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And the last words out of Brighams mouth, and he died before Emma, were Joseph,' Elggren said. Shortly, twelve mobbers with rifles entered the tithing office and broke windows, tables, chairs, and seventeen clocks into matchwood. One threw iron pots at Theodore Turley, hitting him in the shoulder. 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. [58], The Butlers and Smoots reached the Mississippi on March 10 or 11. 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. 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. She move 18 times and lived in 13 houses. "When people ask what caused a change in Emma Smith's behavior, what they really are asking is, 'Why didn't she go west with the Saints?' Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. 4, Missouri (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004), 28889, 361, 402. Until that time, Emma had been largely written out of official LDS history. 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. [26] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8586. the Gospel Doctrine manual for church history. Those refer to the meter used in the hymn text. The lack of a legal will placed both the Church and Emma's family in uncertain financial conditions. Saints had until late March to vacate Missouri, but they started leaving in earnest during January. [18] Diaries of William Huntington, typescript, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. This made the poisoning accusation plausible for him. When Elizabeth died in childbirth, young Elizabeth Agnes was leftwith her stepfather and, soon after, a new stepmother. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Mercy should be the watchwordnot blood, not extermination, not misery.. They reached the bank of the Mississippi in eight days and found the river frozen over. Sister Emma cried and said that they [thieves] had taken all of her bed clothes, except one quilt and blanket, and what could she do? So Caroline and other sisters told Emma to send hers to Joseph, which she did, and they gave her replacement bedding for her family. . Also there were Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, who were soon to be ordained as Apostles. [88] Richard E. Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption, 101. Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? Many of the Saints were converts who had sung hymns before. In the meantime, Emma assumed that because these men represented the Twelve they acted on direct orders from Brigham. They pulled out of Far West on February 18, leaving behind a house and farm. 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. These hymns had a great influence on the Saints during the early days of the Church. 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. 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. Emma was a significant part of the church while her husband was alive. See discussion in Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery. [4], November 1 brought heartbreak for all Saints in Far West. . She later married Major Lewis Bidamon, who had supported the Mormons during the trials, but was not a member. 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. 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. 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. She had sufficient faith to avoid looking at the plates even when they were in her bedroom or kitchen, although she frequently felt them and moved them out of her way as she worked. June 1831 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. She found them both bleeding badly. A few visitors from Brigham Young's faction of the Latter-day Saints came from Utah Territory to visit Smith at this house. Within three weeks, the press got wind of the authors ecclesiastical silencing and began to report about itthereby tripling sales of the book. The Missouri Arguss editor argued incorrectly on December 20, 1838, that they cannot be driven beyond the limits of the statethat is certain. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". 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. 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 . [114] Close Friends as Witnesses: Joseph Smith and the Joseph Knight Families, in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man, ed. They averaged ten miles per day. " Delewski said. Whatever the situation, Emma eventually found herself unable to cope with polygamy. 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. H. Redmond, History of Quincy and Its Men of Mark (Quincy, IL: Heirs and Russell, 1863), 15; Richard E. Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption: A Study of the Mormons in Quincy, Illinois, 18381839, 8788, and Susan Easton Black, QuincyA City of Refuge, 69, in A City of Refuge. 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. [74] Greene, Expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, 40. The religion rapidly gained converts, and Smith set up . Moroni first instructed Joseph to enlist his oldest brother, Alvin, to help him recover the plates. Print. However, I discovered there was a different attitude about Emma. Dirty smoking school of prophets. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. 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. "On three of these moves she had to leave behind most or all of her furniture. At Far West on February 22, Eliza R. Snow reported that a man had just arrived from Illinois who had counted 220 wagons between Far West and the Mississippi.[60] If that figure is accurate, and if wagons helped transport an average of four people each, then the man had passed about a thousand Saints on the road. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 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. [82] Bennett, Quincythe Home of Our Adoption, 92. 3 The process, like so many other endeavors in her life, Add an RSC shortcut to this device's Homescreen, In the menu, scroll past any icons and tap. 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. [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. How Orrin Hatch protected people of faith, KSL Newsradio is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary. [42] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. We are sensible, brethren, that you have done all that you could do in removing the poor Saints, they said, adding that nor have we, brethren, been backward in exerting our energies for that purpose. They kept insisting on constitutional protection . 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. I being barefooted and the ice so rough, I staggered all over. Emma and Joseph's descendants grew up separated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Babbitt would make Brigham's requests to Emma sound abrupt and thoughtless, and her responses to him selfish and defensive.