Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. 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. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of FAIR, its officers, directors or supporters. [7], The shortest way out of state was to go north sixty to eighty miles into unsettled regions of present-day Iowa. Many wished to be associated with the prophet for the eternal blessings they felt this would bring. Many of the Saints were glad to find shelter in my house from the storms, he said. 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. William G. Hartley, The Saints Forced Exodus from Missouri, in Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, ed. So without further ado, here is my list of 21 reasons leaving the Mormon Church might be a great idea, even if it is true. . [42] Joseph Holbrook and two other men, to escape those that would like to do us harm, moved out the night of January 20. . Emma was the seventh of nine children. [32] The committee surveyed the needs and weighed requests for help. Within three weeks, the press got wind of the authors ecclesiastical silencing and began to report about itthereby tripling sales of the book. In History of the Church Vol. Mormons believe family life continues after death. He had one illegitimate child and after marrying Emma had another, which she raised, making her a most extraordinary woman. 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. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". On the Joseph Smith Papers website, readers can turn through the original hymnbook page by page. He remained her companion until her death on 30 April 1879 at the age of 75 in Nauvoo. We will look forward to reading more of your work. [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. One is that Emma had lived her adult life moving from place to place and house to house, crossing frozen rivers and walking in lots of mud and snow. For more coverage of Sunstone sessions, visit MormonTimes.com and go to the "Studies & Doctrine tab," then click on "doctrine discussions." Also, three men were sent to locate possible settlement sites up the Mississippi River in Illinois. 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. About sunset we landed in Quincy, Lucy said. Understanding how early Saints worked earnestly to build up the Church helps us better appreciate the value of their work. [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. "Some people might say that something about her changed, and that is why she did not come to Salt Lake Valley," Delewski said. Elggren believes they had that face-to-face after they had both died. Joseph Smiths parents. That did not stop Emma, a visionary woman in her own sense of the word. . A woman living in a nearby house ran to find out what was wrong. [12] John Butlers escape route apparently was across northern Missouri. Was also Governor of Utah Territory from February 3, 1851 to April 12, 1858. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Caroline suffered from dropsy, or painful swellings, and the cold intensified her pain. [120] Levi W. Hancock petition in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 225. Following Josephs murder, Emma refused to go west with the Saints. [10] They crossed the icy Mississippi River, some at Quincy, where Charles C. Rich said, We found friends and was kindly received.[11], Another half dozen Mormon militiamen led by Dimick Huntington left separately. And the last words out of Brighams mouth, and he died before Emma, were Joseph,' Elggren said. Samuel said they traveled the most secluded route they could find. In fact, he generally took another man with him or even asked a father or brother to approach the woman. 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. Is there a list anywhere of all the composers who had songs in Emmas 1835 hymnal? Your email address will not be published. Her funeral was held May 2, 1879, in Nauvoo with RLDS Church minister Mark Hill Forscutt preaching the sermon. In mid-February, Anson Call headed east. Far West had a population by then of about five thousand Saints, and another five thousand lived in at least nineteen other Latter-day Saint communities in Caldwell County. Emma, be patient, you shall have all of your children, he assured her gently. Six of 11 children had died: Alvin, twins Thadeus and Louisa, Joseph Murdock, Don Carlos and Thomas. And even when people did leave, they left reverently, speaking only in whispers. Each comment will be reviewed by a staff member before it will appear on the site. Its almost as if youre holding the hymnbook in your own hands. [107] Johnson, ed., Mormon Redress Petitions, xixxxvii. Despite her parents disapproval, she eventually eloped. For your free copy of the Bible, go to Free Holy Bible and for a free Book of Mormon, go to Free Book of Mormon, Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. [30] John Taylor, Alanson Ripley, Brigham Young, Theodore Turley, Heber C. Kimball, John Smith (the Prophets uncle), and Don C. Smith (the Prophets brother). 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). She moved away from Nauvoo for a while to avoid danger, but eventually returned to her former home. Snow was six inches deep. She handled nearly every trial with grace. On February 7 and 8, both men visited Liberty Jail, then returned to Far West. Emma's brothers and sisters were all named after family members, either on her mother's side or her father's. