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. If that were the only document people used to learn about Joseph Smith and his life, they would naturally assume that he was married once, to Emma, and not to approximately three dozen other women. It's dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don't understand that that's what's happening to them. 185 Heber J. It struck Martha on the knees and little Keziah above the eyes. [32] The committee surveyed the needs and weighed requests for help. Delewski thinks she may have been the most promising of the Hale children because she had a rare additional year of schooling. A day or two later, a ferry finally dodged through the ice and brought the women and children across.[59]. The Thomas family stayed strong in the faith and emigrated to Utah in 1849. By primitive Missouri roads, the distance from Far West to Quincy was about 180 miles. Mobbers shot cows while girls were milking them. [40] [Auto]Biographical Sketch of George Washington Gill Averett, typescript, 8, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. Her husband was arrested, essentially for being Mormon, leaving her alone to care for her children. 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. At Huntsville, the driver said his horses could not go on, so the Knights unhitched the wagon and camped. Levi Ward Hancock continued as a President of the Seventy, marched to California in the Mormon Battalion, was a pioneer in Manti and southern Utah, and served as a patriarch. [16] Baugh, A Call to Arms, 395; Reed Peck Manuscript, 29. So, he said, Sold my cook stove and the only cow the mob had not killed. With that money he hired a man with a team to drive him, Lydia, and their three children east. You might also enjoy Emma Smith: My Storyor Emma and Lucy. But only three of the two dozen adults in Knight family network faltered. Turley, Richard E., and Brittany A. Chapman. 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. [55] Martha and the children reached the Quincy side and waited, sitting at night on their bed, wrapped in bed clothes and shivering in the cold wind until Daniel arrived. A few days later, Martha gave birth to a son she named after the Prophet. Why did Emma Smith opt to stay in Nauvoo? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. We are sensible, brethren, that you have done all that you could do in removing the poor Saints, they said, adding that nor have we, brethren, been backward in exerting our energies for that purpose. [86] Truman O. Angell Journal, reprinted in Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1967), 10:199. [59] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 90. 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. Emma Smith's personality and background, her almost nomadic search for a home, the loss of so many she loved and the stresses of plural marriage all played a part in her decision to remain in Nauvoo. I being barefooted and the ice so rough, I staggered all over. 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. 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. With discomfort on both sides, she soon found herself outside the mainstream of the church. Below Ill list the link that I found talking about it, although I cant guarantee their accuracy! How Orrin Hatch protected people of faith, KSL Newsradio is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary. 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. For example, did Charles Wesley have any songs in her hymnal? Quincy was the closest Illinois city to Far West. At the time, perhaps ten thousand Mormons were concentrated in two particular counties. All but the youngest two had to walk every step of the entire distance. They were almost barefooted and some had to wrap their feet in clothes in order to keep them from freezing and protect them from the sharp points of the frozen ground. Son John, nine, later said that often the blood from our feet marked the frozen earth.[57]. She had a lock of his hair cut and given to her. Emma had 11 children (two were the adopted Murdock twins), and six children died in infancy. Moroni first instructed Joseph to enlist his oldest brother, Alvin, to help him recover the plates. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. Jeremy's response was an 84-page document that came to be known as the "CES Letter.". We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. When the boy, Charles, was 4 years old, Emma took him in and raised him as her own. The Saints exodus from Missouri took place mostly during winter and involved four main arenas: Far West, Missouri; Quincy, Illinois; a road network between the two cities; and the west shore mudflats across the Mississippi River from Quincy. Modern DNA has ruled out all children Fran Brodie had proposed were his through other marriages. L. Hannah Stoddard is the lead author of Faith Crisis, Volume 1: We Were NOT Betrayed!, Seer Stone v. Urim & Thummim: Book of Mormon Translation on Trial, and Faith Crisis, Volume 2: New Mormon History Exiled from Church Headquarters.She is the executive director of the Joseph Smith Foundation, and producer or director of seven . [5] Gentry, Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri, 32527; Alexander L. Baugh, A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1996), 34047. You've read 0 of 5 of todays most popular posts. Green, a Quincy innkeeper and cousin by marriage to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, encouraged the Apostles and other Saints to come there. [57] Quoted in Lyman O. Littlefield, Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints (Logan, UT: Journal Company Printers, 1888), 7273. They took what scanty provisions we could muster. They walked and slept under the sky. [34] Smith, History of the Church, 3:255. Tucked between popular Church history chapters about Liberty Jail and Nauvoo is a little-known but vitally important chapter dealing with the Latter-day Saints seven-month struggle to survive the winter of 183839 in Missouri and to leave there by spring 1839. He had been separated from the family for three months or more. [58], The Butlers and Smoots reached the Mississippi on March 10 or 11. Sorry about that! This difficult situation was complicated by the immense demands on Brigham Young's time. Im guessing something to do with the meter, but I cant figure it out! Then, because it was planting season, they moved about ten miles out and rented a farm. . At other times, she found she could not handle the choices she had made, much as Sarah in the Old Testament first encouraged her husband to marry her handmaiden and then discovered it was more than she was prepared to handle. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. In addition to grieving the loss of her husband, she was expecting their final child. Another died young at age 26. [106] Johnson, ed., Mormon Redress Petitions, xix. She had a home and her children and she just had to carry on the best she could. [98] That summer the prisoners who had been at Richmond escaped confinement, except King Follett. I asked my mother one day, why don't Grandma laugh with her eyes like you do, and my mother said because she has a deep sorrow in her heart. He and his friends traveled on foot. Emma did not learn about their deaths until 10:00 p.m. that same evening. Governor Boggs infamous extermination order remained a stain on Missouris character for 137 years until June 25, 1976, when Missouri governor Christopher S. Bond signed an executive order rescinding it. 1 Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? [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. Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had Up To 40 Wives : The Two-Way The Church of Latter-day Saints never denied polygamy was part of its history. They ran out of provisions and became so weak they couldnt continue, so they held a council and prayed to know where to hunt. I am already engaged on the other side.'[4]. In September 1843, Emma was the first woman to receive the endowment. Mormon women have the specific responsibility to be righteous daughters of God; good, faithful wives; and loving mothers. Mental and emotional scars. He sealed that witness with his life. 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. She wrote to him that only God knew how hard it was for her to flee her home with her children, abandoning all her possessions and leaving her husband to endure whatever was to come. To add an RSC website shortcut to your home screen, open the website in the Safari browser. [2] Leland H. Gentry, A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri, from 1836 to 1839 (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1965), 27385; Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987), 15053. Copyright 1997-2023 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Conflicts between church members and neighbors also continued to escalate, and eventually Young made the decision to relocate the church to the Salt Lake Valley. [82] Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption, 92. Though Joseph died at a young age, Julia was raised by Emma to adulthood. [108] According to calculations found in Samuel H. Williamson, Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790 to Present, MeasuringWorth, 2008, a dollar in the year 2007 is 29.99 times what a dollar is 1839 was worth based on consumer price indexes. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. When he reached the Clevelands, Emma recognized him as he dismounted from his horse and met him half way to the gate.[101], A Quincy newspaper reporter publicized the arrival of Joseph Smith and his prison companions, concluding with a favorable description of the Church President and Prophet: We had supposed from the stories and statements we had read of Jo Smith (as he is termed in the papers) to find him a very illiterate, uncouth sort of man; but from a long conversation, we acknowledge an agreeable disappointment. Joseph. Emma Hale Smith Bidamon passed away in Nauvoo on April 30, 1879 , and is buried next to Joseph. She comforted other women, instructed them, and helped them to build their own faith. Answer (1 of 10): At the time of her husbands death, not much changed. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. [97] Liberty Jail prisoners were Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin. [115] Joseph Smith and Others to Edward Partridge and the Church, March 25, 1839, in Times and Seasons, May 1840, 102, and July 1840, 13132. 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. An old man who was sympathetic to the needy Saints hired John to teach his children and grandchildren and neighbors children. June 1831 About Terrie Lynn Bittner The late Terrie Lynn Bittnerbeloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friendwas the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. Emma's brothers and sisters were all named after family members, either on her mother's side or her father's. My family . Emma and her family were forced to leave the state with the majority of Latter Day Saints. No one could have recognized them as the prosperous Yankees they had once been in New York before embracing Mormonism. [26] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8586. They restarted on February 14 and reached the Mississippi two weeks later, on March 1, where they camped and waited for more than a week.[47]. Also, three men were sent to locate possible settlement sites up the Mississippi River in Illinois. That party came to include Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and John Taylor. William G. Hartley was a professor emeritus of history at Brigham Young University when this was published. 6 What did Lucy Mack Smith say about Emma Smith? He finally broke with all organized religion. Thank you so much. In conversation, he appears intelligent and candid, and divested of all malicious thought and feeling towards his relentless persecutors.[102], Joseph Smith quickly finalized plans for a new gathering place for the homeless Saints upriver at Commerce, soon to be renamed Nauvoo. What is the LDS divorce rate? The Missouri Arguss editor argued incorrectly on December 20, 1838, that they cannot be driven beyond the limits of the statethat is certain. She held on to her faith in God, in the gospel, and in Joseph Smith as a prophet throughout it all. She had no example to follow and no real support group, as later women would have. He delegated a great deal of the Church's interaction with Emma to Almon Babbitt, a man greatly lacking in tact: Almon Babbitt's airbordered on the pompousBabbit provided Joseph with legal advice that resulted in the destruction of the Expositor, then he refused to help when Joseph was jailed in Carthage saying, 'You are too late. This made the poisoning accusation plausible for him. This weekend at the Midwest Pilgrims retreat in Nauvoo, Illinois, I had the opportunity to listen to a fascinating talk by Linda King Newell, co-biographer of Emma Smith, first wife of LDS founding prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. Many nights the floors, upstairs and down, were covered with beds so closely it was impossible to set a foot anywhere without stepping on someone elses bed.[75], Emma Smith and the children arrived on February 15. 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. Emma was the seventh of nine children. Which is another way of saying that a particular view of history does not suit institutional needs in the moment. John P. Greene reported that during the months of February and March, the Mormons who were already in Quincy, formed a committee among themselves, to aid to the best of their power the committee of Far West in giving assistance to their suffering brethren. . Her family was religious, devoutly Christian. Albert Rockwood and his family left Far West with another family on January 10. Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had Up To 40 Wives : The Two-Way : NPR. [28] Greene, Expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, 8. Given that Brigham was blamed by Emma for being the inventor of plural marriage, he probably felt rather ill-used by her. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. [30] John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Brigham Young, Theodore Turley, Heber C. Kimball, John Smith (the Prophets uncle), and Don C. Smith (the Prophets brother). Brigham Young, in danger from anti-Mormons, joined the exodus on February 14. It nearly broke both of our hearts. So, what materials that existed were unfair or inaccurate. Many found refuge not only in Quincy but throughout Adams County and all over western Illinois. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Joseph Knights son Newel was Joseph Smiths close friendthe Prophet had performed his and Lydias wedding in Kirtland, and he had no followers more loyal than Newel and Lydia.
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