[5]. Im guessing something to do with the meter, but I cant figure it out! Following Josephs murder, Emma refused to go west with the Saints. [34] Saints used existing roads as much as possible, although some took detours to avoid problems with local residents or to avoid being recognized. Emma: Because it was the price of faith. Though there probably was an argument, the poisoning accusation was unfounded. [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. It's dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don't understand that that's what's happening to them. In the October session of General Conference 1866, Brigham Young made these comments: "To my certain knowledge, Emma Smith is one of the damnedest liars I know of on this earth; yet there is no good thing I would refuse to do for her, if she would only be a righteous woman; but she will continue in her wickedness. What did Lucy Mack Smith say about Emma Smith? Twice she undertook to kill him. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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. But fairly soon after that the Saints were asked to leave Jackson County, so the new temple didn't get built. Accordingly, our goods were taken out. They waited until another team came for them. After a long time, Mother Smith said, We succeeded . He finally broke with all organized religion. When the boy, Charles, was 4 years old, Emma took him in and raised him as her own. Bushman, Richard L., and Jed Woodworth. A decision to continue to gather. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The Mormon Church distributes free copies of the King James Version of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. rev. Given that Brigham was blamed by Emma for being the inventor of plural marriage, he probably felt rather ill-used by her. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". . Did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? By primitive Missouri roads, the distance from Far West to Quincy was about 180 miles. The animosity between Brigham Young and Emma had multiple grounds: personal, religious, and financial. All but the youngest two had to walk every step of the entire distance. They were almost barefooted and some had to wrap their feet in clothes in order to keep them from freezing and protect them from the sharp points of the frozen ground. Son John, nine, later said that often the blood from our feet marked the frozen earth.[57]. . 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. [20] The Life of Joseph Holbrook, 18061871, typescript, 46, Perry Special Collections. The Knight family. The exodus from Missouri generated a rich store of documents and records. 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. He attended school as they courted, trying to live up to her. According to the official narrative, Emma stayed behind in Nauvoo rather than joining the majority of the Saints in Utah because she was a widow caring for five young children and Josephs aging mother, not because she believed that, as she expressed it at the time, the Twelve have made bogus of it.. "I will suggest that she didn't change. Which is another way of saying that a particular view of history does not suit institutional needs in the moment. They took what scanty provisions we could muster. They walked and slept under the sky. After inspections, the Church agreed to buy twenty thousand acres of land at Commerce, Illinois, and across the river in Lee County, Iowa. 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). Smith came and consecrated the Temple Lot in June 1831. Events unfolded rapidly, with men from the neighboring towns staging raids on Nauvoo, trying to once again, drive out the Saints and claim their. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. They left Far West on February 14. 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. [114] John Lowe Butler became a trusted workhorse for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, serving as one of Josephs official, ordained bodyguards and later as a bishop in Spanish Fork, Utah. Sarah later became Emmas first counselor in the Nauvoo Relief Society. Emma Smith was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of FAIR, its officers, directors or supporters. Although their marriage was often troubled following the introduction of polygamy, Emma continued to care for Joseph. [40] [Auto]Biographical Sketch of George Washington Gill Averett, typescript, 8, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. [1] William G. Hartley, Almost Too Intolerable a Burthen: The Winter Exodus from Missouri, 18381839, Journal of Mormon History 18 (Fall 1992): 640. | April 1, 2022, 6:08 a.m. "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" often addresses Latter-day Saint issues, even though there are no fully active members of the faith in . [112] A Proclamation to the Saints Scattered AbroadGreeting, Times and Seasons, January 15, 1841, 6. 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). The family filled the cart with corn. [36] With Joseph Smiths approval, leaders in Far West decided to sell Church properties in Jackson County to help raise money for the exodus. [75] Wandle Mace Autobiography, typescript, 3132, Perry Special Collections. 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. If they choose to remain, we must be content. [8] After eleven days travel, they reached white Settlements on the Desmoine River in Iowa. 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. There can be no question, though, that she made sacrifices far beyond what most Mormons would be asked to make, and that she experienced more than her fair share of suffering. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. [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. She led the Relief Society, an auxiliary for the women of the church that was organized to educate the women and to allow them to serve others. Given these losses, it appears to me that Emma managed quite well.". Emma Smith The essentialeven phenomenalrole Emma played in bringing forth the Book of Mormon has been re-examined on many fronts. Donate to us by shopping at Amazon at no extra cost to you. [94], In the dark the group reached Tenneys Grove and there added to their group the last company of the poor needing help to reach Quincy. It took me a minute to find what you were looking at, but if I am correct, I see the PMs in Emma Smiths original hymnbook. B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. It is fairly well known that these twins were adopted by Emma and Joseph as infants shortly after their own set of newborn twins died. Emma served as a scribe during his first efforts to translate the Book of Mormon. Refugees moved as individuals, by families, or in small clusters of wagons whenever they were ready. There are several reasons Emma stayed in Nauvoo after Joseph Smith's death, but a few in particular stand out.