Mormons believe family life continues after death. The topic of this video has been pro. What happened to Emma Smith? Each comment will be reviewed by a staff member before it will appear on the site. The Missouri Arguss editor argued incorrectly on December 20, 1838, that they cannot be driven beyond the limits of the statethat is certain. That is her divine mission. 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. Emma and Josephs descendants grew up separated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 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. We will look forward to reading more of your work. Emma was the seventh of nine children. During this last bout, Joseph said gratefully, "My wife waited on me. Then on November 5 and 6, 1999, a Quincy History Symposium honored the citys humanitarian efforts for Saints who fled Missouri. ( 6-8 Oct 1866, 36th Semi-Annual Conference, Bowery, G. S. L. City. She stood by her husband even when they faced strains in their marriage. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Snow was six inches deep. Emma crossed the ice carefully, walking apart from the wagon. No one could have recognized them as the prosperous Yankees they had once been in New York before embracing Mormonism. William G. Hartley was a professor emeritus of history at Brigham Young University when this was published. . 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). [41] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. She moved from Pennsylvania to New York to Ohio to Missouri and then Illinois. In an essay published on its website quoting "careful estimates", the church said the wives. Emma Hale Smith was the seventh of nine children. Newel Knight had a wagon but no team. Brigham Youngs family was also stranded at Huntsville, having too many goods for their wagon to haul. John marked time until his family and his mother and brothers could join him in Quincy. "Women felt comfortable leaving their children in the church nursery across the hall," she writes, "because the caregivers passed background checks, earned a fair wage, and had a well-managed. 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]. When her son became an adult and headed up the Reorganized Church, as it was then known, she joined. 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. Great questions! Shortly after the doctrine of baptism for the dead was introduced in August 1840, Emma was baptized on behalf of several of her deceased family members, including her parents, an aunt, and one of her sisters. The large body of displaced Saints became an economic force and political presence in Illinois and Iowa Territory. Emma saw in him what her family missed. Joseph Smith presided. He referred to a handmade chart that showed the homes Emma Smith had during her 17-year marriage to Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith. The biography was an instant commercial success, selling out its first two printings. [4], November 1 brought heartbreak for all Saints in Far West. [126] Hartley, How Shall I Gather? Ensign, October 1997, 517. Your email address will not be published. Some sneaked southward to the Missouri River and took boat passage to St. [97] Liberty Jail prisoners were Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin. [114] Close Friends as Witnesses: Joseph Smith and the Joseph Knight Families, in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man, ed. 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. A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of the Latter Day Saints, https://www.lds.org/music/index/hymns/title-tune-meter?lang=eng&_r=1, https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/what_is_meter.htm. Source: The Joseph Smith Paper [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. It turned out that such calls had gone out to bishops and stake presidents in several states. Albert Rockwood and his family left Far West with another family on January 10. How old was Emma Smith when Joseph Smith died? Young put on board some of his goods into the wagon carrying the Knights, and both families resumed their journeys. [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. In intense cold, Lydia recalled, they sometimes scraped away snow beside the wagon so they could put down their beds at night. On January 16, the imprisoned First Presidency sent instructions to Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young that said, Inasmuch as we are in prison, . He remained her companion until her death on 30 April 1879 at the age of 75 in Nauvoo. Newel said, Bro. She was a schoolteacher and even owned items of value, including cows. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Add an RSC shortcut to this device's Homescreen, In the menu, scroll past any icons and tap. Thank you so much. [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. Yet I knew little of these things, for our branch of the family was far removed from our Smith heritage. Social conversation and discretion were traits for which she was well-known. John later filed claim for the loss of 240 acres of land, three yoke of oxen, a corn crop, and hogs. This article examines the results of the Religious Landscape Study conducted in 2014 by the Pew organization, looking specifically at information related to the questions of who is leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, why they leave, where they go, and what factors seem to contribute to their exodus. [90], By mid-April, the mobs lost patience with the Saints still in Caldwell County. We finally got across, and we were so glad, for before we reached the other side, the river had started to swell and break up. appoint the oldest of those of the Twelve, who were first appointed, to be the president of your quorum., Brigham Young was the senior Apostle, hence the presiding Church officer on the ground. Throughout the years, she has remained a complex topic for both Mormons and non-Mormons. Since she left no journal, we dont really know what the entire truth about Emma Smith isbut we do know she was remarkable. 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. At the time, perhaps ten thousand Mormons were concentrated in two particular counties. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 3. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 34790. 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. For the official Church websites, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org or comeuntochrist.org. After his death she resisted encouragement to deny his role as a prophet. Their difficult trip to Mississippi River took twelve days: We had snow and rain every day but 2. 1856Emma takes in orphaned Elizabeth Agnes Kendall, eight years old, and rears her as her own daughter . 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. 3 The process, like so many other endeavors in her life, Father said, Run, Mosiah, and I did run! When her stepparents determined they could no longer care for her, the 8-year-old orphan found her way back to Emma. He was not sufficiently educated to write the translation of the plates, so while he translated through the Holy Ghost, she wrote his words. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. 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. Saints had until late March to vacate Missouri, but they started leaving in earnest during January. Delewski also explored the effect the practice of plural marriage had on Emma and Joseph Smith's relationship. 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. -Stephanie. Given that Brigham was blamed by Emma for being the inventor of plural marriage, he probably felt rather ill-used by her. . While locals let the suffering Saints crowd into farms, sheds, huts, and tents, they judged the refugees to be generally of the poorer and more illiterate classes.[78] On February 25, Quincy leaders met and adopted measures to provide relief. During this time, their relationship improved and Joseph may have agreed to stop taking on additional wives. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2011. 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. Why? At Adam-ondi-Ahman, Saints in October 1838 were building about 150 log houses, but most of them were not finished by the time the Saints left. Nearly three hundred made that covenant and signed pledges. When the two authors began piecing together Emmas life, there was only one small manila folder about her in the entire LDS Archives. The Church was already in a period of great stress and grief as people struggled to decide who the next prophet would be and they faced the realization that they were again in great danger with an uncertain future. . She comforted other women, instructed them, and helped them to build their own faith. The temple site has been salvaged and given modern landscaping, but no houses remain. We have to look at her entire life, not just one portion of it. She frequently found herself living in the homes of others and just as frequently took complete strangers into her own home. She was often anxious and sad, but she coped. Hundreds still lacked the means to leave. Mother followed the cart carrying my little brother, Francis Marion in her arms. Barefooted Mosiah tried to follow in her tracks. A little girl, Amy, rode in the cart and felt bad that the others had to tramp through the snow.[45] At the Mississippi River they camped, and Oh! 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.