Lucy Mack Smith (mother of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
Born: 8 July 1775
Died: 14 May 1856
Died: 14 May 1856
Conference TalksImage source: Relief Society Magazine, May 1942
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Image source: Relief Society Magazine, January 1916
Image source: Relief Society Magazine, February 1943
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Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Improvement Era, July 1918, Lucy Mack Smith
Instructor, February 1935, Lucy Mack Smith
Relief Society Magazine, May 1942, Lucy Mack Smith
Relief Society Magazine, February 1943, Lucy Mack Smith
Relief Society Magazine, February 1943, Lucy Mack Smith--Mother of the Prophet
Instructor, March 1961, The Mother of the Prophet
Ensign, March 1978, Lucy Mack Smith
Ensign, December 2005, Family of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith: The First Family of the Restoration
Liahona, January 2021, Lucy Mack Smith: A Faithful Witness
Improvement Era, July 1918, Lucy Mack Smith
Instructor, February 1935, Lucy Mack Smith
Relief Society Magazine, May 1942, Lucy Mack Smith
Relief Society Magazine, February 1943, Lucy Mack Smith
Relief Society Magazine, February 1943, Lucy Mack Smith--Mother of the Prophet
Instructor, March 1961, The Mother of the Prophet
Ensign, March 1978, Lucy Mack Smith
Ensign, December 2005, Family of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith: The First Family of the Restoration
Liahona, January 2021, Lucy Mack Smith: A Faithful Witness
Jenson, Andrew. "Smith, Lucy." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. pg. 690-692.
SMITH, Lucy, mother of Joseph Smith the Prophet, was born July 8, 1776, at Gilsum, Cheshire county. New Hampshire, the daughter of Solomon Mack and Lydia Gates. Lucy was the youngest of eight children, four of whom were girls. Her father. Solomon Mack, had just attained his majority when the war between France and England, which grew out of disputed North American territory, was proclaimed. He entered the British army, and had two teams in the service of King George II., employed in carrying General Abercrombie's baggage, and was present in 1758. at the engagement on the west side of Lake George. He was engaged more or less in military pursuits until 1759. when he was discharged, and married an accomplished school teacher, Lydia Gates, the mother of the subject of this memoir. She was the daughter of Nathan Gates, a wealthy man, living in East Haddam, Conn. She was of a truly pious disposition, and had an excellent education, which peculiarly fitted her for the duties of a preceptress to her children, especially at a period when schools were rarities In the half cleared and thinly settled districts. Lucy profited by the talents and virtues of her mother. Jan. 24. 1796, she was married to Joseph Smith, and received from her brother, Stephen Mack, and John Mudget, his partner. In business, a marriage present of $1,000. Her husband owned a good farm at Tunbridge, on which they settled. The fruits of this marriage were seven sons—Alvin, Hyrum, Joseph, Samuel H., Ephraim, William and Don Carlos; and three daughters—Sophronia, Catherine and Lucy. In 1802. Lucy Smith, with her husband, moved to Randolph, Vermont, where they opened a mercantile establishment. Mr. Smith here embarked in an adventure of gensang, to China, but was robbed of the proceeds, and was much involved thereby. To liquidate his debts, he had to sell his farm at Tunbridge, to which he had then returned, and to use his wife's marriage present, which till then had remained untouched. From Tunbridge they removed to Royalton. They remained there u few months, and then went to reside at Sharon, Windsor county, where Joseph the Prophet was born. They again returned to Tunbridge and Royalton successively, but, in 1811, their circumstances having much improved, they quitted Vermont for Lebanon, in New Hampshire. Here their children were all seized with the typhus fever, though none fatally, and Joseph was afflicted with a fever sore. When health was restored to the family their circumstances were very low, and they returned to Vermont, and began to farm in Norwich. The first two years the crops failed, and the third the frost destroyed them, which determined Mr. Smith to remove to the State of New York. His wife and family did not remove until he had made preparations for them in Palmyra. Here the whole family set themselves industriously to repair their losses. Mr. Smith and his sons to farming, and Mrs. Smith to painting oil cloth coverings for tables, and were so prospered that in two years they were again comfortably situated. After four years had elapsed, they removed to Manchester. In the alternate scenes of adversity and prosperity, the subject of religion was a constant theme with both Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though the former never subscribed to any particular sect. Both were occasionally favored of the Lord with dreams or visions of the approaching work which he was about to commence on the earth, which prepared them for the mission of their son Joseph, and the important part they were destined to take in it. Lucy Smith and several of her children joined the Presbyterian body, in the year 1319, but after Joseph had received the first visitation of the angel, and had communicated the matter to his parents, she manifested intense interest in it, and from that time her history became identified with the mission of her son. She and her husband were baptized in April, 1830, and she removed to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831, with the first company of Saints, where she rejoined her husband who had previously gone there in company with his son Joseph. Bro. Smith was several times torn from his wife by the enemies of the Saints, and unjustly imprisoned, but she manifested on all such occasions a calm assurance that all would end well. In 1838, all the family set out for Far West, Mo., a tedious and unpleasant journey, mostly through an unsettled country. They remained in Missouri until the extermination of the Saints from the State, participating in their numerous trials. On the occasion of the last arrest of her sons Joseph and Hyrum in that State, by the mob, in October, 1838, and when a court martial had decided to shoot them and others, she and her husband could distinctly hear the horrid yellings of the mob, which was encamped at a short distance from their house. Several guns were fired, and the heart-broken parents supposed the bloody work was accomplished. Mother Smith thus describes these moments'. "Mr. Smith, folding his arms tight across his heart, cried out, 'Oh, my God! my God! they have killed my son! they have murdered him! and I must die, for I cannot live without him!' I had no word of consolation to give him, for my heart was broken within me; my agony was unutterable. I assisted him to the bed, and he fell back upon it helpless as a child, for he had not strength to stand upon his feet. The shrieking continued; no tongue can describe the sound which was conveyed to our ears; no heart can imagine the sensations of our breasts, as we listened to those awful screams. Had the army been composed of so many blood-hounds, wolves and panthers, they could not have made a sound more terrible." Joseph and Hyrum were not shot at that time, but were carried to Richmond, by way of Independence, and thence to Liberty. At their departure from Far West, the heartstricken mother pressed through the crowd to the wagon containing her sons^ exclaiming: "I am the mother of the Prophet; is there not a gentleman here, who will assist me to that wagon, that I may take a last look at my children, and speak to them once more before I die?" With her daughter Lucy, she gained the wagon, and grasped Joseph's hand, which was thrust between the cover and the wagon- bed, but he spoke not to her until she said: "Joseph, do speak to your poor mother once more, I cannot bear to go till I hear your voice." At this he sobbed out: "God bless you, mother;" and while his sister Lucy was pressing a kiss on his hand, the wagon dashed off. Mourning and lamentation now filled the old lady's breast, "but," says she, "in the midst of it I found consolation that surpassed all earthly comfort. I was filled with the Spirit of God." Shortly after this, Bro. Smith removed his family to Quincy, Illinois, to which place most of the Saints had previously fled, and in common with them suffered the hardships