Her health partially returned, but she has never been able to work much since, her husband wrote in 1845. [102] See Missouri Republican (St. Louis), May 3, 1839. William G. Hartley, The Saints Forced Exodus from Missouri, in Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, ed. The Smith family. They received them as they came, sent forward all who had means and strength into the interior, provided the poor and sick with lodgings, fuel, food and clothing.[74] Wandle Mace opened his house to the refugees. The Church News asked Church historians to answer the question "What should Church members know about Emma Hale Smith?" Here's what they had to say: The day has gone by when masses of men can be outlawed, and driven from society to the wilderness, unprotected. During November and December, Joseph C. Kingsbury and Caroline, his wife of two years, lived in a little cabin with meager provisions. Thank you so much. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. Who was the oldest president of the LDS Church? Emma Smith would make tremendous sacrifices for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for her husband, and for the church. Emma died in Nauvoo on April 30, 1879, at age 75. 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. Answer (1 of 10): At the time of her husbands death, not much changed. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". 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]. She finally gained a sense of stability and a place to raise her children when she moved into the Mansion House in Nauvoo. Extermination order not rescinded for 137 years. I being barefooted and the ice so rough, I staggered all over. 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. 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. [17] Dean C. Jesse and David J. Whittaker, The Last Months of Mormonism in Missouri: The Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, BYU Studies 28 (Winter 1988): 2729. It does not store any personal data. They passed Saints heading east, including Elder John E. Page, who turned around and joined them. . Many people have focused almost entirely on the decisions she made in the last years of Joseph Smiths life and after his death, and sometimes those events trouble Mormons and please non-Mormons. [67] Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff Journal, 18331898, Typescript, Vol. Emma did, from time to time, offer approval of specific marriages. 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. [79] In its March 2 issue, the Quincy Whig termed the Saints crossing the Mississippi River objects of charity. Because they had been thrown upon our shores destitute, through the oppressive people of Missouri, common humanity must oblige us to aid and relieve them all in our power.[80], On March 5, Bishop Partridge reported from Quincy to Joseph Smith, The people here receive us kindly and are willing that we should enjoy the privileges guaranteed to all civil people without molestation.[81], Joseph Sr. and wife Lucy rented a house or part of it on the northeast corner of Sixth and Hampshire streets. We put our goods into the wagon a second time, but the wagon was wanted for Emma and her family, so our goods were again taken out.[48] Stephen Markham, a member of the Committee of Removal, helped Emma Smith leave on February 7. What experience do you need to become a teacher? Is there a list anywhere of all the composers who had songs in Emmas 1835 hymnal? When the time came for Joseph Smith to retrieve the golden plates hidden in ancient times by an angela book today called the Book of Mormonshe went with him, praying at the wagon while he went to open the box. She is remembered for her unrelenting strength and ability to overcome hardships. [98] That summer the prisoners who had been at Richmond escaped confinement, except King Follett. Its a beautiful article, but its not a fully honest one; polygamy is not mentioned once anywhere. She was left alone with her five children, including her adopted daughter and four sons. The refinement, the charity of our age, will not brook it. It does not store any personal data. The Saints exodus from Nauvoo took place a year and a half later, leaving Emma, a 41-year-old widow, with her aged mother-in-law, Lucy Mack Smith, and five children, ranging in age from fourteen years to fifteen months old, to care for. Scores of Church members were living there, including Mary Jane York, William Hickman, John P. Greene, and Wandle Mace. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. 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. Its an outstanding and award-winning biography that was the product of countless hours of primary research. Her family was religious, devoutly Christian. Refugees moved as individuals, by families, or in small clusters of wagons whenever they were ready. Were most of her songs from her Methodist tradition, or did she draw more broadly? Smith's wives were believed to be between the ages of 20 and 40 at the time they were "sealed" or married to him. | 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 . Also there were Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, who were soon to be ordained as Apostles. . She said she was sorry to see the Mormons suffer so much and be driven from their homes. . [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. [4], November 1 brought heartbreak for all Saints in Far West. He never charged them rent. he spoke to her in that council in a very severe manner, and she never said one word in reply. Her husband was arrested, essentially for being Mormon, leaving her alone to care for her children. [97] Liberty Jail prisoners were Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin. Every thing my family took with them out of Missouri, could have been packed on the backs of two horses; the mob took all the rest.[52]. She worked hard to support his mission. [51] Elder Heber C. Kimball sent his family with the Youngs. 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. Their hospitality stemmed more from pity than anything else. 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. 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. Three days later they reached De Witt, where they sold a property deed and bought a yoke of steers for $25 and a wagon for $30. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Terrie, you are a treasure. I now saw my little daughter, Nancy Jane, for the first time about two months old. . Some of Emmas friends, as well as many members of the Smith family, alienated themselves from Youngs followers. Whats especially interesting to me about the unfolding historiography of Emma Smith is that she herself would have been happy with the disappearance of polygamy and Josephs other wives from Mormonisms official party line. She was a schoolteacher and even owned items of value, including cows. 