Despite her parents disapproval, she eventually eloped. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. One mobber shot a cow and, while it was still alive, skinned off a strip of hide from its nose to its tail, and tied his horse to a stump with it. A woman should give her greatest priority to her home: her husband, her family, and the opportunity to child-bearing. [64] History of Zera Pulsipher As Written by Himself, typescript, 1516, Perry Special Collections. Here Samuel had hired a house and we moved into it, with four other families.[53]. 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. The city cemeterys tombstones marking where some two hundred Saints are buried are long gone, and the site has become farmland. The hymnbook she created included familiar favorites from other denominations and hymns newly written specifically for the Latter-day Saints. [33] They sent agents eastward to deposit corn for Saints to use along the way, to contract for ferries, and to ensure security for the travelers. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. She compiled the first hymnbook. Latter-day Saint widow Elizabeth Kendall and her family first became acquainted with Emma at the Mansion House in Nauvoo. 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. Soon after starting, her eyes became infected, so Martha Smoot walked beside her and led her along for five or six days. Newel said, Bro. We have to look at her entire life, not just one portion of it. [32] The committee surveyed the needs and weighed requests for help. 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. 3 The process, like so many other endeavors in her life, She joined in his efforts to protect them from thieves and acted on occasion as his scribe. That did not stop Emma, a visionary woman in her own sense of the word. Answer (1 of 10): At the time of her husbands death, not much changed. A decision to continue to gather. Alpheus Cutler placed it in position. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. However, a significant number had taken refuge in St. Louis, a Missouri city that became an oasis of tolerance for Mormons. You might also enjoy Emma Smith: My Storyor Emma and Lucy. The Knight family. . In December 1838 and early January 1839, the Missouri state legislature, by a close vote, refused to overturn Governor Boggss extermination order. 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. By primitive Missouri roads, the distance from Far West to Quincy was about 180 miles. [8] Lavina Fielding Anderson, ed., Lucys Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smiths Family Memoir (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001), 69192. 16, Lee Library, 67; Joseph Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. "Remember, Emma was a woman of refinement and education. 185 Heber J. In order to do so, she crossed the frozen Mississippi river with two children clinging to her skirts and two in her arms. Emma was baptized in Colesville, New York, on June 28, 1830. [50], The Young and Kimball families. An old man who was sympathetic to the needy Saints hired John to teach his children and grandchildren and neighbors children. 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. They started in February, but it was bitter cold, and they suffered fearfully, Caroline said. [67] Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff Journal, 18331898, Typescript, Vol. While in Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith had instructed them to compile statements and affidavits about their losses and sufferings with the design of securing redress from the federal government for the losses they suffered in Missouri (Doctrine and Covenants 123:113). FAIR is controlled and operated by the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR). [86], As soon as John Butlers family arrived, they had no place to go and it was bitter cold, John said. . In response, when Saints reached safety they began filling out petitions for redress and having them notarized by justices of the peace and court clerks in two counties in Iowa and ten in Illinois. Emma knew better, but she also knew that a polygamous history would not serve her needs. John later filed claim for the loss of 240 acres of land, three yoke of oxen, a corn crop, and hogs. 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. [125] Photocopy of order, filed June 25, 1976, copy in authors file; also see transcript in LDS Church News, July 3, 1976, 4. [71], Quincy is on the east bank of the Mississippi on a limestone bluff 125 feet above the river. It struck Martha on the knees and little Keziah above the eyes. Such souls will have to suffer for the ill treatment of the Saints, he wrote, adding that they need not think that they will escape, for the Lord is just and He will punish those that have ill treated His children (Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 89). But Brigham died before she had the opportunity to speak with him. [94] Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve, 14149. [76] Smith, History of the Church, 3:262. Why didnt Emma Smith go west with the Saints? This tendency toward privacy continued even after Joseph Smith's death. Her fugitive son Samuel came from Quincy and arranged for a ferryman to take the Smith party across. At night they would build fires if they could find firewood. When asked if he had read the biography, Elder Oaks said he had seen several excerpts from it, and found that the authors views of Joseph Smith were nontraditional.. Memoirs of Joseph Smith III (18321914), ed. 