and privations which characterized the extermination from Missouri. From Quincy the family removed to Commerce (Nauvoo), where Bro. Smith, after blessing his children individually, closed his earthly career Sept. 14, 1840. Mother Smith was thus left a widow, worn out with toil and sorrow, her house having been filled with sick like a hospital, fi-om the time of the expulsion from Missouri. Many of the sick owed the preservation of their lives to her motherly care, attention and skill, in nursing them, which she did without pecuniary consideration and the extent of which can only be appreciated by those who are personally acquainted with the dreadful scenes of sickness and distress which followed, in consequence of the Missouri expulsion. Aug. 7, 1841. she was called upon to part with her youngest son, Don Carlos, a promising young man who died suddenly in Nauvoo. In 1843 she took up her residence with her son Joseph, and was shortly afterwards taken very sick, and brought nigh to death. She had scarcely recovered when she was called to surfer almost overwhelming grief for the assassination of her sons Joseph and Hyrum in June, 1844. When she was permitted to see the corpses of her murdered sons, her sorrow knew no bounds. "I was," she says, "swallowed up in the depths of my afflictions; and though my soul was filled with horror past imagination, yet I was dumb, until I arose again to contemplate the spectacle before me. Oh! at that moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and distress which we had passed together, in which they had shown the innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say, 'Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendancy is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.' " As if the blow had not been sufficient to crush a mother's heart, Samuel Harrison Smith, in escaping from the murderers of his brothers, overheated himself, which brought on a fever that terminated fatally, July 30. 1844. Of the six sons which she had reared to manhood. Mother Smith now had but one (William) left, and he was at the time of the martyrdom at a distance from Nauvoo. But recovering somewhat from the effect of her affliction, she composed a very interesting little work entitled "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and his Progenitors for many Generations," which was published in England some years afterwards, and which at the present time is being reprinted in serial form in the "Improvement Era." At the general conference of the Church held in Nauvoo, in October, 1845, Mother Smith addressed the Saints. She reviewed the scenes through which her son and the Church had passed and exhorted parents to exercise a proper care over the welfare of their children. She expressed her Intention to accompany the Saints into the wilderness, and requested that her bones, after her death, should be brought back and be deposited in Nauvoo with her husband's, which Pres. Brigham Young, and the whole conference, by vote, promised should be done. Mother Smith, however, never came to Utah. From the time of the removal of the Church to the Rocky Mountains until her death, which occurred in Nauvoo, Ill., May 5, 1855. she mostly resided with her youngest daughter, Lucy Miliken, excepting the last two years, when she resided with her daughter-in-law. Mrs. Emma Bidamon, widow of her son Joseph.
SMITH, Lucy, mother of Joseph Smith the Prophet, was born July 8, 1776, at Gilsum, Cheshire county. New Hampshire, the daughter of Solomon Mack and Lydia Gates. Lucy was the youngest of eight children, four of whom were girls. Her father. Solomon Mack, had just attained his majority when the war between France and England, which grew out of disputed North American territory, was proclaimed. He entered the British army, and had two teams in the service of King George II., employed in carrying General Abercrombie's baggage, and was present in 1758. at the engagement on the west side of Lake George. He was engaged more or less in military pursuits until 1759. when he was discharged, and married an accomplished school teacher, Lydia Gates, the mother of the subject of this memoir. She was the daughter of Nathan Gates, a wealthy man, living in East Haddam, Conn. She was of a truly pious disposition, and had an excellent education, which peculiarly fitted her for the duties of a preceptress to her children, especially at a period when schools were rarities In the half cleared and thinly settled districts. Lucy profited by the talents and virtues of her mother. Jan. 24. 1796, she was married to Joseph Smith, and received from her brother, Stephen Mack, and John Mudget, his partner. In business, a marriage present of $1,000. Her husband owned a good farm at Tunbridge, on which they settled. The fruits of this marriage were seven sons—Alvin, Hyrum, Joseph, Samuel H., Ephraim, William and Don Carlos; and three daughters—Sophronia, Catherine and Lucy. In 1802. Lucy Smith, with her husband, moved to Randolph, Vermont, where they opened a mercantile establishment. Mr. Smith here embarked in an adventure of gensang, to China, but was robbed of the proceeds, and was much involved thereby. To liquidate his debts, he had to sell his farm at Tunbridge, to which he had then returned, and to use his wife's marriage present, which till then had remained untouched. From Tunbridge they removed to Royalton. They remained there u few months, and then went to reside at Sharon, Windsor county, where Joseph the Prophet was born. They again returned to Tunbridge and Royalton successively, but, in 1811, their circumstances having much improved, they quitted Vermont for Lebanon, in New Hampshire. Here their children were all seized with the typhus fever, though none fatally, and Joseph was afflicted with a fever sore. When health was restored to the family their circumstances were very low, and they returned to Vermont, and began to farm in Norwich. The first two years the crops failed, and the third the frost destroyed them, which determined Mr. Smith to remove to the State of New York. His wife and family did not remove until he had made preparations for them in Palmyra. Here the whole family set themselves industriously to repair their losses. Mr. Smith and his sons to farming, and Mrs. Smith to painting oil cloth coverings for tables, and were so prospered that in two years they were again comfortably situated. After four years had elapsed, they removed to Manchester. In the alternate scenes of adversity and prosperity, the subject of religion was a constant theme with both Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though the former never subscribed to any particular sect. Both were occasionally favored of the Lord with dreams or visions of the approaching work which he was about to commence on the earth, which prepared them for the mission of their son Joseph, and the important part they were destined to take in it. Lucy Smith and several of her children joined the Presbyterian body, in the year 1319, but after Joseph had received the first visitation of the angel, and had communicated the matter to his parents, she manifested intense interest in it, and from that time her history became identified with the mission of her son. She and her husband were baptized in April, 1830, and she removed to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831, with the first company of Saints, where she rejoined her husband who had previously gone there in company with his son Joseph. Bro. Smith was several times torn from his wife by the enemies of the Saints, and unjustly imprisoned, but she manifested on all such occasions a calm assurance that all would end well. In 1838, all the family set out for Far West, Mo., a tedious and unpleasant journey, mostly through an unsettled country. They remained in Missouri until the extermination of the Saints from the State, participating in their numerous trials. On the occasion of the last arrest of her sons Joseph and Hyrum in that State, by the mob, in October, 1838, and when a court martial had decided to shoot them and others, she and her husband could distinctly hear the horrid yellings of the mob, which was encamped at a short distance from their house. Several guns were fired, and the heart-broken parents supposed the bloody work was accomplished. Mother Smith thus describes these moments'. "Mr. Smith, folding his arms tight across his heart, cried out, 'Oh, my God! my God! they have killed my son! they have murdered him! and I must die, for