THE REVELATION ON POLYGAMY—BISHOP WHITNEY PRESERVES A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT—BELINDA M. PRATT'S FAMOUS LETTER.
It was nearly twenty-three years after the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the revelation on celestial marriage was published to the world. On the 6th of April, 1830, the Church was founded on the 14th of September, 1852, theDeseret Newspublished an extra, containing the said revelation, the origin thus dated: "Given to Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, July 12, 1843;" and in theMillennial Star, January 1st, 1853, it was published to the saints of the British mission.
No need here for a review of that document on plural marriage, nor a sociological discussion of this now world-noised institution of the Mormons; but as some persons have ascribed that institution to President Young, and denied that Joseph Smith was its revelator, the word of sisters who have been with the Church from the beginning shall be offered as a finality upon the question of its origin.
Eliza R. Snow has already testified on the subject of her marriage to the prophet Joseph, not by proxy, but personally, during his lifetime; and all the Church know her as Joseph's wife. The daughters of Bishop Partridge, and others, were also sealed to him in person, in the order of celestial marriage.
A very proper one to speak here is Mother Whitney, for it was her husband, Bishop Whitney, who preserved the revelation on polygamy. Speaking of the time when her husband kept store for Joseph (1842-3), she says: "It was during this time that Joseph received the revelation concerning celestial marriage; also concerning the ordinances of the house of the Lord. He had been strictly charged, by the angel who committed these precious things into his keeping, that he should only reveal them to such ones as were pure, and full of integrity to the truth, and worthy and capable of being entrusted with divine messages; that to spread them abroad would only be like casting pearls before swine; and that the most profound secresy was to be maintained, until the Lord saw fit to make it known publicly through his servants. Joseph had the most implicit confidence in my husband's uprightness and integrity of character, and so he confided to him the principles set forth in that revelation, and also gave him the privilege of reading and making a copy of it, believing it would be perfectly safe with him. It is this same copy that was preserved in the providence of God; for Emma (Joseph's wife), afterwards becoming indignant, burned the original, thinking she had destroyed the only written document upon the subject in existence. My husband revealed these things to me. We had always been united, and had the utmost faith and confidence in each other. We pondered upon the matter continually, and our prayers were unceasing that the Lord would grant us some special manifestation concerning this new and strange doctrine. The Lord was very merciful to us, revealing unto us his power and glory. We were seemingly wrapt in a heavenly vision; a halo of light encircled us, and we were convinced in our own bosoms that God heard and approved our prayers and intercedings before him. Our hearts were comforted, and our faith made so perfect that we were willing to give our eldest daughter, then seventeen years of age, to Joseph, in the order of plural marriage. Laying aside all our traditions and former notions in regard to marriage, we gave her with our mutual consent. She was the first woman given in plural marriage with the consent of both parents. Of course these things had to be kept an inviolate secret; and as some were false to their vows and pledges of secresy, persecution arose, and caused grievous sorrow to those who had obeyed, in all purity and sincerity, the requirements of this celestial order of marriage. The Lord commanded his servants; they themselves did not comprehend what the ultimate course of action would be, but were waiting further developments from heaven. Meantime, the ordinances of the house of the Lord were given, to bless and strengthen us in our future endeavors to promulgate the principles of divine light and intelligence; but coming in contact with all preconceived notions and principles heretofore taught as the articles of religious faith, it was not strange that many could not receive it. Others doubted; and only a few remained firm and immovable."
On the publication of the revelation on polygamy, the theological writers of the Church issued pamphlets, promulgating and defending the "peculiar institution," as the Gentiles styled it. Orson Spencer issuedPatriarchal Marriage; Parley P. Pratt issuedMarriage and Morals in Utah; and Orson Pratt was sent to Washington to proclaim, at the seat of government, the great social innovation. This was the origin of theSeer, a periodical there issued by him. Among the various writings of the times, upon the subject, was a tract entitledDefence of Polygamy by a Lady of Utah, in a Letter to her Sister in New Hampshire. The following are extracts from it, in which is strikingly made manifest the fact that the sisterhood accepted polygamy upon the examples of the Hebrew Bible, rather than upon any portion of the Book of Mormon:
"SALT LAKE CITY, January 12, 1854."DEAR SISTER:"Your letter of October 2d was received yesterday. * * * It seems, my dear sister, that we are no nearer together in our religious views than formerly. Why is this? Are we not all bound to leave this world, with all we possess therein, and reap the reward of our doings here in a never-ending hereafter? If so, do we not desire to be undeceived, and to know and to do the truth? Do we not all wish in our hearts to be sincere with ourselves, and to be honest and frank with each other? If so, you will bear with me patiently, while I give a few of my reasons for embracing, and holding sacred, that particular point in the doctrine of the Church of the Saints, to which you, my dear sister, together with a large majority of Christendom, so decidedly object—I mean a 'plurality of wives.'"I have a Bible which I have been taught from my infancy to hold sacred. In this Bible I read of a holy man named Abraham, who is represented as the friend of God, a faithful man in all things, a man who kept the commandments of God, and who is called in the New Testament the 'father of the faithful.' I find this man had a plurality of wives, some of whom were called concubines. I also find his grandson, Jacob, possessed of four wives, twelve sons and a daughter. These wives are spoken very highly of by the sacred writers, as honorable and virtuous women. 'These,' say the Scriptures, 'did build the house of Israel.' Jacob himself was also a man of God, and the Lord blessed him and his house, and commanded him to be fruitful and multiply. I find also that the twelve sons of Jacob, by these four wives, became princes, heads of tribes, patriarchs, whose names are had in everlasting remembrance to all generations."Now God talked with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, frequently; and his angels also visited and talked with them, and blessed them and their wives and children. He also reproved the sins of some of the sons of Jacob, for hating and selling their brother, and for adultery. But in all his communications with them, he never condemned their family organization; but on the contrary, always approved of it, and blessed them in this respect. He even told Abraham that he would make him the father of many nations, and that in him and his seed all the nations and kindreds of the earth should be blessed. In later years I find the plurality of wives perpetuated, sanctioned, and provided for in the law of Moses."David, the psalmist, not only had a plurality of wives, but the Lord spoke by he mouth of Nathan the prophet and told David that he (the Lord) had given his master's wives into his bosom; but because he had committed adultery with the wife of Uriah, and caused his murder, he would take his wives and give them to a neighbor of his, etc."Here, then, we have the word of the Lord, not only sanctioning polygamy, but actually giving to King David the wives of his master (Saul), and afterward taking the wives of David from him, and giving them to another man. Here we have a sample of severe reproof and punishment for adultery and murder, while polygamy is authorized and approved by the word of God."But to come to the New Testament. I find Jesus Christ speaks very highly of Abraham and his family. He says: 'Many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.' Again he said: 'If ye were Abraham's seed, ye would do the works of Abraham.'"Paul the apostle wrote to the saints of his day, and informed them as follows: 'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ; and if ye are Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.' He also sets forth Abraham and Sarah as patterns of faith and good works, and as the father and mother of faithful Christians, who should, by faith and good works, aspire to be counted the sons of Abraham and daughters of Sarah."Now let us look at some of the works of Sarah, for which she is so highly commended by the apostles, and by them held up as a pattern for Christian ladies to imitate."'Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bare him no children; and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; I pray thee go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram harkened unto the voice of Sarah. And Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife.' (Gen. xvi.; 1, 2, 3)."According to Jesus Christ and the apostles, then, the only way to be saved, is to be adopted into the great family of polygamists, by the gospel, and then strictly follow their examples. Again, John the Revelator describes the holy city of the Heavenly Jerusalem, with the names of the twelve sons of Jacob inscribed on the gates."To sum up the whole, then, I find that polygamists were the friends of God; that the family and lineage of a polygamist was selected, in which all nations should be blessed; that a polygamist is named in the New Testament as the father of the faithful Christians of after ages, and cited as a pattern for all generations. That the wife of a polygamist, who encouraged her husband in the practice of the same, and even urged him into it, and officiated in giving him another wife, is named as an honorable and virtuous woman, a pattern for Christian ladies, and the very mother of all holy women in the Christian Church, whose aspiration it should be to be called her daughters."That Jesus has declared that the great fathers of the polygamic family stand at the head in the kingdom of God; in short, that all the saved of after generations should be saved by becoming members of a polygamic family; that all those who do not become members of it, are strangers and aliens to the covenant of promise, the commonwealth of Israel, and not heirs according to the promise made to Abraham."That all people from the east, west, north and south, who enter into the kingdom, enter into the society of polygamists, and under their patriarchal rule and covenant."Indeed no one can approach the gates of heaven without beholding the names of twelve polygamists (the sons of four different women by one man), engraven in everlasting glory upon the pearly gates."My dear sister, with the Scriptures before me, I could never find it in my heart to reject the heavenly vision which has restored to man the fullness of the gospel, or the latter-day prophets and apostles, merely because in this restoration is included the ancient law of matrimony and of family organization and government, preparatory to the restoration of all Israel.* * * * * *"Your affectionate sister,"BELINDA MARDEN PRATT."Mrs. Lydia Kimball, Nashua, N. H."
