Soon after starting, her eyes became infected, so Martha Smoot walked beside her and led her along for five or six days. Learn about and browse the pages of the first hymnal of the Church. John, tall and strong, had fought off Missourians trying to block Mormons from voting. He went to the room where the Committee of Removal was meeting and told them to wind up affairs and be off to save their lives. She was well-educated and taught school. Slipping through the guard, he had to cross a creek by taking off his clothes and wading across the bitter cold water. They held a short conference in one of the homes and excommunicated thirty-one unworthies. In addition to the Apostles, six members of the Committee and about a dozen other members were present. She had to provide for the family after being deprived of the corn they had grown on their farm, which vigilantes had prevented them from harvesting. 4, Missouri (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004), 28889, 361, 402. Emma did, from time to time, offer approval of specific marriages. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 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. The Thomas family stayed strong in the faith and emigrated to Utah in 1849. That morning we crossed over to Quincy, Illinois. The Butler and Smoot families. 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. "Every symptom of poison," Richards noted in Joseph's diary. Joseph and Emma apparently discussing the nastiness of cleaning up from cleaning up spit on the . The Smith family. [32] The committee surveyed the needs and weighed requests for help. [20] The Life of Joseph Holbrook, 18061871, typescript, 46, Perry Special Collections. All rights reserved. Abraham O. Smoot became mayor of Salt Lake City and then Provo, president of the Utah Stake, and a promoter of Brigham Young Academy. It is significant to note that the revelation instructed the entire presidency of the Church to leave Kirtland. What are various methods available for deploying a Windows application? They reached the bank of the Mississippi in eight days and found the river frozen over. 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]. When the family arrived opposite Quincy, they became ice bound for two weeks. While they waited, a Brother Brunson came from Quincy and asked campers to donate their outfits to go back and assist in removing the poor. When a group of black Mormons arrived after a very difficult and painful journey fraught with danger and racial prejudice, their feet bleeding because they no longer had shoes, she sat them at her own dinner table and took them all into her home as guests until they could find work. 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. Lorenzo said that his pants were so shredded by bushes that he refused to face Iowans until someone brought him better pants. Those who hired him found him to be the best employee theyd ever hired. She became the first woman to receive the temple endowment involving the making of sacred covenants with the Savior. [32] Committee of Removal members were William Huntington, Charles Bird, Alanson Ripley, Theodore Turley, Daniel Shearer, Shadrach Roundy, and Jonathan H. Hale. We had the last company of the poor with us that could be removed.[96], But the exodus was not quite complete because five prisoners were still in Liberty Jail and six in Richmonds jail, including King Follett, who had just been arrested that month while trying to leave Missouri. 1 Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? [95] At that point, Brigham Young felt that the covenant to move the poor Saints had been fulfilled: We had entered into a covenant to see the poor Saints all moved out of Missouri to Illinois, that they might be delivered out of the hands of such vile persecutors, and we spared no pains to accomplish this object until the Lord gave us the desires of our heart. . When Elizabeth died in childbirth, young Elizabeth Agnes was leftwith her stepfather and, soon after, a new stepmother. Illinois law at the time held that no church could hold more than ten acres of property, and so much of the church's properties were held in Joseph's name. 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. Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? Emma saw in him what her family missed. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. 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. Her family had a fair amount of money. Its almost as if youre holding the hymnbook in your own hands. Don Carlos [her son], with his family and the remainder of his baggage, was crowded into a buggy, and went in the same company with us. They encountered continuous rains and had to travel through mud. I am already engaged on the other side.'[4]. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. However, she was never really an active member of that church, nor did she become active in any other church. Her husband, on the other hand, had only a handful of years of formal education. 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. She would smile with her lips, but to me, as small as I was, I never saw the brown eyes smile. To begin again in Illinois was heartbreaking. The Thomas family. 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. The refinement, the charity of our age, will not brook it. [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. According to historian Richard Bushman, Joseph saw polygamy simply as a way to join families together for eternity. 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. In April 1839, Eliza R. Snow wrote a poem titled To the Citizens of Quincy to thank Ye noble, genrous hearted Citizens.[111] It was published on page 1 of the Quincy Whig on May 11, 1839. There was scarcely a day while we were on the road that it did not either snow or rain, son John said. John and his son Orrice walked. Speaking of Smith's "eternity-only" marriages to already married women, the church writes, " These sealings may also be explained by Joseph's reluctance to enter plural marriage because of the. Browse the pages of the original 1835 hymnbook. He sealed that witness with his life. On October 27, 1838, three days after Missouri and Mormon militias engaged in the Battle of Crooked River, Governor Boggs issued his infamous extermination order. To reach safety in Illinois, the closest state, they had to cross the broad Mississippi River, and Quincy had ferryboat facilities. a boy whom many Saints felt to be Smiths rightful prophetic heir, The biography Linda and Valeen published with Doubleday several years later. The Smoots lacked a team, so their wagon was useless. 