I cannot live without him!' I had no word of consolation to give him, for my heart was broken within me; my agony was unutterable. I assisted him to the bed, and he fell back upon it helpless as a child, for he had not strength to stand upon his feet. The shrieking continued; no tongue can describe the sound which was conveyed to our ears; no heart can imagine the sensations of our breasts, as we listened to those awful screams. Had the army been composed of so many blood-hounds, wolves and panthers, they could not have made a sound more terrible." Joseph and Hyrum were not shot at that time, but were carried to Richmond, by way of Independence, and thence to Liberty. At their departure from Far West, the heartstricken mother pressed through the crowd to the wagon containing her sons^ exclaiming: "I am the mother of the Prophet; is there not a gentleman here, who will assist me to that wagon, that I may take a last look at my children, and speak to them once more before I die?" With her daughter Lucy, she gained the wagon, and grasped Joseph's hand, which was thrust between the cover and the wagon- bed, but he spoke not to her until she said: "Joseph, do speak to your poor mother once more, I cannot bear to go till I hear your voice." At this he sobbed out: "God bless you, mother;" and while his sister Lucy was pressing a kiss on his hand, the wagon dashed off. Mourning and lamentation now filled the old lady's breast, "but," says she, "in the midst of it I found consolation that surpassed all earthly comfort. I was filled with the Spirit of God." Shortly after this, Bro. Smith removed his family to Quincy, Illinois, to which place most of the Saints had previously fled, and in common with them suffered the hardships and privations which characterized the extermination from Missouri. From Quincy the family removed to Commerce (Nauvoo), where Bro. Smith, after blessing his children individually, closed his earthly career Sept. 14, 1840. Mother Smith was thus left a widow, worn out with toil and sorrow, her house having been filled with sick like a hospital, fi-om the time of the expulsion from Missouri. Many of the sick owed the preservation of their lives to her motherly care, attention and skill, in nursing them, which she did without pecuniary consideration and the extent of which can only be appreciated by those who are personally acquainted with the dreadful scenes of sickness and distress which followed, in consequence of the Missouri expulsion. Aug. 7, 1841. she was called upon to part with her youngest son, Don Carlos, a promising young man who died suddenly in Nauvoo. In 1843 she took up her residence with her son Joseph, and was shortly afterwards taken very sick, and brought nigh to death. She had scarcely recovered when she was called to surfer almost overwhelming grief for the assassination of her sons Joseph and Hyrum in June, 1844. When she was permitted to see the corpses of her murdered sons, her sorrow knew no bounds. "I was," she says, "swallowed up in the depths of my afflictions; and though my soul was filled with horror past imagination, yet I was dumb, until I arose again to contemplate the spectacle before me. Oh! at that moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and distress which we had passed together, in which they had shown the innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say, 'Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendancy is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.' " As if the blow had not been sufficient to crush a mother's heart, Samuel Harrison Smith, in escaping from the murderers of his brothers, overheated himself, which brought on a fever that terminated fatally, July 30. 1844. Of the six sons which she had reared to manhood. Mother Smith now had but one (William) left, and he was at the time of the martyrdom at a distance from Nauvoo. But recovering somewhat from the effect of her affliction, she composed a very interesting little work entitled "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and his Progenitors for many Generations," which was published in England some years afterwards, and which at the present time is being reprinted in serial form in the "Improvement Era." At the general conference of the Church held in Nauvoo, in October, 1845, Mother Smith addressed the Saints. She reviewed the scenes through which her son and the Church had passed and exhorted parents to exercise a proper care over the welfare of their children. She expressed her Intention to accompany the Saints into the wilderness, and requested that her bones, after her death, should be brought back and be deposited in Nauvoo with her husband's, which Pres. Brigham Young, and the whole conference, by vote, promised should be done. Mother Smith, however, never came to Utah. From the time of the removal of the Church to the Rocky Mountains until her death, which occurred in Nauvoo, Ill., May 5, 1855. she mostly resided with her youngest daughter, Lucy Miliken, excepting the last two years, when she resided with her daughter-in-law. Mrs. Emma Bidamon, widow of her son Joseph.
Hodapp, Minnie Iverson. "Lucy Mack Smith." Improvement Era. July 1918. pg. 779.
Lucy Mack Smith
(Born July 8, 1776.)
The bearer of an honored name,
The sharer of dear Joseph's fame,
Oh, fondly, freely may we love her,
Our gifted, true, boy prophet's mother.
There shines upon her mother face
A calm and sweetly earnest grace,
Heroic as her whole life's story
Of toil and pain, yet more of glory.
Oh, sweeter than the lovely rose,
When spring-time's southern zephyr blows,
Her cherished sympathy attended
Her sons with heaven's blessings blended.
Celestial truths enriched her mind,
So fair, so constant, and refined,
Effulgent joy—ah who can measure
The peace crown of this holy treasure!
Weep tears of pity on her pain--
With Joseph dear and Hyrum slain--
Yet this her soul-light doth not smother,
She trusted still,-—their sainted mother.
With soul erect as one who knows,
Serene her earth life found its close,--
We sing her praise, for oh, we love her,
With growing love, our Prophet's Mother.
Minnie Iverson Hodapp
Huntington, Utah
Lucy Mack Smith
(Born July 8, 1776.)
The bearer of an honored name,
The sharer of dear Joseph's fame,
Oh, fondly, freely may we love her,
Our gifted, true, boy prophet's mother.
There shines upon her mother face
A calm and sweetly earnest grace,
Heroic as her whole life's story
Of toil and pain, yet more of glory.
Oh, sweeter than the lovely rose,
When spring-time's southern zephyr blows,
Her cherished sympathy attended
Her sons with heaven's blessings blended.
Celestial truths enriched her mind,
So fair, so constant, and refined,
Effulgent joy—ah who can measure
The peace crown of this holy treasure!
Weep tears of pity on her pain--
With Joseph dear and Hyrum slain--
Yet this her soul-light doth not smother,
She trusted still,-—their sainted mother.
With soul erect as one who knows,
Serene her earth life found its close,--
We sing her praise, for oh, we love her,
With growing love, our Prophet's Mother.
Minnie Iverson Hodapp
Huntington, Utah
Evans, John Henry. "Lucy Mack Smith." Instructor. February 1935. pg. 64.
Lucy Mack Smith
(Helpful in Women's Department)
One of the early non-Mormon writers, who lived in Palmyra and who knew Mother Smith personally, speaks of her as a woman of "strong but uncultivated intelligence." This is high praise, coming from such a source. For, when we say that intelligence is a person's outstanding quality, we have said something.
Mrs. Smith was born in New Hampshire, July 8, 1776. She was the daughter of Solomon Mack, a strongly individual man, and Lydia Gates, a school teacher, who was born in Connecticut of well-to-do parents. Solomon was the son of the Reverend Ebenezer Mack, pastor of the Second Congregational church in Lyme, Connecticut; and he, in turn, was the son of John Mack, who came to America from Scotland, when he was sixteen. Lucy's brother, Stephen, was one of the founders of Detroit, Michigan.
When she was married, in 1796, to Joseph Smith—an event which took place in Vermont—she had one thousand dollars, a present from her brother Stephen and his business partner, John Mudget, and her husband owned a farm in Tunbridge, Vermont. Through a bit of dishonesty on the part of a friend, the couple lost not only the farm, the price of which went to pay a debt, but the treasured dowery besides, for the same reason. Thus they were required to start life all over again, with only their self-respect.
