1868 - 1949

In 1907 Elder George Albert Smith, an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, purchased the Joseph Smith Farm in Palmyra, New York, from a family by the name of Chapman. Mr. Chapman asked that his family be able to remain in the home until they found another suitable place to live. So it wasn’t until seven years later, in 1914, that the Church actually took possession of the home. At that point, President Joseph F. Smith was faced with the problem of finding a family to live in the home, farm the land, make friends for the church, and try to break through the prejudice that had existed there since the prophet was driven out 84 years earlier.

Willard Bean and Rebecca Peterson were married in the Manti Temple in September 1914. Early in 1915 they went to Richfield to a stake conference. When Willard entered the chapel, President Smith stepped to the pulpit. “Would Willard Bean please come to the stand,” he said. After the meeting he explained, “When Willard stepped in that door, the impression was so strong it was just like a voice said to me, ‘There’s your man.’”

Willard had been a missionary in Tennessee — an unfriendly area where other missionaries had been shot and killed. He was a student of the scriptures. George Albert Smith, one of his missionary companions, said of him, “I know of no man in the Church who can quote as much scripture as Willard Bean.” He had been a professional boxer and was, in fact, the middle-weight boxing champion of the United States at the turn of the century. He was well prepared for a mission to the “most prejudiced place in the world,” as President Smith had said. He and Rebecca were called on a mission to Palmyra for “a period of five years or more.” It turned out to be significantly more. They stayed for nearly 25 years. They went as newlyweds and returned home as grandparents.

During their stay in Palmyra, Willard was able to negotiate the purchase of the Hill Cumorah. The original asking price for the hill alone was $100,000 — an enormous amount of money in those days. President C. W. Nibley had accompanied Willard to the bank and witnessed the offer. On the way back to the farm, he commented, “When the Lord wants us to get possession of that hill, the way will be opened up.” Eventually the owner, Pliny Sexton, died, and then one by one the nieces who inherited his property died. One day Willard got a call from the attorney of the Sexton estate indicating that the time had come to make an offer on the hill. In the final analysis, Willard purchased the Hill Cumorah, three farms bordering the hill, and Grange Hall (a building which made a “fine meeting place for the saints”) for a total of $53,000. The way had certainly been “opened up.”

Under Willard’s direction, an Angel Moroni Monument was placed on top of the hill. Willard and his sons, local missionaries and a few hired hands reforested the hill by planting 68,000 little evergreen trees on it to restore it to the natural beauty that existed when the prophet lived there. He later purchased the Martin Harris home and the Peter Whitmer farm.

When the Beans left Palmyra, the local citizens had several parties for them and admitted that they had initially “started a tirade with the object of getting rid of them.” A spokesman at their farewell party said, “But as they proved themselves good citizens, we soon learned to tolerate them, then we learned to admire and respect them, and now we love them. It is with reluctance that we now bid farewell to the most versatile family that ever lived in Wayne County.”

Willard and Rebecca returned to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1939. Willard became a guide on Temple Square and worked there until his death on September 25, 1949, at the age of 81. Rebecca suffered a stroke in 1966 and lived her remaining years in a nursing home in Provo Utah, where she died at the age of 85.