[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. [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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. [82] Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption, 92. 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. . "Joseph did not marry a wilting violet," Delewski said. Also there were Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, who were soon to be ordained as Apostles. 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. 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. 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. When morning came, he and Abraham Smoot crossed to Quincy, leaving their families with the wagon. 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. She endured the jeering and insults of mobs. Then, because it was planting season, they moved about ten miles out and rented a farm. With discomfort on both sides, she soon found herself outside the mainstream of the church. Many of them started from scratch and built up religious communities in Illinois and Iowa. Winter exposure and food shortages in Caldwell County and during exodus caused health problems for many and a host of deaths during 1839. Which is another way of saying that a particular view of history does not suit institutional needs in the moment. Emma Hale Smith Bidamon passed away in Nauvoo on April 30, 1879 , and is buried next to Joseph. You've read 0 of 5 of todays most popular posts. What is the LDS divorce rate? 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. [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. 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. Brigham Young University 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. Being forced from Missouri posed a test of faith that most Saints passed, but some failed, as the extended Knight family illustrates. 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. Anti-Mormons had vowed to keep that ceremony from happening. 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. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. ( 6-8 Oct 1866, 36th Semi-Annual Conference, Bowery, G. S. L. City. Emma had 11 children (two were the adopted Murdock twins), and six children died in infancy. Emma died peacefully in the Nauvoo House on April 30, 1879 at the age of 74. Each comment will be reviewed by a staff member before it will appear on the site. Her family was religious, devoutly Christian. Their chief settlement was Far West in Caldwell County. Yet I knew little of these things, for our branch of the family was far removed from our Smith heritage. He was not, however, a member of her familys faith and in fact, had received a vision at age fourteen telling him not to join any existing church because none were completely right. We had heavy loads, were obliged to walk from 2 to 8 miles a day thro mud and water, camped out on the wet ground 3 nights before we arrived at the River. [77] Kenney, Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 1:32930. Bushman reports that Emma and Joseph had many intense discussions about his polygamy and their relationship was periodically strained. Emma Smith was the wife of the first Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith. Joseph Smiths parents tried to leave early in February, but Lucy said, Just as we got our goods into the waggon, a man came to us and said, that Sidney Rigdons family were ready to start, and must have the waggon immediately. After 17 years of marriage, Emma's second husband, Lewis Bidamon, had a child with another woman named Nancy Abercrombie. He had even dislocated his jaw while vomiting once before; and five weeks after the 1843 dinner episode, he was sick again, vomiting more violently than ever. In Daviess County on Caldwell Countys north side, Saints had begun building about 150 log houses at Adam-ondi-Ahman, and as many as 1,500 Saints in total lived in Daviess County. The Joseph Smith Papers project explains that Emmas work laid a foundation for the continued role of music in Latter-day Saint worship. Emma contributed in creating a distinct identity for the church because this hymnbooks lyrics emphasize key tenets of the religion.. Her first three died so quickly they were not even named. It does not store any personal data. The lack of a legal will placed both the Church and Emma's family in uncertain financial conditions. 1856Emma takes in orphaned Elizabeth Agnes Kendall, eight years old, and rears her as her own daughter . 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). It turned out that such calls had gone out to bishops and stake presidents in several states. [58], The Butlers and Smoots reached the Mississippi on March 10 or 11. John said that Quincy residents generally were kind to the Saints all over the place. The Butlers stayed in Quincy for three or four weeks. The family filled the cart with corn. Further, the committee agreed to find employment for those able and willing to labor. These souls, by and large, were poor, bedraggled, and sickly. Though there probably was an argument, the poisoning accusation was unfounded. [114] Close Friends as Witnesses: Joseph Smith and the Joseph Knight Families, in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man, ed. 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. Far West Saints met in a public meeting on January 26 to consider measures to expedite the move out of state, given the seeming impossibility of moving in consequence of the extreme poverty of many.[29] A seven-man committee was appointed to find out how many needed help and how much help members could give to those in need. . [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. The next day, Missouri troops brought Joseph and Hyrum Smith and five other prisoners into town in wagons to pick up personal effects and say good-bye. Emma, as she often did, was searching the home for Joseph when he and a girl were missing. [91] On April 18, when a group of anti-Mormons found him at the public square, they threatened to blow his brains out and tried to ride over him with their horses. Many of the Saints were glad to find shelter in my house from the storms, he said. Not six months before the death of Joseph, he called his wife Emma into a secret council, and there he told her the truth, and called upon her to deny it if she could. Jeremy made the Letter available online. [124] Berrett and Parkin, Sacred Places: Missouri, 329, 402, 411. 40 Wives Babbitt would make Brigham's requests to Emma sound abrupt and thoughtless, and her responses to him selfish and defensive.[5]. . 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. Brigham Young and his family, with several others, Kimball said. [70], Saints chose to go to Quincy for several reasons. At Huntsville, the driver said his horses could not go on, so the Knights unhitched the wagon and camped. First, Emma had intense anxiety over the protection of Joseph's and Hyrum's bodies. [40] [Auto]Biographical Sketch of George Washington Gill Averett, typescript, 8, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. We were not permitted to leave Far West, Anson Call said, only to get our firewood. 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. A stone weighing about a ton was rolled to the southeast corner of the site. She carried two children while two others hung on to her skirt. [76] They moved in with Judge John Cleveland and his Latter-day Saint wife, Sarah, four miles east of Quincy. The topic of this video has been pro. He told the Butlers to go to his butcher shop and take meat when they wanted some. . Tears roll down Emily Rennie's face as she recalls a church counsellor telling her she needed to give up her child for adoption because he was conceived out of wedlock one of the most . In the meantime, Emma assumed that because these men represented the Twelve they acted on direct orders from Brigham. . B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. The exodus had no large, organized wagon trains. Brigham Youngs family was also stranded at Huntsville, having too many goods for their wagon to haul. [56], The Hammer family. 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). On November 6, 1832, Emma gave birth to Joseph Smith III in the upper room of Whitney's store in Kirtland. And even when people did leave, they left reverently, speaking only in whispers. Learning that Missouri militia were looking for them, they set out for Iowa thrugh the wilderness, enduring snow and cold with little to eat. Among the twenty-eight men in this group were Samuel Smith and Phineas and Lorenzo Young. Hundreds still lacked the means to leave. 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]. It struck Martha on the knees and little Keziah above the eyes. Emma Smith, first Relief Society President and wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, had many incredible and difficult experiences in her life. Unlike the majority of Latter Day Saints, Emma Smith did not follow Brigham Youngs suggestion that the Latter Day Saints leave Nauvoo and settle in the Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah. But in a series of new essays, it describes the now-banned practice in detail. [69] Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 1:322. When we came to within six miles of the Mississippi river, the weather grew colder, and, in the place of rain we had snow and hail. They walked six miles across low and swampy ground, sinking to their ankles in mud. Emma: People say all kinds of things, but Julia I know better. 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. The streets and city square became corn fields.