In 1815, after shifting their residence several times, they located in Palmyra, New York, which was then a heavily wooded country. Later they moved out on a farm across the line from Palmyra. Kirtland, in Ohio, Caldwell, in Missouri, and Nauvoo, in Illinois, were successively their home during the years 1830-1840. Father Smith passed away in 1840, on account of exposure in the exodus from Missouri. Mrs. Smith lived a widow for the next fifteen years. She did not come west with the Saints, although she never abandoned the Cause for which her son died.
Lucy Mack Smith was a remarkable woman worthy mother of a worthy son. Not only was she intelligent, but she was resourceful, energetic, thrifty, alert, loyal, and spiritual-minded, by nature.
She read much, particularly the Scriptures, which she came to know thoroughly. Her schooling she obtained from her well trained mother, whose fine qualities of head and heart she inherited. Both in Vermont and in Palmyra Lucy kept the store, which helped to support the family. Also, in the latter place, she painted oilcloth coverings for household furniture, for the same purpose. On more than one occasion, when the plates of the Book of Mormon were in danger, she found means to secrete them from enemies; and it was she who arranged for a chest in which to keep them. Were the children to be educated? She saw to it that there were ways by which the thing could be done, even if she had to board the teacher in a home of eleven persons. Were the despised land agents, to whom money was overdue for the farm, to be seen about a postponement of the installment? She faced them, and tactfully got an extension.
No woman was more devoted to religion, or believed more firmly and steadily in God. Naturally of a spiritual bent, she was prayerful, sincere in her convictions, and a daily reader of the Scriptures. For she had convictions. For one thing, she believed she knew more about the Bible than the preachers; and, for another, she did not think that the churches held strictly enough to the Gospels. And this was before her son Joseph received any of his visions. It was for this reason that she never connected herself with any of the churches, till the Revival of 1820.
One of the best evidences of Joseph Smith's divine calling lies in the fact that a woman as intelligent, as honest, as clear-thinking, as independent as Lucy Smith, would believe so fervently and continuously in that calling. She had nothing of any earthly value to gain by any deception, but she did have everything to lose. Indeed, she did lose everything by standing by her boy—her good name and his, in certain circles, her outward peace, her husband, and three of her sons, two of whom were murdered. And no one, except the Prophet's own wife, was in so good a position to know whether Joseph was telling the truth about his visions and revelations. — John Henry Evans.
Lucy Mack Smith
(Helpful in Women's Department)
One of the early non-Mormon writers, who lived in Palmyra and who knew Mother Smith personally, speaks of her as a woman of "strong but uncultivated intelligence." This is high praise, coming from such a source. For, when we say that intelligence is a person's outstanding quality, we have said something.
Mrs. Smith was born in New Hampshire, July 8, 1776. She was the daughter of Solomon Mack, a strongly individual man, and Lydia Gates, a school teacher, who was born in Connecticut of well-to-do parents. Solomon was the son of the Reverend Ebenezer Mack, pastor of the Second Congregational church in Lyme, Connecticut; and he, in turn, was the son of John Mack, who came to America from Scotland, when he was sixteen. Lucy's brother, Stephen, was one of the founders of Detroit, Michigan.
When she was married, in 1796, to Joseph Smith—an event which took place in Vermont—she had one thousand dollars, a present from her brother Stephen and his business partner, John Mudget, and her husband owned a farm in Tunbridge, Vermont. Through a bit of dishonesty on the part of a friend, the couple lost not only the farm, the price of which went to pay a debt, but the treasured dowery besides, for the same reason. Thus they were required to start life all over again, with only their self-respect.
In 1815, after shifting their residence several times, they located in Palmyra, New York, which was then a heavily wooded country. Later they moved out on a farm across the line from Palmyra. Kirtland, in Ohio, Caldwell, in Missouri, and Nauvoo, in Illinois, were successively their home during the years 1830-1840. Father Smith passed away in 1840, on account of exposure in the exodus from Missouri. Mrs. Smith lived a widow for the next fifteen years. She did not come west with the Saints, although she never abandoned the Cause for which her son died.
Lucy Mack Smith was a remarkable woman worthy mother of a worthy son. Not only was she intelligent, but she was resourceful, energetic, thrifty, alert, loyal, and spiritual-minded, by nature.
She read much, particularly the Scriptures, which she came to know thoroughly. Her schooling she obtained from her well trained mother, whose fine qualities of head and heart she inherited. Both in Vermont and in Palmyra Lucy kept the store, which helped to support the family. Also, in the latter place, she painted oilcloth coverings for household furniture, for the same purpose. On more than one occasion, when the plates of the Book of Mormon were in danger, she found means to secrete them from enemies; and it was she who arranged for a chest in which to keep them. Were the children to be educated? She saw to it that there were ways by which the thing could be done, even if she had to board the teacher in a home of eleven persons. Were the despised land agents, to whom money was overdue for the farm, to be seen about a postponement of the installment? She faced them, and tactfully got an extension.
No woman was more devoted to religion, or believed more firmly and steadily in God. Naturally of a spiritual bent, she was prayerful, sincere in her convictions, and a daily reader of the Scriptures. For she had convictions. For one thing, she believed she knew more about the Bible than the preachers; and, for another, she did not think that the churches held strictly enough to the Gospels. And this was before her son Joseph received any of his visions. It was for this reason that she never connected herself with any of the churches, till the Revival of 1820.
One of the best evidences of Joseph Smith's divine calling lies in the fact that a woman as intelligent, as honest, as clear-thinking, as independent as Lucy Smith, would believe so fervently and continuously in that calling. She had nothing of any earthly value to gain by any deception, but she did have everything to lose. Indeed, she did lose everything by standing by her boy—her good name and his, in certain circles, her outward peace, her husband, and three of her sons, two of whom were murdered. And no one, except the Prophet's own wife, was in so good a position to know whether Joseph was telling the truth about his visions and revelations. — John Henry Evans.
Kesler, Donnette S. "Lucy Mack Smith." Relief Society Magazine. May 1942. pg. 294-296.
