[Joseph Smith Diary] Thursday, November 30th 1843 At home. 10 A.M. Rode out with Mr. Jackson. At home most of the day. [several lines left blank] In the evening sent to the office for the appeal to the Green Mountain boys, but a part of it had gone to press and it could not be had. [several lines left blank] Clear and cold. Froze some in the house. (1)
-- During Nov. 1843
[Lucy Mack Smith] Lucy and Joseph Sr. (proxy) are given their second anointings. (2)
-- During November 1843
Parley Parker Pratt: Returned to Nauvoo by November 1843. (3)
-- During Nov 1843
Ebenezer Richardson polygamous marriage to Polly Ann Child (4)
Joseph Smith marries Fanny Young (Age 56): Fanny Young was born November 8, 1787 to John Young and Abigail Howe. Her younger brother, Brigham, would eventually ascend to the top Mormon leadership position. Fannys mother, Abigail, died in 1815, and Fanny took on much of the responsibility for raising the Young children. Her younger brother, Lorenzo recalls, As she was the oldest of the girls of my fathers family then at home, from that time forward she was a mother to me and to the rest of the family...
Living near the Young family in Monroe, New York, was the family of Heber C. Kimball. Fanny would occasionally help out in the Kimball home. Hebers daughter, Helen Mar fondly wrote, Aunt Fanny Young...took care of me, and she was always ready to defend me if necessary...[She] had been a great reader; and I was named by her after the Scottish Lady, Helen Mar...[She] was a true Saint, and was beloved by all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance...
In 1832, Fanny married Roswell Murray. The marriage drew the Kimball and Young families closer together, as Roswell was Hebers father-in-law. In April of that year, Fanny was baptized into the Mormon church along with others in the Young family, including Brigham. Roswell, however, did not join. Helen Mar remembers, My Grandfather Murray was not a member of any church....A more noble kind-hearted man never lived, he was generous to a fault, and some were unprincipled enough to take advantage of it...He was never known to refuse a favor, and he would often rise from his bed when he was sick to go and do a job of work to accommodate a neighbor. He was a man of but few words and some called him an Infidel.
Fanny and Roswell moved to Kirtland, Missouri and eventually Nauvoo, arriving in 1839. Shortly after arriving, Roswell died and Fanny was left single. In Nauvoo, Brigham Young became a close friend of Joseph Smith and accepted Josephs teachings on plural marriage. Brigham remembers the fall of 1843 when he, Joseph and Fanny were discussing the Mormon belief in the necessity of entering plural marriage in order to obtain exaltation and enter the celestial kingdom. Not won over, Fanny remarked, Now, dont talk to me; when I get into the celestial kingdom, if I ever get there, I shall request the privilege of being a ministering angel; that is the labor I wish to perform. I dont want any companion in that world; and if the Lord will make me a ministering angel, it is all I want. Joseph replied, Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know what you will want. and then turned to Brigham, Here, Brother Brigham, you seal this lady to me. Brigham said that Fanny submitted to
Josephs impromptu proposal and he sealed her to him. Joseph was killed less than a year later and Fanny was once again widowed.
In 1846, when the Nauvoo Temple was nearly complete, most of Josephs wives were resealed to him, via a proxy husband, within the dedicated structure. For some reason, Fanny was not resealed to Joseph. Perhaps she longed for her kind-hearted Roswell. (5)
-- During November 1843
[Uncannonized Revelation] Revelation instructing John E. Page to go to Washington, D.C. Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, November 1843. (History of the Church, 6:82) (6)
-- Dec 1, 1843
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff Journal] Dec 1st 1843 I Commenced work at my gangway doors & cleaning out my sullars. + I was sued in company with J Taylor By M Madison for a debt of about $40. The first time that I was ever sued in my life. (7)
[Joseph Smith Diary] December 1st 1843 At home. 12 A.[M.] Sec[retary] called to get a petition for an appropriation from Congress to improve the rapids, but the Pres[ident] standing in the bar room said it was not [yet] written. Howard Corey started for Bear Creek to get subscribers. [several lines left blank] Clear and cold. Some ice floating in the river. (1)
Joseph Smith's manuscript diary makes first mention of the Nauvoo Mansion's bar room. Joseph Smith III later reminisced that his father set up a fully-stocked bar with Orrin Porter Rockwell as bartender. (8)
Footnotes:
1 - Faulring, Scott (ed.), An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith Diary, 1843-44, http://amzn.to/jsdiaries
2 - Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books, http://bit.ly/lucys-book
3 - Cook, Lyndon W., The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith
4 - Smith, George D (Spring 1994), "Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27
5 - Remembering the Wives of Joseph Smith, http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/
6 - Cook, Lyndon, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Appendix B, Uncanonized Revelations Received by Joseph Smith (1831-44), http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith
7 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
8 - Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power
LDS History Timeline
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Source #4 (Smith, George D (Spring 1994), "Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy..." does in fact claim that Ebenezer Richardson and Polly Child had a polygamous marriage in November 1843. However, this is a false statement that was made without taking time to carefully examine all the available sources. George Smith was attempting to document plural marriages in Nauvoo, and he apparently had access to a history in possession of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. The history is purportedly an autobiography of Polly Ann Child Richardson written in 1894 (Polly would have been 73). The document states: "On the 3rd of September 1842, my father was appointed postmaster. They called the little settlement String Prairie. Father attended to the office and with the help of my brothers made a nice farm. We got along splendidly and the year of '43 worked out a good deal, but mother not being very well, I helped at home. I worked for Mr. Richardson's family and in November the same year, I married Mr. Richardson. We were married by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I went in second, as poligamy [sic] had just started. Of course, I can now call him your father." Note that Polly Ann states that in the year of 1843, she helped out at home. It does not state that in the year of 1843 she married Richardson. The fact is that Church History and Joseph Smith journals clearly record that in November of 1843 Richardson was not in good standing with the Church as he was a leading figure in the kidnapping of Daniel Avery by Richardson and other Missourians. Note also that the autobiography that the DUP possesses is a type written copy that was likely typed by a later descendant of Polly Ann Richardson, so the accuracy is also reliant on a scribe. Furthermore, Polly Ann's obituary states, "In 1845 she was married in the city of Nauvoo to Elder E. C. Richardson. President Brigham Young performed the ceremony." This is a far more reasonable date for the marriage. Note also that their first child was born in 1848. Author George Smith's intent seems to have been to disclose polygamous marriages performed by Joseph Smith. He was not attempting to carefully research the life of Ebenezer Richardson. A study of the life events of Ebenezer Richardson show that Ebenezer could not have married Polly Child in November 1843.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info. Very interesting.
DeleteSomething to look into further:
1845 was a common time for sealings to occur in the Nauvoo temple. Many were sealed (re-married) just after the completing of the temple, and before they fled Nauvoo. Could it be that they were sealed (married a 2nd time)?