Did Zarahemla, Iowa, Originate With Joseph Smith?

Many Heartland theorists claim that the city of Zarahemla, Iowa, originated with a revelation from the Lord to Joseph Smith in March, 1841. Thus, to them, the hill Cumorah in western New York is the hill Cumorah of the Book of Mormon and that the Land and City of Zarahemla was located in the Heartland of what is now the United States, and specifically in Iowa, across from Nauvoo, Illinois, with the Mississippi River in between.

Zarahenla, Iowa, was directly across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo

 

This area, located about one mile west of the Mississippi River was first settled by May 1839 and a site for a town selected by Joseph Smith on 2 July 1839. Later, the Lord reveals information to Joseph, presently found in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 125, which Heartland theorists use to prove their location and model for the Land of Promise.

This section starts out with Joseph Smith asking the Lord about the members of the Church who had been living across the Mississippi in the area the Saints were calling Zarahemla for the past two years: vs.1 “What is the will of the Lord concerning the saints in the Territory of Iowa?” This question resulted in the following response from the Lord: vs.2 “Verily, thus saith the Lord, I say unto you, if those who call themselves by my name and are essaying to be my saints, if they will do my will and keep my commandments concerning them, let them gather themselves together unto the places which I shall appoint unto them by my servant Joseph, and build up cities unto my name, that they may be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come (D&C 125:10, emphasis added).”

So the Lord is talking about members of the Church moving into areas that Joseph determines a settlement should be made, and in the following verse, tells Joseph where to start: v.3 “Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite the city of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it.” Now, the name of Zarahemla already existed in this area across from Nauvoo, and in addition, the Lord made no comment, or inference   that this city was named after the one in the Book of Mormon.

Finally, the Lord concludes with where the Saints should initially be gathering besides in places Joseph was to determine: v.4: “And let all those who come from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, that have desires to dwell therein, take up their inheritance in the same, as well as in the city of Nashville, or in the city of Nauvoo, and in all the stakes which I have appointed, saith the Lord” (Doctrine & Covenants 125:4, emphasis added).

Thus, while Heartland theorists like to claim that the name Zarahemla for the city in Iowa was named by the Lord and indicated that this is where the first Zarahemla, the one in the Book of Mormon, once stood, is unfounded—there is no indication from Section 125 that such was the case—and their claim that the Lord confirmed by revelation in March, 1841 that Zarahemla was the location of the Book of Mormon Zarahemla is also unfounded. This is also true of the stake name being changed to Zarahemla Stake in August 1841—it was neither an acknowledgement nor confirmation of the Land of Promise Zarahemla, but merely a normal change of name to conform to the name of the area or major city in it.

The entire purpose of Section 125 was to tell the members flocking into Nauvoo to follow Joseph Smith in pointing out where settlements should be organized and that the specific locations of Nashvill and Zarahemla (across from Nauvoo) were to be some of the first.

(Matthew Roper, "Nephi's Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations," FARMS Review vol.15,no.2, 2003, pp91–128; Kenneth W. Godfrey, "What is the Significance of Zelph In The Study Of Book of Mormon Geography?," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies vol.8,no.2 1999, pp70–79; Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1985, 1996; Anthony W. Ivins, Conference Report, April 1929.p16).

In 1929, Anthony W. Ivins (left), member of the First Presidency, said in General Conference: “There is a great deal of talk about the geography of the Book of Mormon. Where was the land of Zarahemla? Where was the City of Zarahemla? and other geographic matters. It does not make any difference to us. There has never been anything yet set forth that definitely settles that question. So the Church says we are just waiting until we discover the truth. All kinds of theories have been advanced. I have talked with at least half a dozen men that have found the very place where the City of Zarahemla stood, and notwithstanding the fact that they profess to be Book of Mormon students, they vary a thousand miles apart in the places they have located. We do not offer any definite solution. As you study the Book of Mormon keep these things in mind and do not make definite statements concerning things that have not been proven in advance to be true (Anthony W. Ivins, Conference Report, April, 1929). 

Harold B. Lee also did not show any awareness that the location of Zarahemla had been revealed through Joseph Smith:

“Some say the Hill Cumorah was in southern Mexico (and someone pushed it down still farther) and not in western New York. Well, if the Lord wanted us to know where it was, or where Zarahemla was, he'd have given us latitude and longitude, don't you think? And why bother our heads trying to discover with archaeological certainty the geographical locations of the cities of the Book of Mormon like Zarahemla? (Harold B. Lee, "Loyalty," address to religious educators, July 8, 1966, Charge to Religious Educators, second edition, Salt Lake City: Church Educational System and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1982, p65; cited in Dennis B. Horne (ed.), Determining Doctrine: A Reference Guide for Evaluation Doctrinal Truth, Eborn Books, Roy, Utah, 2005, pp172–173).

On July 2, 1839, Joseph Smith and other church leaders visited the site [of "Zarahemla, across the river from Nauvoo. The entry published in the History of the Church reads as follows: “Spent the forenoon of this day on the Iowa side of the river. Went, in company with Elders Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, and Bishops Whitney and Knight, and others, to visit a purchase lately made by Bishop Knight as a location for a town, and advised that a town be built there, and called Zarahemla (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, vol.3, p382, 1957). 

It should be noted that the last three words of this entry, "and called Zarahemla," were not written by Joseph Smith but were written into the “Manuscript History of Joseph Smith” by Elder Willard Richards when he recorded the history for that date sometime after the Prophet's death in 1844  (Manuscript History of Joseph Smith," July 2, 1839, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. See also History of the Church, vol.3, p382; Dean C. Jessee, "The Writing of Joseph Smith's History," BYU Studies, vol.14, no.4, Summer 1971, pp439–473; Howard C. Searle, "Willard Richards as Historian," BYU Studies, vol.31, no.2, Spring 1991, pp41–62).

Thus, the site called "Zarahemla" had been given the name some time before the revelation. The revelation referred to the site by the name given by settlers; it did not instruct that a new name for the site be adopted.