Lucy Mack Smith Donnette S. Kesler AS the prophets of old saw in vision the ''Fullness of Times" with the mission of the prophets and leaders of our day, think you they failed to see also their helpmates? It is wonderful to think that as Mary was chosen to be the mother of our Savior, other mothers were chosen to bring forth through the centuries His special servants. A seer shall the Lord my God raise up who shall be a choice seer, fruit of my loins. And his name shall be called after me, and it shall be after the name of his father. Lucy (meaning ''born at dawn"), the mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum the Patriarch, was born July 8, 1776, at Gelsum, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, near the dawn of the greatest of days. Lucy Mack Smith was the mother of seven sons and three daughters who were taught habits of piety, gentleness and reflection. They were instructed in the various branches of an ordinary education. Precepts, accompanied by the example of their parents, made impressions on the minds of these children never to be forgotten. Mother Smith, as she was called, accepted the mission of her son, the Prophet Joseph, from the first. It was to her Joseph showed first the "Key," as he called it—which was the Urim and Thummim; and after taking home the breastplate, she was the first, and as far as known the only woman except Emma, to handle it. At the death of her husband, Lucy writes: "I then thought that the greatest grief which it was possible for me to feel had fallen upon me in the death of my beloved husband —but when I entered the room, and saw my murdered sons extended both at once before my eyes, and heard the sobs and groans of my family, and the cries of 'Father! Husband! Brothers!' from the lips of their wives, children, brothers, and sisters, it was too much. I sank back crying to the Lord in the agony of my soul, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family!' A voice replied, 'I have taken them to myself, that they might have rest.’ As for myself, I was swallowed up in the depths of my afflictions ... at that moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and distress which we had passed together, in which they had shown the innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I looked upon their peaceful countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say, 'Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the Gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.' " In the general conference in Nauvoo, October 8, 1845, Mother Lucy was invited upon the stand. ''She spoke at considerable length and was heard by the large assembly. She warned parents that they were accountable for their children's conduct; advised them to give them books and work to keep them from idleness; warned all to be full of love, goodness and kindness, and never to do in secret what they would not do in the presence of millions. "Here, in this city," said she, "lay my dead—my husband and children; and if it so be the rest of my children go with you (and I would to God they may all go ) , they will not go without me; and if I go I want my bones brought back, in case I die away, and deposited with my husband and children here." Mother Lucy took great interest in the Relief Society. She counseled with the sisters, encouraged them, and bore testimony to the truth of the Gospel. She was obedient and reverent, and after the martyrdom she gave her full support to Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles. She was commanding in appearance, keen in intellect, dignified and gracious in manner, hospitable and generous. From the time of the removal of the Church to the Rocky Mountains until her death. May 5, 1855, she remained with her family in Nauvoo. The Prophet's Characterization Of His Mother “WORDS and language are inadequate to express the gratitude that I owe to God for having given me so honorable a parentage. "My mother also is one of the noblest and the best of all women. May God grant to prolong her days and mine, that we may live to enjoy each other's society long, yet in the enjoyment of liberty, and to breathe the free air."—Documentary History of the Church, Vol. V, page 126. TRIBUTE TO LUCY MACK SMITH Emmeline B. Wells ''With her peculiar prophetic and wonderful eyes, she looked to me a prophet, and I felt I could kneel at her feet. I thought she was above all women." |
LUCY MACK SMITH
|
"Lucy Mack Smith." Relief Society Magazine. February 1943. pg. 78-79.
Lucy Mack Smith THE Magazine presents as its frontispiece a black and white copy of a colored drawing of Lucy Mack Smith, mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The colored drawing, in size about fifteen by twenty-four inches, was presented to the Relief Society by Elder George Albert Smith at the meeting of the Relief Society General Board held Wednesday, January 13, 1943. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of this valuable picture are very interesting. In September 1942, Elder George Albert Smith, in company with Elder Preston Nibley, stopped off on their way West to visit Nauvoo, Illinois, and nearby places connected with Church history. After visiting in Carthage, the brethren traveled thirteen miles to Colchester to call on the only living grandchild of Lucy Mack Smith and Joseph Smith, Sr., the parents of the Prophet Joseph Smith. This grandchild, Mrs. Clara Hendel, a lady eighty-one years old, is a daughter of the Prophet Joseph's youngest sister, Lucy Smith Milliken. On inquiry from Brother Nibley concerning pictures of members of her family, she showed a colored drawing of Lucy Mack Smith to these gentlemen, which she explained she had found among her mother's effects. Elder George Albert Smith assured the members of the family that he would greatly appreciate having a copy of the picture. They replied that they would procure a copy and mail it to him. A colored copy was received by Elder Smith in November, which is the picture he has so graciously presented to the Relief Society. The Relief Society is very appreciative of the gift and is happy to have a picture of this very remarkable mother, Lucy Mack Smith, who joined the Relief Society at its second meeting and gave counsel and support to the Society while it remained in Nauvoo. Note the Book of Mormon which Lucy Mack Smith holds in her hand, and the picture on the wall above her head of the Facsimile from The Book of Abraham, Pearl of Great Price. The picture was perhaps made during the nine years between 1846- 1855. Elder Nibley is of the opinion that it was made during the time she resided with her daughter, Lucy Milliken, as it was found in the possession of Mrs. Milliken's daughter, Mrs. Clara Hendel. |
Nibley, Preston. "Lucy Mack Smith--Mother of the Prophet." Relief Society Magazine. February 1943. pg. 80-83.
Lucy Mack Smith—Mother of the Prophet
Preston Nibley
MOTHERHOOD is said to be the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon womankind in this world. The act of bringing forth an immortal spirit, clothed with a mortal body, is a woman's crowning achievement. Comparatively few women are denied this accomplishment. But only once in many hundreds of years is the privilege given to a woman to become the mother of a mighty prophet of God, whose life and labors are to change the destiny of a waiting world. Such an honor was bestowed upon Lucy Mack Smith, whose new-found portrait is reproduced as the frontispiece in this issue of The Relief Society Magazine.
It was on July 8, 1776, that a daughter was born to Solomon and Lydia Mack, prosperous farming people of Gilsum, New Hampshire. In the home of these good parents Lucy was reared, with all the refinement and culture known to the inhabitants of western New England at that time. Before she had reached her twentieth birthday, Lucy had met and married a young farmer from Tunbridge, Vermont, named Joseph Smith. Joseph has been described to us as a tall, athletic, young man, an able and willing worker, kind and considerate, ''opening his house to all who were needy and destitute." Lucy has told us that at the time of her marriage her husband "owned a handsome farm." She has also related that as a wedding dowry she was presented with a check for $1,000 by her brother Stephen and his business partner. Life began favorably for Joseph and Lucy Smith, yet little did they dream of the strange and extraordinary events which were before them, events which were to lift their names from obscurity into undying fame.
Economically Joseph and Lucy Smith were not to prosper in this world. Through misfortune they soon lost their farm, and for a number of years they became tenant farmers in New Hampshire and Vermont. It was while renting a farm from Mrs. Smith's father, Solomon Mack, in Sharon Township, Vermont, that their fourth child and third son was born, named Joseph, Jr.
Failing to reestablish themselves in Vermont, Joseph Smith moved his family to western New York in 1815, and located at Palmyra. Here and in the adjacent vicinity they remained for fifteen years. Here the boy Joseph announced his First Vision in the spring of 1820; here he told of the visit of the angel Moroni and the finding of the sacred record, and here the Book of Mormon was printed.
Lucy Smith and her husband became the first believers in the visions and revelations which were vouchsafed to their youthful son. And with unsurpassed loyalty and devotion they stood by him in all his efforts to found ''the Church and Kingdom of God." They endured all manner of persecution: the scorn of the world, loss of friends, loss of property, and physical persecution, such as being forced to leave their home in Missouri in the midst of winter and flee across the snow-clad prairies to Illinois. Yet not once did they complain; not once did they lose faith in the divine calling of their son.