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Her health partially returned, but she has never been able to work much since, her husband wrote in 1845. [58], The Butlers and Smoots reached the Mississippi on March 10 or 11. 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. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. They started in February, but it was bitter cold, and they suffered fearfully, Caroline said. Refugees moved as individuals, by families, or in small clusters of wagons whenever they were ready. Because of his position in the Illinois militia, he was often referred to as "Major" Bidamon. 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. [61] That same day, Eliza R. Snow and relatives, who had wintered seven miles from Far West, started for Illinois. There are several reasons Emma stayed in Nauvoo after Joseph Smith's death, but a few in particular stand out. The biography Linda and Valeen published with Doubleday several years later was not so guarded, detailing Josephs many polygamous alliances, his repeated lies to Emma about those marriages, and her conflicts with his plural wivesincluding a much-debated stair-pushing catfight with Eliza R. Snow. To his military leaders, it decreed, The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good.[2] Four days later, that order reached Church leaders and members in northwest Missouri. 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. He also owned and rented out ten or twelve small houses he had built. Unfortunately, Apple's iOS doesn't support home screen shortcuts in the Chrome browser. It turned out that such calls had gone out to bishops and stake presidents in several states. So adamant was Emma on this point that the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held it as an article of faith, and Emma's children never accepted the idea that Joseph had instituted plural marriage. [25] William F. Cahoon Petition in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 15253. She would lose many of her children. ( 6-8 Oct 1866, 36th Semi-Annual Conference, Bowery, G. S. L. City. Her husband Joseph Smith had been killed in 1844, and after his death Emma Smith decided to remain in Nauvoo. In May that year the Mormon History Association held their annual meetings there. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. " Delewski said. When those families reached Illinois early in 1839, they were poor, worn out, and ragged looking. Abraham agreed to drive the Butlers wagon and two-horse team for Caroline, and Caroline let the Smoots put their baggage in the Butler wagon. These hymns had a great influence on the Saints during the early days of the Church. [88] Richard E. Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption, 101. While living at the Morley farm near Kirtland, Emma Smith gives birth to twins, who die shortly after birth. When he was murdered, she bent over him and expressed her sorrow that they had taken him from her. In a remarkable twist of irony, her version of history is increasingly the LDS Churchs as well. 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. Joseph had been translating the Bible before he was imprisoned, and Emma also carried these documents with her, hidden in bags under her skirts. Given that Brigham was blamed by Emma for being the inventor of plural marriage, he probably felt rather ill-used by her. Did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? One of the other items was a photograph of a family member that was mislabeled as being Emma. [111] Starting with this poem, Eliza R. Snow published a total of eighteen poems in the Quincy Whig during the 183941 period. [77], On February 23, the Quincy Whig reported that Saints were coming in from all quarters and that for several days they have been crossing at this place, bringing with them the wreck of what they could save from their ruthless oppressors. Their first twenty miles was through snow six inches deep. Reaching the river, they joined Saints waiting to cross who had no shelter. They got some better, Caroline said. 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. [118] Dean R. Zimmerman, I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letters of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Bountiful, UT: Horizon, 1976), 1011. Emma certainly made errors in judgment, as do we all. 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. She then became a temple worker, helping others with their first temple experiences. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Hundreds still lacked the means to leave. a much-debated stair-pushing catfight with Eliza R. Snow. Emma crossed the ice carefully, walking apart from the wagon. Those who hired him found him to be the best employee theyd ever hired. He attended school as they courted, trying to live up to her. They passed Saints heading east, including Elder John E. Page, who turned around and joined them. When one was unable to find employment, she hired Jane Manning herself. They had a reasonably good relationship despite these challenges. 