EMMA: UNDAUNTED AND UNWAVERING
Note from Cynthia: I included as much as possible, but not all of it due to the length. The sources are at the end.
Emma Hale was born on July 10th, 1804 to Isaac and Elizabeth Hale. She was very well educated for a woman of her day and very close to her family, especially her father. Emma and Joseph met and dated for a year and a half, but Emma’s father wouldn’t get his permission for them to be married so they eloped and were married in New York. Emma and Joseph began their lives together in Palmyra and were immediately involved in assisting in the work of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. At midnight on September 21st, 1827, they drove to nearby Hill Cumorah and Emma waited in the dark while
Joseph received the plates from the angel.
In 1827, nearly a year after they were married, Joseph and Emma moved to Harmony so that Joseph would have the opportunity to translate the plates without being hounded and harassed. Emma must have been thrilled when her parents invited them to live in a small house on their property for about two and a half years, though Isaac was furious and offended that Joseph would not show him the plates. Emma became the first scribe of the Book of Mormon, writing for Joseph as he translated with only a curtain between them.
She later said of this experience, “I am satisfied that no man could have dictated the writing of the manuscripts unless he was inspired; for when I was acting as his scribe, he would dictate to me for hour after hour; and when returning after meals, or after interruptions, he would at once begin when he had left off, without having any portion of it read to him. This was a usual thing for him to do. It would have been improbable that a learned man could do this; and, for one so ignorant and unlearned as he was, it was simply impossible.” (Eye Witness Accounts, p 127)
Emma was expecting their first child who lived only a short time. For several weeks, Emma hovered between life and death; Joseph cared for her and was sick with worry. To add to his concerns, Martin Harris did not return when promised with the pages of the manuscript he had borrowed to show his wife. After Emma had recovered somewhat, and at her insistence, Joseph anxiously went to look for his friend and finally met up with him in New York at his family’s home. Martin sorrowfully confessed to losing the precious 116 manuscript pages. Joseph plunged into an immediate depression, stating in sorrow to Martin: “Then must I return to my wife with such a tale as this! I dare not do it, lest it (I) should kill her at once . And how shall I appear before the Lord?”
Typical of what happened through most of Emma’s married life, they were without a home and relied on the generosity of the saints to take them in. They went to Kirtland, Ohio and stayed with the Newel K. Whitney family. In 1831, Emma gave birth to twins who they named Thaddeus and Louisa. But both babies died within three hours of their birth. This loss caused sorrow from which Emma was hardly able to recover—losing her first three children. While she and Joseph were deeply grieving, they heard of the death of Julia Murdock, who had also given birth to twins. Their father, John Murdock who had five other children, was beside himself with grief. As an act of love for the prophet and his wife, he took the tiny, motherless twins to Emma, and gave them to the young couple to raise as their own. Nine days later, Emma and Joseph legally adopted the infants, and named them Joseph and Julia. They were a blessing in their lives and felt they were a gift from God.
Nearly a year later, after they had moved into the John Johnson home, on a cold night in 1832, Joseph was sitting up with his little son, Joseph, who suffered from the measles. Suddenly a mob of a dozen men burst into the home, exposing the baby to the bitter cold, and dragged Joseph out of bed, stripped his clothes off and poured hot tar on Joseph’s body. They did the same to Sidney Rigdon, dragging him by the heels so his head hit the pavement, over and over. They said Sidney was never really the same after that night because of the damage down. Frantic with fear, Emma ran back and forth, from the frightened babies inside to the cold blackness outside, to scream again and again for help. Finally some neighbors heard her and the mob fled.
Later when Joseph finally staggered back to his house, covered in tar, Emma mistook it for blood covering his whole body, and she fainted at the sight of him. The rest of the night, Emma and some friends gently peeled and washed tar off of Joseph’s injured body. At Sunday services the next day, the young prophet delivered a powerful sermon without reference to the beating and tarring of the night before.
From that incident came the first martyr of Mormonism, little Joseph, already ill and feverish, caught cold when he was pulled from his father’s arm and left in a draft. He died four days later from exposure.
One very difficult thing for Emma to endure was the frequent necessity of receiving charity from members of the church. Often she and her children were forced to stay in homes of other members for months at a time, and sometimes she was shuffled from family to family as circumstances changed. How she must have longed for a home of her own. (Emma)
In all, Emma moved 18 times, lived in 13 houses, across 5 states. “Of these 13 locations, only four of them could be called her own. On three of these moves she had to leave behind most or all of her furniture. On four she had to move because of disruption caused by neighbors. On two additional occasions she was driven from her home at threat of her life.” (article—“Why did Emma Smith Opt To Stay in Nauvoo.”)
