive look at how people actually lived in Nauvoo is fun to read because it uses liberal quotations from primary sources along with specific examples and facts. Unfortunately, the sources (that are not anti Mormon, and he does include some of these, too) are very limited. (After all, in those 7 years, not many Mormons had TIME to do much writing.) Later chapters often use the same quotes and facts as earlier chapters, some of the facts and examples are extrapolated from sources about similar settlements in the same area of the country and lives of people who lived in the same area the Nauvoo settlers came from, and some topics leave the reader wanting more details. The author has a sense of what is interesting to the lay reader, so the book's not ponderous and mostly very fun to read.

[Mzford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting read on just about every aspect of life the Pioneers enjoyed during their brief 7 years in Nauvoo 1939-1946. Though it was written in 1932 and was reprinted in 1990, the text does not seem dated. Still relevant today are the insights it offers about pioneer attitudes and practices.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook for Pioneer Life

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after we visited Nauvoo. It is interesting to read about "everyday life in the city of Joseph", especially after seeing the town.

[Sheri Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fun to read about the history of the church.

[Elana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked information not only about Nauvoo but American in general. Interesting.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a dry read. The facts were somewhat interesting, especially the practices of bloodletting that were still being used to alleviate infectious diseases. It might be handy as a reference book.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and enlightening account of one of America's lost cities.