John Taylor Home

LOCATION: Main Street

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John Taylor, the third president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife, Leonora Cannon, were born in England and immigrated to Canada as adults. There they met and were married. They were both devout Methodists. Parley P. Pratt, an LDS missionary, taught John and Leonora and they were converted and baptized.

They suffered much persecution in Missouri, before finally arriving in Nauvoo. While John served a mission as one of the Twelve Apostles in Great Britain, Leonora and her children lived in an old barracks, where the door was off the hinges, allowing a skunk to visit every night. When John returned, he built a log cabin in Nauvoo, where they lived until they moved into the beautiful home on Main Street. They lived there for less than a year, then left it to make the trek west in February 1846.

This desk is one of several items in the home that were owned by John Taylor

John was with Joseph and Hyrum Smith when they were murdered in Carthage. Here, he suffered grave injuries when he was shot four times. He was editor of the Times and Seasons and the Nauvoo Neighbor. He was a man of great integrity and a devoted husband and father, whose loyalty to the Church never wavered.

Among the many treasures in this home, is the rocking horse that belonged to John’s son. You will thrill to the story of how this little horse journeyed west with the family.