why did emma smith leave the lds church

Brigham interpreted Emma's refusal to answer as an admission of guilt.. While her brothers and sisters attended only the traditional grammar school, Emma went on to do an extra year of schooling beyond that. During that period, the place was a hive of activity; Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma, and Oliver Cowdery were boarding with the Whitmers, and other people (including curiosity-seekers) were constantly coming and going. 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. When the boy, Charles, was 4 years old, Emma took him in and raised him as her own. Did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? In Daviess County on Caldwell Countys north side, Saints had begun building about 150 log houses at Adam-ondi-Ahman, and as many as 1,500 Saints in total lived in Daviess County. Bidamon married Nancy Sebree in 1827, with whom he had four children. Joseph Smith presided. He had been separated from the family for three months or more. [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. That is a great question! Jannalee worked as a writer and editor at LDS Living for seven years before hanging up her press badge and starting the journey of stay-at-home motherhood. Emma Smith played an important part in the Restoration of the gospel, and today, more than two centuries after her birth on July 10, 1804, Church members can still learn from Emma's example. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. . Twice she undertook to kill him. Mormon regard for Quincy. Also there were Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, who were soon to be ordained as Apostles. [35] A Missouri map published in 1840 by L. Augustus Mitchell, on file in the National Archives Branch in College Park, Maryland, shows roads that provided two possible routes, an upper and a lower one. Many of the Saints were glad to find shelter in my house from the storms, he said. And where shall they be sent? the newspaper asked. The Twelve then offered kneeling prayer at the southeast cornerstone, sang Adam-ondi-Ahman, and dismissed so they could leave there for their missions to England. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. Required fields are marked *. Illinois law at the time held that no church could hold more than ten acres of property, and so much of the church's properties were held in Joseph's name. LM is long meter, CM is common meter, and so forth. An old man who was sympathetic to the needy Saints hired John to teach his children and grandchildren and neighbors children. On November 6, 1832, Emma gave birth to Joseph Smith III in the upper room of Whitney's store in Kirtland. 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. 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. To understand her, we have to place her in her own setting and time, not in our own. Joseph Smith, when asked, advised leaders to obtain properties where the Saints could collect rather than scatter, and he developed Nauvoo to be the next gathering place.[115]. Five reasons best explain why Saints moved during winter conditions: (1) by January, armed patrols were showing up and threatening the Saints, so in the January 26 public meeting the people agreed to begin moving immediately; (2) the Saints had been told that Joseph Smith would not be released from prison until they all had left Missouri, so the sooner that happened, the better;[39] (3) individuals were running out of food and supplies; (4) in February, Far West experienced some stretches of weather that seemed favorable for traveling; and (5) wagons going to Illinois and then returning to take others needed four to six weeks to make the two trips before the late March deadline. [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. Extermination order not rescinded for 137 years. When the two authors began piecing together Emmas life, there was only one small manila folder about her in the entire LDS Archives. The topic of this video has been pro. 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. She became the first woman to receive the temple endowment involving the making of sacred covenants with the Savior. Thank you so much. He had even dislocated his jaw while vomiting once before; and five weeks after the 1843 dinner episode, he was sick again, vomiting more violently than ever. [41] Jesse and Whittaker, Albert Perry Rockwood Journal, 34. By October 1839, King Follett had his trial, and because the charges of robbery were unsubstantiated, he was set free. Given these losses, it appears to me that Emma managed quite well.". [64] History of Zera Pulsipher As Written by Himself, typescript, 1516, Perry Special Collections. Finally, in some respects, the exodus from Missouri was a training exercise for the Saints exodus from Nauvoo seven years later. That morning we crossed over to Quincy, Illinois. Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993), 27184. They organized into a company with Rich as captain. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. [45] The Mosiah Hancock Journal (Salt Lake City: reprint by Pioneer Press, n.d.), 11. You may be able to get in touch with someone who can answer that question here: Joseph Smith PapersContact Us. She was finally confirmed in August 1830. When Elizabeth died in childbirth, young Elizabeth Agnes was leftwith her stepfather and, soon after, a new stepmother. Emma did not learn about their deaths until 10:00 p.m. that same evening. [102] See Missouri Republican (St. Louis), May 3, 1839. Because Joseph Smith was in prison during the exodus, attention focuses here on Joseph Smith's 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. [42] Joseph Holbrook and two other men, to escape those that would like to do us harm, moved out the night of January 20. He operated a large butcher shop by the river and a wholesale store by the boat landing. Sidney Rigdon had been released in January. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". John marked time until his family and his mother and brothers could join him in Quincy. She, in turn, was instructed by Joseph to officiate in these ordinances for the women, which she did until shortly before his martyrdom. [123], Ghost towns and farms. [87], It is not known how many Saints temporarily took refuge in Quincy. Her refined childhood and girlhood was not designed to give her the skills she needed in adulthood, and yet she managed nearly everything thrown at her. Also, three men were sent to locate possible settlement sites up the Mississippi River in Illinois. John later filed claim for the loss of 240 acres of land, three yoke of oxen, a corn crop, and hogs. Its a beautiful article, but its not a fully honest one; polygamy is not mentioned once anywhere. He rode with the Mormon militia who fought in the Battle of Crooked River. A test passed by the faithful. He and his friends traveled on foot. Fanny lived in the Smiths' house with Emma, which caused much tension. I asked my mother one day, why don't Grandma laugh with her eyes like you do, and my mother said because she has a deep sorrow in her heart. She seems, among other things, to have been worried about providing for her children, as well as protecting them from the violence which had claimed Joseph. Reaching the river, they joined Saints waiting to cross who had no shelter. Her husband, on the other hand, had only a handful of years of formal education. [70] John Taylor, Brigham Young, Isaac Higbee, Israel Barlow, John P. Greene to Dear Brethren, March 29, 1839, at Quincy, reprinted in Kate B. Carter, comp., Our Pioneer Heritage (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1960), 3:122. Newel and all men in the city had to surrender their arms. Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? 801-422-6975. 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. "Joseph did not marry a wilting violet," Delewski said. These hymns had a great influence on the Saints during the early days of the Church. Why did Emma Smith leave the LDS Church? [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. Delewski also explored the effect the practice of plural marriage had on Emma and Joseph Smith's relationship. Out went everything by the log, Martha said, the looking glass by a stump. That night Martha, soon to give birth, became ill, so Daniel rigged up a bed frame made of forked sticks and rope strands, and then drove in the frozen ground four six-foot poles topped by cross poles, hung quilts all around, and left openings at the bottom so the heat of the log fire would shine in to keep them warm. [112] A Proclamation to the Saints Scattered AbroadGreeting, Times and Seasons, January 15, 1841, 6. [59] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 90. At night they would build fires if they could find firewood. Latter-day Saint widow Elizabeth Kendall and her family first became acquainted with Emma at the Mansion House in Nauvoo. ", Delewski said, "If someone with Emma's experience came to me, I would talk about these deaths and see what effects sorrow had had upon her. A woman living in a nearby house ran to find out what was wrong. Emma Smith was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania and had unusual opportunities for a girl in her time. 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. 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. She said she was sorry to see the Mormons suffer so much and be driven from their homes. Huntington estimated that in Daviess County the Saints lost nearly thirty thousand bushels of corn because of the militia takeover. When did Emma Smith leave the church? In total, these petitioners losses totaled $2,275,789an average of $3,761 per petitioner. [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. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. On horseback, he, fellow Kentuckian David Lewis, and Elias Higbee endured December snows, cold, and meager food to reach Quincy, Illinois. Its almost as if youre holding the hymnbook in your own hands. And when people say she was wrong for remaining in Nauvoo, they are implying they know what she should have done," Richard Delewski said at the Sunstone Symposium on Aug. 13. If Mormonism is not true, it is a fraudulent version of Christianity and an enormous sham. When morning came, he and Abraham Smoot crossed to Quincy, leaving their families with the wagon. So Levi rigged up a foot lathe and soon had two hubs turned out and built a cart. 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. [109] Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, xixxxvii. The exodus had no large, organized wagon trains. The five Apostles who were presentBrigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page, and John Taylorordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith as Apostles and two men who had just been liberated from the Richmond prison, Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer, as Seventies. Its seven members, soon expanded to eleven, agreed to move first the families of the Presidency and of the other prisoners. . Brigham Youngs family was also stranded at Huntsville, having too many goods for their wagon to haul. Caroline suffered from dropsy, or painful swellings, and the cold intensified her pain. 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. That covenant became the foundation for the Churchs emigration programs from then until 1869, producing the Perpetual Emigrating Fund in 1849, the handcart program from 1856 to 1860, and the 1860s team trains going down and back from Utah to provide transportation to Utah for emigrants in need.[126]. Caroline went ahead and brought back some elders from a camp ahead to give Martha and Keziah blessings. Refugees moved as individuals, by families, or in small clusters of wagons whenever they were ready. She would smile with her lips, but to me, as small as I was, I never saw the brown eyes smile. Joseph Knights son Newel was Joseph Smiths close friendthe Prophet had performed his and Lydias wedding in Kirtland, and he had no followers more loyal than Newel and Lydia. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 34790. In addition to grieving the loss of her husband, she was expecting their final child. 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). By 1838 Quincy had a strong population base of sixteen hundred residents, mostly Germans and New Englanders, and several industries and businesses, including its share of coopers and cabinet-makers, saddlers and leather-makers, and a pork packing and meat processing center. Quincy was on its way to prosperity. 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. They had a reasonably good relationship despite these challenges. They kept insisting on constitutional protection . See discussion in Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery. During the exodus, Truman Angells wife Elizabeth, already ill, took a cold upon cold and was expected to die. She was not perfect and made choices that seem hard for us to understand today. 