I Couldn't Do It

The principle of plural marriage remains a mystery to me, and particularly in the case of my Great, Great Grandmother Charlotte Rawlins Downs Smith. Twenty-one-year-old Charlotte was first married in 1814 to Ezekiel Downs. Six children were born to the union. 

In 1829, the family settled in Adams County, Illinois, twelve miles below Quincy, where they prospered. They bought calves and hogs and raised them for market, purchased and fenced 160 acres, 100 of which they cleared, and planted with corn, wheat, oats, beans, potatoes, pumpkins and melons. 

Sympathetic to the plight of the exiled Mormon settlers from Missouri, they became converted to the gospel and eventually moved and settled in Nauvoo,  where they built a nice home. Nevertheless, they suffered great persecution and hardship at the hands of mobs because of their faith. 

The suffering and martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith eventually weakened Ezekiel's faith, and he left the fellowship of the saints, but Charlotte remained strong and emigrated with all but one of the children to Utah. Her testimony and commitment to the restored gospel became stronger and brighter on the trek west.

As if her story is not inspiring enough to this point, in Utah she became the 2nd wife of John Glover Smith. Brother Smith was a true saint, a member of the Quorum of the Seventies from Big Cottonwood. His first marriage was at age 44 in 1852, to Susannah Downs. Three years later, he was sealed to two more wives, one of which was Charlotte, Susannah's mother! I can scarcely imagine living in plural marriage, but to share a husband with your daughter is incomprehensible. John later married a fourth wife, but that marriage was later dissolved.

Five years passed before John was called as the first Bishop of "Summit" in Cache County, Utah, eight miles north of Logan. The settlement was later renamed "Smithfield" in his (and we must include his faithful wives') honor.


John was called to settle the "Cotton Mission" in St. George in 1862, but Charlotte's health was not robust enough to go. She stayed behind in Draper, where she passed away the following year at age 70. One can only guess at the reason that her tombstone listed her marriage to Ezekiel, her first husband, who left the faith and abandoned the family.

Departed Loved Ones Nearby

Hyrum Smith

Joseph F. Smith

Researching and writing the posts on this blog have helped me understand the term "departed loved ones." Previously that phrase made sense to me when referring to people I had known and loved, but not so much when referring to ancestors I had never met. A wonderful byproduct of my attention to family history is that my love has exploded for family members who lived and died before me. 

The Prophet Joseph F. Smith spoke very meaningfully about departed loved ones and their continued interest and influence in our lives on earth. The son of Hyrum Smith and nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith, he was only six years old when his father was martyred. 

He was thirteen years old when his mother passed away. Being left without either parents, her death devastated him and he spoke of that period of his life as being very difficult. Having lost my mother at a young age, I can relate to some degree to the emotions he describes:

Mary Fielding Smith

“After my mother’s death there followed 18 months - from Sept 21st, 1852, to April, 1854, of perilous times for me. I was almost like a comet or fiery meteor, without attraction or gravitation to keep me balanced or guide me within reasonable bounds.”

President Smith gained understanding of death as he matured, and later proclaimed the following prophetic words in the 1916 April General Conference. These words give me great comfort and the more I learn and draw my heart toward my ancestors, my testimony grows of their truth.

“If we can see by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God and through the words that have been spoken by the holy prophets of God, beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely those who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the veil back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our sphere of action. 

I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. 

We begin to realize more and more fully, as we become acquainted with the principles of the Gospel, as they have been revealed anew in this dispensation, that we are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our friends and associates and co-laborers who have preceded us into the spirit world. 

We cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot break, that we cannot dissolve or free ourselves from. 

If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, shortsightedness, lack of inspiration and wisdom from time to time, how much more certain it is and reasonable and consistent to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond ... can see us better than we can see them; that they know us better than we know them. 

They have advanced; we are advancing; we are growing as they have grown; we are reaching the goal that they have attained unto; and therefore, I claim that we live in their presence, they see us and they are solicitous for our welfare and they love us now more than ever. 

For now they see the dangers that beset us; they can comprehend better than ever before, the weaknesses that are liable to mislead us into dark and forbidden paths. They see the temptations and the evils that beset us in life and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their desire for our well-being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves."

Double Family Connection

 
May 29^th is a red letter day in history. My sister, Sharlene McCracken Smith shares this birthday with Mary Hannah Beard Birch, although Sherry came along ninety-one years after Mary’s birth in 1860 in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, England.

Not only is Mary the sister of my Great Grandfather James Thomas Beard Sr., she is also the Great Grandmother of Neil Kay Birch, my sister Sandi’s first husband.

Mary Hannah Beard Birch

Mary’s parents were converted to the LDS church in England and immigrated to the U.S. when their baby daughter was not yet two years old, sailing on the ship “John J Boyd”, leaving Liverpool April 23, 1862, and arriving in New York June 1^st, a relatively short journey of five weeks.

One of the Beard family’s sailing companions, William Lindsay, recorded the following in his journal:

• "When the letter came from Liverpool telling us passages for all our family had been secured on the sailing ship John J. Boyd and telling us to sell everything we would not need on the journey and come to Liverpool in site of three days to get on board the ship which would sail April 22, 1862. This letter caused great rejoicing. Brother Sam ran around the house shouting, "Boys this is the best letter ever came to our home." 
• ... a fairly good passage over the sea. However, we had one quite hard storm that shook things up some, but no great damage was done. Of course, the ship was being tossed about and was lurching badly. Two women right close to us were very much excited and crying. I could not help smiling although I had to keep a hold of the bunk to keep from being thrown out. I thought it absurd to suppose that a ship with 700 Saints bound for Zion could possibly sink."

By the time of Mary's immigration to the U.S., Thomas Birch, born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England had already arrived in Utah in the Ellsworth and McArthur Handcart Company of 1856.

In March, 1878, Mary and Thomas met and were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City and moved to Willard, Utah. Thomas was twelve years her senior. Three years earlier he had married Sarah Jane Vernon who had died shortly after the childbirth of their first child. The infant daughter passed away seven months later.

The young groom must have been fearful when nine months later, almost to the day, a son was born to Mary, but this time the birth was joyful. Thomas was once more overcome with grief when their second child died as an infant. Seven more healthy children joined the family.

I like this family photo from 1899. Mary is the one wearing the stylish hat and holding an infant. This photo of the family together was very precious as the following year Mary’s husband passed away at the young age of 52, leaving Mary (40) to provide for and rear the seven unmarried children. 

The oldest son, James, had married the year before and would have been a great assistance on the farm as he and his wife continued to live in the family home.

Mary pressed on operating the family farm, hiring help when necessary to assist with hauling hay or other tasks.

Mary was single for the remainder of her life, but was rarely alone. Her home was open to everyone. For a period of time one of the community school teachers lived with the family in exchange for tuition. As other children married, several lived in or near the family home in Wilford, Idaho.

Mary died at the age of 87 in Rexburg, Idaho.