Each comment will be reviewed by a staff member before it will appear on the site. 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. 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. 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. Its almost as if youre holding the hymnbook in your own hands. . Then three hundred militiamen escorted them away to face trial and prison. Joseph Smith did not have a Will but like today when the husband dies the surviving spouse is still entitled to a certain part of her husband's assets as defined by law, even without a will; but Emma would still have to go through court probate to obtain these assets. She had a home and her children and she just had to carry on the best she could. The episode seems to have been a family quarrel between Joseph and Emmatwo mortals living in something of a fishbowl, under enormous pressures and strains. Emma and her family were forced to leave the state with the majority of Latter Day Saints. By Scott D. Pierce. [59] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 90. That party came to include Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and John Taylor. She moved away from Nauvoo for a while to avoid danger, but eventually returned to her former home. These may have been given as payment for teaching. At night they would build fires if they could find firewood. to ignore it entirely. 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 wished to be associated with the prophet for the eternal blessings they felt this would bring. The CES Director asked Jeremy to send him a list of issues that had caused him to lose his faith, with the intention of helping him out. She found them both bleeding badly. [117] Benjamin F. Johnson observed that during the rest of 1839 in the Nauvoo area, the people had flocked in from the terible exposures of the past and Nearly every one was Sick with intemitant or other fevers of which many diedIn this time of great Sickness poverty & death.[118] Henry Jackson claimed the Marchs Stormy blasts of Snow & rain so affected his Sight that he was not able to work.[119] The exodus caused considrable sickness for the Levi Hancock family.[120] Mosiah Hancock, the boy who had crossed the Mississippi ice barefoot, was an emaciated lad for many months. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. My family . 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. She had no example to follow and no real support group, as later women would have. . She stood by her husband even when they faced strains in their marriage. Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? He covered Joseph Smith's reluctance for years to keep this commandment of the Lord and how it was also very difficult for Emma Smith. To fulfill their instruction, some members of the Twelve left Quincy on April 18, 1839, to travel secretly to Far West. She would smile with her lips, but to me, as small as I was, I never saw the brown eyes smile. "Remember, Emma was a woman of refinement and education. " Delewski said. Levis nearly five-year-old son Mosiah recalled, The snow was deep enough to take me to the middle of the thigh, and I was bare footed and in my shirt tail. They hitched their horse old Tom to the cart, Mosiah said, and father drove the horse and carried the rifle on his shoulder. It's dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don't understand that that's what's happening to them. Their tough experiences produced definite impactsboth short- and long-termon Missouri and Illinois, on the course of the Church, and on individual members.[1]. The family filled the cart with corn. It turned out that such calls had gone out to bishops and stake presidents in several states. However, the LDS church cites Fanny as Smith's first plural wife, noting that the pair married in Kirtland, Ohio in the mid-1830s, when Smith would have been about 30 himself. [94] Porter, Brigham Young and the Twelve, 14149. LM is long meter, CM is common meter, and so forth. Among the stories are: Hidden Mormonism in Orson Scott Card's fiction, Anti-debt diva gives outlandish money-saving ideas, "Travails and triumphs" of Mormon mommies blogging, Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. Her family was fairly well-off financially, and so Emma was well-educated for a woman of her time. On two additional occasions she was driven from her home at the threat of her life.". Soon after starting, her eyes became infected, so Martha Smoot walked beside her and led her along for five or six days. [76] They moved in with Judge John Cleveland and his Latter-day Saint wife, Sarah, four miles east of Quincy. . Did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? Her family stayed behind after the Saints went West, and Elizabeth eventually remarried, the same year that Emma remarried. [40] [Auto]Biographical Sketch of George Washington Gill Averett, typescript, 8, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. Hi Nathan, thanks for your interest in Emma Smiths hymnbook! John later filed claim for the loss of 240 acres of land, three yoke of oxen, a corn crop, and hogs. He told the Butlers to go to his butcher shop and take meat when they wanted some. