Nov. 25, 1999
When LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the rebuilding of the Nauvoo Temple, so many questions were asked and answered: when, where and how?
But there's still one mystery! What happened to the angel figure which crowned that temple?
Religion Specialist Carole Mikita has been on the trail of that angel and came across an interesting tale.
Most people assume the angel sculpture was destroyed in either the fire or windstorm that brought down the temple. But is it possible the original Angel Moroni from Nauvoo flew over the city of Cincinnati atop another church for 100 years? I found some people who say "Yes."
In that bitter cold winter of 1846, as the Saints were driven out of the city of Nauvoo, they knew their beautiful temple would be destroyed.
Pieces of it are still there-- the sunstone, for example.
Others are in Salt Lake City at the LDS Church's museum.
But what about the angel Moroni sculpture that crowned the edifice? Was it destroyed as well? Maybe not.
Fast forward to the late 1960's, and Cincinnati, Ohio. An LDS Church Stake President there, who worked for Proctor and Gamble, would look out his office window and see this.
John Taylor, former LDS Church Stake President: "I would look at this beautiful figure, shining in the sun, because it was covered with gold leaf."
A genealogist in that area told him she had seen the records of this, the Salem Evangelical Church, which said a delegation had gone from Cincinnati to Nauvoo when the temple was destroyed, bought the figure, called it Gabriel and put it on their steeple.
Mike Trapp, who lived in Cincinnati, says the former minister of the church had no doubt where the angel came from.
C. Michael Trapp/Former Cincinnati resident: "A lot of his people in his church believed it to be the angel from the Nauvoo temple."
One day a windstorm toppled the angel. Tthe Cincinnati church commissioned another one and gave the damaged sculpture to John Taylor.
"I made arrangements for someone to come down from Nauvoo, a fellow named Byron Ravston came down in a white pickup truck and he loaded the figure into the truck and headed back for Nauvoo."
Just this year, LDS Church Historian Glen Leonard saw Taylor's pictures. He says the angel is definitely folk art of the mid 1800's but doubts it was the angel on the Nauvoo Temple.
Glen Leonard, LDS Church historian: "There was a tradition in American fold art for a long time of the angel Gabriel being depicted sometimes standing, sometimes prone, always with a trumpet and usually with wings. The Nauvoo angel has a trumpet, no wings, and it adds the book."
But Leonard admits there are no good existing pictures of the real Nauvoo angel. A sketch by a W. Murphy does resemble the angel in Cincinnati, but one made by the actual designer William Weeks does not.
So, where is the angel that went back to Nauvoo in the pick-up truck? No one seems to know. It either ended up in the dump or someone has it.
"Some people feel like it's been destroyed. I don't want to think that because I'm of the hope that one day we're going to turn the corner and there it will be."
"It's hard to distance yourself from that kind of evidence. Besides, I want to believe."
It's a great little mystery and the search goes on. President Hinckley has said there is still no decision on whether the angel in the new Nauvoo Temple would be flying or standing... he also mentioned probably half the people would be unhappy with it either way.