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. B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. [5] Meanwhile, a militia force headed to Adam-ondi-Ahman, made the Mormons there surrender, and on November 10 gave them ten days to relocate to Far West or elsewhere in Caldwell County. Both routes merged southwest of the town of Palymra, twenty miles south of Quincy. [12] John Butlers escape route apparently was across northern Missouri. [42] Joseph Holbrook and two other men, to escape those that would like to do us harm, moved out the night of January 20. Are Joseph and Emma Smiths descendants Latter-day Saints? [51] Elder Heber C. Kimball sent his family with the Youngs. When pressed, Lindas bishop admitted he had received a similar call. . [58] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8790. [38] Larry C. Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve in Quincy: A Return to the Eye of the Missouri Storm, 26 April 1839, in A City of Refuge: Quincy, Illinois, ed. To add an RSC website shortcut to your home screen, open the website in the Safari browser. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. At the time, the First Presidency consisted of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith, who had replaced Frederick G. Williams as second counselor in the First Presidency in November 1837. . With other refugees, she and six children ages two through nine accompanied their small wagon, pulled by a blind horse. Bushman, Richard L., and Jed Woodworth. Joseph was susceptible to vomiting anyway. . Bidamon was support for Emma in raising her five children. Winter exposure and food shortages in Caldwell County and during exodus caused health problems for many and a host of deaths during 1839. Her mother-in-law, Lucy Mack Smith, said of her: I have never seen a woman in my life, who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which she has ever done; for I know that which she has had to endure she has breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman.. So Levi rigged up a foot lathe and soon had two hubs turned out and built a cart. Emma Smith had so much on her plate, so its inspiring to learn how she was willing to contribute to the growth of the Church while she was dealing with everything else. [106] Fortunately, 678 petitions survive. They threatened to send the committee to hell jumping and put daylight through them. The men gathered up what they could and hastily fled from Far West within the hour. Joseph taught what God revealed, nothing more. Five of her children survived to adulthood: Julia, Joseph III, Freddie, Alexander and David Hyrum. About sunset we landed in Quincy, Lucy said. Emma Smith was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania. After Joseph Smith died, Emma Smith moved away from Nauvoo for about six months before returning. Abraham agreed to drive the Butlers wagon and two-horse team for Caroline, and Caroline let the Smoots put their baggage in the Butler wagon. Enter your email to receive updates on our LDS Living content, 2022 LDS Living A Division of Deseret Book Company, The Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society, There is room for my brown paper-doll family: 2 gospel truths I learned as a young girl that carry my faith, Special Church Historians Press symposium to highlight women, religion, and records, See the stunning winners of the Churchs International Art Competition. While locals let the suffering Saints crowd into farms, sheds, huts, and tents, they judged the refugees to be generally of the poorer and more illiterate classes.[78] On February 25, Quincy leaders met and adopted measures to provide relief. Emma Hale Smith was the seventh of nine children. They kept insisting on constitutional protection . [82] Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption, 92. Since he did father many children with Emma, parenthood was possible, but there is, at this time, no biological proof of traditional marriage relationships and the only accounts came from others, not the women or Joseph. 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. 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. Brigham also doubtless considered Emma dishonest and a liar because she continued to insist that her husband had never taught the doctrine of plural marriage. What are various methods available for deploying a Windows application? Church Service When Joseph returned to Harmony, he received a revelation for Emma, now known as Doctrine and Covenants 25, calling her an elect lady and encouraging her to comfort and support Joseph in his afflictions. [41] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. [7] William G. Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom: The History and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman (Salt Lake City: Aspen Books, 1993), 8184; Baugh, A Call to Arms, 39296. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. in getting one single wagon to convey beds, clothing, and provisions for our family, and luggage. She is known in Church history for being well educated and was able to act as a scribe for Joseph when he was translating the plates because of it. [70], Saints chose to go to Quincy for several reasons. And when people say she was wrong for remaining in Nauvoo, they are implying they know what she should have done," Richard Delewski said at the Sunstone Symposium on Aug. 13. Isaac Laney said the committee had moved all but thirty or forty families when armed men from Daviess County ordered him and others to be out of the County by the next Friday night which was giving us Six dayes for to do that that Requird a month. So the committee urgently hired teams and sent families to Tenneys Grove, twenty miles away, with a minimum of personal belongings. "[2], Furthermore, Brigham and Emma did not agree on the disposition of Joseph's estate. [91] Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve, 137. This made the poisoning accusation plausible for him. "My belief is that the Book of Mormon is of divine authenticityI have not the slightest doubt of it," she testified in an interview she gave late in life. He was not