"SALT LAKE CITY, January 12, 1854.
"DEAR SISTER:
"Your letter of October 2d was received yesterday. * * * It seems, my dear sister, that we are no nearer together in our religious views than formerly. Why is this? Are we not all bound to leave this world, with all we possess therein, and reap the reward of our doings here in a never-ending hereafter? If so, do we not desire to be undeceived, and to know and to do the truth? Do we not all wish in our hearts to be sincere with ourselves, and to be honest and frank with each other? If so, you will bear with me patiently, while I give a few of my reasons for embracing, and holding sacred, that particular point in the doctrine of the Church of the Saints, to which you, my dear sister, together with a large majority of Christendom, so decidedly object—I mean a 'plurality of wives.'
"I have a Bible which I have been taught from my infancy to hold sacred. In this Bible I read of a holy man named Abraham, who is represented as the friend of God, a faithful man in all things, a man who kept the commandments of God, and who is called in the New Testament the 'father of the faithful.' I find this man had a plurality of wives, some of whom were called concubines. I also find his grandson, Jacob, possessed of four wives, twelve sons and a daughter. These wives are spoken very highly of by the sacred writers, as honorable and virtuous women. 'These,' say the Scriptures, 'did build the house of Israel.' Jacob himself was also a man of God, and the Lord blessed him and his house, and commanded him to be fruitful and multiply. I find also that the twelve sons of Jacob, by these four wives, became princes, heads of tribes, patriarchs, whose names are had in everlasting remembrance to all generations.
"Now God talked with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, frequently; and his angels also visited and talked with them, and blessed them and their wives and children. He also reproved the sins of some of the sons of Jacob, for hating and selling their brother, and for adultery. But in all his communications with them, he never condemned their family organization; but on the contrary, always approved of it, and blessed them in this respect. He even told Abraham that he would make him the father of many nations, and that in him and his seed all the nations and kindreds of the earth should be blessed. In later years I find the plurality of wives perpetuated, sanctioned, and provided for in the law of Moses.
"David, the psalmist, not only had a plurality of wives, but the Lord spoke by he mouth of Nathan the prophet and told David that he (the Lord) had given his master's wives into his bosom; but because he had committed adultery with the wife of Uriah, and caused his murder, he would take his wives and give them to a neighbor of his, etc.
"Here, then, we have the word of the Lord, not only sanctioning polygamy, but actually giving to King David the wives of his master (Saul), and afterward taking the wives of David from him, and giving them to another man. Here we have a sample of severe reproof and punishment for adultery and murder, while polygamy is authorized and approved by the word of God.
"But to come to the New Testament. I find Jesus Christ speaks very highly of Abraham and his family. He says: 'Many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.' Again he said: 'If ye were Abraham's seed, ye would do the works of Abraham.'
"Paul the apostle wrote to the saints of his day, and informed them as follows: 'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ; and if ye are Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.' He also sets forth Abraham and Sarah as patterns of faith and good works, and as the father and mother of faithful Christians, who should, by faith and good works, aspire to be counted the sons of Abraham and daughters of Sarah.
"Now let us look at some of the works of Sarah, for which she is so highly commended by the apostles, and by them held up as a pattern for Christian ladies to imitate.
"'Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bare him no children; and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; I pray thee go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram harkened unto the voice of Sarah. And Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife.' (Gen. xvi.; 1, 2, 3).
"'Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bare him no children; and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; I pray thee go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram harkened unto the voice of Sarah. And Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife.' (Gen. xvi.; 1, 2, 3).
"According to Jesus Christ and the apostles, then, the only way to be saved, is to be adopted into the great family of polygamists, by the gospel, and then strictly follow their examples. Again, John the Revelator describes the holy city of the Heavenly Jerusalem, with the names of the twelve sons of Jacob inscribed on the gates.
"To sum up the whole, then, I find that polygamists were the friends of God; that the family and lineage of a polygamist was selected, in which all nations should be blessed; that a polygamist is named in the New Testament as the father of the faithful Christians of after ages, and cited as a pattern for all generations. That the wife of a polygamist, who encouraged her husband in the practice of the same, and even urged him into it, and officiated in giving him another wife, is named as an honorable and virtuous woman, a pattern for Christian ladies, and the very mother of all holy women in the Christian Church, whose aspiration it should be to be called her daughters.
"That Jesus has declared that the great fathers of the polygamic family stand at the head in the kingdom of God; in short, that all the saved of after generations should be saved by becoming members of a polygamic family; that all those who do not become members of it, are strangers and aliens to the covenant of promise, the commonwealth of Israel, and not heirs according to the promise made to Abraham.
"That all people from the east, west, north and south, who enter into the kingdom, enter into the society of polygamists, and under their patriarchal rule and covenant.
"Indeed no one can approach the gates of heaven without beholding the names of twelve polygamists (the sons of four different women by one man), engraven in everlasting glory upon the pearly gates.
"My dear sister, with the Scriptures before me, I could never find it in my heart to reject the heavenly vision which has restored to man the fullness of the gospel, or the latter-day prophets and apostles, merely because in this restoration is included the ancient law of matrimony and of family organization and government, preparatory to the restoration of all Israel.
* * * * * *
"Your affectionate sister,
"BELINDA MARDEN PRATT.
"Mrs. Lydia Kimball, Nashua, N. H."
REVELATION SUPPORTED BY BIBLICAL EXAMPLES—THE ISRAELITISH GENIUS OF THE MORMONS SHOWN IN THE PATRIARCHAL NATURE OF THEIR INSTITUTIONS—THE ANTI-POLYGAMIC CRUSADE.
Next after the revelation on celestial marriage, through Joseph the prophet, the Bible of the Hebrews, and not the sacred record of the ancients of this continent, must be charged with the authority, the examples, and, consequently, the practice of polygamy in the Latter-day Church. The examples of Abraham, Jacob, Solomon, and the ancients of Israel generally, and not the examples of Nephi, Mormon, and their people, whose civilization is now extinct, have been those accepted by our modern Israel—examples of such divine potency that the women of England and America, with all their monogamic training and prejudice, have dared not reject nor make war against in woman's name.
Ever and everywhere is the genius of Mormonism so strikingly in the Abrahamic likeness and image, that one could almost fancy the patriarchs of ancient Israel inspiring a modern Israel to perpetuate their name, their faith and their institutions. Who shall say that this is not the fact? Surely this patriarchal genius of the Mormons is the most extraordinary test of a modern Israel. Jerusalem, not Rome, has brought forth the Mormons and their peculiar commonwealth.
And here it should be emphasized that polygamy had nought to do with the expulsions of the Mormons from Missouri and Illinois. The primitive "crime" of the Mormons was their belief in new revelation. Fifty years ago that was a monstrous crime in the eyes of sectarian Christendom. The present generation can scarcely comprehend how blasphemous the doctrine of modern revelation seemed to this very nation of America, which now boasts of ten to twelve millions of believers in revelation from some source or other. Thus wonderful has been the change in fifty years!
