Oliver Huntington's Mother's Body Found Perfectly Preserved After Three Years of Burial

Zina Huntington, Oliver's mother, died on July 8, 1839, at Commerce (Nauvoo), Illinois — her death attributed to the physical and emotional toll of the Missouri persecutions. She was buried without any embalming or preservative substance.

In December 1843, when the city moved its burial ground, Oliver was present as the family graves were exhumed. He recorded what he witnessed:

'One item worthy of notice, my mother was in a state of preservation, her body embalmed equal to a mummy, her size, form, and features were the same as when a living, her flesh as hard seemingly as bone. An unheard of instance in any country, after being buried three years, and upward, without any preservative substance whatever, to remain entire, as when living.'

Her body had been buried for approximately four and a half years in the Mississippi River bottomlands — a famously wet, warm, and biologically active environment — yet was found in a state of remarkable preservation. Oliver described this as 'an unheard of instance in any country.'

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

In the month of December 1843, the city of Nauvoo moved the burial ground, and I was present when the graves were opened. My mother, Zina Huntington, had been buried for three years and upwards. Upon exhuming her body, I found her in a state of preservation, her body embalmed equal to a mummy, her size, form, and features were the same as when a living, her flesh as hard seemingly as bone. It was an unheard of instance in any country, after being buried three years, and upward, without any preservative substance whatever, to remain entire, as when living.