Glenn Setzer Marker, 1941

Caldwell area resident Glenn M. Setzer took the initiative to erect a marker at Haun's Mill in 1941. The marker has deteriorated in recent years. Interested area residents reset the marker in 2001.

Haun's Mill Massacre

    On Sunday afternoon, July 13, 1841, a ceremony was held at the site of the mill. Several hundred residents of Caldwell County and vicinity and church embers within a hundred-mile radius attended the services. Elder Ear S. Craven (now of the Richmond, Missouri, congregation) was in charge.

President Israel A. Smith spoke and read a historical paper prepared by S. A. Burgess. Mr. Glenn M. Setzer, a resident of Kingston who was directly responsible for arranging the services and for providing the marker, [and local historian Bertha Booth] also spoke.

    . . . the site of the old mill [community] was located near Shoal Creek by an old resident, William R. Pemberton, and a marker was placed there to perpetually identify the spot. The millstone from the mill . . . [may be seen] in the city park in nearby Breckenridge. [Saints' Herald, 102 (31 October 1955): 1043].

The Massacre at Haun's Mill
By S. A. Burgess (Former RLDS Church Historian)
    (Because the author could not be present to read the paper, it was read by [a member of the presidency of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints], President Israel A. Smith). We consider it a privilege and pleasure to be permitted to meet with you this afternoon, even though it be for the sad purpose of marking the graves of those who died here. . .
    . . . We are not here to glorify that event or to celebrate a great victory.
    We meet as Americans, those of us who stand for government of laws and not of men- by consent of the governed. We stand for the Constitution and the laws of this country and this State.
    We stand for civil liberty and religious freedom which means the right of every man to worship as he chooses, provided, of course, that religion shall never be used as the cloak or shield of immorality in any of its forms. . . We are here out of respect and to honor Mr. Glenn Setzer because of his great interest in the history of this country and the work he has done in marking unmarked graves and points of historic interest.
    We are here as Missourians in honor to each other with a pledge under the Constitution of this country and of this State to stand firm for liberty with justice, for morality and toleration. We are here as Missourians and as brethren, as a pledge of that unity which our great country now so greatly needs.
    We are here in a belated funeral service in respect to these dead whose ashes have rested here for over a hundred years. [Saints' Herald, 88 (9 August 1941): 1002-1004].

Marker Ceremony Photographs by Kieth B. Stokes

Setzer Marker text:
Southwest of here on October 30th 1838 occured the incident generally known as the Haun's Mill Massacre. This site located by Wm. R. Pemberton. This marker placed here by Glenn M. Setzer, 1941.

Bertha Booth

Current Community of Christ Historian, Mark Scherer and members of the Community of Christ Heritage Team view restored marker, summer, 2001.