One of our more illustrious relatives is Samuel O. Bennion (1874-1945), grandson of Samuel by way of John R. Bennion. "S.O.", as he was known, was a member of the First Council of Seventy from and served as President of the Central States Mission for 27 years.

Excerpts from "A Brief Account of the Reinterment of the Bodies of Joseph Smith & Hyrum Smith" by C.J. Hunt, a member of the RLDS Church. Statement recorded at Independence, Missouri in 1948, when C.J. Hunt was 87 years old.

"... About the year 1910, the late President Joseph Smith and his son, Frederick M. Smith, together with Presiding Patriarch Alexander Hale Smith and his son, Apostle Frederick A. Smith, spent a day by special appointment in Nauvoo. Emma Hale Smith, widow of the Prophet, had died several years prior [1879] to this visit in 1910, and was buried in a marked grave not far from the unmarked graves of the martyrs.

"About the first of January, 1928, the decision was made by President Frederick M. Smith to engage Elder William O. Hands, a capable church worker and professional surveyor, to take charge of selected brethren of the Nauvoo locality to assist in actually locating and protecting the graves and bodies when found as described by President Frederick M. Smith and Apostle Frederick A. Smith. The bodies were located and exhumed on Monday, January 16, 1928. At this juncture, Elder Hands wired President Frederick M. Smith at Independence, Missouri, that the bodies had been located. The following day, President Smith ... [and several RLDS officials] ... came to Nauvoo. The purpose was to take part in the re-burial ceremonies. Next of kin to Hyrum Smith in Salt Lake City were notified of the proceedings to be held. They, in turn, notified S. O. Bennion in charge of the Central States Mission at Independence, who selected three elders of his church, who went to Nauvoo to witness and identify the remains of the two prophets." ...

"President Frederick M. Smith selected four of the elders, including Brothers C. Ed Miller and the writer, to take the skulls of the two prophets to the Upper Room of the Mansion House, where they were carefully guarded and cleansed. C. Ed Miller secured from a physician's office instruments for measuring skulls for registration. He also photographed the skulls, which, together with the measurements, were sent to Washington, D.C., for recording and safe keeping. The First Presidency of the Reorganized Church has safely guarded copies of what was sent to the Nation's Capital." ...

"An Account of the Reinterment of the Remains of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith and Emma Smith" as told by Albert L. Childers, in Independence, Missouri in 1958.

"S.O. Bennion called on January 18, 1928 and asked if I would like to see the remains of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith and Emma Smith reburied. It was on a cold January evening about sundown when we left here (Independence). Two elders from the Mission went on the excursion with us. I asked Brother Bennion if I should wear my 'Artic' shoes but he said no as he had plenty of heat in the car. We drove as far as Columbia and I asked him to turn up the heat a little but he didn't have any and my feet nearly froze.

"We drove all night and got into Nauvoo about 1:00 p.m. the next day. When we arrived, the President of the Reorganized Church and two or three others had the skeletons of the people on display. The boxes had been dug up before we arrived and we saw the holes that remained. They were about six feet deep and were 300 or 400 feet from the home. The bodies were supposed to have been buried in a smoke house but there was no building there at this time. The bones were displayed on a table in the house that Joseph Smith lived in. There were three or four other people around, who lived in the home. I don't remember being introduced to them. Emma's remains were on one side, Joseph's in the middle and Hyrum's on the other side. The bones were disconnected. They were very big bones from big men. Emma's bones were smaller. They made detailed measurements of the bones - the thigh bones and leg bones and calipered the skulls. They made several measurements of the skulls. They used tape measures and steel calipers. I noticed that Hyrum's teeth were very well preserved - better than many people living today and had all 32 of them. I counted them. Some of Joseph's and Emma's teeth were missing. Joseph's and Hyrum's skulls were similar in appearance. Hyrum was shot in the eye and you could trace the bullet through the skull. They had a wood ruler and put it through his eye to show the size of the hole. It was about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. All of the bones were in a good state of preservation except Emma's, and I believe part of two fingers on the right hand were missing. There was no sign of a bullet hole in Joseph's bones.

"After the conference (viewing the bones) was over, the skeletons were placed in separate wood boxes about one foot wide by eight inches deep by seven feet long for the men, and one foot by eight inches deep by six feet long for Emma's. This is just a guess. The men looked about six feet tall. The boxes were lined with white satin. Each bone was placed in its proper place as if the skeleton was intact. A wood lid was placed over each box and boxes were taken in a conveyance (it seems like it was a hearse, I'm not too clear on that) three or four blocks to a place where a monument was to be built. The boxes were set in slots in a cement base where the monument was to be erected. The base was three or four feet high. The slots were made to size for the boxes to fit in. The tops of the boxes were level with the cement base. Hyrum's bones were placed on one side, Joseph's in the middle and Emma's on the other side. When the bones were laid all present bowed their heads and the President of the Reorganized Church offered a prayer. This was on the banks of the Mississippi River across from Keokuk, Iowa. It was a very cold and cloudy day around zero or close to it.

