Plate 5 - Vintage Garden Cultivator

Just about every direction one looks on the flats in Nauvoo there are scenes that bring peace to the soul. This particular one caught my eye.****

I grew up with one of these garden cultivators in Missouri and learned to use it well. It's a wonderful tool to keep the soil loose between the rows and to loosen the young weeds that tenaciously grow at the drop of a hat. It's also a great tool for teaching a boy how to work.****

The vintage cultivator shown is leaning against the fence of Brigham and Mary Ann Angell Young's property. Mary Ann is my 3rd great aunt and I always love to come to their home in Nauvoo. I feel welcome there.****

At the time of the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph, Brigham was on a mission in the east. Mary Ann was with the Saints in Nauvoo. She wrote this tender letter to her husband, three days after Joseph and Hyrum were killed:****

®My Dear Companion. I set down to communicate a few lines to you at this time. My heart is full. I know not what to write to comfort you at this time. We have had great aftlictions in this place since you left home. . . .****

®You have now been gone allmost six weeks. I have not had a line from you since you left home. I have not time to write much now. We are in great affliction at this time.****

®Our Dear Br. Joseph Smith and Hiram has fell victiams to a vero-cious mob. The great God of the creation only knows whithe[r] the rest shall be preserved in safety or not. We are in tolable good health at presant. I have been Blessed to keep my feelings quite calm through all the storm.****

®I hope you will be careful on your way hom and not expose yourself to those that will endanger your Life. Yours in hast[e]. If we meet no more in this world may we meet where parting is no more. Farewell.”****

Seeing that cultivator on Mary Ann and Brigham’s fence reminded me that during those horrific days, all work ceased and there was only mourning.

I’ve never thought my part of capturing photographs was hard. My job, as I’ve always said, is to press the shutter. That’s all. The Lord paints the picture. He brings in the weather. He is the maker of the sun, the moon and the stars and all of nature. He alone can bring in clouds and angles of light. He alone can bring rain or sun. He really does all the work. My job, again, is only to press the shutter.

Over the years I’ve had hundreds of requests for people to use my photography—for their homes, for their offices, for special gifts, for youth programs, for the Church History Museum and even for the Church’s official publication of the scriptures. I am happy, now, to offer a limited number of special photographs to the general public. I’ve partnered with Foundation Arts to do this and I’m excited to have my fine art photography hang in your homes and be in your lives.

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