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. [30] John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Brigham Young, Theodore Turley, Heber C. Kimball, John Smith (the Prophets uncle), and Don C. Smith (the Prophets brother). The animosity between Brigham Young and Emma had multiple grounds: personal, religious, and financial, 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, Brigham and Emma did not agree on the disposition of Joseph's estate. Emma, as she often did, was searching the home for Joseph when he and a girl were missing. 3 Why didnt Emma Smith go west with the Saints? He had no steady occupation and was involved intensely with religion. She had a home and her children and she just had to carry on the best she could. [72] Roberts, Comprehensive History, 2:3. [67] Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff Journal, 18331898, Typescript, Vol. 801-422-6975. But the youngest wife sealed to Smith was only 14 years old when she married him . to ignore it entirely. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Emma Smith would make tremendous sacrifices for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for her husband, and for the church. In fact, he generally took another man with him or even asked a father or brother to approach the woman. After losing twins, she adopted a set of twins, but one died after being exposed to the cold when a mob invaded their home while the children were ill. One child died at the age of fourteen months and another died less than a year later. 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. It's not. [87] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 9192. For more on Emma Smith, check out the new acclaimed film Jane and Emma. Other scribes would do the majority of the translation, but she filled in as needed. [94] Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve, 14149. Elggren believes they had that face-to-face after they had both died. What did Emma Emma do for the LDS Church? Given that Brigham was blamed by Emma for being the inventor of plural marriage, he probably felt rather ill-used by her. June 1831 How Orrin Hatch protected people of faith, KSL Newsradio is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary. 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.. [86], As soon as John Butlers family arrived, they had no place to go and it was bitter cold, John said. The Apostles group arrived at Far West soon after midnight on April 26. Emma Hale Smith was the seventh of nine children. Emma and her family were forced to leave the state with the majority of Latter Day Saints. About sunset we landed in Quincy, Lucy said. [35] A Missouri map published in 1840 by L. Augustus Mitchell, on file in the National Archives Branch in College Park, Maryland, shows roads that provided two possible routes, an upper and a lower one. Jeremy made the Letter available online. 1856Emma takes in orphaned Elizabeth Agnes Kendall, eight years old, and rears her as her own daughter . [71] In 1837 the population was 1,653 according to Pat. It's dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don't understand that that's what's happening to them. the Gospel Doctrine manual for church history. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of the Latter Day Saints, https://www.lds.org/music/index/hymns/title-tune-meter?lang=eng&_r=1, https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/what_is_meter.htm. . She, in turn, was instructed by Joseph to officiate in these ordinances for the women, which she did until shortly before his martyrdom. View our community standards here. Your email address will not be published. Some of Emma's friends, as well as many members of the Smith family, alienated themselves from Young's followers. He referred to a handmade chart that showed the homes Emma Smith had during her 17-year marriage to Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith. She would lose many of her children. 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). Unfortunately, Apple's iOS doesn't support home screen shortcuts in the Chrome browser. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 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. 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. 343-362. They had a reasonably good relationship despite these challenges. I'll share specifics later, but I wanted to share some excellent resources for all of you to dive into to read and listen to church history from Clayton himself. After Alvin's untimely death, Joseph was told his replacement would be revealed by revelation. . 5 How old was Emma Smith when Joseph Smith died? 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. [58], The Butlers and Smoots reached the Mississippi on March 10 or 11. Fanny lived in the Smiths' house with Emma, which caused much tension. When it entered his stomach he went to the door and threw it off. Shortly after Joseph's brother, William, was born in 1811, the Smiths moved to the small community of West Lebanon, New Hampshire. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. . 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. And where shall they be sent? the newspaper asked. Scores of Church members were living there, including Mary Jane York, William Hickman, John P. Greene, and Wandle Mace. [42] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. 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. And even when people did leave, they left reverently, speaking only in whispers. That is a great question! It was that she hated polygamy and flatly refused to countenance its presence among the Mormon people. . The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". [96] Manuscript History of Brigham Young, Church History Library, 28. [61] That same day, Eliza R. Snow and relatives, who had wintered seven miles from Far West, started for Illinois. (Later, on April 6, 1830, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be officially organized there.) We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. [36] Brigham H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Century I (reprint, Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1965), 1:510511, and Smith, History of the Church, 3:26163. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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. I could have commanded some two thousand dollars but now I had only 1 yoke of old oxen and 2 cows left.