Viewed as a cause of their persecutions in the past, next to this faith of the Mormons in Jehovah's speaking, was their rapid growth as a gathered and organized people, who bid fair to hold the balance of political power in several States. A prominent grievance with Missouri and Illinois was exactly that urged against the growth of the ancient Christians—"if we let them alone they will take away our name and nation!"
Following down the record until the period of the Utah war, it is still the fact that polygamy was not the cause of the anti-Mormon crusade. It was not even the excuse of that period, as given by President Buchanan and Congress. It was merely an Israelitish trouble in the world.
Soon after this, however, polygamy did become the excuse, both to Congress and the dominant political party of the country, to take action against the Mormons and their Israelitish institutions. In framing the Chicago platform, the Republican party, just rising to supremacy, made slavery one of its planks, and polygamy another. Upon these "twin relics" they rode into the administration of the government of the country.
Then came the anti-polygamic law of 1862, especially framed against the Mormons. But it was found to be inoperative. Lincoln, who had known many of them in the early days, let the Mormons alone.
The civil war was over. The South had succumbed. The work of reconstruction was fairly in progress. The conquerer Grant, and his administration, resolved to grapple with "polygamic theocracy," as they styled it—if need be by the action and issues of another Mormon war.
First came Colfax to Zion, to "spy out the land." To the polygamic saints he administered the gentle warning of a soft tongue, which, however, concealed a serpent's sting. Returning east, after his famous tour across the continent, he opened a theological assault upon Mormon polygamy in theNew York Independent, and soon became engaged in a regular battle with apostle John Taylor. Returning to Zion, on his second visit, the Vice-President actually preached an anti-polygamic sermon to the Mormons, one evening, in front of the Townsend House, in Salt Lake City, in which he quoted what he interpreted as anti-polygamic passages from the Book of Mormon.
The scene changes to Washington. Colfax, Cullom, Grant and Dr. Newman are in travail with the Cullom bill and anti-Mormon crusade.
The Cullom bill passed the House and went to the Senate. President Grant had resolved to execute it, by force of arms, should the courts fail. Vice-President Colfax, while in Utah, had propounded the serious question, "Will Brigham Young fight?"
Congress and the nation thought that now the doom of Mormon polygamy had come.
Suddenly, like a wall of salvation, fifty thousand women of Mormondom threw themselves around their patriarchs and their institutions! A wonderful people, these Mormons! More wonderful these women!
GRAND MASS MEETING OF THE WOMEN OF UTAH ON POLYGAMY AND THE CULLOM BILL—THEIR NOBLE REMONSTRANCE—SPEECHES OF APOSTOLIC WOMEN—THEIR RESOLUTIONS—WOMAN'S RIGHTS OR WOMAN'S REVOLUTION.
Probably the most remarkable woman's rights demonstration of the age, was that of the women of Mormondom, in their grand mass-meetings, held throughout Utah, in all its principal cities and settlements, in January of 1870. And it was the more singular and complex, because Utah is the land of polygamy—the only land in all Christendom where that institution has been established—and that, too, chiefly by an Anglo-Saxon people—the last race in the world that the sociologist might have supposed would have received the system of plural marriage! Hence, they have lifted it to a plane that, perhaps, no other race could have done—above mere sexual considerations, and, in its theories, altogether incompatible with the serfdom of woman; for the tens of thousands of the women of Utah not only held their grand mass-meetings to confirm and maintain polygamy, but they did it at the very moment of the passage of their female suffrage bill; so that in their vast assemblages they were virtually exercising their vote.
On the 13th of January, 1870, "notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, the old tabernacle," says theDeseret News, "was densely packed with ladies of all ages, and, as that building will comfortably seat five thousand persons, there could not have been fewer than between five and six thousand present on the occasion."
It was announced in the programme that there were to be none present but ladies. Several reporters of the press, however, obtained admittance, among whom was Colonel Finley Anderson, special correspondent of theNew York Herald.
The meeting was opened with a very impressive prayer from Mrs. Zina D. Young; and then, on motion of Eliza R. Snow, Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball was elected president. Mrs. Lydia Alder was chosen secretary, and Mrs. M. T. Smoot, Mrs. M. N. Hyde, Isabella Horn, Mary Leaver, Priscilla Staines and Rachel Grant, were appointed a committee to draft resolutions. This was done with executive dispatch; for many present had for years been leaders of women's organizations. The president arose and addressed a few pithy remarks to the vast assemblage. She said:
"We are to speak in relation to the government and institutions under which we live. She would ask, Have we transgressed any law of the United States? [Loud "no" from the audience.] Then why are we here to-day? We have been driven from place to place, and wherefore? Simply for believing and practicing the counsels of God, as contained in the gospel of heaven. The object of this meeting is to consider the justice of a bill now before the Congress of the United States. We are not here to advocate woman's rights, but man's rights. The bill in question would not only deprive our fathers, husbands and brothers, of enjoying the privileges bequeathed to citizens of the United States, but it would deprive us, as women, of the privilege of selecting our husbands; and against this we unqualifiedly protest."
During the absence of the committee on resolutions, the following speech was delivered by Bathsheba W. Smith:
"Beloved Sisters and Friends: It is with no ordinary feelings that I meet with you on the present occasion. From my early youth I have been identified with the Latter-day Saints; hence, I have been an eye and ear witness to many of the wrongs that have been inflicted upon our people by a spirit of intolerant persecution.
"I watched by the bedside of the first apostle, David W. Patten, who fell a martyr in the Church. He was a noble soul. He was shot by a mob while defending the saints in the State of Missouri. As Brother Patten's life-blood oozed away, I stood by and heard his dying testimony to the truth of our holy religion—declaring himself to be a friend to all mankind. His last words, addressed to his wife, were: 'Whatever you do, oh! do not deny the faith.' This circumstance made a lasting impression on my youthful mind.
"I was intimately acquainted with the life and ministry of our beloved prophet Joseph, and our patriarch Hyrum Smith.. I know that they were pure men, who labored for the redemption of the human family. For six years I heard their public and private teachings. It was from their lips that I heard taught the principle of celestial marriage; and when I saw their mangled forms cold in death, having been slain for the testimony of Jesus, by the hands of cruel bigots, in defiance of law, justice and executive pledges; and although this was a scene of barbarous cruelty, which can never be erased from the memory of those who witnessed the heartrending cries of widows and orphans, and mingled their tears with those of thousands of witnesses of the mournful occasion—the memories of which I hardly feel willing to awaken—yet I realized that they had sealed their ministry with their blood, and that their testimony was in force.
"On the 9th day of February, 1846—the middle of a cold and bleak winter—my husband, just rising from a bed of sickness, and I, in company with thousands of saints, were driven again from our comfortable home—the accumulation of six years' industry and prudence—and, with the little children, commenced a long and weary journey through a wilderness, to seek another home; for a wicked mob had decreed we must leave. Governor Ford, of Illinois, said the laws were powerless to protect us. Exposed to the cold of winter and the storms of spring, we continued our journey, amid want and exposure, burying by the wayside a dead mother, a son, and many kind friends and relatives.
"We reached the Missouri river in July. Here our country thought proper to make a requisition upon us for a battalion to defend our national flag in the war pending with Mexico. We responded promptly, many of our kindred stepping forward and performing a journey characterized by their commanding officer as 'unparalleled in history.' With most of our youths and middle-aged men gone, we could not proceed; hence, we were compelled to make another home, which, though humble, approaching winter made very desirable. In 1847-8, all who were able, through selling their surplus property, proceeded; we who remained were told, by an unfeeling Indian department, we must vacate our houses and re-cross the Missouri river, as the laws would not permit us to remain on Indian lands! We obeyed, and again made a new home, though only a few miles distant. The latter home we abandoned in 1849, for the purpose of joining our co-religionists in the then far-off region, denominated on the map 'the Great American Desert,' and by some later geographies as 'Eastern Upper California.'
"In this isolated country we made new homes, and, for a time, contended with the crickets for a scanty subsistence. The rude, ignorant, and almost nude Indians were a heavy tax upon us, while struggling again to make comfortable homes and improvements; yet we bore it all without complaint, for we were buoyed up with the happy reflections that we were so distant from the States, and had found an asylum in such an undesirable country, as to strengthen us in the hope that our homes would not be coveted; and that should we, through the blessing of God, succeed in planting our own vine and fig tree, no one could feel heartless enough to withhold from us that religious liberty which we had sought in vain amongst our former neighbors.
