LDS Women's History
Updated: 2011-12-02T02:27:19.523-08:00
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Daybreak Devotionals
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2011-03-19T17:29:16.637-07:00
Confession: For the past several years, I avoided learning more about Barbara Smith because of her stance on the Equal Rights Amendment. Then I had an epiphany. I’m about to admit how young and inexperienced I am, but it was before my time, and I realized I actually didn’t know anything about it. And sadly, most of the people in my age demographic that I asked about it didn’t know much more. They either hadn’t heard of it, thought the LDS church was against it because it meant everyone would have to use the same bathroom (I heard that one a lot), or were appalled that it couldn’t be passed in our enlightened times. But no one knew what it said, how it was supposed to improve things, or why people would oppose it. I decided it was time to learn about Barbara Smith. A full history of the ERA is out of the scope of this blog, but if you’re interested in learning more, its text can be found here, a good summary of church’s stance on the issue is here, and Wikipedia gave a passable general overview of its history.Smith is best known as the General Relief Society president that spearheaded the church’s efforts in fighting against the Equal Rights Amendment. She felt that it would hurt women because it would cause them to lose previously gained rights (a stance shared by many labor activists over the years) and didn’t account for the “emotional, physical, or biological difference between the sexes.” She felt the women of the church were crucial in this discussion, and encouraged them to speak for themselves and defend their opinions in a non-combative manner, rather than standing idly by and being cast as oppressed and naïve. She spoke out frequently on the ERA. President Hinckley isn’t the only church leader in recent times that knows how to use modern media. Smith appeared on the Phil Donahue show to talk about the ERA, as well as the role of women in the Mormon church. She also met with the powerful and famous to explain her stance, including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
I have mixed feelings with the ERA, and simply don’t agree with her stance on women in the military. But I respect Barbara Smith’s courage and persistence in defending her opinions. I have absolute confidence in her love for and belief in women, and know that she worked to try to help them achieve what she saw as equality. Studying Barbara Smith has made me analyze how I measure equality for women. Do I want equality of treatment, or equality of outcome? What is gained and lost by removing gender distinctions? Can you legislate away sexism? Is it better to support a vaguely worded law that could be twisted by both sides of the aisle if I support its intentions? Smith’s courage in defending her opinions has forced me to analyze and take a stand on my own, and I’m grateful for that.
Sources:
Former Relief Society General President Barbara B. Smith Passes Away, by Lana Groves
Barbara Smith Biographical Sketch
2011-03-11T13:40:32.331-08:00
Carol Gray’s patriarchal blessing told her that she would be saved for a special purpose. When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 28, and became the only survivor of an experimental surgery to treat it, she started to see what that meant. Over time, she became a brave, dedicated, and influential humanitarian.She fell into this role gradually, starting off by doing bereavement counseling for families preparing to lose loved ones. Then one day, as she’d been following the Balkan wars, she saw footage of women than had been released from Serbian camps, she and felt strongly that the Lord wanted her to do more about it than write a check for a charity. She started calling charities that worked in Bosnia to see if they would take donated items, got the Relief Society involved in collected aid, and within 3 weeks, she had 38 tons of aid. Newspapers started picking up her story, and the meetinghouse became jam-packed, then overflowing with aid. Two days before the designated charity was going to pick up their supplies, they cancelled on Gray because they had run out of funds to transport aid. She couldn’t find a convoy willing to take her materials for her, but she did find one that was willing to have her join it. Because she was already uninsurable because of her cancer that she shouldn’t have survived, her going into a war zone didn’t have the same ramifications as if her husband did. She decided to go, and she brought her daughter and some friends along in the convoy.When they arrived in Zagreb, 400 drivers met together, and they asked for volunteers to go into the crisis area. Gray didn’t realize “crisis area” meant “still under shellfire,” and by the time she did, she was “too proud” to renege on her and her daughter’s offer to go in. Only 2 other people had agreed. It was intense. They drove through minefields. Gray had forgotten her glasses, so she had her daughter drive the truck over the swollen river on a pontoon bridge that became submerged when the weight of the truck pressed on it (Gray walked ahead through the freezing waters to steer her). She arrived in an area where 400 people had just been killed. She left knowing God had “gotten her into something that [she] couldn’t turn away from.” In time, she’d go on 23 convoys, spend tens of thousands of pounds bringing the materials there, and get into places even the UN couldn’t. She did a remarkable amount of good.In the past decade, Gray worked to establish an orphanage in Ghana (Mmofra Trom). They started from scratch, purchasing land and sinking a well, and now in addition to the orphanage, they have established a school, where over 200 students attend, and a medical center is in the works. In addition to contributions from Bentley University, Mmofra Trom underwrites many of its paying students’ costs through providing its own tilapia pond, chicken coop, mango plantation, and vegetable garden to provide nutrition for its children.I don’t have the courage to willingly drive into a war zone. And take my daughter along for the ride? Certainly not. But Gray trusted in the Lord, followed his promptings, and has been able to do an infinite amount of good as a result.Source: Mormon Women: Portraits and Conversations, Edited by James N. Kimball and Kent Miles.(image) [...]2011-03-08T08:17:02.818-08:00
*Additional context is provided in my post on Helen Winters Woodruff.*Avery decided to accept Owen Woodruff’s proposal to enter into a post-manifesto polygamous marriage after having a spiritual confirmation that it was the path God wanted her to take. Because of the persecution that the church was facing over the polygamy issue, strict secrecy was kept – only the immediate family and a handful of trusted friends knew about the marriage.
