Nauvoo Property of the Henrie Family

While reading the history of James Henrie, I discovered that his family had lived in Nauvoo, Illinois. The family moved to Nauvoo in 1841.  James would have been about 14 at the time.  William Henrie, James' father had purchased some farmland from the Prophet Joseph Smith. In his history it states, "Joseph Smith visited their home often, and was always treated to baked potatoes or a bowl of buttermilk, or a piece of pie. Upon leaving he would always ask God to bless them. James declared he felt the power of God and his Spirit come with those blessings and he knew beyond any question of doubt that Joseph was a prophet of God. James remembered well when the Prophet, his brother Hyrum and brothers Taylor and Richards went to the Carthage Jail. The Prophet borrowed one of their horses for John Taylor to ride, and as they passed the Henrie home the horse whinnied and the family went to the door. The Prophet raised his hat and said, "God bless you." 

I was curious as to whether this was true, or as like many stories, was folklore and merely something that had been passed down generation to generation as fact.  I have one of those kind of stories in my "Rosenberg" side the family.  Our ancestory supposedly was a gardener for the King of Sweden.  The king changed his name from Peterson to Rosenberg because it means "rosy mountain", or "keeper of the roses."  The Rosenberg (Peterson) family never lived anywhere near the king, so what I always thought was an awesome story could not possibly be true.    
                                                                                                                                   
I wrote to the land records office in Nauvoo asking whether there was a record of William Henrie owning land there.  They wrote back saying that William Henrie did have a farm and sent a map showing the location.  

The map above of Nauvoo shows the location of the Henrie property marked by a circled "X."  The land records office wrote to me:  "I researched and found that Joseph Smith owned 139 acres of land in Sonora Township (T6R8) Section 8.  Your ancestor, William Henrie, owned a portion in the Sonora Township (T6R8) Section 9.  So their properties were in the same area.  This was land owned outside of Nauvoo, but still in Hancock County.  Each block on the map is one square mile."

William Henrie and his wife, Myra Myall Henrie have a child buried in Nauvoo.  Mary Henrie, age 3 years and 11 months, died of Scarlet Fever in 1843.  She is buried in the Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds.  Click here to see Mary Henrie findagrave memorial.  Also attached  here is an article about the cemetery which is quite interesting.  You can see Mary's name listed on page 139 as one of those who died in 1943.  After each death entry is the cause of death.    Mary was one of 28 people who died of Scarlet Fever from 1841-1846.