"Without recapitulating our recent history, the development of a people whose industry and morality have extorted eulogy from their bitter traducers, I cannot but express my surprise, mingled with regret and indignation, at the recent efforts of ignorant, bigoted, and unfeeling men—headed by the Vice-President—to aid intolerant sectarians and reckless speculators, who seek for proscription and plunder, and who feel willing to rob the inhabitants of these valleys of their hard-earned possessions, and, what is dearer, the constitutional boon of religious liberty."
Sister Smith was followed by Mrs. Levi Riter, in a few appropriate remarks, and then the committee on resolutions reported the following:
"Resolved, That we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, in mass-meeting assembled, do manifest our indignation, and protest against the bill before Congress, known as 'the Cullom bill,' also the one known as 'the Cragin bill,' and all similar bills, expressions and manifestoes."Resolved, That we consider the above-named bills foul blots on our national escutcheon—absurd documents—atrocious insults to the honorable executive of the United States Government, and malicious attempts to subvert the rights of civil and religious liberty."Resolved, That we do hold sacred the constitution bequeathed us by our forefathers, and ignore, with laudable womanly jealousy, every act of those men to whom the responsibilities of government have been entrusted, which is calculated to destroy its efficiency."Resolved, That we unitedly exercise every moral power and every right which we inherit as the daughters of American citizens, to prevent the passage of such bills, knowing that they would inevitably cast a stigma on our republican government by jeopardizing the liberty and lives of its most loyal and peaceful citizens."Resolved, That, in our candid opinion, the presentation of the aforesaid bills indicates a manifest degeneracy of the great men of our nation; and their adoption would presage a speedy downfall and ultimate extinction of the glorious pedestal of freedom, protection, and equal rights, established by our noble ancestors."Resolved, That we acknowledge the institutions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the only reliable safeguard of female virtue and innocence; and the only sure protection against the fearful sin of prostitution, and its attendant evils, now prevalent abroad, and as such, we are and shall be united with our brethren in sustaining them against each and every encroachment."Resolved, That we consider the originators of the aforesaid bills disloyal to the constitution, and unworthy of any position of trust in any office which involves the interests of our nation."Resolved, That, in case the bills in question should pass both Houses of Congress, and become a law, by which we shall be disfranchised as a Territory, we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, shall exert all our power and influence to aid in the support of our own State government."
"Resolved, That we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, in mass-meeting assembled, do manifest our indignation, and protest against the bill before Congress, known as 'the Cullom bill,' also the one known as 'the Cragin bill,' and all similar bills, expressions and manifestoes.
"Resolved, That we consider the above-named bills foul blots on our national escutcheon—absurd documents—atrocious insults to the honorable executive of the United States Government, and malicious attempts to subvert the rights of civil and religious liberty.
"Resolved, That we do hold sacred the constitution bequeathed us by our forefathers, and ignore, with laudable womanly jealousy, every act of those men to whom the responsibilities of government have been entrusted, which is calculated to destroy its efficiency.
"Resolved, That we unitedly exercise every moral power and every right which we inherit as the daughters of American citizens, to prevent the passage of such bills, knowing that they would inevitably cast a stigma on our republican government by jeopardizing the liberty and lives of its most loyal and peaceful citizens.
"Resolved, That, in our candid opinion, the presentation of the aforesaid bills indicates a manifest degeneracy of the great men of our nation; and their adoption would presage a speedy downfall and ultimate extinction of the glorious pedestal of freedom, protection, and equal rights, established by our noble ancestors.
"Resolved, That we acknowledge the institutions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the only reliable safeguard of female virtue and innocence; and the only sure protection against the fearful sin of prostitution, and its attendant evils, now prevalent abroad, and as such, we are and shall be united with our brethren in sustaining them against each and every encroachment.
"Resolved, That we consider the originators of the aforesaid bills disloyal to the constitution, and unworthy of any position of trust in any office which involves the interests of our nation.
"Resolved, That, in case the bills in question should pass both Houses of Congress, and become a law, by which we shall be disfranchised as a Territory, we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, shall exert all our power and influence to aid in the support of our own State government."
These resolutions were greeted with loud cheers from nearly six thousand women, and carried unanimously; after which, Sister Warren Smith, a relict of one of the martyrs of Haun's Mill, arose, and with deep feeling, said:
"Sisters: As I sat upon my seat, listening, it seemed as though, if I held my peace, the stones of the streets would cry out. With your prayers aiding me, I will try and make a few remarks." [See chapter on Haun's Mill massacre, in which Sister Smith substantially covers the same ground.] "We are here to-day to say, if such scenes shall be again enacted in our midst. I say to you, my sisters, you are American citizens; let us stand by the truth, if we die for it."
Mrs. Wilmarth East then said: "It is with feelings of pleasure, mingled with indignation and disgust, that I appear before my sisters, to express my feelings in regard to the Cullom bill, now before the Congress of this once happy republican government. The constitution for which our forefathers fought and bled and died, bequeaths to us the right of religious liberty—the right to worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences! Does the Cullom bill give us this right? Compare it with the constitution, if you please, and see what a disgrace has come upon this once happy and republican government! Where, O, where, is that liberty, bequeathed to us by our forefathers—the richest boon ever given to man or woman, except eternal life, or the gospel of the Son of God? I am an American citizen by birth. Having lived under the laws of the land, I claim the right to worship God according to the dictates of my conscience, and the commandments that God shall give unto me. Our constitution guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to all who live beneath it. What is life to me, if I see the galling yoke of oppression placed on the necks of my husband, sons and brothers, as Mr. Cullom would have it? I am proud to say to you that I am not only a citizen of the United States of America, but a citizen of the kingdom of God, and the laws of this kingdom I am willing to sustain and defend both by example and precept. I am thankful to-day that I have the honored privilege of being the happy recipient of one of the greatest principles ever revealed to man for his redemption and exaltation in the kingdom of God—namely, plurality of wives; and I am thankful to-day that I know that God is at the helm, and will defend his people."
A veteran sister, Mrs. McMinn, could not refrain from expressing herself in unison with her sisters, in indignation at the bill. She was an American citizen; her father had fought through the revolution with General Washington; and she claimed the exercise of the liberty for which he had fought. She was proud of being a latter-day saint.
In answer to an inquiry, she stated that she was nearly eighty-five years of age.
Sister Eliza R. Snow then addressed the meeting, as follows:
"My Sisters: In addressing you at this time, I realize that the occasion is a peculiar and interesting one. We are living in a land of freedom, under a constitution that guarantees civil and religious liberty to all—black and white, Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Pagans; and how strange it is that such considerations should exist as those which have called us together this afternoon.
"Under the proud banner which now waves from ocean to ocean, strange as it may seem, we, who have ever been loyal citizens, have been persecuted from time to time and driven from place to place, until at last, beyond the bounds of civilization, under the guidance of President Young, we found an asylum of peace in the midst of these mountains.
"There are, at times, small and apparently trivial events in the lives of individuals, with which every other event naturally associates. There are circumstances in the history of nations, which serve as centres around which everything else revolves.
"The entrance of our brave pioneers, and the settlement of the latter-day saints in these mountain vales, which then were only barren, savage wilds, are events with which not only our own future, but the future of the whole world, is deeply associated.
"Here they struggled, with more than mortal energy, for their hearts and hands were nerved by the spirit of the Most High, and through his blessing they succeeded in drawing sustenance from the arid soil; here they erected the standard on which the 'star spangled banner' waved its salutation of welcome to the nations of the earth; and here it will be bequeathed, unsullied, to future generations. Yes, that 'dear old flag' which in my girlhood I always contemplated with joyous pride, and to which the patriotic strains of my earliest muse were chanted, here floats triumphantly on the mountain breeze.