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. At times, deep snows rubbed their wagon hubs during the journey. We loaded up our little efects into a wagon and with one small pair of stears we started out with five children [ages twelve, nine, seven, four, and two] in our family and only one pair of shoes amongst them, Daniel wrote. Quincy was the closest Illinois city to Far West. Emma's disappearance from LDS history was so total that Linda says when she and Valeen co-authored an article about her for the Ensign in 1979, it was the first writing about her to appear in. Mary Audentia Smith Anderson. Why did Emma Smith opt to stay in Nauvoo? She moved from Pennsylvania to New York to Ohio to Missouri and then Illinois. Finally, in some respects, the exodus from Missouri was a training exercise for the Saints exodus from Nauvoo seven years later. 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. 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. The exodus had no large, organized wagon trains. ", Delewski said, "If someone with Emma's experience came to me, I would talk about these deaths and see what effects sorrow had had upon her. She worked hard to support his mission. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. At the time of the third printing, however, Vals bishop received a call from a higher-up in Salt Lake who said that two girls had written a book about Emma Smith and were not to be invited to speak about the topic in sacrament meetings. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. A decision to continue to gather. Source: The Joseph Smith Paper Smith came and consecrated the Temple Lot in June 1831. [72] It is about 130 miles upriver from St. Louis and 45 miles directly south of where Nauvoo now is. Early Life and Marriage of Emma Smith. She also learned how to cook and be a good host when her parents ran a boarding house. First, Emma had intense anxiety over the protection of Joseph's and Hyrum's bodies. One of her grandchildren, Emma Belle Smith Kennedy, wrote: "Her eyes were brown and sad. [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. 6, p. 408-412 it records an "Address of the Prophet" on Sunday, May 26, 1844 where Joseph Smith states: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only . It was enough to make the heart ache to see the children, sick with colds, and crying around their mothers for food, whilst their parents were destitute of the means of making them comfortable.[21], Northwest Missouri winters can be harsh. [121] James Galligher claimed he was exposed to the weather in which sickness followed & the loss of one of my Children.[122] Innumerable such examples can be cited. [37] David Rogers Report, 1839, in William Rogers and Elizabeth Bessie Ritchie with Their Ancestors and Descendants (Salt Lake City: Leo R. Rogers, 1981), 230. Social conversation and discretion were traits for which she was well-known. My God is it you Bro. During Sunday dinner on November 5, Joseph became ill, rushed to the door, and vomited so violently that he dislocated his jaw. However, the hymns Emma selected were particularly special. [86] Truman O. Angell Journal, reprinted in Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1967), 10:199. See discussion in Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery. "Every symptom of poison," Richards noted in Joseph's diary. Slipping through the guard, he had to cross a creek by taking off his clothes and wading across the bitter cold water. [74] Greene, Expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, 40. Deseret News Archives, Deseret News Archives. [116] A plague of sickness that befell Nauvoo residents in the summer of 1839 was due in large measure to physical debility caused by sufferings during the previous year. So Levi rigged up a foot lathe and soon had two hubs turned out and built a cart. Bushman reports that Emma and Joseph had many intense discussions about his polygamy and their relationship was periodically strained. [3] LaMar C. Berrett and Max H. Parkin, Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites, vol. [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. 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. John marked time until his family and his mother and brothers could join him in Quincy. I attended the premier of the Emma Smith Story [with] several of my children and grandchildren. You might notice something a bit surprisingtheres no musical notation! [55] The shoes belonged to the oldest boy, Morgan. 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. [100], In the morning of April 22, Dimick Huntington, at Emma Smiths request, went down to the rivers edge to inquire about news from the west, and spotted the Prophet. 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. Is there a list anywhere of all the composers who had songs in Emmas 1835 hymnal? 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. For more on Emma Smith, check out the new acclaimed film Jane and Emma. 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. [15] Hartley, Stand by My Servant Joseph, 291; Reed Peck, Reed Peck Manuscript (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilms reprint, n.d.), 29. All Rights Reserved. [89] In consequence of the sale of Lands in Jackson County, William Huntington, head of the Committee of Removal, said, We ware able to remove All the poor who had a desire To leave the state by April 13, the day he left Far West. Many of the Saints were glad to find shelter in my house from the storms, he said. She also learned how to cook and be a good host when her parents ran a boarding house. She was told that her calling was to be a support and comfort to . [26] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8586. 