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Richard E. Turley is the managing director of the Church Public Affairs Department. He was previously an assistant church historian, recorder, and the managing director of the Church History Department.
He has written extensively on the Mountain Meadows Massacre including Massacre at Mountain Meadows with Glen Leonard and Ronald Walker and the recently released Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers with co-editors Janiece Johnson and LaJean Carruth.
In this episode, he discusses with Laura Harris Hales the aftermath of the terrible massacre at Mountain Meadows.
Bob PowelsonNovember 30, 2017
My Great Grandmother and her family were with the Martin Handcart Company, and became life long friend with Emma Batchelor Lee, John D. Lee's plural wife. She was Auntie Emma and he was Uncle John. There is in family material much comment on Mountain Meadows, none of it particularly critical. Those were hard times and the violent reactions of Lee and others were found to be a hardline we will not be driven or pillaged again. I am still of the opinion that Lee was a convenient scapegoat.
Don PritchardNovember 30, 2017
Just the other day I was thinking about John D. Lee. You see we live in Ste. Genevieve, Mo just a few miles from Lee's birthplace of Kaskaskia, Illinois. I have a friend lives in St. Mary, Mo just across the former Mississippi River channel from Kaskaskia and he often visits the island which now has about 29 residents. I was telling him that one of the early members of the LDS church was born there, but I just couldn't remember the name. I went to the Joseph Smith Papers website and quickly found the information I needed. I will be visiting with my friend soon and will pass along the information. I plan also to do more reading about John D. Lee. Thanks for this very timely program.