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". She later married Major Lewis Bidamon, who had supported the Mormons during the trials, but was not a member. This tendency toward privacy continued even after Joseph Smith's death. We have to look at her entire life, not just one portion of it. Provo, UT 84602 The group then included one man, two women, and children ages seven, four, three, and one. Nov. 10, 2014. [123] Butler denounced the hard-heartedness that Missourians had shown his wife and children and Church authorities. In addition to grieving the loss of her husband, she was expecting their final child. Emma had 11 children (two were the adopted Murdock twins), and six children died in infancy. . . The Knight family. Elder Kimball said he stayed behind to assist members of the Committee of Removal and to wait upon those in prison. In Far West he had to hide out in the woods during daytime. Some of them are still included in the current hymnbook that was published 150 years later in 1985. With other refugees, she and six children ages two through nine accompanied their small wagon, pulled by a blind horse. She had no example to follow and no real support group, as later women would have. Joseph and Emma apparently discussing the nastiness of cleaning up from cleaning up spit on the . Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. It's dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don't understand that that's what's happening to them. Tied to her waist were heavy bags containing Josephs papers. Since he did father many children with Emma, parenthood was possible, but there is, at this time, no biological proof of traditional marriage relationships and the only accounts came from others, not the women or Joseph. We had not the privilege of hunting our cattle and horses.[14] Newel Knight noted that because the Saints were unarmed, they became prey for small parties of armed men insulting our women, driving off our stock, and plundering. To him it seemed as though all hell was aroused to do us injury.[15] Newels cousin Reed Peck said that some horses, wagons and much other property were stolen from the Mormons by some of the militia who were villains enough to plunder.[16] By late November, most crops around Far West were unharvested, and potatoes still in the ground were frose solid. Soldiers rifled through homes, Albert Rockwood said, and our sheep & hogs, & horses [are] drove off before our eyes by the Missourians who come in small companies well armed.[17], In neighboring Daviess County, Missouri militia ordered all the Saints out and gave William Huntington and eleven other Mormons four weeks to round up the Latter-day Saints livestock, wagons, and personal property. 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. 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. Some participants in the Missouri exodus vented powerful feelings of anger, horror, outrage, and persecution. [97] Liberty Jail prisoners were Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin. View our community standards here. [79] Smith, History of the Church, 3:270. [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. [117] Weakened by the rigorous trek in midwinter after the severe ordeal of persecution in Missouri, the exiles who were camped along the Mississippi River began to feel the effects of the hardships such that almost every family succumbed to the ague and bilious fever (Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration [Provo, UT: BYU Press, 1973], 439). The Thomas family. Is probably the most famous Latter Day Saint polygamist with 55 wives. He was the son of Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith. She helped to care for Josephs mother and her mother-in-law noted that few women had endured as many trials as she had with so much grace. 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. 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. Finally, Brigham was Joseph's successor, and Emma challenged that succession by supporting her son, Joseph Smith III, as the 'proper' leader, and as one who would not teach the hated doctrine of polygamy (which Emma falsely claimed Brigham had foisted on the Church). She was often anxious and sad, but she coped. 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. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 34790. 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. 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. He was a lieutenant colonel of the 32nd Regiment of the Illinois militia, and he helped control the violence being perpetuated against the Latter Day Saints. Until that time, Emma had been largely written out of official LDS history. Abraham O. Smoot became mayor of Salt Lake City and then Provo, president of the Utah Stake, and a promoter of Brigham Young Academy. At least one man escaped west to Fort Leavenworth. 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. [15] Hartley, Stand by My Servant Joseph, 291; Reed Peck, Reed Peck Manuscript (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilms reprint, n.d.), 29. [124] Berrett and Parkin, Sacred Places: Missouri, 329, 402, 411. FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. When the Mormons left for Utah, she elected to remain behind. The following article was originally publishedin December 2015. Here Samuel had hired a house and we moved into it, with four other families.[53]. Their difficult trip to Mississippi River took twelve days: We had snow and rain every day but 2. [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. To add an RSC website shortcut to your home screen, open the website in the Safari browser. Why? However, President Young advised the Saints to gather in order to help each other better. Given these losses, it appears to me that Emma managed quite well.".