4 (2000): 622. Did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? Green, a Quincy innkeeper and cousin by marriage to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, encouraged the Apostles and other Saints to come there. The Twelve then offered kneeling prayer at the southeast cornerstone, sang Adam-ondi-Ahman, and dismissed so they could leave there for their missions to England. In the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christlater known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsin Fayette Township. They started in February, but it was bitter cold, and they suffered fearfully, Caroline said. The day has gone by when masses of men can be outlawed, and driven from society to the wilderness, unprotected. Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church's founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma . Elder Young, when his life seemed in danger, left Far West for Illinois on February 14, but Elder Kimball stayed behind to help with the removals.[38]. They reached Quincy on January 29 and found ourselves in a land of Freedom once more by the help of God and his blessings. Holbrook observed that brethren were continually coming to Quincy from the Missouri as I had done.[43] In late January, Ebenezer Robinson and three other men walked from Far West to Quincy through the snow.[44]. https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/what_is_meter.htm. At Huntsville, the driver said his horses could not go on, so the Knights unhitched the wagon and camped. [86], As soon as John Butlers family arrived, they had no place to go and it was bitter cold, John said. Sarah later became Emmas first counselor in the Nauvoo Relief Society. Brigham Young and his family, with several others, Kimball said. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. [58], The Butlers and Smoots reached the Mississippi on March 10 or 11. . She was finally confirmed in August 1830. Quincys compassion, noted historian Richard E. Bennett, saved the saints as a people and may even have saved the Church as an institution.[88], Assigned by the Committee of Removal, David Rogers visited Jackson County on March 15, sold Church properties, raised some $2,700, and brought the funds to Far West by mid-April. [1] William G. Hartley, Almost Too Intolerable a Burthen: The Winter Exodus from Missouri, 18381839, Journal of Mormon History 18 (Fall 1992): 640. Caroline suffered from dropsy, or painful swellings, and the cold intensified her pain. Father said, Run, Mosiah, and I did run! [7], The shortest way out of state was to go north sixty to eighty miles into unsettled regions of present-day Iowa. Health problems and deaths. Her health partially returned, but she has never been able to work much since, her husband wrote in 1845. But Brigham died before she had the opportunity to speak with him. Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805 - June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement.At the age of 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon and by the time of his death, 14 years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers. They asked a committee of Latter-day Saints to provide them facts about the needy. Whatever the situation, Emma eventually found herself unable to cope with polygamy. [84] Aroet Hale, Autobiography, typescript, 6, Perry Special Collections. A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of the Latter Day Saints was published in 1835. He could scarcely refrain from weeping.[105], Once safely in Illinois, the Saints still had some unfinished business related to their expulsion from Missouri. 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.. Saints gathered for a general conference on May 46 held in a Presbyterian campground two miles north of Quincy. 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. After a quick Google search, I found out that PM probably stands for peculiar meter. I hadnt heard of that before, and it isnt in the current edition of the LDS hymnbook. Hope this helps! Thank you for your insight about and compassion for Emma, and for taking the time to write about and share it with us. Her fugitive son Samuel came from Quincy and arranged for a ferryman to take the Smith party across. Because Joseph Smith was in prison during the exodus, attention focuses here on Joseph Smith's 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. After Joseph Smith died, Emma Smith moved away from Nauvoo for about six months before returning. 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. Minute Book 1, 14 Sept. 1835; Joseph Smith III, "Last Testimony of Sister Emma," Saints' Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289; "Hale, Emma," in Black, Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1848, 19:846; Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 57; Cook, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 37. 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 . [30] A second meeting on January 29 heard a partial report from the committee, after which Brigham Young proposed that Saints covenant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities in removing from the state, and that we will never desert the poor who are worthy until they are safely out of state. 