When the Prophet was taken by the mob in Missouri in October, 1838, he was almost immediately sentenced to be shot. ''Several guns were fired, and the heartbroken parents supposed that the bloody work was accomplished." Mother Smith thus describes these moments: "Mr. Smith, folding his arms tight across his heart cried out, 'Oh my God! My God! they have killed my son! They have murdered him, and I must die, for I cannot live without him."
Through some strange miracle the lives of Joseph and Hyrum were spared at this time. They were carried to Richmond for trial and from thence to Liberty. "At their departure from Far West, the heart-stricken mother pressed through the crowd to the wagon containing her sons, exclaiming: 'I am the mother of the Prophet: is there not a gentleman here who will assist me to that wagon, that I may take a last look at my children, and speak to them once more before I die?' With her daughter Lucy, she gained the wagon and grasped Joseph's hand, which was thrust between the cover and the wagon-bed, but he spoke not to her until she said: 'Joseph, do speak to your poor mother once more. I cannot bear to go until I hear your voice.' At this he sobbed out: 'God bless you, mother;' and while his sister Lucy was pressing a kiss on his hand, the wagon dashed off."(Jenson, Andrew, L.D.S. Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. p. 691)
On September 14, 1840, at Nauvoo, Illinois, in the seventieth year of his life, the good father died, worn out by the exposures he had suffered in Missouri." Lucy Smith was now left without the companionship of ''a tender and loving husband." Yet further misfortunes were to come to her. In the summer of 1841, her youngest son, Don Carlos, died after a brief illness. Three years later, there occurred at Carthage, Illinois, the tragic murder of her sons Joseph and Hyrum. Her poignant grief and sorrow at this time are well expressed in her own words:
“I was swallowed up in the depth of my afflictions," she writes, "and though my soul was filled with sorrow past imagination, yet I was dumb, until I arose again to contemplate the spectacle before me. Oh! at that moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and distress which we had passed together, in which they had shown the innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say, 'Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the Gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.' " (Smith, Lucy, Joseph Smith the Prophet, p. 278) Joseph the Prophet and Hyrum the Patriarch will never have a more sincere and inspiring tribute than this, given to them by their dear old mother as she stood beside their coffins in the Mansion House at Nauvoo that June day in 1844.
As if she had not suffered sufficiently in the loss of her husband and three grown sons in the short space of four years, Mrs. Smith was called upon to part with another son, Samuel Harrison, less than five weeks after the death of Joseph and Hyrum. In fleeing from the mob at Carthage he had overexerted himself. In a few weeks he fell ill and died.
Of the six sons Mrs. Smith had reared to maturity, only one now remained, William, who had shown himself to be the least capable of rendering aid and assistance to her. Such was the fate of this good woman.
AT the last General Conference of the Church held in Nauvoo, in October 1845, after President Brigham Young and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve had decided to lead the Latter-day Saints to a new home in the West, Mrs. Smith asked the privilege of addressing one of the meetings. I find the following in the Journal History:
"Mother Lucy Smith, the aged and honored parent of Joseph Smith, having expressed a wish to say a few words to the congregation, she was invited upon the stand. She spoke at considerable length, and in an audible manner, so as to be heard by a large portion of the vast assembly. She commenced by saying that she was truly glad that the Lord had let her see so large a congregation. She had a great deal of advice to give, but Brother Brigham Young had done the errand; he had fixed it completely. There were comparatively few in the assembly who were acquainted with her family. She was the mother of ten children, seven of whom were boys. She raised them in the fear and love of God, and never was there a more obedient family. She warned parents that they were accountable for their children's conduct; advised them to give them books and work to keep them from idleness; warned all to be full of love, goodness and kindness, and never to do in secret, what they would not do in the presence of millions. She wished to know of the congregation whether they considered her a mother in Israel? (upon which President Brigham Young said, 'All who consider mother Smith as a mother in Israel, signify it by saying 'yes." ' One universal ‘yes' rang throughout.) She remarked that it was just eighteen years since Joseph Smith the Prophet had become acquainted with the contents of the plates; and then in a concise manner related over the most prominent points m the early history of her family; their hardships trials, privations, persecutions, sufferings, etc., some parts of which melted those who heard her to tears...”
Regarding the migration of the Saints westward, she continued:
''I feel the Lord will let Brother Brigham take the people away. Here in this city lie my dead, my husband and children; and if it so be the rest of my children go with you—and I would to God they may all go—they will not go without me; and if I go, I want my bones brought back in case I die away, and deposited with my husband and children:"
Here President Young interrupted to say:
''Mother Smith proposes a thing which rejoices my heart: she will go with us. I can answer for the authorities of the Church; we want her and her children to go with us; and I pledge myself in behalf of the authorities of the Church, that while we have anything, they shall share with us .... I pledge myself, if mother Smith goes with us and I outlive her, I will do my best to bring her bones back again, and deposit them with her children, and I want to know if this people are willing to enter into a covenant to do the same?'' (There was a unanimous vote favorable to President Young's request.)
It is well known that Mother Smith, in spite of her expressed wish on this occasion, did not make the journey westward with the Saints. Perhaps she was dissuaded therefrom by her son, her three daughters, and the Prophet's wife, Emma—all of whom remained behind. She lived nine years after the Saints evacuated Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, and we know little of her history. Brother Andrew Jenson has written that she spent seven years of this time at the home of her youngest daughter Lucy Smith Milliken, and the remaining two years with the Prophet's wife, Emma, in her comfortable home at Nauvoo, where Lucy Mack Smith died on May 5, 1855.
It is difficult for us to understand what thoughts passed through Mother Smith's mind during the last years of her life. She had been the first to listen to the story of the visions of her son; she had witnessed the organization of the Church and its rise; she had followed the Saints in all of their trials and difficulties and persecutions; as the mother of the Prophet, she was always respected and honored by the Saints. Then with swiftness came the events in Nauvoo: the death of her husband, the death of her four sons, and the removal of the great body of the Saints westward.
Her last years were spent with her family. There was no congregation of Saints with which she could mingle; there was no preaching of inspired prophets which she could hear. And yet she held fast to her belief and her testimony. No truer Latter-day Saint ever lived than this good mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. She was loyal to him in life and in death. In the portrait used as a frontispiece for this issue of the Magazine she is shown holding the Book of Mormon in her hand, and she looks fearlessly and calmly into the future, with the firm assurance that this sacred record and the revelations given to her gifted son are God's revealed truth.
Lucy Mack Smith—Mother of the Prophet
Preston Nibley
MOTHERHOOD is said to be the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon womankind in this world. The act of bringing forth an immortal spirit, clothed with a mortal body, is a woman's crowning achievement. Comparatively few women are denied this accomplishment. But only once in many hundreds of years is the privilege given to a woman to become the mother of a mighty prophet of God, whose life and labors are to change the destiny of a waiting world. Such an honor was bestowed upon Lucy Mack Smith, whose new-found portrait is reproduced as the frontispiece in this issue of The Relief Society Magazine.