"Our numbers, small at first, have increased, until now we number one hundred and fifty thousand; and yet we are allowed only a territorial government. Year after year we have petitioned Congress for that which is our inalienable right to claim—a State government; and, year after year, our petitions have been treated with contempt. Such treatment as we have received from our rulers, has no precedent in the annals of history.
"And now, instead of granting us our rights as American citizens, bills are being presented to Congress, which are a disgrace to men in responsible stations, professing the least claim to honor and magnanimity; bills which, if carried into effect, would utterly annihilate us as a people. But this will never be. There is too much virtue yet existing in the nation, and above all there is a God in heaven whose protecting care is over us, and who takes cognizance of the acts of men.
"My sisters, we have met to-day to manifest our views and feelings concerning the oppressive policy exercised towards us by our republican government. Aside from all local and personal feelings, to me it is a source of deep regret that the standard of American liberty should have been so far swayed from its original position, as to have given rise to circumstances which not only render such a meeting opportune, but absolutely necessary.
"Heretofore, while detraction and ridicule have been poured forth in almost every form that malice could invent, while we have been misrepresented by speech and press, and exhibited in every shade but our true light, the ladies of Utah have remained comparatively silent. Had not our aims been of the most noble and exalted character, and had we not known that we occupied a standpoint far above our traducers, we might have returned volley for volley; but we have all the time realized that to contradict such egregious absurdities, would be a great stoop of condescension—far beneath the dignity of those who profess to be saints of the living God; and we very unassumingly applied to ourselves a saying of an ancient apostle, in writing to the Corinthians, 'Ye suffer fools, gladly, seeing that yourselves are wise.'
"But there is a point at which silence is no longer a virtue. In my humble opinion, we have arrived at that point. Shall we—ought we—to be silent, when every right of citizenship, every vestige of civil and religious liberty, is at stake? When our husbands and sons, our fathers and brothers, are threatened with being either restrained in their obedience to the commands of God, or incarcerated, year after year, in the dreary confines of a prison, will it be thought presumptuous? Ladies, this subject as deeply interests us as them. In the kingdom of God, woman has no interests separate from those of man—all are mutual.
"Our enemies pretend that, in Utah, woman is held in a state of vassalage—that she does not act from choice, but by coercion—that we would even prefer life elsewhere, were it possible for us to make our escape. What nonsense! We all know that if we wished we could leave at any time—either to go singly, or to riseen masse, and there is no power here that could, or would wish to, prevent us.
"I will now ask this assemblage of intelligent ladies, do you know of any place on the face of the earth, where woman has more liberty, and where she enjoys such high and glorious privileges as she does here, as a latter-day saint? No! The very idea of woman here in a state of slavery is a burlesque on good common sense. The history of this people, with a very little reflection, would instruct outsiders on this point. It would show, at once, that the part which woman has acted in it, could never have been performed against her will. Amid the many distressing scenes through which we have passed, the privations and hardships consequent upon our expulsion from State to State, and our location in an isolated, barren wilderness, the women in this Church have performed and suffered what could never have been borne and accomplished by slaves.
"And now, after all that has transpired, can our opponents expect us to look on with silent indifference and see every vestige of that liberty for which many of our patriotic grandsires fought and bled, that they might bequeath to us, their children, the precious boon of national freedom, wrested from our grasp? They must be very dull in estimating the energy of female character, who can persuade themselves that women who for the sake of their religion left their homes, crossed the plains with handcarts, or as many had previously done, drove ox, mule and horse-teams from Nauvoo and from other points, when their husbands and sons went, at their country's call, to fight her battles in Mexico; yes, that very country which had refused us protection, and from which we were then struggling to make our escape—I say those who think that such women and the daughters of such women do not possess too much energy of character to remain passive and mute under existing circumstances, are 'reckoning without their host.' To suppose that we should not be aroused when our brethren are threatened with fines and imprisonment, for their faith in, and obedience to, the laws of God, is an insult to our womanly natures.
"Were we the stupid, degraded, heartbroken beings that we have been represented, silence might better become us; but as women of God, women filling high and responsible positions, performing sacred duties—women who stand not as dictators, but as counselors to their husbands, and who, in the purest, noblest sense of refined womanhood, are truly their helpmates—we not only speak because we have the right, but justice and humanity demand that we should.
"My sisters, let us, inasmuch as we are free to do all that love and duty prompt, be brave and unfaltering in sustaining our brethren. Woman's faith can accomplish wonders. Let us, like the devout and steadfast Miriam, assist our brothers in upholding the hands of Moses. Like the loving Josephine, whose firm and gentle influence both animated and soothed the heart of Napoleon, we will encourage and assist the servants of God in establishing righteousness; but unlike Josephine, never will political inducements, threats or persecutions, prevail on us to relinquish our matrimonial ties. They were performed by the authority of the holy priesthood, the efficiency of which extends into eternity.
"But to the law and to the testimony. Those obnoxious, fratricidal bills—I feel indignant at the thought that such documents should disgrace our national legislature. The same spirit prompted Herod to seek the life of Jesus—the same that drove our Pilgrim fathers to this continent, and the same that urged the English government to the system of unrepresented taxation, which resulted in the independence of the American colonies, is conspicuous in those bills. If such measures are persisted in they will produce similar results. They not only threaten extirpation to us, but they augur destruction to the government. The authors of those bills would tear the constitution to shreds; they are sapping the foundation of American freedom—they would obliterate every vestige of the dearest right of man—liberty of conscience—and reduce our once happy country to a state of anarchy.
"Our trust is in God. He who led Israel from the land of Egypt—who preserved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace—who rescued Daniel from the jaws of hungry lions, and who directed Brigham Young to these mountain vales, lives, and overrules the destinies of men and nations. He will make the wrath of man praise him; and his kingdom will move steadily forward, until wickedness shall be swept from the earth, and truth, love and righteousness reign triumphantly."
Next came a concise, powerful speech from Harriet Cook Young. She said:
"In rising to address this meeting, delicacy prompts me to explain the chief motives which have dictated our present action. We, the ladies of Salt Lake City, have assembled here to-day, not for the purpose of assuming any particular political power, nor to claim any special prerogative which may or may not belong to our sex; but to express our indignation at the unhallowed efforts of men, who, regardless of every principle of manhood, justice, and constitutional liberty, would force upon a religious community, by a direct issue, either the course of apostacy, or the bitter alternative of fire and sword. Surely the instinct of self-preservation, the love of liberty and happiness, and the right to worship God, are dear to our sex as well as to the other; and when these most sacred of all rights are thus wickedly assailed, it becomes absolutely our duty to defend them.
"The mission of the Latter-day Saints is to reform abuses which have for ages corrupted the world, and to establish an era of peace and righteousness. The Most High is the founder of this mission, and in order to its establishment, his providences have so shaped the world's history, that, on this continent, blest above all other lands, a free and enlightened government has been instituted, guaranteeing to all social, political, and religious liberty. The constitution of our country is therefore hallowed to us, and we view with a jealous eye every infringement upon its great principles, and demand, in the sacred name of liberty, that the miscreant who would trample it under his feet by depriving a hundred thousand American citizens of every vestige of liberty, should be anathematized throughout the length and breadth of the land, as a traitor to God and his country.
"It is not strange that, among the bigoted and corrupt, such a man and such a measure should have originated; but it will be strange indeed if such a measure find favor with the honorable and high-minded men who wield the destinies of the nation. Let this seal of ruin be attached to the archives of our country, and terrible must be the results. Woe will wait upon her steps, and war and desolation will stalk through the land; peace and liberty will seek another clime, while anarchy, lawlessness and bloody strife hold high carnival amid the general wreck. God forbid that wicked men be permitted to force such an issue upon the nation!
"It is true that a corrupt press, and an equally corrupt priestcraft, are leagued against us—that they have pandered to the ignorance of the masses, and vilified our institutions, to that degree that it has become popular to believe that the latter-day saints are unworthy to live; but it is also true that there are many, very many, right-thinking men who are not without influence in the nation; and to such do we now most solemnly and earnestly appeal. Let the united force of this assembly give the lie to the popular clamor that the women of Utah are oppressed and held in bondage. Let the world know that the women of Utah prefer virtue to vice, and the home of an honorable wife to the gilded pageantry of fashionable temples of sin. Transitory allurements, glaring the senses, as is the flame to the moth, short-lived and cruel in their results, possess no charms for us. Every woman in Utah may have her husband—the husband of her choice. Here we are taught not to destroy our children, but to preserve them, for they, reared in the path of virtue and trained to righteousness, constitute our true glory.
