Willard Bean

Williard Bean "was called to serve five years, but stayed 24 1/2. His was the first Mormon family to occupy the Joseph Smith home and he and his bride Rebecca were the first Latter-day Saints to live in Palmyra and Manchester Township in 84 years." (Keith W. and LaVona L. Watkins, The Time...The Place...The Miracle, 1999, p. 26)

President Heber J. Grant: PART OF THE HILL CUMORAH PURCHASED

I forgot one item that we have here, namely that we are now the owners of a part of the Hill Cumorah. The Church, a few weeks ago, purchased a farm of ninety odd acres, which embraces the West slope of the Hill Cumorah, about one-third of the way up the hill. There is a nice farm house, and it is a very fine piece of property. Elder Willard Bean, in charge of the Memorial Home, or the Smith Farm, wrote us that he could purchase this property, and we are glad now that at least part of the hill is in the possession of the Church. (Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, October 1923, p.23)

Elder Jensen also told of Willard Bean, a missionary in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1915, who became known as the "fighting parson" because he improved public relations for the Church by putting on a boxing exhibition."Although Brother Bean's methods were a little unorthodox and definitely not compatible with the current approved missionary program of the Church," they were nonetheless effective, he said. The 25-year mission of Brother Bean and his wife, Rebecca, changed the attitude of the people from hostility to toleration, then admiration and finally love. ("Lives of Good People Are Strong Influence," LDS Church News, April, 1994). See also Vicki Bean Zimmerman, "Willard Bean: Palmyra's 'Fighting Parson,'" Ensign 15 (June 1985), pp. 26-29.

Having lived in the Cumorah area for over two decades, Willard Bean wrote several books on the area including:

Cecil McGavin and Willard Bean, The Geography of The Book of Mormon, 1948.

Willard Bean, History of Palmyra, (Palmyra, New York: P. Courier Co., 1937.

Willard Bean, Scrapbook of Early Church History.

Willard Washington Bean, Autobiography (1868-1949), (microfilm) LDS Church Historical Department.

Quotes from the geography book:

From the Preface:

"In recent years there has been a tendency among certain students of the Book of Mormon to orientate Book of Mormon cultures far to the south."

"For many years the Book of Mormon carried footnotes explaining that 'the land of many waters,' 'the large bodies of water,' 'Ripliancum,' etc., had reference to the Great Lakes, while Ramah and Cumorah were the identical hill, near Palmyra, New York."

"The following pages are a plea in defense of the old theory - the interpretation of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Orson Pratt, and a countless number of the Authorities of the Church. It is our humble opinion that there is no occasion to fling aside the old interpretation and accept the new."

From the Conclusion:

"The accounts written by many of these reputable historians and archeologists are so clear and specific that it seems as if the authors were familiar with The Book of Mormon record of the wars of extermination that were waged in Ramah-Cumorahland. For more than two centuries these renowned scholars have designated this area as America's greatest battlefield in ancient times. Their conclusions agree so faithfully with The Book of Mormon record that we need not look elsewhere for the solution of the mystery."

"Middle America is not a land of many waters. Its ancient hills are not marked with tokens of fortification; its skeptical remains do not tell of a bitter war of extermination, comparable at all to the evidence in Western New York."

"These aboriginal monuments, the tell-tale tokens of ancient warfare by highly civilized nations, are not to be flung aside as one 'fights against the pricks' to confine those ancient people to the narrow and restricted domain of Middle America. Inscriptions on metal have told us the story which is otherwise a great mystery. These mysteries vanish as ancient historians speak from the dust."