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. That did not stop Emma, a visionary woman in her own sense of the word. Susan Easton Black and Richard E. Bennett (Salt Lake City: Millennial Press, 2000), 134. 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. Heres what they have planned, Why the Christian flag can fly on this government flagpole, Breaking the fast: Eid ul-Fitr is an occasion of peace, The unique stories and struggles of Latino Muslims, The Black church, religious freedom and gay rights. [95] Kenney, Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 1:329. Events unfolded rapidly, with men from the neighboring towns staging raids on Nauvoo, trying to once again, drive out the Saints and claim their. [14] Autobiography of Anson Call, typescript, 13, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Then he had to be very careful for days to avoid capture. A day or two later, a ferry finally dodged through the ice and brought the women and children across.[59]. By primitive Missouri roads, the distance from Far West to Quincy was about 180 miles. Because the Missouri militia wanted to arrest him, he fled from home on November 2, leaving Caroline and the children to fend as best they could. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. A stone weighing about a ton was rolled to the southeast corner of the site. Emma and Brigham also disagreed about which parts of Joseph's estate were personal property, and which belonged to the Church.[1]. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. She then became a temple worker, helping others with their first temple experiences. " Delewski said. A Quincy Heritage Celebration was held July 24, 1999. Her family had a fair amount of money. A painting by C. C. A. Christensen, Exodus of the Saints from Missouri, is the only depiction the author has seen of winter exodus experience. Modern DNA has ruled out all children Fran Brodie had proposed were his through other marriages. He never charged them rent. When asked if he had read the biography, Elder Oaks said he had seen several excerpts from it, and found that the authors views of Joseph Smith were nontraditional.. Elder Young, when his life seemed in danger, left Far West for Illinois on February 14, but Elder Kimball stayed behind to help with the removals.[38]. Jeremy made the Letter available online. [71] In 1837 the population was 1,653 according to Pat. 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. [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. [13] Hartley, My Best for the Kingdom, 8284. On March 21 Wilford Woodruff said the apostolic company passed through Huntsville and found the roads were full of Saints that were fleeing Missouri.[93] On April 24 they met three members of the Committee of Removal who had just been driven from Far West, who also joined them. At Adam-ondi-Ahman they obtained provisions from fellow Saints. Richard Bushman writes of the poisoning accusation: Through the late fall and winter of 1843 and 1844, Joseph and Emma's relationship broke down only once. On this same day, there was a skirmish between the mob and the Saints west of Big Blue River. [16] Baugh, A Call to Arms, 395; Reed Peck Manuscript, 29. In order to understand this, we need to look at her personality and what she experienced prior to the death of Joseph.". Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Their first twenty miles was through snow six inches deep. Another died young at age 26. [18] Diaries of William Huntington, typescript, in Miscellaneous Mormon Diaries, vol. [12] John Butlers escape route apparently was across northern Missouri. . 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. Adams County, organized in 1825, was named after John Quincy Adams, who that year became Americas sixth president, and the town of Quincy received his middle name. 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. Many found refuge not only in Quincy but throughout Adams County and all over western Illinois. 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. Terrie, you are a treasure. 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]. Many were stripped of clothing and bedding, John P. Greene reported, and many without cattle, horses, or waggons, had no means of conveyance.[28] To provide them help required leadership. About Terrie Lynn Bittner The late Terrie Lynn Bittnerbeloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friendwas the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. When the Mormons left for Utah, she elected to remain behind. 7 Are Joseph and Emma Smiths descendants Latter-day Saints? Mercy should be the watchwordnot blood, not extermination, not misery.. Learn about and browse the pages of the first hymnal of the Church. A few visitors from Brigham Young's faction of the Latter-day Saints came from Utah Territory to visit Smith at this house. They pulled out of Far West on February 18, leaving behind a house and farm. "On three of these moves she had to leave behind most or all of her furniture. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Though there probably was an argument, the poisoning accusation was unfounded. Emma and her family were forced to leave the state with the majority of Latter Day Saints. 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. Joseph and Emma adopt the Murdock twins nine days after birth. When pressed, Lindas bishop admitted he had received a similar call. Browse the pages of the original 1835 hymnbook. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Many wished to be associated with the prophet for the eternal blessings they felt this would bring. Mormons had a divorce rate of about 1 percent. On October 27, 1838, three days after Missouri and Mormon militias engaged in the Battle of Crooked River, Governor Boggs issued his infamous extermination order. Emma Smith was the wife of the first Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith. When he was murdered, she bent over him and expressed her sorrow that they had taken him from her. Being forced from Missouri posed a test of faith that most Saints passed, but some failed, as the extended Knight family illustrates. Imagine, then, her familys concern when she developed a fondness for Joseph Smith, who was from a poor farm family and had almost no formal educationjust that which his father had given him at home with a small amount of traditional schooling. [122] James Galligher Petition in Johnson, Mormon Redress Petitions, 218.

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