"It is with no wish to accuse our sisters who are not of our faith that we so speak; but we are dealing with facts as they exist. Wherever monogamy reigns, adultery, prostitution and foeticide, directly or indirectly, are its concomitants. It is not enough to say that the virtuous and high-minded frown upon these evils. We believe they do. But frowning upon them does not cure them; it does not even check their rapid growth; either the remedy is too weak, or the disease is too strong. The women of Utah comprehend this; and they see, in the principle of plurality of wives, the only safeguard against adultery, prostitution, and the reckless waste of pre-natal life, practiced throughout the land.
"It is as co-workers in the great mission of universal reform, not only in our own behalf, but also, by precept and example, to aid in the emancipation of our sex generally, that we accept in our heart of hearts what we know to be a divine commandment: and here, and now, boldly and publicly, we do assert our right, not only to believe in this holy commandment, but to practice what we believe.
"While these are our views, every attempt to force that obnoxious measure upon us must of necessity be an attempt to coerce us in our religious and moral convictions, against which did we not most solemnly protest, we would be unworthy the name of American women."
Mrs. Hannah T. King followed with a stinging address to General Cullom himself. She said:
"My Dear Sisters: I wish I had the language I feel to need, at the present moment, to truly represent the indignant feelings of my heart and brain on reading, as I did last evening, a string of thirty 'sections,' headed by the words, 'A Bill in aid of the Execution of the Laws in the Territory of Utah, and for other purposes.' The 'other purposes' contain the pith of the matter, and the adamantine chains that the author of the said bill seeks to bind this people with, exceed anything that the feudal times of England, or the serfdom of Russia, ever laid upon human beings. My sisters, are we really in America—the world-renowned land of liberty, freedom, and equal rights?—the land of which I dreamed, in my youth, as being almost an earthly elysium, where freedom of thought and religious liberty were open to all!—the land that Columbus wore his noble life out to discover!—the land that God himself helped him to exhume, and to aid which endeavor Isabella, a queen, a woman, declared she would pawn her jewels and crown of Castile, to give him the outfit that he needed!—the land of Washington, the Father of his Country, and a host of noble spirits, too numerous to mention!—the land to which theMayflowerbore the pilgrim fathers, who rose up and left their homes, and bade their native home 'good night,' simply that they might worship God by a purer and holier faith, in a land of freedom and liberty, of which the name America has long been synonymous! Yes, my sisters, this is America but oh! how are the mighty fallen!
"Who, or what, is the creature who framed this incomparable document? Is he an Esquimaux or a chimpanzee? What isolated land or spot produced him? What ideas he must have of women! Had he ever a mother, a wife, or a sister? In what academy was he tutored, or to what school does he belong, that he so coolly and systematically commands the women of this people to turn traitors to their husbands, their brothers, and their sons? Short-sighted man of 'sections' and 'the bill!' Let us, the women of this people—the sisterhood of Utah—riseen masse, and tell this non-descript to defer 'the bill' until he has studied the character of woman, such as God intended she should be; then he will discover that devotion, veneration and faithfulness are her peculiar attributes; that God is her refuge, and his servants her oracles; and that, especially, the women of Utah have paid too high a price for their present position, their present light and knowledge, and their noble future, to succumb to so mean and foul a thing as Baskin, Cullom & Co.'s bill. Let him learn that they are one in heart, hand and brain, with the brotherhood of Utah—that God is their father and their friend—that into his hands they commit their cause—and on their pure and simple banner they have emblazoned their motto, 'God, and my right!'"
The next who spoke was Phoebe Woodruff, who said:
"Ladies of Utah: As I have been called upon to express my views upon the important subject which has called us together, I will say that I am happy to be one of your number in this association. I am proud that I am a citizen of Utah, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been a member of this church for thirty-six years, and had the privilege of living in the days of the prophet Joseph, and heard his teaching for many years. He ever counseled us to honor, obey and maintain the principles of our noble constitution, for which our fathers fought, and which many of them sacrificed their lives to establish. President Brigham Young has always taught the same principle. This glorious legacy of our fathers, the constitution of the United States, guarantees unto all the citizens of this great republic the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, as it expressly says, 'Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Cullom's bill is in direct violation of this declaration of the constitution, and I think it is our duty to do all in our power, by our voices and influence, to thwart the passage of this bill, which commits a violent outrage upon our rights, and the rights of our fathers, husbands and sons; and whatever may be the final result of the action of Congress in passing or enforcing oppressive laws, for the sake of our religion, upon the noble men who have subdued these deserts, it is our duty to stand by them and support them by our faith, prayers and works, through every dark hour, unto the end, and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to defend us and all who are called to suffer for keeping the commandments of God. Shall we, as wives and mothers, sit still and see our husbands and sons, whom we know are obeying the highest behest of heaven, suffer for their religion, without exerting ourselves to the extent of our power for their deliverance? No; verily no! God has revealed unto us the law of the patriarchal order of marriage, and commanded us to obey it. We are sealed to our husbands for time and eternity, that we may dwell with them and our children in the world to come; which guarantees unto us the greatest blessing for which we are created. If the rulers of the nation will so far depart from the spirit and letter of our glorious constitution as to deprive our prophets, apostles and elders of citizenship, and imprison them for obeying this law, let them grant this, our last request, to make their prisons large enough to hold their wives, for where they go we will go also."
Sisters M. I. Horne and Eleanor M. Pratt followed with appropriate words, and then Sister Eliza R. Snow made the following remarks:
"My remarks in conclusion will be brief. I heard the prophet Joseph Smith say, if the people rose and mobbed us and the authorities countenanced it, they would have mobs to their hearts' content. I heard him say that the time would come when this nation would so far depart from its original purity, its glory, and its love of freedom and protection of civil and religious rights, that the constitution of our country would hang as it were by a thread. He said, also, that this people, the sons of Zion, would rise up and save the constitution, and bear it off triumphantly.
"The spirit of freedom and liberty we should always cultivate, and it is what mothers should inspire in the breasts of their sons, that they may grow up brave and noble, and defenders of that glorious constitution which has been bequeathed unto us. Let mothers cultivate that spirit in their own bosoms. Let them manifest their own bravery, and cherish a spirit of encountering difficulties, because they have to be met, more or less, in every situation of life. If fortitude and nobility of soul be cultivated in your own bosoms, you will transmit them to your children; your sons will grow up noble defenders of truth and righteousness, and heralds of salvation to the nations of the earth. They will be prepared to fill high and responsible religious, judicial, civil and executive positions. I consider it most important, my sisters, that we should struggle to preserve the sacred constitution of our country—one of the blessings of the Almighty, for the same spirit that inspired Joseph Smith, inspired the framers of the constitution; and we should ever hold it sacred, and bear it off triumphantly."
Mrs. Zina D. Young then moved that the meeting adjournsine die, which was carried, and Mrs. Phoebe Woodruff pronounced the benediction.
WIVES OF THE APOSTLES—MRS. ORSON HYDE—INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY DAYS—THE PROPHET—MARY ANN PRATT'S LIFE STORY—WIFE OF GEN. CHARLES C. RICH—MRS. FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS—PHOEBE WOODRUFF—LEONORA TAYLOR—MARIAN ROSS PRATT—THE WIFE OF DELEGATE CANNON—VILATE KIMBALL AGAIN.
The life of Mrs. Orson Hyde is replete with incidents of the early days, including the shameful occurrence of the tarring and feathering of the prophet, which took place while he was at her father's house.
Her maiden name was Marinda M. Johnson, she being the daughter of John and Elsa Johnson, a family well known among the pioneer converts of Ohio. She was born in Pomfret, Windsor county, Vermont, June 28, 1815.
