Frederick G. Williams descendants dedicate Zion's Camp site
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The descendants of Frederick G. Williams gathered on June 1 to dedicate the Zion's Camp campsite that he located 177 years ago. The descendants worked with other members of the Jacksonville Ward, Springfield Illinois Stake, and the Pioneer Heritage Foundation of Illinois to ready the campsite for the memorial.
In 1833 many of the Saints had been forced out of their homes by mobs and had very little food and no protection from the winter weather. Governor Daniel Dunklin of Missouri promised to help the Saints get their land and homes back if they organized a group of men to protect themselves from the mobs.
The Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 103) directing him to organize a group of men to march to Missouri and help the Saints there. This group, called Zion's Camp, was to take food, clothing and money to the Missouri Saints to help them recover their homes and land. The journey took them 900 miles through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois into Missouri.
The group contained roughly 200 men ranging in age from 16 to 79 years old, as well as several women and children. Camp members brought 25 wagons with them, but the wagons were filled with supplies to help the Missouri Saints, so the men had to walk most of the way.
The long march was difficult and the men experienced hot and humid weather, bad roads and the men's feet became sore and blistered and often bled. The men had trouble obtaining enough food and sometimes had to filter their water to remove insects before drinking it.
Frederick G. Williams was assigned to identify campsites and investigate cities along the trail of Zion's Camp and when Zion's Camp approached Jacksonville, Ill., on May 31, 1834, Brother Williams found a suitable site for the advancing members of Zion's Camp one mile east of the city near the Mauvaisterre Creek.
He indicated the campsite for advancing members by placing a branch of a pawpaw tree on the road, and then went into the town of Jacksonville where he invited its inhabitants to a Sunday worship service at the campsite.
On June 1, 1834, about 250 citizens of Jacksonville joined the members of Zion's Camp for Sunday worship. Different Christian denominations participated in this worship in what was probably the first gathering of churches in Jacksonville. The final scene of this daylong service was an unusual show of unity among the various denominations. Everyone sang, prayed and partook of the sacrament together and the service was described in Zion's Camp journals as "the most unusual of the entire journey."
Two years ago the Pioneer Heritage Foundation of Illinois purchased the Zion's Camp site from the city of Jacksonville. They plan to develop this area along with a walkway bridge across the Mauvaisterre Creek as the "gateway to Jacksonville." Mark Greene, an officer of the Pioneer Heritage Foundation of Illinois said Zion's Camp had no fixed memorial and he felt it was time the location was memorialized.
Brother Greene contacted descendant Velma Skidmore, looking for descendants of Frederick G. Williams in order to organize a dedicatory service for their family reunion. The reunion was planned so the campsite could be dedicated on a date to coincide with the original date — June 1, 1834, now June 1, 2011, one hundred seventy-seven years later.
In preparation for the memorial service, Jonathan Mudd, a member of the Jacksonville Ward but not a descendant, organized the clearing of trees and brush at the site as part of his Eagle Scout project. He also posted a sign indicating the historic nature of the site and the Old State Road leading to it.
On the morning of the dedication, reunion members met in the Jacksonville Ward meetinghouse for a pre-dedication service before they proceeded to the campsite. Springfield Illinois Stake President Paul Kay spoke and the Jacksonville Ward men's choir combined with the Williams male descendants to sing the Zion's Camp Song.
At the dedication, the Williams family planted two pawpaw trees in remembrance of when Frederick G. Williams marked the site with the branch of a pawpaw tree. Since no pawpaw trees survive today at the campsite, the family members felt it would be a good addition to the memorial.
The dedicatory prayer was given by a fourth great-grandson of Fredrick G. Williams, Jeff Skidmore.
Brother Greene said the memorial will honor not only the 1834 Zion's Camp and the first gathering of churches in Jacksonville, but all those who entered or who will enter Jacksonville in peace and unity.
