[51] Ronald K. Esplin, The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve in Mormon Leadership, 18301841 (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1981), 370; Times and Seasons, September 1840, 165. Joseph Smith's death on June 27, 1844, created tremendous upheaval for Emma. The Saints exodus from Nauvoo took place a year and a half later, leaving Emma, a 41-year-old widow, with her aged mother-in-law, Lucy Mack Smith, and five children, ranging in age from fourteen years to fifteen months old, to care for. 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.. 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. They received them as they came, sent forward all who had means and strength into the interior, provided the poor and sick with lodgings, fuel, food and clothing.[74] Wandle Mace opened his house to the refugees. She worked hard to support his mission. When the river opened, the Thomases used two boats to move their effects across, while Daniel and son Morgan, twelve, stayed behind to ferry the cow across later. Im guessing something to do with the meter, but I cant figure it out! Im interested in seeing which traditions she drew from. A few days later, Martha gave birth to a son she named after the Prophet. When pressed, Lindas bishop admitted he had received a similar call. 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. Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith . Food was scarce, and housing inadequate. She taught school before she met Joseph Smith. Deseret News Archives, Deseret News Archives. [36] With Joseph Smiths approval, leaders in Far West decided to sell Church properties in Jackson County to help raise money for the exodus. 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. 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. In September 1843, Emma was the first woman to receive the endowment. A day or two later, a ferry finally dodged through the ice and brought the women and children across.[59]. 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 was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania. . This remarkable event is free, but space is limited. When those families reached Illinois early in 1839, they were poor, worn out, and ragged looking. [71], Quincy is on the east bank of the Mississippi on a limestone bluff 125 feet above the river. So Levi rigged up a foot lathe and soon had two hubs turned out and built a cart. The next morning our beds were covered with snow, Lucy said, and they were unable to light a fire. [3], By October 1838, Newel and Lydia Knight and their three children were among the Saints living in and near Far West, the Churchs headquarters city. This website is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). 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. Required fields are marked *. Reaching the river, they joined Saints waiting to cross who had no shelter. [26] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8586. He was the son of Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith. 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. Early Life and Marriage of Emma Smith. The Mormon church has said for the first time that its founder Joseph Smith had up to 40 wives. First in Ohio and then three times in Missouri, they had practiced starting over. Did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? One of her grandchildren, Emma Belle Smith Kennedy, wrote: "Her eyes were brown and sad. Emma did not learn about their deaths until 10:00 p.m. that same evening. In that revelation she was designed the "Elect Lady" which Joseph later explained means one elected "to preside.". She, like others who knew him well, saw an innate intelligence, a willingness to work very hard, and great integrity. 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. were destroyed or lost.[92], A year earlier, Joseph Smith had received a commandment for the Twelve to leave for missions over the great waters from the Far West temple site on April 26, 1839 (Doctrine and Covenants 118). In the meantime, Emma assumed that because these men represented the Twelve they acted on direct orders from Brigham. I hope this helps too! While her brothers and sisters attended only the traditional grammar school, Emma went on to do an extra year of schooling beyond that. [109] Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, xixxxvii. The five Apostles who were presentBrigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, and John Taylorordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith as Apostles and two men who had just been liberated from the Richmond prison, Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer, as Seventies. Either Brigham Young was not aware of Babbitt's propensity for alienating those around him or, like Joseph before him, he overlooked his faults because he needed his legal knowledge. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Holbrook left behind his wife Nancy, who a week later gave birth to their fourth child, and three small children ages seven, five, and two. [18], Far West was ill equipped to become a refugee center for Saints displaced by Missouri militia. An old man who was sympathetic to the needy Saints hired John to teach his children and grandchildren and neighbors children. Emma Hale Smith was the seventh of nine children. Her family was religious, devoutly Christian. Modern Mormons are beginning to come to terms with Emma as the elect lady God declared her to be in a revelation, but a very real and human one at the same time who fought for God as long as she had to before choosing the calmer life she longed for. These include the petitions for redress, prison letters, other correspondence, diaries, autobiographies and memoirs, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and a mass of official Missouri government records. Their difficult trip to Mississippi River took twelve days: We had snow and rain every day but 2. After the church dispersed in 1844, those folks who did not head west with Brigham Young kind of scattered until April 6, 1860 when Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III, was ordained prophet-president (Hence the name Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of LDS) The church did not bring into our beliefs doctrines dealing with the practice of secret . While at LDS Living, she particularly enjoyed diving into the past and writing articles about little-known Church history stories or the Salt Lake Temple, though she wrote about a variety of topics. Caroline said that at one point that winter, Joseph Smith got word to Emma to send him quilts or bed clothes. On January 16, the imprisoned First Presidency sent instructions to Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young that said, Inasmuch as we are in prison, . Source: The Joseph Smith Paper 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 the man saw the Saints plight, he told his tenants to go elsewhere, for the Mormons were coming and they had no place to go and he was going to let his apartments to them. He invited John to bring his family up to one of his houses where they could live for a while. Later, when Brigham Young was the prophet, the practice would be refined so that the first wife had to approve each subsequent wife, but as we also see in the Bible, refinements of new practices often come over time as prophets continue to pray for guidance. [119] Henry Jackson petition in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 247. [8] After eleven days travel, they reached white Settlements on the Desmoine River in Iowa. 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. 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. [65] Elisha Whiting Petition, in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 374. ( 6-8 Oct 1866, 36th Semi-Annual Conference, Bowery, G. S. L. City. He referred to a handmade chart that showed the homes Emma Smith had during her 17-year marriage to Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith. Her husband was arrested, essentially for being Mormon, leaving her alone to care for her children. That is her divine mission. [54] The Saints Petition to Congress, November 1839, in Smith, History of the Church, 4:2438; the mention of bloody footsteps is on p. 36. Bushman, Richard L., and Jed Woodworth. Copyright 1997-2023 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved. These were the top four reasons for leaving the LDS Church: "I studied church history and lost my belief" (39% primary factor, 81% moderate to strong factor); "I lost faith in Joseph Smith" (39% primary, 84% mod-strong); "I ceased to believe in the church's doctrine/theology" (38% primary, 87% mod-strong); The exodus from Missouri generated a rich store of documents and records. The following article was originally publishedin December 2015. Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 - April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the first wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church). During Sunday dinner on November 5, Joseph became ill, rushed to the door, and vomited so violently that he dislocated his jaw. Emma contributed "in creating a distinct identity for the church" because this hymnbook's lyrics "emphasize key tenets of the religion." Understanding how early Saints worked earnestly to build up the Church helps us better appreciate the value of their work. Mormon Church Admits Founder Joseph Smith Had Up To 40 Wives : The Two-Way : NPR. However, President Young advised the Saints to gather in order to help each other better. 4 (2000): 622. Baggage filled the wagon, so Martha and Caroline sometimes took turns riding next to Abraham, the driver, while the other walked with and carried children. They lived with his family and then with hers for a time. Out went everything by the log, Martha said, the looking glass by a stump. That night Martha, soon to give birth, became ill, so Daniel rigged up a bed frame made of forked sticks and rope strands, and then drove in the frozen ground four six-foot poles topped by cross poles, hung quilts all around, and left openings at the bottom so the heat of the log fire would shine in to keep them warm. We are a volunteer organization. She carried two children while two others hung on to her skirt. 343-362. Understanding how early Saints worked earnestly to build up the Church helps us better appreciate the value of their work. That same day Latter-day Saint men assembled at the town square at bayonet point and, one by one, signed deeds that gave their land to the state of Missouri to pay the costs of the Mormon War. On November 6, soldiers took more prisoners and then ordered all Saints out of Missouri by spring. 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.
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