Emma and Joseph eventually moved with their daughter Julia to an upper room of an old stone store that the Whitneys owned. Emma was pregnant a third time, but Joseph couldn’t be with her much, serving a brief mission to the east. Three weeks before the baby was born, Joseph wrote to Emma expressing his love and concern, perhaps also fearful that yet another baby would die. “. . . thoughts of home, of Emma and Julia, rushes upon my mind like a flood, and I could wish for a moment to be with them. . . I feel for you, for I know your state and that others do not, but you must comfort yourself knowing that God is your friend in heaven and that you have one true and loving friend on earth, your husband . . .” (p 23 Emma)
Joseph rushed home for the birth of this fourth child, but didn’t quite make it in time. However, it was a joyful occasion when he returned, for Emma had given birth to a third son, and this one lived! Joyfully, they named the baby Joseph (like the one they lost and after his father). For years he would be called Young Joseph by members of the church, to distinguish him from his father.
In Kirtland, Emma finally had the first real home of her marriage, a small building attached to the Whitney store. The most exciting event was the building of the Kirtland Temple, and Emma was involved and encouraging sisters to sew clothing for the workmen, housing them on occasion, and feeding them. In 1836, she gave birth to Frederick, Alexander in 1838, Don Carolos in 1840 (who she also grieved as he only lived just 14 months and died in Nauvoo of malaria), then had a stillborn son in 1842, and David Hyrum in 1844, born 6 months after Joseph’s martyrdom. Incredibly, Emma had nine pregnancies, adopted two children, and six of them died in infancy. (Jones) Losing her children was the greatest sorrow of her life, and something she had to endure again and again.
Besides raising her family and supporting Joseph in his calling, there is no doubt that Emma put her whole soul into the effort of helping to lay the foundation of the kingdom of God. Back in 1831 while she was in Harmony, the Lord honored Emma as the only woman to have an official revelation directed to her and canonized as scripture. After Emma’s baptism, Joseph received in her behalf what is now the 25th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Though Emma could not have fully comprehended it at the time, it lay her soul open before the world. Through it we see the many facets of Emma Smith—her strengths and weaknesses, as well as our own. Each of us should examine the section and apply it to ourselves also, as the Lord closed the revelation by saying, “This is my voice unto all.”
Read D& C 25 in its entirety. Below are some highlights.
In verse 3 she is referred to by the Lord as “an elect lady,” meaning chosen or set apart. She later fulfilled this by being chosen as the first Relief Society president and serving well in this capacity.
Verse 4: Emma did not see the plates and this may have been why the Lord said, “murmur not,” yet she remained faithful.
She later said: “During the translation the plates often lay on the table in our home, without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen tablecloth, which I had given him to fold them in. I once felt . . . the plates, as they thus lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of the book . . I did not attempt to handle the plates, other than through the linen cloth . . . I was satisfied that it was the work of God, and therefore did not feel it to be necessary to do so. I knew that he had them, and was not especially curious about them. I moved them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work . . . “
Emma’s testimony of the Book of Mormon remained strong until her death. Someone asked her later in life if Joseph could have written the Book of Mormon privately, pretending to translate as he dictated. After a lifetime of reflection, and just a few months before she died, she wrote: “Joseph Smith could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon . . .The Book of Mormon is of divine authenticity—I have not the slightest doubt of it. It is marvelous to me . . . ‘a marvel and a wonder,’ as much as to any one . . .” Emma was then and still remains, a credible, intelligent, and powerful witness of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, a testimony she never denied.
Verse 5: Emma was given the office of being a comfort and blessing to her husband in his monumental responsibilities and frequent afflictions, of being his refuge and his earthy comforter at all times. This was not an ordinary job or for the faint of heart. The greatest powers of hell would be unleashed against her and her husband. This was Emma’s mission–to be a comfort and a blessing for Joseph as he helped to bring about the Restoration of the gospel and church. In this responsibility, she did not falter.
A letter Emma wrote to Joseph while he was in Liberty Jail after the Saints had been driven from Missouri gives us a small glimpse of the comfort she provided Joseph and her resolve to support him regardless of difficulties an persecutions.
Emma wrote to Joseph when he was in Liberty Jail , “Was it not for . . . the direct interposition of divine mercy, I am very sure I never should have been able to have endured the scenes of suffering that I have passed through . . . but I still live and am yet willing to suffer more if it is the will of kind Heaven, that I should for your sake . . . No one but God knows the reflections of my mind and the feelings of my heart when I left our home and almost all of everything that we possessed excepting our little children, and took my journey out of the State of Missouri, leaving you shut up in that lonesome prison. “ (Top)
Verse 7: “Thou shall be ordained (set apart) to expound scriptures and to exhort the church, according as it shall be given thee by my Spirit.” It would have been highly unusual in 1830 for any woman to expound and exhort in church, for women simply did not take visible or leadership roles in churches at that time. The Lord knew she was a leader and would have an important role of her own (not just as a support to Joseph), in building the Kingdom of God through the RS.
