An archaeological dig is underway in a tiny western Illinois community for the possible location of a home built for the one-time patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Quincy Herald-Whig reports that the search is on in Nauvoo in Hancock County for the one-time dwelling of Joseph Smith Sr. and wife Lucy Mack. They’re the parents of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church.
The newspaper says recent discoveries suggest that the site being sought is just south of the community’s historic Joseph and Emma Smith Mansion House.
Volunteers are discovering what appears to be a structural support for the house that research indicates was a double log cabin.
The elder Smith died in 1840.
