When JoAnn Artenia Billingsley was born on 5 May 1837, in Pontotoc, Pontotoc, Mississippi, United States, her father, Elijah Randolph Billingsley, was 30 and her mother, Emaline Lovina Northcutt, was 30. She lived in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States in 1839. She died on 30 August 1854, in Utah, United States, at the age of 17.
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By 1829 Venus, Illinois had grown sufficiently and in 1832 was one of the contenders for the new county seat. However, the honor was awarded to a nearby city, Carthage. In 1834 the name Venus was changed to Commerce because the settlers felt that the new name better suited their plans. But during late 1839, arriving members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith Jr., who led the Latter-Day Saints to Nauvoo to escape persecution in Missouri. The name Nauvoo is derived from the traditional Hebrew language. It is notable that by 1844 Nauvoo's population had swollen to around 12,000 residents, rivaling the size of Chicago at the time. After the Latter-Day Saints left the population settled down toward 2,000 people.
After the Saints had been chased out of Missouri they moved to a swampy area located next to the Mississippi River. Here they settled and named the place Nauvoo which translates into the city beautiful.
"In October 1845, the newspaper Times and Seasons published a poem written by Eliza R. Snow entitled ""My Father in Heaven."" It has become the well known hymn, ""Oh My Father."" The song is only one in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hymnbook that referrs to a Heavenly Mother."
English (West Midlands): habitational name from a place in Shropshire named Billingsley, from Old English Billingeslēah ‘clearing (Old English lēah) near a sword-shaped hill’ (billing). See Bill 2.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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