Verse 10) PEARL! I personally love this verse the most as it would apply as a challenge to us, particularly in today’s material world and asks us to align our priorities with the Lord’s. “And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.”
This was her mantra. Time after time as Emma moved from where they were living, and left their belongings and moved in with others, she must have reflected on this line from the revelation. Emma did exactly that, again and again, leaving her few possessions and had to move on in order to build the kingdom. She fulfilled this charge.
Verse 14) READ “Continue” indicates that she already had the spirit of meekness, and the Lord wanted her to maintain it. And here is where the Lord who knew he so well, warned her as he warns us in our own personal patriarchial blessings of our shortcomings, “Beware of pride. Let thy soul delight in thy husband, and the glory which shall come upon him.” Perhaps her pride caused by a tremendous amount of heartache and may have interfered with her judgment after her Joseph’s martyrdom
This warning was made manifest to the world through this section, and like all of us who know our own faults and sins, Emma may have worked and struggled with the events that were to come. The Lord’s warnings proved to be perceptive, for pride and a lack of meekness seemed ever to be her stumbling blocks.
Verse 15-16) As with us all, blessings are based on righteousness in keeping the commandments, and this revelation is also given and applied individually to us all. “Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive” (this is what she was promised for her sacrifices). “And except thou do this, where I am you cannot come. And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my voice unto ALL!” (Top)
Through this glorious revelation, it is evident the Lord had much in mind for Emma to accomplish: a comfort and support to Joseph in his calling, a scribe for the Book of Mormon, a leader and teacher, and eventually the first Relief Society president, and an important assignment—to compile a selection of sacred hymns for the church to sing, as a form of worship to God. How much trust and responsibility God gave Emma, an “elect lady,” wife of the prophet of the Restoration, and how she must have worked to fulfill her sacred assignments.
As we just celebrated in the wards in the Olympus stake and throughout the church worldwide, the sister’s organization was officially organized on March 17th, 1842 in the upper floor of the red brick store. Emma was chosen by the sisters to be the president, in fulfillment of D&C 25, and she was “ordained” (the word the Lord used), in that section by the Prophet. In his words, “I will organize the women . . . after the pattern of the priesthood. The Church was never perfectly organized until the women were thus organized.” After some discussion, the sisters decided to call themselves the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.
President Emma Smith declared: “We are going to do something extraordinary . . . We expect extraordinary occasions and pressing calls.” Six weeks later when the Prophet Joseph Smith taught the sisters at length he said: “ . . . I now turn the key to you in the name of God, and this society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time—this is the beginning of better days to this society.”
Emma endured much persecution that disrupted her personal life, and much of her suffering she had to endure alone. She tried to accept this, but she had her moments of weakness like all of us. One day when Joseph had been away for some time, Jesse Crosby (their friend) dropped by to see if Emma needed anything. In a rare occasion, she let down her guard, allowing a poignant glimpse into her heart. Emma unexpectedly burst into tears and told him “if the persecution would cease they could live as well as any other family in the land.”
Many times there were that Emma waited not knowing if Joseph was dead or alive. At Far West all the saints were told to not expect to ever see their leaders again. There were even occasions when she was incorrectly told that Joseph had been killed, and she thought she would never see him again. How often she must have had to summon up her undaunted faith to quell her fears!
Her mother-in-law Lucy Mack Smith, who was also courageous and well revered by the saints, paid her a tribute of which few women are worthy. “I have never seen a woman in my life, who could endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which she has ever done, for I know that which she has had to endure—she has been tossed upon the ocean of uncertainty—she has breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman.” (Top)
Emma endured much persecution that disrupted her personal life, and much of her suffering she had to endure alone. She tried to accept this, but she had her moments of weakness like all of us. One day when Joseph had been away for some time, Jesse Crosby (their friend) dropped by to see if Emma needed anything. In a rare occasion, she let down her guard, allowing a poignant glimpse into her heart. Emma unexpectedly burst into tears and told him “if the persecution would cease they could live as well as any other family in the land.”
Many times there were that she waited not knowing if Joseph was dead or alive. At Far West all the saints were told to not expect to ever see their leaders again. There were even occasions when she was incorrectly told that Joseph had been killed, and she thought she would never see him again. How often she must have had to summon up her undaunted faith to quell her fears!