[20], Two families moved in with Newel Knights family. [107] In todays currency, that equals $52,325,000 total, or $77,000 per petitioner. Saints gathered for a general conference on May 46 held in a Presbyterian campground two miles north of Quincy. Taken from The Return, typescript, 243, Perry Special Collections. And Brigham, his relationship with Emma strained at best, did not bother to separate the inflammatory rhetoric of Babbitt's letters from the less dramatic probabilities. [77] Kenney, Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 1:32930. The old man for whom John taught school treated them generously. I attended the premier of the Emma Smith Story [with] several of my children and grandchildren. [41] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. However, she had to wait for two months before she was confirmed, as Joseph was arrested the next day for his preaching about the Book of Mormon. . Another story about bleeding feet involves Nancy Hammer, whose husband Austin was murdered in the Hauns Mill Massacre a few months earlier. Winter exposure and food shortages in Caldwell County and during exodus caused health problems for many and a host of deaths during 1839. He raised his hand and stopped me saying Hush, Hush. Huntington said that Joseph had come by ferryboat about 8:00 a.m. and was drest in an old pair of boots full of holes, pants torn, tucked inside of boots, blue cloak with collar turned up, wide brim black hat, rim sloped down, not been shaved for some time, looked pale & haggard. Dimick asked if he wished to see his father and mother, but Joseph wanted to see Emma and the children first. [62] After a night of rain, which changed to snow and covered the ground in the morning, she said, we thawed our tent which was stiffly frozen, by holding and turning it alternately before a blazing fire, until it could be folded for packing, and, while we all shivered and shook with cold, we started. Sun melted the snow, increasing the depth of the mud and rendering travel almost impossible. Emma Smith was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania and had unusual opportunities for a girl in her time. Emma Smith was the wife of the first Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith. [98] Alex Baugh, We Took a Change of Venue for the State of Illinois: The Gallatin Hearing and the Escape of Joseph Smith and the Mormon Prisoners from Missouri, April 1839, in A City of Refuge, 3166. . Some participants in the Missouri exodus vented powerful feelings of anger, horror, outrage, and persecution. [56], The Hammer family. That is her divine mission. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Joseph Smith's death on June 27, 1844, created tremendous upheaval for Emma. When the Twelve returned from Far West in early May, they rejoiced to see him a free man in Illinois. [9] Leonard J. Arrington, Charles C. Rich (Provo, UT: BYU Press, 1974), 60; Juanita Brooks, ed., On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 18441861 (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press and the Utah State Historical Society, 1964), xvi; Lorenzo Dow Young, Recollections, Four Faith Promoting Classics (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968), 5254. With other refugees, she and six children ages two through nine accompanied their small wagon, pulled by a blind horse. "When Emma died, she was surrounded by her family and friends. 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. In total, these petitioners losses totaled $2,275,789an average of $3,761 per petitioner. 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. The Knight family. Further, the committee agreed to find employment for those able and willing to labor. Because Joseph Smith was in prison during the exodus, attention focuses here on Joseph Smiths parents, his wife Emma, Elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, and four selected families: the John and Caroline Butler family, the Newel and Lydia Knight family, the Daniel and Martha Thomas family, and the Levi and Clarissa Hancock family. 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. In the future Brigham would have his own falling out with Babbitt and the rift would become so widely known that, when Indians killed Babbitt on the Western plains in 1856, Eastern newspapers erroneously reported that Brigham had ordered him killed. [49] Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), 79. 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.. [59] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 90. Then on November 5 and 6, 1999, a Quincy History Symposium honored the citys humanitarian efforts for Saints who fled Missouri. 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. [46], During February the migration became more intense. Delewski thinks she may have been the most promising of the Hale children because she had a rare additional year of schooling. We all just made it on the opposite bank when the ice started to snap and pile up in great heaps, and the water broke thru! Which is another way of saying that a particular view of history does not suit institutional needs in the moment. When did Emma Smith leave the church? [104] Donna Toland Smart, Exemplary Elder: The Life and Missionary Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, 18141893 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies and Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, 2002), 43. They had fulfilled the commandment. Nearly three hundred made that covenant and signed pledges. [13] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8284. I found my family in good health though in the mud and snow half a leg deep in the camp. The sight filled my eyes with tears, while my heart was made glad at the cheerfulness of the Saints in the midst of their affliction.[66] He visited Saints on his side of the river who were camped in a sufering Condition with Cold, rain & mud & some want of food.[67], Fugitive Joseph Holbrook, two months after leaving his expectant wife and three children back on January 20, learned of their arrival at the Mississippi River late in March. Joseph Smith presided. As they moved on they found camp fires and tent poles already struck nearly all the way after this, apparently provided by the Committee of Removal. First, Emma had intense anxiety over the protection of Joseph's and Hyrum's bodies. When her stepparents determined they could no longer care for her, the 8-year-old orphan found her way back to Emma. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. At night they would build fires if they could find firewood. [7], The shortest way out of state was to go north sixty to eighty miles into unsettled regions of present-day Iowa. 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.