Without Disclosing My True Identity
When the endowment was first presented, neither Sidney Rigdon nor John C.
Bennett was invited to attend. Bennett was Joseph’s Assistant President and Rigdon his First
Counselor, so their absence at this important event has confused many historians. When
Bennett found out about the secret meeting held on the second floor of Joseph’s store, he
flew into a fit of rage and vowed from that time forth to see the end of Joseph’s work,
reputation, and life.
Bennett was the one chiefly responsible for the establishment of Masonry in Nauvoo.
He personally knew Illinois Grand Master Abraham Jonas, to whom he had paid a large
sum of money in order to get the Nauvoo Lodge established without following the normal
steps of admittance, which included sponsorship by other local lodges. Because Joseph and
his religion were not well liked, especially among other regular Masonic fraternities, the
substantial monetary contribution to Jonas was a necessary incentive to get the Grand
Master to waive the rule and grant a special dispensation to organize the Nauvoo Lodge.
Bennett had been working on establishing Masonry in Nauvoo from the time he was first
elected Mayor in 1841.^6 He felt that having a Masonic Lodge in Nauvoo would prove the
Saints’ loyalty to American traditions, particularly to those people who exuded patriotism,
as did the Freemasons.
Now, Abraham Jonas did not care nearly as much about Masonry as he did his own
political career. Jonas was a powerful Mason at a time when there existed a strong anti-
Freemasonry movement in many parts of the United States, including Illinois. He realized
Freemasonry was being publicly threatened, so he did not mind alienating a few other
Masons while at the same time enriching himself with some cash and the rewards of
possibly gaining the Mormon block vote when he ran for the Illinois State Senate. In the end,
Jonas’ reckless abandon and irreverence towards the very Freemasonry that he espoused
influenced the fact that Jonas rose no further in politics than being appointed postmaster of
Quincy. The Masons were still a very powerful group, especially among the politicians.
Because Jonas initiated the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge by circumventing the rules of the order,
other Masons in turn undermined his future political career.
Bennett paid Jonas $7,500 out of Nauvoo City funds to bribe the Grand Master—an
amount Jonas could not refuse. But that wasn’t the only gratis benefit Jonas received from
Bennett. While visiting Nauvoo, usually in secret, Jonas was gifted free access to one of the
Mayor’s own personal businesses, something LDS/Mormon historians would rather keep
hidden—Nauvoo’s brothel, beer, and secret gambling halls.
Besides Bennett, the other Nauvoo resident who benefited from the profit of
Bennett’s business was none other than Brigham Young. Young’s involvement in the
Nauvoo brothel should not be a surprise to the LDS/Mormon people. Once established in
Utah as the territorial governor, Young established his own brewery and a brothel named
Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery. It was located in Draper where the current Utah State
Prison exists today.^7 Of course, Young appointed others to run his disreputable businesses
so that his name was not directly associated with what it offered to its customers.^8
Of worthy note, “Orrin Porter Rockwell, personal bodyguard to Brigham Young, U.S.
deputy marshal and zealous religious enforcer, operated the Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery
near Point of the Mountain in 1856.”^9 Not only did Orrin Porter Rockwell,^10 whom Young
assigned as manager and proprietor of the business, pay 10% of his earnings as tithing to
Young’s church, but Brigham secretly pocketed up to 50% of the after-tithing profits. This was
not Rockwell’s first adventure in bar management; he had also been allowed to open a small bar
in Joseph’s own house in Nauvoo to earn a living while protecting the prophet.^11