Biography Of Patriarch Alexander Hale Smith

269 Pages·2016·14.47 MB·English

BIOGRAPHY OF PATRIARCH ALEXANDER
HALE SMITH.
BY VIDA E. SMITH.
I have just returned from a little pilgrimage into Missouri.
A pilgrimage to the birthplace of my father, where once a
city sprang up as by magic and wore the name of Far West;
yesterday I found the quiet of an agricultural district.
Where stood the tavern, where Joseph Smith, sr., and his
dauntless wife Lucy lived, now stands a field of ripened corn.
Serene and silent the landscape lay under the autumn sun.
Down in the softly rolling pasture land I found numerous
depre,ssions; grassy and brick strewn, that marked the site of
homes long since gone. One of these was pointed out to me as
the place where stood Joseph Smith's home. Seating myself
on the warm green earth I looked away over the beautiful,
rolling hills· to the north and northwest. To the northeast the
temple lot, and to the north of it the public square where Joseph
Smith, Lyman Wight and others were ·ordered to be shot, and
from Which fate they were saved by the interposition of one
humane act, bright as an oasis, on the barren desert of inhu
manity, marking the history of Far West, for ever immortaliz
ing the name ·Of Alexander W. Doniphan in the hearts of
Latter Day Saints. I looked to the southeast, from whence
came marching the ,militia on that memorable morning in the
history.
Turning my thoughts again to the place near: me, I pondered
that here, some place close by, Emma Hale Smith, wife of the
young prophet, gave birth to a son. It was the second day of
June in eighteen hundred and thirty-eight. These same hills
lay green and inviting under the spring sunshine. The winter
had been long and hard.. With her adopted daughter JuHa,
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PATRIARCH ALEXANDER H. SMITH.
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and two br,own-eyed little sons, Joseph and Frederick, Emma
Smith had made the journey from Kirtland, Ohio, by team.
All the longer hills on that wearisome way, she had climbed;
walking in rain and mud and wind and storm. But the suffer
ing and weariness of that journey were almost lost sight of
in the hurried and harrowing scenes that followed. Truly the
"Mormon" people "made history" with swift and startling
FAR WEST.
"Where once a city sprang up as by magic, and bore the name of Far
West."
strokes. In June this boy child came to the little home, stand
ing here on this hillside. In Joseph Smith's history of the
church as found in MiUennial Star, volume 16, pp. 152, 153,
we find this small item. "Pres. Hyrum Smith returned to Far
West on the 30th, and I returned on the first of June on
account of my family for I had a son born unto me." This
was the boy Alexander. The first child in the little family to
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BIOGRAPHY OF PATRIARCH A. H. SMITH 5
inherit the father's blue eyes and ruddy complexion. And
those old time Saints who ,had known his father, the Martyr,
and ,afterwards knew .and heard Alexander~ testified he in
herited a striking resemblance to his father in voice, gesture,
and manner of presentation in the pulpit. And small wonder
when we consider the anxiety that attended all those months
crowded into the years of thirty-seven and thirty-eight. Ho:w
1
every word that fell from the lips of Joseph Smith was
weighed for or against him and his people, both by enemy and
friend. If hereditary influences ever counted, it ,should be
easily traced in this instance. Who more anxiously interested
in every word 'and action of the young leader than the wife
of his heart and the mother of his children? And from the
gloom of his prison comes this letter to show the yearnings of
the husband and father for the little group warm and waiting
in the glow of the fire helle at home in Far West.
RICHMOND, MISSOURI, November 12, 1838.
My Dear Emma: W·e are prisoners in chains and under strong guards
for Christ's sake and for no other causes; although there have been
things that were unbeknown to us and altogether beyond our control
that might seem to the mob to be a pretext for them to persecute us;
but on examination I think that the authorities will discover our inno
cence and set us free; but if this blessing can not be obtained I have
this consolation, that I am an innocent man, let what will befall me.
I received your letter, which I read over and over again; it was a
sweet morsel to me. 0 God, grant that I may have the privilege of
seeing once more my lovely family in the enjo.yment of the sweets of
liberty and sociable life; to press them to my bosom and kiss their lovely
cheeks would fill my heart with unspeakable gratitude. Tell the children
that I am alive, and trust I shall come and see them before long. Com
fort their hearts all you can, and try to be comforted yourself all you can.
There is 'no possible danger but what we shall be set at liberty if justice
can be done, and that you kno'Y as well as myself. The trial will begin
to-day for some of us. L,awyer Reese, and we expect Doniphan, will
plead our cause. We could get no others in time for the trial. They are
able men and will do well, no doubt.
