A Labor of Love in Nauvoo: The Martyrdom Stories Museum
Mob at Carthage Jail, by William L. Maughan
Just one block from the Nauvoo Temple visitors will find a small museum with a large purpose: to tell the stories surrounding the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith with faith, history, and heart.
The Martyrdom Stories Museum is owned and operated by Brian Stutzman, a businessman from Idaho, writer, and Latter-day Saint history researcher. Brian and his wife Alane spend much of the summer in Nauvoo, where they share the final dramatic chapter of old Nauvoo.
For Brian, the museum is not a business venture. It is a self-funded labor of love. There are no tickets, no pressure, and no charge. The goal is simple: help people understand the human stories behind one of the most sacred and sobering events in Latter-day Saint history.
Most Latter-day Saints know the basic outline. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed at Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844. John Taylor was badly wounded. Willard Richards survived. A mob had gathered. The jail was stormed. The Prophet and Patriarch sealed their testimonies with their blood.
But the Martyrdom Stories Museum invites visitors to slow down and look closer.
Who were the men who formed the mob? What had happened in Warsaw where the mob came from? What role did the Nauvoo Expositor newspaper play? What happened at the trial afterward? Why did so many people escape justice? Who showed courage when it was dangerous to do so? And what can these stories teach us now?
The museum explores those questions through panels, images, maps, and narrative exhibits designed to help visitors connect the dots. It tells the story of early Nauvoo, Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign, the rising anger in nearby Warsaw, the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press, the events at Carthage Jail, the trial of the accused killers, and the courage of witnesses who refused to stay silent.
One of the most powerful stories featured in the museum is that of Eliza Jane Graham, a young Latter-day Saint woman whose name deserves to be much better known.
Eliza was only a teenager when she became connected to the most important trials in Church history. She was working as a waitress and reportedly served members of the mob who had participated in the killing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. What she saw and heard mattered. Later, she testified against the accused men.
That was no small thing.
In a hostile setting, in a courtroom where the pressure against a young Latter-day Saint woman would have been intense, Eliza stood by her story. She had every reason to stay quiet. She was young. She was outnumbered. She knew the danger. Yet she chose to speak.
For Brian, Eliza Graham represents one of the great hidden heroines of Church history. She was not famous. She did not hold office. She did not lead an army, publish a newspaper, or preside over a settlement. She simply told the truth when telling the truth was costly.
That is one reason her story resonates so strongly today. Visitors, especially young people, need examples of courage that feel real. Eliza’s story is not abstract. It is not polished into legend. It is the story of a young woman asked to do a hard thing in a dangerous moment. Her courage still speaks.
The museum also helps visitors see that Nauvoo in 1844 was not merely a peaceful river town interrupted by an isolated tragedy. It was a place of faith, growth, conflict, politics, fear, misunderstanding, and escalating violence. Joseph Smith was not only a religious leader. He was also mayor of Nauvoo, lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion, and a candidate for President of the United States.
The Saints were building a temple, gathering converts, and trying to survive in a region where opposition had become increasingly organized. The tension did not appear overnight. It built over time through newspapers, political fears, religious prejudice, local rivalries, threats, arrests, and armed mobs.
That setting matters.
Without understanding Warsaw, the Expositor, the political climate, the charges against Joseph, and the hatred that had grown around Nauvoo, visitors can miss the fuller story. The museum is designed to bring those pieces together in a way that is clear, memorable, and accessible.
Another meaningful story is that of Dan Jones, a faithful Welsh convert who was with Joseph Smith during some of his final hours in Carthage Jail.
On the night before the Martyrdom, Dan Jones remained near Joseph and the others inside the jail. Joseph reportedly asked him if he was afraid to die. Jones answered with courage, saying that in such a cause, death did not hold many terrors for him. Joseph then told him, in effect, that he would yet live to fulfill the church mission he had already been called to.
Dan Jones did live. After the Martyrdom, he returned to his native Wales and became one of the successful missionaries in Church history. His preaching helped bring thousands of Welsh converts into the Church. That makes his Carthage story even more powerful. One night he was in a jail with Joseph Smith, facing the real possibility of death. Soon after, he was carrying the message of the Restoration across the ocean with remarkable power.
Dan Jones reminds visitors that the Martyrdom was not the end of the work. Joseph and Hyrum died, but the message they taught continued forward through people who had heard them, loved them, and believed them. Dan Jones carried that witness to another nation. His story connects Carthage Jail to missionary work, gathering, sacrifice, and the worldwide growth of the Church.
The Martyrdom Stories Museum is not trying to replace the major historic sites in Nauvoo or Carthage. It adds something different. It gives visitors a deeper look at the supporting stories — the people, places, warnings, trials, prophecies, and consequences surrounding the Martyrdom.
It is a place for readers, teachers, parents, youth leaders, missionaries, Church history travelers, and anyone who wants to understand Nauvoo more deeply. It is also a helpful stop for people bringing friends or relatives to Nauvoo who may not know the full history.
Some visitors may come for 20 minutes. Others may stay an hour. Some want the broad overview. Others want to ask questions, talk through the evidence, or focus on one story. The museum is built for both.
The stories told there are not only about Joseph and Hyrum Smith, though they are at the center. They are also about John Taylor, Willard Richards, Dan Jones, Eliza Graham, the citizens of Warsaw, the accused men at trial, the Saints who mourned, and the witnesses who carried the work forward.
The Martyrdom is not just a story of death. It is a story of testimony, courage, warning, sacrifice, betrayal, justice denied, and faith preserved. It is a story about what people do when truth becomes costly.
For Brian Stutzman, sharing these stories is personal. He believes they deserve to be remembered, taught, and felt. The museum exists because he felt there was more to say, more to preserve, and more to help visitors understand.
Anyone coming to Nauvoo is invited to stop by. Anyone who knows someone visiting Nauvoo is encouraged to send them. Come for the history. Come for the faith. Come for Eliza Graham. Come for Dan Jones. Come to better understand what happened before, during, and after Carthage. Open most days 9 am to 9 pm, summers only (in 2026 until August 1), at 1279 Mulholland Street, Nauvoo, Illinois, No charge for admission. More information: www.martyrdomstories.com