Related Information to Emma Smith, Example?

Emma Smith, Example? - Page 2

Moochan, interesting post, however I personally doubt the members were not helpful enough with her, she was the wife of the loving Prophet Joseph Smith! why they will leave her helpless? there is not really a reason for it. They loved Joseph, why suddenly after his death they will leave his widow helpless.?

Example Smith Emma

Reading a recent post from Nighhawlk I realized I don't know much about Emma Smith as I thought I knew, based on what Nighhawlk posted, she tried to poison the Prophet twice (that's what Brigham Young said). I would like to learn more about this and other issues concerning her. Maybe we can discuss more about what happened with Emma after she left the Church? was she excommunicated? why she was so bitter about the Church?. Was she technically correct when she said that her husband never had more than one wife?.

Emma Smith, Example? Studies Doctrine Mormon

In general, I have been rather supportive of Emma. After all, she went through an awful lot in her life.

However, lately I have been coming across more information that puts her in a less attractive position. I don't remember exactly what I posted in the other topic, but here are a couple of quotes:

Perhaps some of this comes from natural human feelings of betrayal and frustration, from the fact that Emma would not support the Quorum of the Twelve. However, I have frequently read that Emma never liked Brigham Young, and always felt that he held too much of Joseph's respect and regard. I think she always knew that he was a true leader.

The RLDS church was founded long before Joseph Smith III ever had anything to do with it. The leaders of that church asked him several times to lead it, and Emma is reported to have told him that it was entirely up to him, as she would have nothing to do with influencing him.

I have read that she never formally associated herself with any of the branches of the Restoration after the death of her husband. She attended meetings of the RLDS church, but didn't join (so I understand).

NightHawk

Page 2 Example Smith Emma

Yes but wasn't Joseph Smith III a little boy when his father died?.

So was she excommunicated from our Church or not?.

I was very surprised to hear that she tried to poison the Prophet, even though I could just barely imagine what she went through, the idea of trying to kill someone you love is something I cannot comprehend.

Example Smith Emma

Yes, Joseph III was a boy when his father was killed. The RLDS church wasn't founded (I think) until the early 1860s, and Joseph III was in his late 20s, early 30s when he was approached about leading it. He wasn't even a member at the time. Apparently he had severe reservations, and refused several times to have anything to do with them.

I will freely admit that I had not heard about Emma's attempt to poison Joseph until recently. I had heard about her violent opposition to plural marriage, so wasn't surprised to read that she attempted to destroy the revelation on marriage.

NightHawk

Emma Smith, Example?

Oh, thanks for the explanation. It seems like the life of his father had some kind of impact on the kid. Was he the only son of Joseph Smith who was alive at that time?.

What do you mean exactly by 'violent' opposition?.

Emma Smith Example - Page 2

More info on Emma's possibly trying to poison Joseph.


Emma's alleged desire and designs to kill Joseph are speculated to have arisen from her discovery that Joseph was practicing polygamy. On the other hand, it has also been suggested that Joseph may have falsely accused Emma of poisoning him--having possibly confused what he thought was her effort to kill him with the symptoms of illnesses from which he could have been suffering.

From Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1984, pp. 163-65):

Although Emma's attempt to accept plural marriage brought temporary peace to the Smith household, neither Emma's resolve nor the peace lasted long. Emily Partridge commented that Joseph "would walk the floor back and forth, with his hands clasped behind him (a way of placing his hands when his mind was deeply troubled) his countenance showing that he was weighed down with some terrible burdens." The strain in his private life, coupled with threats from marauders and dissension within the church and community, began to affect Joseph's health. On Sunday, November 9, Joseph became suddenly sick at dinner and vomited so hard that he dislocated his jaw and "raised fresh blood." His self-diagnosis was that he had every symptom of poisoning. But he was well enough in the evening to attend an Endowment Council meeting in the room over the red brick store. According to current medical literature, no poison available in 1844 was caustic enough to pool blood in the stomach so rapidly after ingestion as Joseph's symptoms indicate and still be so ineffective as to allow the victim to pursue normal activities within a few hours.

Twenty-two years later Brigham Young described a "secret council," probably the November 5 meeting, at which he said Joseph accused Emma of the poisoning and "called upon her to deny it if she could . . . He told her that she was a child of hell, and literally the most wicked woman on this earth, that there was not one more wicked than she. He told her where she got the poison, and how she put it in a cup of coffee, said he, 'You got that poison so and so, and I drank it, but you could not kill me.' When it entered his stomach he went to the door and threw it off. He spoke to her in the council in a very severe manner, and she never said one word in reply. I have witnesses all around, who can testify that I am now telling the truth. Twice she undertook to kill him." He did not elaborate on the alleged second occurrence, but in 1866 Brigham's rhetoric could well have been stronger than Joseph's actual words, for it came at a time when Brigham was particularly hostile toward Emma.

Evidence suggests that Joseph indeed accused Emma of poisoning his coffee. His diary records that he and Emma did not participate in the Prayer Circle at that meeting. This is particularly significant because members were asked not to join in the Prayer Circle if they had feelings of antagonism toward anyone else in the group. Only unusual circumstances would have restrained them. Apparently Joseph believed at the time that Emma poisoned him, but strong evidence suggests that his self-diagnosis was mistaken and, therefore, so was his accusation of Emma.

Five weeks later Joseph again experienced sudden nausea and vomiting. "I awoke this morning in good health but was soon suddenly seized with a great dryness of the mouth and throat, and sickness of the stomach, and vomited freely. . . . I was never prostrated so low, in so short a time, before, but by evening was considerably revived." He mentioned being "somewhat out of health" on January 2 3, "somewhat unwell" on April 2, and "suddenly taken sick," on April 28. Acute indigestion, food poisoning, ulcers, gallstones, and other diseases cause a reaction similar to Joseph's. Certainly Joseph's life was filled with the emotional tension and conflict that traditionally accompany ulcers. When he had his second attack of vomiting early in December, his diary states, "My wife waited on me, assisted by my scribe, Willard Richards, and his brother, Levi, who administered some herbs and mild drinks." In this instance Joseph portrayed Emma as a helper and nurse instead of the instigator of the attack. He apparently failed to correct the conclusion held by Brigham Young and John Taylor, for Emma remained forever suspect in their minds.

Stories of poisoning drew in another suspect. Samuel Smith's daughter Mary later wrote to her cousin Ima Coolbrith that Eliza R. Snow poisoned Joseph. She said that while Eliza resided in her Uncle Joseph's house Emma fixed Joseph a cup of coffee and Eliza poured something in it, then Joseph drank and vomited. Eliza had not lived in the house for nearly a year. Desdemona Wadsworth Fullmer, a plural wife married to Joseph by Brigham Young in July, wrote an autobiography in 1868 and related a bizarre dream that may have been prompted by rumors of Emma poisoning Joseph. She stated: "In the rise of poligamy in a dream [Emma] Smith was going to poison me. I told [the dream] to brother Joseph. He told me it was true, She would do it if she could." The talk of poisoning may have prompted Emily Partridge to say of this period: "There were times, one in particular that I was really afraid of my life." She was far more likely to fear retribution from Emma than Emma was to administer it. But circulation of poisoning stories gave rise to to apprenhension and suspicion directed toward Emma.

Emma Smith Example Mormon Doctrine Studies - Page 2

Historical Note: After the death of Jospeh Smith, Emma spent the rest of her life in Nauvoo despite some saints desiring for her to go West.