Brother Robinson is chained next to me, he has. a true heart and a
firm mind; Brother Wight is next, Brother Rigdon next, Hyrum next,
Parley next, Amasa next; and thus we are bound together in chains, as
well as the cords of everlasting love. We are in good spirits and rejoice
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that we are counted worthy to be persecuted for Christ's sake. Tell
little Joseph he must be a good boy. F:ather loves him with a perfect
love; he is the eldest-must not hurt those that are smaller than he, but
care for them. Tell little Frederick father loves him with all his: heart;
he is a lovely boy. Julia is a lovely little girl; I love her also. She is a
promising child; tell her father wants her to remember him and be a
good girl. Tell all the rest that I think of them and pray.for them all.
Brother Babbitt is waiting to carry our letters for us. Colonel Price
is inspecting them; therefore my time is short. Little Alexander is on
my mind continually. 0, my affectionate Emma, I want you to remember
that I am a true and faithful friend to you and the children for ever. My
heart is entwined around yours for ever and ever. 0, may God bless
you all. Amen. I am your husband, and am in bonds and tribulation,
etc. JosEPH SMITH, JR.
To Emma Smith.
P. S.-Write as often as you can, and if possible come and see me, and
bring the children if possible. Act according to your own feelings and
best judgment, and endeavor to be comforted, if possible, and I trust
that all will turn out for the best. Yours, · J. S.
Twice in the month of December, the jail at Liberty was
graced by the presence of this noble lady, to visit her prisoner
husband, and again in January her name appears .among vis
itors there. Then we turn with her from this city of 1ost hopes
and persecution. Keeping the babe warm by her own sad
heart beats, she ma:de the others comfortable as possible and
c11ossed the wintry land and frozen streams by carriage.
Reaching the Misssissippi she gathered her two youngest into
her arms and with the hands of the two older ones clinging
to her skirts, ~she walked across the freshly frozen waters to
the freedom and shelter offered by the State of Illinois;
crowded to this hard and wearisome. journey by the exter
minating order of Gnvernor Boggs.
Heartbroken and sad, she found shelter in the city of
Quincy, at the :home of a man named Cleveland. Faithfully
she waited; fearing, hoping, alternately, for tidings from the
prison-bound husband. And how glad was :their meeting and
how blessed the freedom from Missouri's bitter oppressors!
It is not possible to separate, even in story, the life of any
one of the Smith boys from their mother. In sequence and
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BIOGRAPHY OF PATRIARCH A. H. SMITH 7
effect the life of mother and sons are woven together for ever.
Her fidelity and care and companionship are like strong and
shining threads woven into the warp and woof of their des
tinies. Robbed, most cruelly robbed of a father's love and
'''I don't want my picture taken." Alexander H. Smith in childhood.
care, the burden of rearing and providing for them fell upon
the mother; and with it, unconsciously maybe, the future of
the church purified and reorganized.
And following the course of iife as it flowed, we find
Alexander celebrating his first birth anniversary in the log
house bought of Hugh White by Joseph Smith, near the little
town of Commerce, Illinois. Here I take up the life story of
Alexander Hale Smith with feelings of deep and tender love.
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JOURNAL OF HISTORY
And I wish that I could vitalize the scenes of my father's life
and make them to thr:ob with life, and glow w1th li~ht; in fact
become immortal in the hearts of those who shall come after
him, as they vibrate in the memory of those who knew him.
Ah! if I could: but my hands fall down ! But considering his
desires I must try, and if I fail it shall no,t be because I have
not a noble and worthy subject. I found my simple structure
on the facts :of his life and those prenatal influences going be
fore them. Besides, honest parenthood and sturdy ancestral
stock, I remember the :softening and tender influences that
acc,ompany scenes of pain and suffering to our fellow-beings,
when viewed by great and noble souls, as was his mother's.
He was but a child of six years and ,three weeks, when the
awful and bewildering scenes connected with the tragedy at
Carthage whirled about him. Vague and terrifying was their
effed on his youthful mind. He knew that a great calamity
had fallen upon his world and his mother's. When the little,
blue-eyed brother, David, came into the home cirde, a few
months later, the horizon of his happiness widened marvel
ously. His loving, sympathetic nature found joy in the very
dependence of the baby. And this feeling of s,trong and protec
tive affection never lessened; being succeeded in later manhood
by a strong and deep love for David's only son, Elbert A.