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. 1981), 23031. Nov. 10, 2014. [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. 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. This difficult situation was complicated by the immense demands on Brigham Young's time. [40] [Auto]Biographical Sketch of George Washington Gill Averett, typescript, 8, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. She moved from Pennsylvania to New York to Ohio to Missouri and then Illinois. Bushman reports that Emma and Joseph had many intense discussions about his polygamy and their relationship was periodically strained. 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 . At Adam-ondi-Ahman they obtained provisions from fellow Saints. 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. 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.. Church leaders told fugitive Charles C. Rich to flee north into the wilderness and take all that I Could find of the Brethren that was in the Crooked river Battle. So he and others left Far West at midnight on November 1. Josephs death occurred on 27 June 1844. Mormon regard for Quincy. Many wished to be associated with the prophet for the eternal blessings they felt this would bring. The old man for whom John taught school treated them generously. June 1831 [106] Fortunately, 678 petitions survive. Leaders compiled these petitions and affidavits and presented them three times, possibly four, to U.S. president Martin Van Buren and to Congress, but the federal government refused to act on them.[109]. [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. Emma was the seventh of nine children. 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. A few days later, the horses ran away. 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. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Years later, in the anti-Emma atmosphere of Utah, Brigham Young spoke of a meeting where Joseph accused his wife of slipping poison into his coffee. My God is it you Bro. A Quincy Heritage Celebration was held July 24, 1999. She had a home and her children and she just had to carry on the best she could. The next day, Richards wrote that Joseph was "busy with domestic concerns." Caroline said that at one point that winter, Joseph Smith got word to Emma to send him quilts or bed clothes. At Huntsville, the driver said his horses could not go on, so the Knights unhitched the wagon and camped. [122] James Galligher Petition in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 218. [111] Starting with this poem, Eliza R. Snow published a total of eighteen poems in the Quincy Whig during the 183941 period. How old was Emma Smith when Joseph Smith died? [61] That same day, Eliza R. Snow and relatives, who had wintered seven miles from Far West, started for Illinois. The Knight family. 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. Its an improvement that shes discussed at all. [108] The extended Knight familys losses were at least $14,562, or about $320,000 in todays currency. 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. 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. [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. The poem praised those Who have put forth your liberal hand to meet / The urgent wants of the oppressd and poor! In 1841 Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon, the First Presidency, issued a proclamation of appreciation, saying, It would be impossible to enumerate all those who in our time of deep distress, nobly came forward to our relief and like the good Samaritan poured oil into our wounds and contributed liberally to our necessities as the citizens of Quincy en masse and the people of Illinois generally seemed to emulate each other in the labor of love.[112], In Quincys Washington Park stands a simple historical marker erected in 1976 to memorialize the Saints exodus. Susan Easton Black and Richard E. Bennett (Salt Lake City: Millennial Press, 2000), 134. [36] With Joseph Smiths approval, leaders in Far West decided to sell Church properties in Jackson County to help raise money for the exodus. She also learned how to cook and be a good host when her parents ran a boarding house. This forced expulsion of Saints from Missouri produced short- and long-term consequences, as enumerated here for various of the parties involved. [95] Kenney, Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 1:329. [82] Lucy Smith said ladies in Quincy sent them every delicacy which the city afforded.[83] Residents proffered employment. Mormons believe family life continues after death. Both the Church and Joseph Smith personally were heavily in debt at the time of the martyrdom. [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. Those who hired him found him to be the best employee theyd ever hired. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2011. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. Emma died peacefully in the Nauvoo House on April 30, 1879 at the age of 74. Donate to us by shopping at Amazon at no extra cost to you. [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). Many of them started from scratch and built up religious communities in Illinois and Iowa. Emma's brothers and sisters were all named after family members, either on her mother's side or her father's. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". In order to understand this, we need to look at her personality and what she experienced prior to the death of Joseph.". Some sneaked southward to the Missouri River and took boat passage to St. [32] Committee of Removal members were William Huntington, Charles Bird, Alanson Ripley, Theodore Turley, Daniel Shearer, Shadrach Roundy, and Jonathan H. Hale. The Thomas family. Social conversation and discretion were traits for which she was well-known. Learn how . . These may have been given as payment for teaching. What happened to Emma Smith? [37], Elders Young and Kimball kept in constant contact with the imprisoned First Presidency by correspondence, messenger, and visits. Enter your email to receive updates on our LDS Living content, 2022 LDS Living A Division of Deseret Book Company, The Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society, There is room for my brown paper-doll family: 2 gospel truths I learned as a young girl that carry my faith, Special Church Historians Press symposium to highlight women, religion, and records, See the stunning winners of the Churchs International Art Competition. . [9] The men split into two groups to avoid attention. 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. Emma and Joseph eloped on January 18, 1827, in South Bainbridge, New York, and then went to live with the Smith family.