"We left for home about 4:00 p.m. and arrived here about 10:00 the next morning."

Excerpts from a letter from Samuel O. Bennion to the First Presidency, dated January 21, 1918.

"I arrived in Independence this morning at 3:00 a.m. from Nauvoo where I went after reading of Fred. M. Smith's work in exhuming the bodies of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum. I never knew anything like this was going on until I saw an account of it in the paper ... As soon as I learned positively that the Reorganized Church was digging up the remains of the Prophet and his Brother Hyrum and of Fred M. having gone to Nauvoo that day, I called Fred M. over the long distance telephone at Nauvoo and asked him if he would permit me to see the remains of Joseph and Hyrum if I should come up. He had retired for the night having been on the road from Independence 2 hours and in going there he had tipped his machine over and was stalled in the mud and had to have his machine dragged out by two tractors and then it was so badly demolished he had to finish his journey on the train. He had retired but told the one who answered the telephone that I would be welcome and he would gladly show me the skeletons.

"At first I debated whether I should go thinking that he might have notified you Brethren, ... [but] I took three of our brethren here with me and we started on the journey. I did not take the car recently purchased because it was new and the drive would have injured it so I took my buick car which was available and drove it, leaving here at midnight. The next morning I was in Keokuk, Iowa, 12 miles from Nauvoo without a single bit of trouble and went through places where machines were stalled and mired down until I am sure nothing but a tractor could have pulled them out. I kept my machine between the ruts made by other machines and while it was a hard job we did it and got through alright. I knew that if we got stalled that I could never see the remains of Joseph and Hyrum, because Fred M. said over the phone that unless I was there by 2:00 p.m. I could not see them, as they were going to put them in their new resting place at that time.

"After we had breakfast in Keokuk we drove up to Nauvoo and stopped at the old Mansion House. Fred M. took me upstairs where they were photographing and taking measurements of the skulls of Joseph and Hyrum. I could hardly keep the tears back ..."

"I am convinced myself Brethren that the skeletons dug up by Fred M. Smith are the skeletons of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

"The lower jaw of Hyrum Smith is just as near like the pictures of Hyrum as it could be. His jaw was very large and quite square especially at the chin compared with Joseph's. Joseph's jaw was more pointed, but Hyrum's was a little more square all around that Joseph's. These men must have been big because their lower jaws were extra large and strong.

"The bullet that killed Hyrum entered into his face near the lower part of his nose on the right side and broke his upper jaw just above the teeth. The break shows very distinctly where the bullet entered the face, because the bone was broken and the bullet went in (in) an upward direction right under the eye and came out on the other side of his head, just a little above his ear and toward the front...."

"The skeletons were separated bone from bone, they could not find a button, or vestige of clothing, or anything like that in the graves. The coffins had entirely disappeared, couldn't even find the handles, ..."

"The new prepared place for the remains of these men is made in concrete. ... The skeleton of Hyrum was put first on the north side, his head and all the bones of his body they could find were placed in the box and were arranged in as careful a way as could be done and Joseph's skeleton was arranged likewise and great care was taken to lay the bodies just about as near as they naturally were. Of course the bones were all separate, nothing to hold them together, no skin, muscles or flesh was found, nothing but bones. These men were very careful in their work and had the flag flying during the time. I have neglected to tell you that Emma Smith's body was also taken up and placed right by Joseph's in the same kind of a concrete form. Her body was not as well preserved as the Martyrs were. She must of been quite a large woman, because the bones of her legs were almost as long as the leg bones of the skeletons of Joseph and Hyrum. ..."

"...We were gone from Independence 28 hours, driving about 700 miles, stayed in Nauvoo four or five hours and in Carthage a half or three-quarters of an hour and got home all o.k.

"Now Brethren I acted on my own initiative in going up there. I took no part in it only I was there and four members of the church witnessed the arranging in these concrete forms of the skeletons of these great leaders. I felt that the Church ought to be represented there ..."

"Now Brethren, I am fully convinced that these skeletons were the bones of Joseph and Hyrum and since they were taken from their resting place I am very thankful that I was there after all, so that a record of it could be made, by a member of the Church and reported to you for Historic purposes.

"It seems to me that the Lord was very willing that I should go there, because I made it a matter of prayer and I went over those roads without any trouble and I don't think I could do the same thing right now because those roads were terrible in places.

"As a matter of history, four men holding the Priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stood on the ground from which these bodies were taken and where they were laid in the earth again so I thought I would make this report to you at this time.

"... Praying the Lord to bless you, I am, Your brother in the gospel, S.O. Bennion"

"P. S. The Elders who accompanied me were - Donald G. Lyman, Hugh C. Bennion and A. L. Childers."