It was on July 8, 1776, that a daughter was born to Solomon and Lydia Mack, prosperous farming people of Gilsum, New Hampshire. In the home of these good parents Lucy was reared, with all the refinement and culture known to the inhabitants of western New England at that time. Before she had reached her twentieth birthday, Lucy had met and married a young farmer from Tunbridge, Vermont, named Joseph Smith. Joseph has been described to us as a tall, athletic, young man, an able and willing worker, kind and considerate, ''opening his house to all who were needy and destitute." Lucy has told us that at the time of her marriage her husband "owned a handsome farm." She has also related that as a wedding dowry she was presented with a check for $1,000 by her brother Stephen and his business partner. Life began favorably for Joseph and Lucy Smith, yet little did they dream of the strange and extraordinary events which were before them, events which were to lift their names from obscurity into undying fame.
Economically Joseph and Lucy Smith were not to prosper in this world. Through misfortune they soon lost their farm, and for a number of years they became tenant farmers in New Hampshire and Vermont. It was while renting a farm from Mrs. Smith's father, Solomon Mack, in Sharon Township, Vermont, that their fourth child and third son was born, named Joseph, Jr.
Failing to reestablish themselves in Vermont, Joseph Smith moved his family to western New York in 1815, and located at Palmyra. Here and in the adjacent vicinity they remained for fifteen years. Here the boy Joseph announced his First Vision in the spring of 1820; here he told of the visit of the angel Moroni and the finding of the sacred record, and here the Book of Mormon was printed.
Lucy Smith and her husband became the first believers in the visions and revelations which were vouchsafed to their youthful son. And with unsurpassed loyalty and devotion they stood by him in all his efforts to found ''the Church and Kingdom of God." They endured all manner of persecution: the scorn of the world, loss of friends, loss of property, and physical persecution, such as being forced to leave their home in Missouri in the midst of winter and flee across the snow-clad prairies to Illinois. Yet not once did they complain; not once did they lose faith in the divine calling of their son.
When the Prophet was taken by the mob in Missouri in October, 1838, he was almost immediately sentenced to be shot. ''Several guns were fired, and the heartbroken parents supposed that the bloody work was accomplished." Mother Smith thus describes these moments: "Mr. Smith, folding his arms tight across his heart cried out, 'Oh my God! My God! they have killed my son! They have murdered him, and I must die, for I cannot live without him."
Through some strange miracle the lives of Joseph and Hyrum were spared at this time. They were carried to Richmond for trial and from thence to Liberty. "At their departure from Far West, the heart-stricken mother pressed through the crowd to the wagon containing her sons, exclaiming: 'I am the mother of the Prophet: is there not a gentleman here who will assist me to that wagon, that I may take a last look at my children, and speak to them once more before I die?' With her daughter Lucy, she gained the wagon and grasped Joseph's hand, which was thrust between the cover and the wagon-bed, but he spoke not to her until she said: 'Joseph, do speak to your poor mother once more. I cannot bear to go until I hear your voice.' At this he sobbed out: 'God bless you, mother;' and while his sister Lucy was pressing a kiss on his hand, the wagon dashed off."(Jenson, Andrew, L.D.S. Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. p. 691)
On September 14, 1840, at Nauvoo, Illinois, in the seventieth year of his life, the good father died, worn out by the exposures he had suffered in Missouri." Lucy Smith was now left without the companionship of ''a tender and loving husband." Yet further misfortunes were to come to her. In the summer of 1841, her youngest son, Don Carlos, died after a brief illness. Three years later, there occurred at Carthage, Illinois, the tragic murder of her sons Joseph and Hyrum. Her poignant grief and sorrow at this time are well expressed in her own words:
“I was swallowed up in the depth of my afflictions," she writes, "and though my soul was filled with sorrow past imagination, yet I was dumb, until I arose again to contemplate the spectacle before me. Oh! at that moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and distress which we had passed together, in which they had shown the innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say, 'Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the Gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.' " (Smith, Lucy, Joseph Smith the Prophet, p. 278) Joseph the Prophet and Hyrum the Patriarch will never have a more sincere and inspiring tribute than this, given to them by their dear old mother as she stood beside their coffins in the Mansion House at Nauvoo that June day in 1844.
As if she had not suffered sufficiently in the loss of her husband and three grown sons in the short space of four years, Mrs. Smith was called upon to part with another son, Samuel Harrison, less than five weeks after the death of Joseph and Hyrum. In fleeing from the mob at Carthage he had overexerted himself. In a few weeks he fell ill and died.
Of the six sons Mrs. Smith had reared to maturity, only one now remained, William, who had shown himself to be the least capable of rendering aid and assistance to her. Such was the fate of this good woman.
AT the last General Conference of the Church held in Nauvoo, in October 1845, after President Brigham Young and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve had decided to lead the Latter-day Saints to a new home in the West, Mrs. Smith asked the privilege of addressing one of the meetings. I find the following in the Journal History:
"Mother Lucy Smith, the aged and honored parent of Joseph Smith, having expressed a wish to say a few words to the congregation, she was invited upon the stand. She spoke at considerable length, and in an audible manner, so as to be heard by a large portion of the vast assembly. She commenced by saying that she was truly glad that the Lord had let her see so large a congregation. She had a great deal of advice to give, but Brother Brigham Young had done the errand; he had fixed it completely. There were comparatively few in the assembly who were acquainted with her family. She was the mother of ten children, seven of whom were boys. She raised them in the fear and love of God, and never was there a more obedient family. She warned parents that they were accountable for their children's conduct; advised them to give them books and work to keep them from idleness; warned all to be full of love, goodness and kindness, and never to do in secret, what they would not do in the presence of millions. She wished to know of the congregation whether they considered her a mother in Israel? (upon which President Brigham Young said, 'All who consider mother Smith as a mother in Israel, signify it by saying 'yes." ' One universal ‘yes' rang throughout.) She remarked that it was just eighteen years since Joseph Smith the Prophet had become acquainted with the contents of the plates; and then in a concise manner related over the most prominent points m the early history of her family; their hardships trials, privations, persecutions, sufferings, etc., some parts of which melted those who heard her to tears...”
Regarding the migration of the Saints westward, she continued:
''I feel the Lord will let Brother Brigham take the people away. Here in this city lie my dead, my husband and children; and if it so be the rest of my children go with you—and I would to God they may all go—they will not go without me; and if I go, I want my bones brought back in case I die away, and deposited with my husband and children:"
Here President Young interrupted to say:
''Mother Smith proposes a thing which rejoices my heart: she will go with us. I can answer for the authorities of the Church; we want her and her children to go with us; and I pledge myself in behalf of the authorities of the Church, that while we have anything, they shall share with us .... I pledge myself, if mother Smith goes with us and I outlive her, I will do my best to bring her bones back again, and deposit them with her children, and I want to know if this people are willing to enter into a covenant to do the same?'' (There was a unanimous vote favorable to President Young's request.)
