But the way Emmas story is carefully sculpted reveals as much about gender expectations and religious norms in our own era as it did when Brigham Young declared her mormona non grata. She found them both bleeding badly. Were most of her songs from her Methodist tradition, or did she draw more broadly? So adamant was Emma on this point that the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held it as an article of faith, and Emma's children never accepted the idea that Joseph had instituted plural marriage. Adams County, organized in 1825, was named after John Quincy Adams, who that year became Americas sixth president, and the town of Quincy received his middle name. Before long, typhoid fever came into West Lebanon and "raged tremendously.". Both screamed loudly, and Caroline ran back to aid them. Bushman reports that Emma and Joseph had many intense discussions about his polygamy and their relationship was periodically strained. Years later, in the anti-Emma atmosphere of Utah, Brigham Young spoke of a meeting where Joseph accused his wife of slipping poison into his coffee. Shortly, twelve mobbers with rifles entered the tithing office and broke windows, tables, chairs, and seventeen clocks into matchwood. One threw iron pots at Theodore Turley, hitting him in the shoulder. Three or four Latter-day Saint families lived in his houses adjoining the Butlers, and the man treated them all with kindness, which seemed a new thing to us, John confessed. Triggered by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggss October 1838 extermination order against them, some ten thousand Saints engaged in a mass exodus, many going to Quincy, Illinois. At night they would build fires if they could find firewood. 1) Formal Dress. She helped to care for Josephs mother and her mother-in-law noted that few women had endured as many trials as she had with so much grace. he spoke to her in that council in a very severe manner, and she never said one word in reply. However, President Young advised the Saints to gather in order to help each other better. [101] Cited in Baugh, We Took Our Change of Venue, 52. In July 1830, Joseph Smith received a revelation addressed specifically to Emma. Though Joseph died at a young age, Julia was raised by Emma to adulthood. The leather binding, the marbled inside cover, and the worn pages are beautiful and unforgettable. Joseph and Emma apparently discussing the nastiness of cleaning up from cleaning up spit on the . [109] Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, xixxxvii. 4 (2000): 622. Those coming from outside Far West suffered because as John Greene wrote, we have been robbed of our corn, wheat, horses, cattle, cows, hogs, wearing apparel, houses and homes, and indeed, of all that renders life tolerable.[19] On November 9 the Missouri Republican Daily reported that the Saints situation was a case of great difficulty because they are generally poor and facing starvation. How many wives did Joseph Smith have LDS? A storehouse of historical documents and records. "As a therapist, based on these words alone, I would have to say, 'Why would anyone even ask why she remained in Nauvoo?' She endured the jeering and insults of mobs. By age 40, Emma had lost her husband, her mother and father, her father-in-law, three brothers-in-law and five children. . 3. [86], As soon as John Butlers family arrived, they had no place to go and it was bitter cold, John said. Those refer to the meter used in the hymn text. Under these conditions, one could reasonably conclude that she did not travel west in order to avoid losing any more of her children. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Taking a direction shown him by the Spirit, Samuel and two others found a wigwam where an Indian woman baked cakes for all the company. Taken from The Return, typescript, 243, Perry Special Collections. appoint the oldest of those of the Twelve, who were first appointed, to be the president of your quorum., Brigham Young was the senior Apostle, hence the presiding Church officer on the ground. The Church was already in a period of great stress and grief as people struggled to decide who the next prophet would be and they faced the realization that they were again in great danger with an uncertain future. The Twelve then offered kneeling prayer at the southeast cornerstone, sang Adam-ondi-Ahman, and dismissed so they could leave there for their missions to England. In total, these petitioners losses totaled $2,275,789an average of $3,761 per petitioner. https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/what_is_meter.htm. Minute Book 1, 14 Sept. 1835; Joseph Smith III, "Last Testimony of Sister Emma," Saints' Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289; "Hale, Emma," in Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848, 19:846; Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 57; Cook, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 37. On May 10, Joseph Smith and his family moved into a small, two-story log house at Commerce, fifty miles north of Quincy, hoping that I and my friends may here find a resting place for a little season at least.[110] Church headquarters moved there, as did large numbers of the exiled Saints. . Following Josephs murder, Emma refused to go west with the Saints. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The next morning our beds were covered with snow, Lucy said, and they were unable to light a fire. We all use history to suit our purposes, and Emma simply did not suit the purposes of the LDS Church in the years following her husbands death. He rode with the Mormon militia who fought in the Battle of Crooked River. All Rights Reserved. [37] David Rogers Report, 1839, in William Rogers and Elizabeth Bessie Ritchie with Their Ancestors and Descendants (Salt Lake City: Leo R. Rogers, 1981), 230. Economic impact on Illinois and Iowa. Joseph Smith, when asked, advised leaders to obtain properties where the Saints could collect rather than scatter, and he developed Nauvoo to be the next gathering place.