He was a leader of the mob that killed Joseph Smith. Now his sword is in the hands of a local man.

IDAHO FALLS – Ben Watson smiles as he shows off his new family heirloom.

The 43-year-old Rexburg man recently acquired a sword from an extended family member that dates back to 1837. It belonged to Watson’s fourth great-grandfather, John McAuley, who was among the leaders of the mob that killed Joseph Smith at Carthage Jail in 1844.

Smith was the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Watson is a member.

The sword has been in Watson’s family for generations. For more than a decade, he has been in contact with a family member outside the faith in Wisconsin and last fall, he was finally gifted the sword.

Watson tells EastIdahoNews.com there are several thoughts that come to mind as he holds the sword in his hand.

“One of the thoughts I have is that time is a great healer,” Watson says, referring to McAuley’s history.

McAuley served as a Lt. Colonel in the 59th regiment of the Illinois Militia — the 1800s version of the National Guard. He was second in command the day a mob murdered Smith and his brother, Hyrum.

Though Watson admits he’s not a trained historian, he has devoted a lot of effort to understanding McAuley’s story. He says McAuley had strong anti-Mormon feelings and was notorious for his involvement in mobs that persecuted church members.

On one occasion, Watson says McAuley and others beat up several farmers working in their fields. One of the farmers was Phineas Young — brother to Brigham Young, who succeeded Smith as leader of the church.

“Governor Thomas Ford marshaled the 59th regiment of the Illinois Militia in the days that preceded the martyrdom (of Smith),” Watson explains. “There was a faction of men that stormed Carthage (on June 27, 1844) and killed Joseph and Hyrum.”

McAuley was never held responsible for this crime.

Two years after Smith’s death, McAuley commanded the anti-Mormon forces during the “Battle of Nauvoo”, a weeklong skirmish that resulted in a wave of Latter-day Saints leaving Nauvoo to settle what is now Salt Lake City.

McAuley was also among those who set fire to the Nauvoo Temple in 1848.

J.B. Backenstos, then sheriff of Hancock County, Illinois, who was not a Latter-day Saint, described McAuley as “one of the worst men in Hancock.”

More than 100 years later, McAuley’s great-great-granddaughter — Watson’s grandmother — joined the LDS Church. This caught the attention of former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley in 2002 when Watson’s uncle wrote him a letter sharing the family’s history.

Hinckley replied in a letter dated July 17, 2002.

“What a remarkable thing that your mother and her family joined the church and have been true and faithful in every respect. I commend you and thank you for writing to me,” Hinckley wrote. “You are the first of whom I know who has descended from those who were involved in the deaths of Hyrum and the Prophet Joseph.”

McAuley’s sword now sits in Watson’s office at Brigham Young University-Idaho, a school owned by the same church McAuley persecuted.

Although Watson does not condone the actions of his ancestor, he’s grateful to have his sword and hopes McAuley is aware of it in the after life.

Watson hopes to eventually display it in a museum so future generations can learn its history.

“Somehow, I would love to turn the story into one of hope, healing and forgiveness,” he says. “An item that was once an instrument of war (can be transformed) into an instrument of peace.”