"In February of 1818," she says, "my father, in company with several families from the same place, emigrated to Hiram, Portage county, Ohio. In the winter of 1831, Ezra Booth, a Methodist minister, procured a copy of the Book of Mormon and brought it to my father's house. They sat up all night reading it, and were very much exercised over it. As soon as they heard that Joseph Smith had arrived in Kirtland, Mr. Booth and wife and my father and mother went immediately to see him. They were convinced and baptized before they returned. They invited the prophet and Elder Rigdon to accompany them home, which they did, and preached several times to crowded congregations, baptizing quite a number. I was baptized in April following. The next fall Joseph came with his family to live at my father's house. He was at that time translating the Bible, and Elder Rigdon was acting as scribe. The following spring, a mob, disguising themselves as black men, gathered and burst into his sleeping apartment one night, and dragged him from the bed where he was nursing a sick child. They also went to the house of Elder Rigdon, and took him out with Joseph into an orchard, where, after choking and beating them, they tarred and feathered them, and left them nearly dead. My father, at the first onset, started to the rescue, but was knocked down, and lay senseless for some time. Here I feel like bearing my testimony that during the whole year that Joseph was an inmate of my father's house I never saw aught in his daily life or conversation to make me doubt his divine mission.
"In 1833 we moved to Kirtland, and in 1834 I was married to Orson Hyde, and became fully initiated into the cares and duties of a missionary's wife, my husband in common with most of the elders giving his time and energies to the work of the ministry.
"In the summer of 1837, leaving me with a three-weeks old babe, he, in company with Heber C. Kimball and others, went on their first mission to England. Shortly after his return, in the summer of 1838, we, in company with several other families, went to Missouri, where we remained till the next spring. We then went to Nauvoo. In the spring of 1840 Mr. Hyde went on his mission to Palestine; going in the apostolic style, without purse or scrip, preaching his way, and when all other channels were closed, teaching the English language in Europe, till he gained sufficient money to take him to the Holy Land, where he offered up his prayer on the Mount of Olives, and dedicated Jerusalem to the gathering of the Jews in this dispensation. Having accomplished a three-years mission, he returned, and shortly after, in accordance with the revelation on celestial marriage, and with my full consent, married two more wives. At last we were forced to flee from Nauvoo, and in the spring of 1846, we made our way to Council Bluffs, where our husband left us to go again on mission to England. On his return, in the fall of 1847, he was appointed to take charge of the saints in the States, and to send off the emigration as fast as it arrived in a suitable condition on the frontiers; also to edit a paper in the church interest, the name of which wasFrontier Guardian.
"In the summer of 1852 we brought our family safely through to Salt Lake City, where we have had peace and safety ever since.
"In 1868 I was chosen to preside over the branch of the Female Relief Society of the ward in which I reside, the duties of which position I have prayerfully attempted to perform."
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Mary Ann Pratt deserves mention next. It will be remembered that the apostle Parley P. Pratt lost his first wife at the birth of his eldest son. He afterwards married the subject of this sketch, and she becomes historically important from the fact that she was one of the first of those self-subduing women who united with their husbands in establishing the law of celestial marriage, or the "Patriarchal Order."She gave to her husband other wives. Taking up the story of her life with her career as a Latter-day Saint, she says:
"I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the spring of 1835, being convinced of the truthfulness of its doctrines by the first sermon I heard; and I said in my heart, if there are only three who hold firm to the faith, I will be one of that number; and through all the persecution I have had to endure I have ever felt the same; my heart has never swerved from that resolve.
"I was married to Parley P. Pratt in the spring of 1837, and moving to Missouri, endured with him the persecution of the saints, so often recorded in history. When my husband was taken by a mob, in the city of Far West, Mo., and carried to prison, I was confined to my bed with raging fever, and not able to help myself at all, with a babe three months old and my little girl of five years; but I cried mightily to the Lord for strength to endure, and he in mercy heard my prayer and carried me safely through. In a few days word came to me that my husband was in prison and in chains. As soon as my health was sufficiently restored I took my children and went to him. I found him released from his chains, and was permitted to remain with him. I shared his dungeon, which was a damp, dark, filthy place, without ventilation, merely having a small grating on one side. In this we were obliged to sleep.
"About the middle of March I bid adieu to my beloved companion, and returned to Far West to make preparations for leaving the State. Through the kind assistance of Brother David W. Rogers (now an aged resident of Provo), I removed to Quincy, Ill., where I remained until the arrival of Mr. Pratt, after his fortunate escape from prison, where he had been confined eight months without any just cause.
"Passing briefly over the intervening years, in which I accompanied my husband on various missions, first to New York, and thence to England, where I remained two years; and, returning to Nauvoo, our sojourn in that beautiful city a few years, and our final expulsion, and the final weary gathering to Utah; I hasten to bear my testimony to the world that this is the church and people of God, and I pray that I may be found worthy of a place in his celestial kingdom."
The tragedy of the close of the mortal career of Parley P. Pratt is still fresh in the public mind. It is one of the terrible chapters of Mormon history which the pen of his wife has not dared to touch.
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Another of these "first wives" is presented in the person of Sister Rich.
Sarah D. P. Rich, wife of Gen. Chas. C. Rich, and daughter of John and Elizabeth Pea, was born September 23d, 1814, in St. Clair county, Ill. In December, 1835, she became a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, and had the pleasure shortly after of seeing her father's family, with a single exception, converted to the same faith. In 1837 they removed to Far West, Mo., where the saints were at that time gathering. At this place she for the first time met Mr. Rich, to whom she was married on the 11th of February, 1838. During the autumn of 1838, the mob having driven many of the saints from their homes in the vicinity, she received into her house and sheltered no less than seven families of the homeless outcasts. Among the number was the family of Apostle Page, and it was during her sojourn with Mrs. Rich that Apostle Page's wife died. Mrs. R. stood in her door and saw the infamous mob-leader and Methodist preacher, Bogard, shoot at her husband as he was returning from the mob camp under a flag of truce. That night Mr. Rich was compelled to flee for his life, and she did not see him again until she joined him three months later, on the bank of the Mississippi, opposite Quincy. They made the crossing in a canoe, the river being so full of ice that the regular ferry-boat could not be used. From this place they removed to Nauvoo, where she remained daring all the succeeding persecutions and trials of the church, until February, 1846, when they were forced to leave, which they did, with her three small children, crossing the Mississippi on the ice. Journeying westward to Mount Pisgah, Iowa, they remained during the following season, and planted and harvested a crop of corn. In the spring of 1847 they removed to winter quarters, and six weeks afterwards started out on the weary journey across the plains. She arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the 2d of October, 1847, with the second company of emigrants, of which her husband was the leader.
Since that time she has resided continually in Salt Lake City, with the exception of a short sojourn in Bear Lake Valley, and has endured without complaint all of the trials, privations and hardships incident to the settlement of Utah. She is the mother of nine children, and is well known as the friend of the poor, the nurse of the sick, and the counselor of the friendless and oppressed among the people; and it is needless to add that she has passed her life in the advocacy and practice of the principles of that gospel which she embraced in the days of her youth.
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Mrs. Jane S. Richards, wife of the distinguished apostle, Franklin D. Richards, and daughter of Isaac and Louisa Snyder, was born January 31st, 1823, in Pamelia, Jefferson county, N. Y. The prophet and pilot of her father's house into the church was Elder John E. Page, who brought to them the gospel in 1837, while they were living near Kingston, Canada. The family started thence for Far West, Mo., in 1839, but were compelled by sickness to stop at La Porte, Indiana. Here, through the faithful ministrations of her brother Robert, she was restored from the effects of a paralytic stroke, and immediately embraced the faith. In the autumn following (1840) she first saw young Elder Richards, then on his first mission. In 1842, after her father's family had moved to Nauvoo, she was married to Mr. Richards. In the journey of the saints into the wilderness, after their expulsion from Nauvoo, she drank to the bitter dregs the cup of hardship and affliction, her husband being absent on mission and she being repeatedly prostrated with sickness. At winter quarters President Young said to her, "It may truly be said, if any have come up through great tribulation from Nauvoo, you have." There her little daughter died, and was the first to be interred in that memorable burying ground of the saints. Here also her husband's wife, Elizabeth, died, despite the faithful efforts of friends, and had it not been for their unwearied attentions, Jane also would have sunk under her load of affliction and sorrow.
