OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 49C ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 May 28, 2005 ************************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio Tid Bits - Part 49 C by Darlene E. Kelley notes by S Kelly ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits- Part 49 C. Joseph Smith, Jr. The Prophet. Joseph Smith's ancestors were ordinary New England farm people. His Smith ancesters emigrated from England to America in the seventeenth century and settled in Topsfield, Massachusetts, where they attained local distinction. His grandfather Asael Smith, unable at the time to pay the debts on the family farm, sold the farm, liquidated the debts, and migrated in 1791 to Tunbridge, Vermont, where he purchased enough land to provide for his sons. Joseph Smith's Mack ancestors, from Scotland, settled in Lyme, Connecticut, prospered for a while, and then fell on hard times. Joseph's grandfather Solomon Mack attempted various enterprises in New England and New York, with little financial success. One of the Mack sons moved to Tunbridge, and through him, Lucy Mack met Joseph Smith, Sr., one of Asael's sons. The pair married in 1796. They had eleven children, nine who lived to adulthood. Joseph Smith, Jr., was born December 23,1805, in Sharon, Vermont, the third son to live and the fourth child. Young Joseph had little formal schooling. His parents lost their Tunbridge farm in 1803 through a failed business venture and for the next fourteen years moved from one tenant farm to another. In 1816, they migrated to Palmyra, New York, just north of the Finger Lakes, where in 1817 they purchased a farm in Farmington (later called Manchester), the township immediately south of Palmyra, Ontario ( now Wayne ) county. Clearing land and wresting a living from the soil, left little time for school. " As it required the exertions of all that were able to render any assistance for the support of the family," as Joseph wrote in 1832, " we were deprived the benefit of an eduction, suffice it to say, I was merely instructed in reading, writing and the ground rules of arithmatic, which constituted the whole of my literary acquirements." He was described by witnesses as being lazy, lying under the trees, and a day dreaming sort of child, declaring he was too tired to be helping his father in the fields, declaring his brothers could help him. His family consisted of eleven souls, namely his father, Joseph Smith, Sr., his mother, Lucy Smith ( whose name previous to her marriage, was Mack, daughter of Solomon Mack.); His brothers, Alvin ( who died Nov 19th, 1823, in the 26th year of his age ); Hyrum; himself; Samuel Harrison; William; Don Carlos; Sophronia; Catherine; and Lucy. His parents had been reared under the influence of New England Congregationalism but dissatisfied with the preachers around them, they were not regular churchgoers. Both parents had deep religious experiences and an intense longing for salvation, without having a satisfactory way to worship. A few years after settling in Palmyra, Lucy Smith and four of her children joined the Presbyterians, Joseph Sr., and the others stayed home, Joseph Jr., among them. Young Joseph was perplexed about which church to join, and the preaching revivals in the area intensive his uncertainity. By this time they had moved into Manchester. Manchester had an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It had commenced with the Methodists, and soon became general among all sects in that region of country. The whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, All this, stirring disention between the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist." Confusing was the facts that the great love which the converts to the different faiths expressed a the time of their conversion, and a great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active in getting up and promoting this extaordinary scene of religious feeling, in order to have everybody converted, as they were pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased; yet when the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it seemed that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended then real; for a scene of real confusion and bad feeling ensued-- Priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions." According to Joseph, Jr he states:" During this time of great excitement, my mother's pleadings to serious reflection, my felings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit.( urgings of Mother.) In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt a desire to be united with them; but so great was the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and turnult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and the Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others. In the midst of this war of words and turmult of opinions,I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? which is it, and how shall I know it ?" +++++++++++++ The story goes from here as is told -- let the facts remain, as the facts are unfolded and the reader reasons to which are the facts, in his own mind. John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, wrote Joseph Smith in 1842 to request information about the Church for a friend who was writing a history of New Hampshire. The letter was written by the Prophet Joseph Smith in response to this inquiry. The letter contains a brief History of the Church in 1842, including the key events in the restoration of the gospel. It states that the purpose of the Church is to take the gospel to every nation and prepare a people for the Millennium. The letter also describes concisely the orgin, contents, and translation of the Book of Morman. It concludes the thirteen doctrinal statements that have since become known as the Articles of Faith and are published in the Pearl of Great Price ( HC 4:535-41 ). The contents of this letter were published March 1, 1842, in the Nauvoo Times and Seasons. There is no evidence that Wentworth or his friend, George Barstow, ever published it in the Chicago Democrat. In response to other inquiries in 1844, Joseph Smith sent revised copies of this letter to several publishers of works about various churches and religious groups. It has been published several times over the years. It is called " The Wentworth Letter." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [ In my next part of Tid Bits - part 50 will start with this Letter. ]