The Mormon Missouri Frontier Foundation, a group organized to preserve frontier Mormon history, has commissioned a monument recognizing participants of a group known as Zion's Camp.
Zion's Camp was an expedition of 200 men, 20 women and seven children led by LDS Church founder Joseph Smith from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Mo., in 1834 to render aid to Mormon settlers who had been driven from their homes by hostile mobs in the fall of 1833.Cholera struck the camp when it reached Clay County, Mo. The monument stands in the Mound Grove cemetery in Independence, Mo., in remembrance of the 15 camp members who died of the disease and were buried along Rush Creek.
According to the foundation, a cattle rancher discovered human remains in the area in 1958, and two Clay County deputies unearthed additional remains at the same site shortly thereafter. The remains were eventually identified as Zion's Camp par-tic-i-pants and were reburied in the Mound Grove Cemetery in 1976.
This May, the foundation un-der-took the project to place a marker at the grave site remembering all of the cholera victims. The marker is now in place, and a commemoration ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 11.
Foundation member Alan Cathcart said the project is just one example of work undertaken by the non-denominational group whose members have a common interest in preserving Missouri's Mormon history.
"It started with just eight individuals who met at the LDS Visitor's Center in Independence with the thought in mind that something had to be done to find, restore and recognize any Mormon period sites, documents and the like before they would become lost for ever," Cathcart said. Group members have been recruited "from all faiths and from all walks of life with the emphasis being put entirely on history and the need to preserve it."
The foundation has several hundred dues-paying members and is a forum for "how to get along with each other," Cathcart said. "The president is LDS, the vice-president is RLDS and other officers belong to various restoration groups. There are also other faiths involved in the membership. The cooperation and `let's get it done' attitude has a great deal to do with its success and can be used as an example for others who have not yet caught the vision and the sense of history that is involved."
Previous to the Zion's Camp marker project, the group designed and created a marker placed on the grave of early church figure William E. McLellin in Woodlawn Cemetery in Independence.
A project the foundation hopes to continue is the excavation and preservation of the log house built by Charles C. Rich, an early church leader who would later be sent by Brig-ham Young to develop settlements in California and Idaho.
Cathcart said the group continues to recruit new members and donations to help finance its projects. Inquiries can be directed to the organization's treasurer, Drew Henson, at P.O. Box 3186, Independence, MO 64055.