Historical Marker – A Clark County Historical Society marker, erected this week
in the Greenwood City Park, recalls that Mormons were Greenwood’s first white
settlers when they came to the area in 1844 to cut lumber for their Illinois
city of Nauvoo. Viewing the new marker, which will be dedicated in December, is
Greenwood Mayor John Snedic.
Marker Recalls Mormon Settlement At Greenwood Mormon Settlement
Photo Contributed
by George Plautz
Greenwood – A registered historical marker, sponsored by the Clark County
Historical Society, has been erected in the Greenwood city park in memory of the
Mormons who are said to have been the first white settlers to locate in Clark
County in 1844.
The marker will be dedicated Dec. 7 at a meeting of the Historical Society in
Greenwood.
“The history of the Mormons, and their visit to Clark County to obtain lumber,”
says Jess W. Scott, president of the Clark County Historical Society, “was
commendable in every way. The Mormons who located on the Mississippi about 1840,
purchased the city of Commerce and changed the name to Nauvoo.
“They needed lumber to build their tabernacle and other buildings in Nauvoo, so
they came up the Mississippi as far as La Crosse. Next, they came up the Black
River to Jackson and thence to Clark County in 1844, locating four camp sites on
Black River in Clark County, near Wedges Creek, at Ross’ Eddy, now Neillsville;
at Weston Rapids, and where the city of Greenwood now stands.
“While busying themselves here, word came that Joseph and Hyrum Smith, their
spiritual leaders, had been taken from a Carthage, Ill., jail and murdered. This
led to an early exodus from Clark County to 95 per cent of the Mormons. They
soon left Illinois for Missouri, from whence Brigham Young led them west to
Utah.
Source: The Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) Friday, 10
Nov., 1967; Page 2