It is well known that Mother Smith, in spite of her expressed wish on this occasion, did not make the journey westward with the Saints. Perhaps she was dissuaded therefrom by her son, her three daughters, and the Prophet's wife, Emma—all of whom remained behind. She lived nine years after the Saints evacuated Nauvoo in the spring of 1846, and we know little of her history. Brother Andrew Jenson has written that she spent seven years of this time at the home of her youngest daughter Lucy Smith Milliken, and the remaining two years with the Prophet's wife, Emma, in her comfortable home at Nauvoo, where Lucy Mack Smith died on May 5, 1855.
It is difficult for us to understand what thoughts passed through Mother Smith's mind during the last years of her life. She had been the first to listen to the story of the visions of her son; she had witnessed the organization of the Church and its rise; she had followed the Saints in all of their trials and difficulties and persecutions; as the mother of the Prophet, she was always respected and honored by the Saints. Then with swiftness came the events in Nauvoo: the death of her husband, the death of her four sons, and the removal of the great body of the Saints westward.
Her last years were spent with her family. There was no congregation of Saints with which she could mingle; there was no preaching of inspired prophets which she could hear. And yet she held fast to her belief and her testimony. No truer Latter-day Saint ever lived than this good mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. She was loyal to him in life and in death. In the portrait used as a frontispiece for this issue of the Magazine she is shown holding the Book of Mormon in her hand, and she looks fearlessly and calmly into the future, with the firm assurance that this sacred record and the revelations given to her gifted son are God's revealed truth.
Cummins, Lawrence E. "The Mother of the Prophet." Instructor. March 1961. pg. 102-103.
LUCY SMITH WAS A FRIEND AND COMFORTER, BUT MORE THAN THAT, SHE WAS . . . The Mother of the Prophet[1] by Lawrence E. Cummins IT was the year 1805. "Napoleon the Great" was seizing control of Europe. He had been crowned emperor of France the previous December, and he was now intent on spreading and consolidating his power. Two days before Christmas that same year of 1805, a son was born to Joseph and Lucy Smith in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont. His name was also Joseph, and he was the fifth of 11 children. Although only mild notice was given to his birth, his life and teachings challenge in importance those of any man who ever lived. By comparison, Napoleon Bonaparte and others of historical renown pale into insignificance when measured against the standards of true greatness. Joseph and Lucy Smith were a God-fearing couple and diligent in their farming labors. While not formally members of any church, they were both avid readers of the Bible. But regardless of their industry and their religious endeavors, sickness and hardship dogged their every effort. While the family was residing in Lebanon, New Hampshire, all of the Smith children then living were confined to their beds with typhus fever, a dread disease which had taken on the proportions of a plague. The daughter, Sophronia, lay near death, and her mother later recounted the following: . . . As she thus lay, I gazed upon her as a mother looks upon the last shade of life in a darling child. In this moment of distraction, my husband and myself clasped our hands, fell upon our knees by the bedside, and poured out our grief to God in prayer and supplication, beseeching Him to spare our child yet a little longer . . . and before we arose to our feet He gave us a testimony that she would recover . . . our child had, to all appearance, ceased breathing. I caught a blanket, threw it around her, then taking her in my arms, commenced pacing the floor. . . At length she sobbed . . . then looked up into my face and commenced breathing quite freely. . . I laid my daughter on the bed and sunk by her side, completely overpowered by the intensity of my feelings. . . Sophronia continued mending, until she entirely recovered. After his bout with typhus, her son Joseph, who was to become a prophet, seer and revelator, developed a fever sore which was extremely painful — especially to a boy of 6 or 7. After the doctor had lanced the infected area, the pain migrated to Joseph's leg, the pain becoming unbearable. "During this period," his mother said, "I carried him much of the time in my arms in order to mitigate his suffering as much as possible; in consequence of which I was taken very ill myself." After successive ministrations by the doctor, a council of surgeons decided that amputation of the infected leg was the only remedy. Unaware of this conclusion, Joseph's mother said, "Gentlemen, what can you do to save my boy's leg?" Being informed that the boy would surely die if the leg was not removed, his mother was greatly shocked and appealed to the principal surgeon, "Dr. Stone, can you not make another trial? . . . You will not, you must not, take off his leg, until you try once more. I will not consent to let you enter his room until you make me this promise." Dr. Stone ordered cords to be brought to bind young Joseph to the bed, for the operation was to be a painful one; and since anesthetics were then unavailable, he suggested that Joseph drink some brandy to deaden his senses. But Joseph refused either to be bound or to drink any of the brandy ; instead, he said that if his father would hold him in his arms and sit on the bed, he would submit to having the diseased bone taken out. Then with love and compassion beyond his years, he asked his mother to leave the room, for he did not want her to see his suffering. Sickness having reduced the Smith family to near poverty, they moved to a farm in Norwich, Vermont; where, after three successive crop failures, Joseph, Sr., decided to move his family to Palmyra, New York. After personally making the necessary arrangements in Palmyra, he sent a team and driver to bring his family from Vermont. Unfortunately, the teamster who had been sent, proved to be, in the words of Lucy Smith, ". . . an unprincipled and unfeeling wretch, by the way in which he handled both our goods and money, as well as by his treatment of my children, especially Joseph. He would compel him to travel miles on foot, notwithstanding he was still lame." One morning their teamster, Mr. Howard, tried to steal their team and wagon ; whereupon Joseph's mother, ever mindful of the comfort and safety of her children, boldly announced to those present at the inn where they were stopping: Gentlemen and ladies, please give your attention for a moment. Now, as sure as there is a God in heaven, that team, as well as the goods, belong to my husband, and this man intends to take them from me, or at least the team, leaving me with eight children, without the means of proceeding on my journey. Then turning to Mr. Howard she said, ". . . Sir, I now forbid you touching the team, . . . You can go about your own business; ... I shall take charge of the team myself." Reuniting at Palmyra, the Smith family worked together diligently, the mother painting and selling oilcloth coverings for tables, etc., and the father and sons clearing land for cultivation. While Joseph was yet a very young man, he had received several manifestations from heavenly beings. The Smith family gathered together on many evenings to hear Joseph tell of the Lord's instructions to him, as well as details about the ancient inhabitants of the American continent, and many other remarkable things. An indication of the love and devotion the Smith children had for their parents is revealed in a remark by their eldest son, Alvin, who was supervising the construction of a new family home. He said, "I am going to have a nice pleasant room for father and mother to sit in, and everything arranged for their comfort, and they shall not work any more as they have done." Unfortunately, before this house could be completed, Alvin was taken sick with what his mother describes as "bilious colic," and he died shortly thereafter. All during the time of the Prophet's youth and during the period when the golden plates were entrusted to his keeping, his mother remained a loyal friend and comforter, especially during the time of his extreme persecution. She believed without a doubt in her son's sacred calling. And so strong was her conviction of the truthfulness of the Gospel that, as she gazed upon the bodies of her martyred sons, she received divine understanding and seemed almost to hear them say: . . . Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we earned to them the Gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.[2] [1] (For Course 7, lesson of May 21, "Joseph Smith among Friends and Enemies"; for Course 11, lesson of April 23, "Joseph Smith"; and for Mother's Day lessons.) [2] Quoted material from History of Joseph Smith. Lucy Mack Smith, 1956; Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, Utah; pages 52-325. |