Her mother-in-law Lucy Mack Smith, who was also courageous and well revered by the saints, paid her a tribute of which few women are worthy. “I have never seen a woman in my life, who could endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which she has ever done, for I know that which she has had to endure—she has been tossed upon the ocean of uncertainty—she has breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman.” (Top)
Before Joseph left for Carthage, Emma wanted him to give her a blessing. But there was no time to do it, so Joseph told her to “write out the best blessing she would think of and he would sign it on his return.” He never returned to sign it. Emma wrote what she called “these desires of my heart.” Part of it reads: “I desire the spirit of God to know and understand myself . . . that I may be able to comprehend the designs of God, when revealed through his servants without doubting . . . I desire with all my heart to honor and respect my husband as my head, ever to live in his confidence and by acting in unison with him retain the place which God has given me by his side . . . “
Before Joseph left for Carthage, Emma wanted him to give her a blessing. But there was no time to do it, so Joseph told her to “write out the best blessing she would think of and he would sign it on his return.” He never returned to sign it. Emma wrote what she called “these desires of my heart.” Part of it reads: “I desire the spirit of God to know and understand myself . . . that I may be able to comprehend the designs of God, when revealed through his servants without doubting . . . I desire with all my heart to honor and respect my husband as my head, ever to live in his confidence and by acting in unison with him retain the place which God has given me by his side . . . “
Her life was so different after Joseph died. A licensed clinical therapist believed due to the deaths she suffered from losing six children, and her husband brutally murdered, that he reasonably concluded that she did not travel west to avoid losing any more of her children. “Given the losses she suffered,” he wrote, “it appears to me that Emma managed quite well.”
Deep sadness pervaded Emma’s life in later years. Her granddaughter Emma Belle Smith Kennedy remembered a melancholy grandmother. “Her eyes were brown and sad. She would smile with her lips but to me, as small as I was, I never saw the brown eyes smile. 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.”
A maid of Emma’s recalled that she would go upstairs to her room every evening after chores were done and sit in her rocking chair and gaze sadly out the window at the sun going down over the Mississippi River. No one dared approach her or attempt to dry the tears that would roll softly down her cheeks.
Emma lived to be 74 years old, 35 years longer than Joseph. Shortly before her death, Emma reported a vision to her nurse that Joseph appeared, and said “Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come with me.” Emma explained, “I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him . . . into a mansion . . . One room was a nursery in which she found a baby in a cradle. “I knew my babe,” Emma said, “my Don Carlos that was taken from me.” She swept the child up into her arms and cried for joy, but when recovered, stopped to ask, “Joseph, where are the rest of my children?” He assured her, “Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children.” Emma then related that she saw a personage of light standing by the side of her beloved husband—even the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Emma’s children were gathered together before she died. Early in the morning of April 30, 1879, her children heard her call, “Joseph, Joseph, Joseph.” Thinking she was calling for her son Joseph III, they awakened him who went to her side. He saw his mother raise herself up and extend her left arm. “Joseph,” they heard her say, “Yes, yes, I’m coming.” A few minutes later she was gone, apparently with her loving husband who had come to get her.
Two of her two sons interviewed her not far from her death, she said: “I know Mormonism to be the truth; and believe the Church to have been established by divine direction. I have complete faith in it . . . I have been called apostate; but I have never apostatized, nor forsaken the faith I at first accepted.”
*** I sought not to excuse her failings but to help others empathize with them. Several other women in the Church felt moved upon to do similar creative projects favorable to Emma at the same time that I did. There seemed to be a scattered but simultaneously inspired movement to reclaim the reputation of Emma Smith. As people learned the true facts of her life and were able to put her struggles in proper perspective, they often were deeply moved by her profound contributions to the church. (Top)
****“Wendy Top, who studied her life concluded: ”I believe the profound lesson of the life of Emma Smith, however, is the manifestation of the triumph of God’s far-reaching mercy and love over human failings. Unlike many heroines of the Restoration, she stumbled and was spiritually and physically left behind. Like Emma, I also grapple with sins and shortcomings that threaten to overcome me at times, and I am grateful to be able to hope that the Lord will do everything He can to find mercy for me, and for Emma as well. I have pleaded with members of the Church to refrain from judging her unfairly and condemning her, just as they should any other fellow Saint or human being.
“Let us then remember Emma, our sister, as any of us would wish to be remembered by future generations—with gratitude for her sacrifices and contributions, empathy for her struggles and shortcomings, and a generous eye toward her eternal possibilities.” (Wendy Top: A Deep Sorrow in Her Heart: Emma Hale Smith).
Sources used:
Emma Dramatic Biography of Emma Smith by Keith and Ann Terry
Mormon Enigma Emma Hale Smith by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery
Reflections of Emma Buddy Youngreen
A Deep Sorrow in Her Heart Emma Hale Smith, an article by Wendy C. Top
Wendy Top-author of Emma Hill Smith: A Woman’s Perspective, book
D&C Lesson #10: “This is My Voice Unto All”
Eyewitness Accounts of the Restoration by Milton Backman, Jr
“Why did Emma Smith Opt to Stay in Nauvoo?” by Michael De Groote (Deseret News)
“Emma and Joseph: Their Divine Mission,” by Gracia N. Jones