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. Emma, as she often did, was searching the home for Joseph when he and a girl were missing. At Quincy, where some Church members lived, John taught school for a short period. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. For example, in the support materials for the Joseph Smith manual, polygamy is once again nowhere mentioned. [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. She was able to utilize the properties she owned to support her family, but with difficulty, particularly since she was left to cover Josephs many debts. He had been separated from the family for three months or more. Along the way, he said he had to stop among strangers with my daughter who had given birth to a child on the prairie.[64] Elisha Whiting said his family was driven in the month of March through cold storms of snow and rain, having to make our beds on the cold wet ground which when we arose in the morning we often found drenched with water and then obliged to load our wet bedding into the waggon and move slowly forward.[65], About March 18, Wilford Woodruff, in Quincy and newly back from a mission, went to the river and looked across and saw a great many of the Saints, old and young, lying in the mud and water, in a rainstorm, without tent or covering. He finally broke with all organized religion. [36] With Joseph Smiths approval, leaders in Far West decided to sell Church properties in Jackson County to help raise money for the exodus. Emma Smith was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania and had unusual opportunities for a girl in her time. They passed Saints heading east, including Elder John E. Page, who turned around and joined them. In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 1) Formal Dress. 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. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. But fairly soon after that the Saints were asked to leave Jackson County, so the new temple didn't get built. She, in turn, was instructed by Joseph to officiate in these ordinances for the women, which she did until shortly before his martyrdom. Brigham Young, remembering the covenant he asked the Saints in Far West to make to help move those in need, had members similarly covenant when preparing to leave Nauvoo for the West. [49] Brother Markham then drove the wagon back to Far West to bring others out. The hymnbook she created included familiar favorites from other denominations and hymns newly written specifically for the Latter-day Saints. The mormon church is excellent with marketing, so many assume it's just a slightly strange but happy family filled religion. 1856Emma takes in orphaned Elizabeth Agnes Kendall, eight years old, and rears her as her own daughter . These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. And even when people did leave, they left reverently, speaking only in whispers. [100] Stanley B. Kimball, The Saints and St. Louis, 18311857: An Oasis of Tolerance and Security, BYU Studies 13 (Summer 1973): 489519. B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. She finally gained a sense of stability and a place to raise her children when she moved into the Mansion House in Nauvoo. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". About sunset we landed in Quincy, Lucy said. In addition to grieving the loss of her husband, she was expecting their final child. Food was scarce, and housing inadequate. After one severe storm, Daniel said, Our corn bread was frosen so hard I had to take the ax and break it and give it to the children to gnaw at, the bread looking like chunks of ice. As many as one hundred families were camped along the banks, he said. Understanding how early Saints worked earnestly to build up the Church helps us better appreciate the value of their work. A Quincy Heritage Celebration was held July 24, 1999. Her husband Joseph Smith had been killed in 1844, and after his death Emma Smith decided to remain in Nauvoo. 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. When it entered his stomach he went to the door and threw it off. When those families reached Illinois early in 1839, they were poor, worn out, and ragged looking. They pulled out of Far West on February 18, leaving behind a house and farm. 801-422-6975. By 1838 Quincy had a strong population base of sixteen hundred residents, mostly Germans and New Englanders, and several industries and businesses, including its share of coopers and cabinet-makers, saddlers and leather-makers, and a pork packing and meat processing center. Quincy was on its way to prosperity. In 1984, Linda wrote, with Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma:Emma Hale Smith, which has stood for nearly three decades as the definitive biography of Emma. I fitted up a small wagon, procured a span of ponies, and sent my Wife and three children, in company with Bro. Throughout the years, she has remained a complex topic for both Mormons and non-Mormons. Hundreds still lacked the means to leave. 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. I found my family in good health though in the mud and snow half a leg deep in the camp. 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. Young put on board some of his goods into the wagon carrying the Knights, and both families resumed their journeys. Constant delays meant that the Knights did not reach the Mississippi River until early May. John and his son Orrice walked.
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