[115]. [31], William Huntington headed up a Committee of Removal. Throughout the years, she has remained a complex topic for both Mormons and non-Mormons. Saddleback Church doubles down on support for female pastors, Mormonisms slow shift away from demonizing working mothers, Faith leaders urge Biden to sign executive order for reparations study by Juneteenth, For many congregations, wiping out medical debt has become a popular calling, More Jesus, less touching: 14 changes to the Mormon temple endowment ceremony, Real Housewife Heather Gay pens a juicy ex-Mormon memoir, How to stay Mormon after a faith crisis (if staying is what you want), Copyright 2020, Religion News Service. At least one man escaped west to Fort Leavenworth. She worried if John had escaped Missouri or been caught. In that revelation she was designed the "Elect Lady" which Joseph later explained means one elected "to preside.". Since she left no journal, we dont really know what the entire truth about Emma Smith isbut we do know she was remarkable. Emma did not learn about their deaths until 10:00 p.m. that same evening. At the time, perhaps ten thousand Mormons were concentrated in two particular counties. Nov. 10, 2014. The Saints persecution in several states and then expulsion by order of a state governor helps explain why they obtained a charter for a self-defensive city-state in Nauvoo with the Nauvoo Legion; why some Saints justified retaliation against persecutors; why many gladly exited the United States and headed toward Mexican territory in 1846; and why many Saints, if not the Church, expressed distaste for judges, courts, deputies, the federal army during the Utah War, and antipolygamy laws. So Levi rigged up a foot lathe and soon had two hubs turned out and built a cart. Her heartaches were very real and would have been a challenge to any woman, particularly without the lens of understanding time brings. Her family was fairly well-off financially, and so Emma was well-educated for a woman of her time. First, Emma had intense anxiety over the protection of Joseph's and Hyrum's bodies. Emma Smith would make tremendous sacrifices for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for her husband, and for the church. Finally, in some respects, the exodus from Missouri was a training exercise for the Saints exodus from Nauvoo seven years later. Albert Rockwood and his family left Far West with another family on January 10. She held on to her faith in God, in the gospel, and in Joseph Smith as a prophet throughout it all. Within three weeks, the press got wind of the authors ecclesiastical silencing and began to report about itthereby tripling sales of the book. But only three of the two dozen adults in Knight family network faltered. Why did God ask Emma Smith to accept the plates? She seems, among other things, to have been worried about providing for her children, as well as protecting them from the violence which had claimed Joseph. A number of teams arrived from Illinois to help move the last families. She made an understandable effort to keep some of the property and this put her at odds with Brigham Young, since it was unclear which of those properties belonged to the church and which to her. First in Ohio and then three times in Missouri, they had practiced starting over. Later witnesses would be permitted to view the plates, but God asked Emma to accept them on faith, a testimony that God recognized her as a woman of great faith. That party came to include Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and John Taylor. She was told that her calling was to be a support and comfort to . After deliberating on the best means to finish the job, we have thought that considering the bad state of the roads, the expense of ferrage in consequence of high water, that the teams are all nearly worn out, and the brethren here very poor and very much scattered that the best solution was to forward the remainder of the poor brethren by water. By contracting with a steam boat, the poor brethren might all be removed at once and the Far West committee would be free to get out of the state. John Murdock's wife also dies after delivering twins the same day. One of the other items was a photograph of a family member that was mislabeled as being Emma. [55] The shoes belonged to the oldest boy, Morgan. This made the poisoning accusation plausible for him. Sister Emma cried and said that they [thieves] had taken all of her bed clothes, except one quilt and blanket, and what could she do? So Caroline and other sisters told Emma to send hers to Joseph, which she did, and they gave her replacement bedding for her family. They got some better, Caroline said. She admitted that she had been reluctant to give her children any formal religious lifejust personal reading of the Bible and Book of Mormonbecause she was afraid of a return to the many trials she had faced. The biography Linda and Valeen published with Doubleday several years later was not so guarded, detailing Josephs many polygamous alliances, his repeated lies to Emma about those marriages, and her conflicts with his plural wivesincluding a much-debated stair-pushing catfight with Eliza R. Snow. At Adam-ondi-Ahman they obtained provisions from fellow Saints. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Seeing the injuries, she rushed back to her house and brought back camphor, brown paper, and a pan of warm water. They averaged ten miles per day. One day while Martha was sitting in the front of the wagon with three-year-old Keziah Butler on her lap, one of the horses began to kick. Joseph.[103] Perrigrine Sessions said that Joseph being there gave us much joy to see his face among the Saints and here the voice of inspiration that flowed from his lips this caused our drooping spirits to revive as we were like sheap with out a shepherd that had been scatered in a cloudy and dark day.