Warm hearted, impulsive, easily moved to quick and de
cisive action or tears of pity and repentance, he moved through
the years of infancy and early childhood; a childhood spent in
Nauv:oo and its vicinity, save for a short sojourn in the fall of
eighteen hundred and forty..:six, when Emma Smith sought
more peaceful. surroundings in Fulton City, Illinois, a town
about one hundred and forty miles up the river. The stay here
was but a few months. In the spring, the family moved back
to the hotel home in the Mansion House at Nauvoo. Athletic
sports were favorites with my father. An active, out-of-door
life made him a swimmer, wrestler, and skater of some skill.
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BIOGRAPHY OF PATRIARCH A. H. SMITH 9
Jumping, running, and rowing received attention. Sometimes
the mother, with the boys, lived on the family farm. Some
times the mother ~stayed in the hotel and had help at the farm.
My father received common schooling in the public schools of
Nauvoo, although the things that educated him were not ir.
frequently far from the desk in the old hall, for he was a lover
and a student of nature in all her moods. The signals of
wind and tide, bird and animal, were known to him, in won
derful measure. He laid his hand to ~the rudder and the
simple river aaft answered to his will like a thing of life;
he placed his finger on tihe trigger and the firearm respondE'd
with unerring resul,t; he placed a caressing shoulder close to
her nose and immediately the high-spirited little filly yielded
to his guiding, soothing voice, and there were confidential
relations established. Singing and whistling, he tramped with
his brothers and fellows through the Old Mansion. Sometime
in each year the town heM a shooting match "free for an,"
b~t Alex. SmHh and another young man of Nlauvoo, because of
the skill of these two they were barred.
Here again, we find ·the possible consequence of hereditary
influences. During the troublous times in Far West, pre
vious to the birth of my father, the only recourse :for protec
tion was the gun-arms. Prowess in their use was considered
desirable. Women, dad in men's clothing, stood guard, gun
in hand, where other women slep,t. Couple these influences
with the native proclivities, due to ancestral necessities, for
his was a family of pioneers, and we account for this seeming
love for a gun.
In contradis,tinction to this very marked characteristic in
Alexander, we produce the disposition of his brother David on
the same point. Back of the sorrowful scene in the dining
room of the Old Mansion, following that twenty-seventh day
of June, eighteen hundred and forty-four, when Emma Smith
bent over the silent, bleeding form of the father of her unborn
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child, now called David, back of that scene, I say, lay the
militia, the glitter of military trappings and the death dealing
gun. Fear of its awful work had lain close to her heart as the.
embryo child, and from his earlies.t childhood the boy David
had an abhorrence for all manner of firearms. Though Alex
ander loved also the peaceable things of life, the dauntless
spirit of Far West seemed to be with him, and fearlessness
was part of his strongly emotional nature. His mother's
word w~s law; her decision, the end of all controversy. She
was the center of the universe to him. His tendency to cry
when angered or irritated, won for him a disa.greeable little
nickname from his older brothers and sister. On the other
hand, his insistent and determined pursuit of .any fixed object
or purpose made him a desirable ally in game or work. The
unselfishness of boyhood rendered him poorer in worldly goods
but secure in the love of friends. This :very element in la.ter
life developed into a hospitality luxurious by reason of its
very simplicity.
He found delight in ,the use of tools, and in their manipu
lation developed a certain amount of genius. With his pocket
knife and a small piece of glass, he produced from half a
shingle or a bit of pine, really artistic little articles. Of,ten
have I seen him the center of a group of interested little people,
they eagerly watching the growth of some article, wonderful to
them. It was not alone the Yankee knack of making shavings,
but an inborn creative faculty that guided his hand. In our
childhood his clever hand often supplied our playthings; cup
boards and the wooden plates and daintily finished sets of
"j.ack straws"; while rthe woman of the household thanked him
in her heart many times for the trifles that he provided to
make her lot easier. We children considered his creative
ability as bounded only by economic conditions. I remember
wa:tching with appreciative concern the ~uilding of a ro.wboat
by him. To us ·children the growth of that boat was nothing
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BIOGRAPHY OF PATRIARCH A. H. SMITH 11
less than marvelous, from the first curling white shaving, to
the putting on of the creamy white paint and then the green
• trimming's. The launching of the boat was an event of inter
est, but it faded into the glory of a lesser type when one day
I found it christened with my own name. I fairly went dizzy
ALEXANDER HALE SMITH.
(In late boyhood.)
with the honor of it. A boat made by father, named by himself
and mother-for me! What this power and love for making
things might have become in the hands of our manual training
people of to~day, I can only conjecture, but it counted to him
for good without any training.
There was not a spot in or about Nauvoo with which my
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