[101] Cited in Baugh, We Took Our Change of Venue, 52. We had the last company of the poor with us that could be removed.[96], But the exodus was not quite complete because five prisoners were still in Liberty Jail and six in Richmonds jail, including King Follett, who had just been arrested that month while trying to leave Missouri. How many wives did Joseph Smith have LDS? 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. 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. She then became a temple worker, helping others with their first temple experiences. That is a great question! [73], Church members living in Quincy and nearby tried to help the refugees when they crossed the river. [104] Donna Toland Smart, Exemplary Elder: The Life and Missionary Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, 18141893 (Provo, UT: BYU Studies and Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, 2002), 43. 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. Emma served as a scribe during his first efforts to translate the Book of Mormon. A number of teams arrived from Illinois to help move the last families. We have to look at her entire life, not just one portion of it. Her family was religious, devoutly Christian. Emma knew better, but she also knew that a polygamous history would not serve her needs. Saints gathered for a general conference on May 46 held in a Presbyterian campground two miles north of Quincy. There are several reasons Emma stayed in Nauvoo after Joseph Smith's death, but a few in particular stand out. Her husband Joseph Smith had been killed in 1844, and after his death Emma Smith decided to remain in Nauvoo. But the way Emmas story is carefully sculpted reveals as much about gender expectations and religious norms in our own era as it did when Brigham Young declared her mormona non grata. It's not. If that were the only document people used to learn about Joseph Smith and his life, they would naturally assume that he was married once, to Emma, and not to approximately three dozen other women. [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. [115] Joseph Smith and Others to Edward Partridge and the Church, March 25, 1839, in Times and Seasons, May 1840, 102, and July 1840, 13132. While Joseph was in jail, Emma made the decision to flee with the rest of the Saints to Quincy. [Deseret News Weekly 15:364, 10/10/66, p 4-5 and 15:372, 10/17/66, p 4-5; MS 28:764, 774]) off-site. It was that she hated polygamy and flatly refused to countenance its presence among the Mormon people. It's dangerous and it ruins lives, even if the members don't understand that that's what's happening to them. Brigham Youngs family was also stranded at Huntsville, having too many goods for their wagon to haul. Triggered by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggss October 1838 extermination order against them, some ten thousand Saints engaged in a mass exodus, many going to Quincy, Illinois. The temple site has been salvaged and given modern landscaping, but no houses remain. She admitted that she had been reluctant to give her children any formal religious lifejust personal reading of the Bible and Book of Mormonbecause she was afraid of a return to the many trials she had faced. [125] Photocopy of order, filed June 25, 1976, copy in authors file; also see transcript in LDS Church News, July 3, 1976, 4. A stone weighing about a ton was rolled to the southeast corner of the site. In time, most of the houses were torn down for firewood or hauled away. Seeing the injuries, she rushed back to her house and brought back camphor, brown paper, and a pan of warm water. Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? Find out a few things you may not have known about this prominent woman in Church history. [54] The Saints Petition to Congress, November 1839, in Smith, History of the Church, 4:2438; the mention of bloody footsteps is on p. 36. For more on Emma Smith, check out the new acclaimed film Jane and Emma. [95] At that point, Brigham Young felt that the covenant to move the poor Saints had been fulfilled: We had entered into a covenant to see the poor Saints all moved out of Missouri to Illinois, that they might be delivered out of the hands of such vile persecutors, and we spared no pains to accomplish this object until the Lord gave us the desires of our heart. Then, because it was planting season, they moved about ten miles out and rented a farm. 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. https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/what_is_meter.htm. 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. When pressed, Lindas bishop admitted he had received a similar call. 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. 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. Many could not get into houses, Newel said, and had to take shelter in wagons, tents, and under bedclothes and while in this situation we had a severe snow storm, which rendered their suffering intense. An acre of land in front of Lucy Mack Smiths home became completely covered with beds, lying in the open sun, where families were compelled to sleep, exposed to all kinds of weather. Houses in Far West were so full, Mother Smith said, that people could not find shelter. Delewski thinks she may have been the most promising of the Hale children because she had a rare additional year of schooling. 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. [67] Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff Journal, 18331898, Typescript, Vol. were destroyed or lost.[92], A year earlier, Joseph Smith had received a commandment for the Twelve to leave for missions over the great waters from the Far West temple site on April 26, 1839 (Doctrine and Covenants 118). [41] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. The old man for whom John taught school treated them generously. While living in Pennsylvania, she rode a horse to warn Joseph Smith of people coming after the gold plates. See http://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/uscompare. 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. Emma Smith would make tremendous sacrifices for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for her husband, and for the church. June 1831 . . 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. [93] Kenney, Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 1:325. 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. 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. Emma Smith would make tremendous sacrifices for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for her husband, and for the church. In April 1839, Eliza R. Snow wrote a poem titled To the Citizens of Quincy to thank Ye noble, genrous hearted Citizens.[111] It was published on page 1 of the Quincy Whig on May 11, 1839. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Mormons believe family life continues after death. 801-422-6975. Joseph and Emma apparently discussing the nastiness of cleaning up from cleaning up spit on the . Joseph Smith Foundation director, author, film producer, speaker. Then he had to be very careful for days to avoid capture. Below Ill list the link that I found talking about it, although I cant guarantee their accuracy! He never charged them rent. . . Mormon women have the specific responsibility to be righteous daughters of God; good, faithful wives; and loving mothers. John Lowe Butler, thirty, and wife Caroline, twenty-six, converts in Kentucky three years earlier, lived in Mirabile just south of Far West with their four children. [Isaac] Streator, Feb. 22, 1839, in Eliza R. Snow Letter from Missouri, BYU Studies 13 (Summer 1973): 549. [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. Much business of consequence was accomplished during the day, Elder Woodruff noted, adding, It truly gave us great Joy to once more sit in conference with Br. [126] Hartley, How Shall I Gather? Ensign, October 1997, 517. [70], Saints chose to go to Quincy for several reasons. 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.