[104] After Joseph heard the congregation enthusiastically sing the hymn Zion, City of Our God, Wandle Mace observed that Joseph rose to speak but had difficulty controlling his emotions: To look upon the Saints who had been driven from their homes, and scattered as they were, among strangers, without homes, robbed of everything, and to see them under all these trying circumstances assemble to this General Conference from all the region around, and sing of Zion, the city of our God, with so much spirit, showing their love and confidence in the gospel, and the pleasure he felt in meeting with them. At the same time, much of the Church's debt was held by Joseph as a private citizenthus, Emma was liable for Joseph/the Church's debts, but had a less clear claim on the Church's lands that Joseph held as Trustee-in-Trust.[3]. Emma Smith The essentialeven phenomenalrole Emma played in bringing forth the Book of Mormon has been re-examined on many fronts. On February 19 the committee sent Charles Bird to visit Caldwell County and William Huntington Far West to determine how many families still needed assistance to move and to solicit means to help them. [126] Hartley, How Shall I Gather? Ensign, October 1997, 517. Print. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. [52] Heber C. Kimball Journals, 18381839, in Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve, 134. So, what materials that existed were unfair or inaccurate. [79] Smith, History of the Church, 3:270. Grant Building A later First Presidency report about the exodus noted that women and children marked their footsteps on the frozen ground with blood, it being the dead of winter.[54] Was this an exaggeration? Why? Mother followed the cart carrying my little brother, Francis Marion in her arms. Barefooted Mosiah tried to follow in her tracks. A little girl, Amy, rode in the cart and felt bad that the others had to tramp through the snow.[45] At the Mississippi River they camped, and Oh! For the official Church websites, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org or comeuntochrist.org. [9] The men split into two groups to avoid attention. It wasnt just that she was the mother of, It wasnt just that she clashed with Young so severely that he once claimed that more hell was never wrapped up in any human being than there is in her., And it wasnt just that she later helped her son found. She had a lock of his hair cut and given to her. Whats especially interesting to me about the unfolding historiography of Emma Smith is that she herself would have been happy with the disappearance of polygamy and Josephs other wives from Mormonisms official party line. The Lord says in Doctrine and Covenants 25:12, My soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.. "There's an image for you: a dark-haired 23-year-old woman racing down a country road, her hair probably flying in the wind, in order to notify her husband of an impending emergency," Delewski said. Aroet Hale said a Mr. Stilson employed his father. Caroline suffered from dropsy, or painful swellings, and the cold intensified her pain. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Deseret News Archives, Deseret News Archives. In mid-February, Anson Call headed east. . This difficult situation was complicated by the immense demands on Brigham Young's time. William E. McLellin, apostle and apostate, died in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, April 24, 1883, and is buried in Woodlawn Municipal Cemetery of the same city. In fear of threats that the bodies would be stolen or desecrated, coffins filled with sandbags were used in the public funeral of the two martyrs. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Emma saw in him what her family missed. At Huntsville, the driver said his horses could not go on, so the Knights unhitched the wagon and camped. Further, the committee agreed to find employment for those able and willing to labor. Imagine, then, her familys concern when she developed a fondness for Joseph Smith, who was from a poor farm family and had almost no formal educationjust that which his father had given him at home with a small amount of traditional schooling. Mental and emotional scars. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. When it entered his stomach he went to the door and threw it off. "When Emma died, she was surrounded by her family and friends. At the time of the third printing, however, Vals bishop received a call from a higher-up in Salt Lake who said that two girls had written a book about Emma Smith and were not to be invited to speak about the topic in sacrament meetings. Not for Daniel Stillwell and Martha Payne Jones Thomas and their family. Delewski shared many of the words used to describe Emma: "Quick wit and pleasant personality," "intelligence," "fearless integrity," "kindness of heart," "discretion," "benevolent," "hospitable," "motherly in nature to young people," "very high-spirited," "dignified," "courage," "zeal," "patience," "no gossiper," "commanding presence" and "innate refinement.". I have witnesses of this scene all around, who can testify that I am now telling the truth. On November 6, 1832, Emma gave birth to Joseph Smith III in the upper room of Whitney's store in Kirtland. had not heard anything from me during this time, neither dare I write to [them].[68], At a March 17 meeting, Saints in Quincy heard a letter read from the Committee of Removal in Far West asking for teams & money for the removing of fifty families of poor Saints from far west to Quincy.