sufficiently educated to write the translation of the plates, so while he translated through the Holy Ghost, she wrote his words. Health problems and deaths. [110] Smith, History of the Church, 3:349. On two additional occasions she was driven from her home at the threat of her life.". On February 7 and 8, both men visited Liberty Jail, then returned to Far West. [70] John Taylor, Brigham Young, Isaac Higbee, Israel Barlow, John P. Greene to Dear Brethren, March 29, 1839, at Quincy, reprinted in Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1960), 3:122. [26], Some opinions downstate held that Mormons would not have to leave at all. We were not permitted to leave Far West, Anson Call said, only to get our firewood. Sorry about that! It's not. They had a reasonably good relationship despite these challenges. Her refined childhood and girlhood was not designed to give her the skills she needed in adulthood, and yet she managed nearly everything thrown at her. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. he spoke to her in that council in a very severe manner, and she never said one word in reply. 1 She had been promised in her 1830 revelation: "Thy time shall be given to writing, and to learning much." 2 She probably gathered hymns from her hometown newspaper as well as other papers and denominational hymnals. Shortly after her baptism in July 1830, Emma Smithwas called by God to compile a hymnbook to edify the Church. [47] Dated entries in An Abridged Record of the Life of John Murdock, Taken from His Journal by Himself, typescript, n.p., n.d., Perry Special Collections. [31], William Huntington headed up a Committee of Removal. Quincy was the closest Illinois city to Far West. On horseback, he, fellow Kentuckian David Lewis, and Elias Higbee endured December snows, cold, and meager food to reach Quincy, Illinois. [7], The shortest way out of state was to go north sixty to eighty miles into unsettled regions of present-day Iowa. 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. Susan Easton Black and Richard E. Bennett (Salt Lake City: Millennial Press, 2000), 134. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Emmas role in Mormon history is as enigmatic as ever. 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. So she made a deal with Abraham O. Smoot and Martha, his bride of three months. He also owned and rented out ten or twelve small houses he had built. 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. Her first three died so quickly they were not even named. "When Emma died, she was surrounded by her family and friends. 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. It does not store any personal data. [120] Levi W. Hancock petition in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 225. These hymns had a great influence on the Saints during the early days of the Church. Learn how . He crossed the river and found some hundred of the brethren waiting for the new ferry boat to be completed, which was done the next day. Though there probably was an argument, the poisoning accusation was unfounded. A painting by C. C. A. Christensen, Exodus of the Saints from Missouri, is the only depiction the author has seen of winter exodus experience. She is known in Church history for being well educated and was able to act as a scribe for Joseph when he was translating the plates because of it. Hope this helps! Martha, about eight months pregnant, said, To hear them [children] crying at night with their feet cracked and bleeding was hardly bearable. She then became a temple worker, helping others with their first temple experiences. How Orrin Hatch protected people of faith, KSL Newsradio is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The poem praised those Who have put forth your liberal hand to meet / The urgent wants of the oppressd and poor! In 1841 Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon, the First Presidency, issued a proclamation of appreciation, saying, It would be impossible to enumerate all those who in our time of deep distress, nobly came forward to our relief and like the good Samaritan poured oil into our wounds and contributed liberally to our necessities as the citizens of Quincy en masse and the people of Illinois generally seemed to emulate each other in the labor of love.[112], In Quincys Washington Park stands a simple historical marker erected in 1976 to memorialize the Saints exodus. LDS Church History documents that their mormon founder, Joseph Smith, lied to a large group of people about his having multiple wives. 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. . Joseph quickly shut the door when he heard Emma coming, but Emma kept knocking and called out Eliza's . Some participants in the Missouri exodus vented powerful feelings of anger, horror, outrage, and persecution. The additions were Elias Smith, Erastus Bingham, Stephen Markham, and James Newberry (History of the Church, 3:24954, includes 214 names of those who pledged). By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Ever since the Prophet Joseph died as a martyr in Carthage, Illinois, some Latter-day Saints have felt disappointment that Joseph's wife Emma did not go with the Church in the westward exodus of the Saints in 1846-47. At Far West on February 22, Eliza R. Snow reported that a man had just arrived from Illinois who had counted 220 wagons between Far West and the Mississippi.[60] If that figure is accurate, and if wagons helped transport an average of four people each, then the man had passed about a thousand Saints on the road. We reserve the right to not approve any comments that do not meet our community standards. At the time of her birth, her parents had a good relationship with a prominent local family, which may have affected her name selection. Turley, Richard E., and Brittany A. Chapman. Mormons had a divorce rate of about 1 percent.