In 1848, Mr. Richards having returned from mission, they gathered to the valley. In 1849 she gave her only sister to her husband in marriage. From that time forth until their removal to Ogden, in 1869, hers was the fortune of a missionary's wife, her husband being almost constantly on mission. In 1872 she accepted the presidency of the Ogden Relief Society, which she has since very acceptably filled. Among the noteworthy items of interest connected with her presidency of this society, was the organization of the young ladies of Ogden into a branch society for the purpose of retrenchment and economy in dress, moral, mental and spiritual improvement, etc., which has been most successfully continued, and is now collaterally supported by many branch societies in the county. But her labors have not been confined to Ogden alone. She has been appointed to preside over the societies of Weber county; and, as a sample of her efforts, we may instance that she has established the manufacture of home-made straw bonnets and hats, which industry has furnished employment to many. Her heart and home have ever been open to the wants of the needy; and the sick and afflicted have been the objects of her continual care.
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The closing words of the wife of Apostle Woodruff, at the grand mass-meeting of the women of Utah, have in them a ring strongly suggestive of what must have been the style of speech of those women of America who urged their husbands and sons to resist the tyranny of George III; throw off the yoke of colonial servitude, and prove themselves worthy of national independence.
Phoebe W. Carter was born in Scarboro, in the State of Maine, March 8th, 1807. Her father was of English descent, connecting with America at about the close of the seventeenth century. Her mother, Sarah Fabyan, was of the same place, and three generations from England. The name of Fabyan was one of the noblest names of Rome, ere England was a nation, and that lofty tone and strength of character so marked in the wife of Apostle Woodruff was doubtless derived from the Fabyans, Phoebe being of her mother's stamp.
In the year 1834 she embraced the gospel, and, about a year after, left her parents and kindred and journeyed to Kirtland, a distance of one thousand miles—a lone maid, sustained only by a lofty faith and trust in Israel's God. In her characteristic Puritan language she says:
"My friends marveled at my course, as did I, but something within impelled me on. My mother's grief at my leaving home was almost more than I could bear; and had it not been for the spirit within I should have faltered at the last. My mother told me she would rather see me buried than going thus alone out into the heartless world. 'Phoebe,' she said, impressively, 'will you come back to me if you find Mormonism false?' I answered, 'yes, mother; I will, thrice.' These were my words, and she knew I would keep my promise. My answer relieved her trouble; but it cost us all much sorrow to part. When the time came for my departure I dared not trust myself to say farewell; so I wrote my good-byes to each, and leaving them on my table, ran down stairs and jumped into the carriage. Thus I left the beloved home of my childhood to link my life with the saints of God.
"When I arrived in Kirtland I became acquainted with the prophet, Joseph Smith, and received more evidence of his divine mission. There in Kirtland I formed the acquaintance of Elder Wilford Woodruff, to whom I was married in 1836. With him I went to the 'islands of the sea,' and to England, on missions.
"When the principle of polygamy was first taught I thought it the most wicked thing I ever heard of; consequently I opposed it to the best of my ability, until I became sick and wretched. As soon, however, as I became convinced that it originated as a revelation from God through Joseph, and knowing him to be a prophet, I wrestled with my Heavenly Father in fervent prayer, to be guided aright at that all-important moment of my life. The answer came. Peace was given to my mind. I knew it was the will of God; and from that time to the present I have sought to faithfully honor the patriarchal law.
"Of Joseph, my testimony is that he was one of the greatest prophets the Lord ever called; that he lived for the redemption of mankind, and died a martyr for the truth. The love of the saints for him will never die.
"It was after the martyrdom of Joseph that I accompanied my husband to England, in 1845. On our return the advance companies of the saints had just left Nauvoo under President Young and others of the twelve. We followed immediately and journeyed to winter quarters.
"The next year Wilford went with the pioneers to the mountains, while the care of the family devolved on me. After his return, and the reorganization of the first presidency, I accompanied my husband on his mission to the Eastern States. In 1850 we arrived in the valley, and since that time Salt Lake City has been my home.
"Of my husband I can truly say, I have found him a worthy man, with scarcely his equal on earth. He has built up a branch wherever he has labored. He has been faithful to God and his family every day of his life. My respect for him has increased with our years, and my desire for an eternal union with him will be the last wish of my mortal life."
Sister Phoebe is one of the noblest of her sex—a mother in Israel. And in her strength of character, consistency, devotion, and apostolic cast, she is second to none.
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A most worthy peer of sister Woodruff was Leonora, the wife of Apostle John Taylor. She was the daughter of Capt. Cannon, of the Isle of Man, England, and sister of the father of George Q. Cannon. She left England for Canada, as a companion to the wife of the secretary of the colony, but with the intention of returning. While in Canada, however, she met Elder Taylor, then a Methodist minister, whose wife she afterwards became. They were married in 1833. She was a God-fearing woman, and, as we have seen, was the first to receive Parley P. Pratt into her house when on his mission to Canada. In the spring of 1838 she gathered with her husband and two children to Kirtland. Thence they journeyed to Far West. She was in the expulsion from Missouri; bore the burden of her family in Nauvoo, as a missionary's wife, while her husband was in England; felt the stroke of the martyrdom, in which her husband was terribly wounded; was in the exodus; was then left at winter quarters while her husband went on his second mission to England; but he returned in time for them to start with the first companies that followed the pioneers. Sister Leonora was therefore among the earliest women of Utah.
When the prospect came, at the period of the Utah war, that the saints would have to leave American soil, and her husband delivered those grand patriotic discourses to his people that will ever live in Mormon history, Sister Taylor nobly supported his determination with the rest of the saints to put the torch to their homes, rather than submit to invasion and the renunciation of their liberties. She died in the month of December, 1867. Hers was a faithful example, and she has left an honored memory among her people.
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Marian Ross, wife of Apostle Orson Pratt, is a native of Scotland, and was reared among the Highlands. When about seventeen years of age she visited her relatives in Edinburgh, where Mormonism was first brought to her attention. She was shortly afterwards baptized near the harbor of Leith, on the 27th of August, 1847. A singular feature of Mrs. Pratt's experience was that in a dream she was distinctly shown her future husband, then on his mission to Scotland. When she saw him she at once recognized him. She made her home at Apostle Pratt's house in Liverpool, for a short time, and then emigrated to America, in 1851. After being in Salt Lake City a few months she was married to Mr. Pratt. She testifies, "I have been in polygamy twenty-five years, and have never seen the hour when I have regretted that I was in it. I would not change my position for anything earthly, no matter how grand and gorgeous it might be; even were it for the throne of a queen. For a surety do I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he is a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God."
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Another of these apostolic women, who with their husbands founded Utah, is the wife of Albert Carrington. She was also in the valley in 1847. Her grand example and words to Captain Van Vliet, when the saints were resolving on another exodus, have been already recorded. A volume written could not make her name more imperishable.
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Nor must Artimisa, the first wife of Erastus Snow, who is so conspicuous among the founders of St. George, be forgotten. She is one of the honorable women of Utah, and the part she has sustained, with her husband, in building up the southern country, has been that of self-sacrifice, endurance, and noble example.
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Mention should also be made of Elizabeth, daughter of the late Bishop Hoagland, and first wife of George Q. Cannon. She has borne the burden of the day as a missionary's wife, and has also accompanied her husband on mission to England; but her most noteworthy example was in her truly noble conduct in standing by her husband in those infamous persecutions of the politicians, over the question of polygamy, in their efforts to prevent him taking his seat in Congress.
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Here let us also speak of the death of Sister Vilate Kimball, whose history has been given somewhat at length in previous chapters. After sharing with her husband and the saints the perils and hardships of the exodus, and the journey across the plains, and after many years of usefulness to her family and friends, she died Oct. 22d, 1867. She was mourned by none more sincerely than by her husband, who, according to his words, spoken over her remains, was "not long after her."