[69] On March 29 the committee in Quincy wrote to their counterparts in Far West sympathizing with their extreme labor and travail to move out the last poor Saints. [65] Elisha Whiting Petition, in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 374. I understand Long meter and Common meter, but what is PM? Some of Emma's friends, as well as many members of the Smith family, alienated themselves from Young's followers. He instructed them to have the women pray about the request. Some participants in the Missouri exodus vented powerful feelings of anger, horror, outrage, and persecution. [74] Greene, Expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, 40. The weather was cold and severe, with snow to the depth of 1 foot. They kept insisting on constitutional protection . The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992. Caroline said that at one point that winter, Joseph Smith got word to Emma to send him quilts or bed clothes. Early Life and Marriage of Emma Smith. Many were stripped of clothing and bedding, John P. Greene reported, and many without cattle, horses, or waggons, had no means of conveyance.[28] To provide them help required leadership. Sidney Rigdon had been released in January. Emma was the seventh of nine children. A few days later, Martha gave birth to a son she named after the Prophet. Thomass version is in E. Kay Kirkham, Daniel Stillwell Thomas, Utah Pioneer of 1849, bound typescript, 26; wife Martha Pane Jones Thomass version in Kate Woodhouse Kirkham, ed., Daniel Stillwell Thomas Family History, bound typescript, n.d., n.p., 25; copies in authors possession. When eternal marriage was first introduced, many families carried out sealings with friends and those they wanted to be eternally associated with, not entirely understanding what the revelation meant. She would lose many of her children. They reached the bank of the Mississippi in eight days and found the river frozen over. Many could not get into houses, Newel said, and had to take shelter in wagons, tents, and under bedclothes and while in this situation we had a severe snow storm, which rendered their suffering intense. An acre of land in front of Lucy Mack Smiths home became completely covered with beds, lying in the open sun, where families were compelled to sleep, exposed to all kinds of weather. Houses in Far West were so full, Mother Smith said, that people could not find shelter. He attended school as they courted, trying to live up to her. Latter-day Saint widow Elizabeth Kendall and her family first became acquainted with Emma at the Mansion House in Nauvoo. John marked time until his family and his mother and brothers could join him in Quincy. Bishop Partridge felt the poor could be better served if scattered in various communities and not gathered in one place. [94] Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve, 14149. For example, did Charles Wesley have any songs in her hymnal? There was scarcely a day while we were on the road that it did not either snow or rain, son John said. [84] William Cahoon noted that a family named Travis offered him employment;[85] Mr. Travis also hired refugee Truman Angell to frame a barn. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. I am already engaged on the other side.'[4]. [7], The shortest way out of state was to go north sixty to eighty miles into unsettled regions of present-day Iowa. They took what scanty provisions we could muster. They walked and slept under the sky. [118] Dean R. Zimmerman, I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letters of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Bountiful, UT: Horizon, 1976), 1011. In the meantime, Emma assumed that because these men represented the Twelve they acted on direct orders from Brigham. Emma did, from time to time, offer approval of specific marriages. This book contains copies of the individual and group petitions and provides excellent explanations about each of the petition drives and how the petitions were used by the Church to seek redress for its members. He helped shepherd Saints across Missouri by advancing with one part of the camp as rapidly and as far as possible and then returning with the teams to move others out. Lorenzo said that his pants were so shredded by bushes that he refused to face Iowans until someone brought him better pants. On four she had to move because of disruption caused by neighbors. At Adam-ondi-Ahman, Saints in October 1838 were building about 150 log houses, but most of them were not finished by the time the Saints left. They left Far West on February 14. Some of them are still included in the current hymnbook that was published 150 years later in 1985. Linda requested and was granted a meeting with some general authorities, including Dallin Oaks, to discuss the ban and discover what aspects of the book had been found objectionable. These may have been given as payment for teaching. "I will suggest that she didn't change. On the Joseph Smith Papers website, readers can turn through the original hymnbook page by page. An upper route ran directly east from Far West; a lower route ran southeast from Far West and then east through the towns of Keytesville and Huntsville. He told the Butlers to go to his butcher shop and take meat when they wanted some. For more on Emma Smith, check out the new acclaimed film Jane and Emma. They appear, so far as we have seen, to be a mild, inoffensive people, who could not have given cause for the persecution they have met with. City leaders and residents suddenly had to deal with a humanitarian crisis thrust upon them. Richard Bushman writes of the poisoning accusation: Through the late fall and winter of 1843 and 1844, Joseph and Emma's relationship broke down only once. And the last words out of Brighams mouth, and he died before Emma, were Joseph,' Elggren said. Im interested in seeing which traditions she drew from. She moved from Pennsylvania to New York to Ohio to Missouri and then Illinois. . On Nov. 4th, astoundingly, Richard McCarty obtained a warrant for the arrest of the men who had caught him in the act of looting the Gilbert store, charging them with assault and false imprisonment. However, she was never really an active member of that church, nor did she become active in any other church. On the anniversary of her birth, which. She move 18 times and lived in 13 houses. Newel and all men in the city had to surrender their arms.
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