As a married woman trying to appear to the world to be single, she found herself in many awkward situations. Boys still pursued her, which caused tension when it happened when Owen was around. Pregnancy was another challenging territory to navigate. During morning sickness and miscarriage, she could only look for assistance from her immediate family, and when she started showing, she had to leave the country.
Avery frequently had to suppress her own plans and desires to protect her husband. When she moved to Mexico to protect Owen, she felt isolated from her family and friends, and initially resisted efforts from her husband and church leadership to make her residence there permanent. When the legal pressure became very heavy on Owen, she discovered through one of Helen’s children that Owen and Helen were planning to move to Europe and leave her in Mexico – she wasn’t happy about that. That said, I love that despite the restrictions on her lifestyle, she found ways to better herself and find fulfillment. After her initial move to Mexico, she attended college in Logan, and it is clear from her correspondence with Owen that he wanted her to take full advantage of her educational opportunities and find fulfillment in them. When she became pregnant again, which necessitated returning to Mexico, she taught enthusiastically at the school and made friends in the community. After Owen and Helen’s death, she may have received some financial support from the church in the beginning, but she raised her daughter Ruth independently for 10 years, at which point she remarried.
Her polygamous marriage was certainly not all roses, and she made many sacrifices for it. But despite the hardships, they did not shake her determination to act how she felt God wanted her to. While it would be easy for her to look back on her life and wonder if she had interpreted her initial promptings correctly, her account given 50 years later simply doesn’t show any doubt or regret about her decision. Her autobiography shows a woman who actively sought God’s will for her and did her best to follow it.
Source: Snyder & Snyder (2009). Post-Manifesto Polygamy: The 1899-1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff.
2011-03-04T06:54:14.039-08:00
Many of the women I’m featuring this year made very different choices than I would have, but did it with the conviction they were doing God’s will. The women featured in this post and the next are women that chose to enter post-manifesto polygamous marriages. As my purpose in this blog is to celebrate Mormon women, rather than teach Mormon history, I’m not going to provide a thorough history of the practice – plenty of more qualified individuals have already done this. I’ll just say that although estimates of the number of plural marriages that occurred after the 1890 manifesto vary widely, as do opinions about just how much the contemporary prophets encouraged/tolerated it, there were polygamous marriages that happened between 1890 and 1904 that were performed or sanctioned by apostles who felt they acted according to God’s will. Among these individuals were Owen Woodruff, Helen May Winters, and Avery Clark. Today I’m featuring Helen.
In 1901, about three and a half years after her marriage to apostle Owen Woodruff, they decided that God would bless them for entering a polygamous marriage, and he married Avery. Helen struggled. Her correspondence with Owen is peppered with references to her struggling with feelings of “selfishness,” “discouragement,” and not having the self-discipline she wanted. That said, she strove to do her part to claim the blessings she felt would come her way through living “the principle.” She received a blessing of encouragement from another polygamous woman. She was kind (although occasionally pedantic) in her correspondence and relationship with Avery. She encouraged Owen “for her [Avery’s] sake” to try to spend several months with Avery (who lived in Mexico at that time) after she gave birth. As circumstances would have it, she arrived there herself shortly after the birth of Avery’s child and took over the nursing duties for a time. Her correspondence with her husband is often warm, charming, and it is shows her love and devotion to him. She worked to control her feelings, and she strove to learn to overcome her own “selfish pleasure” and “live for others.”
In 1904, Helen and Owen were sent to Mexico to hold conferences (and avoid testifying in the Smoot trials). They decided not to be vaccinated for small pox because they assumed God would protect them from it as they did His work. They assumed wrong. Both died painfully of small pox, leaving four children behind.
I’m in no position to judge whether she was correct in interpreting her spiritual promptings. But I am in a position to admire how she acted on them. I admire that she wasn’t content to silently suffer in hopes of blessings in the hereafter, but wanted to enjoy the blessings of following God’s will in the present. She worked to improve her own attitude and took actions to make her difficult marriage full of love and good will. I love that she knew the kind of woman she wanted to become, and did her best to become it.
Source: Snyder & Snyder (2009). Post-Manifesto Polygamy: The 1899-1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff.
2011-03-01T12:11:42.699-08:00
It’s easy to admire individuals that you see eye-to-eye with. But people you don’t? That’s a little trickier. This month, I sought out accounts of women that made decisions I would not have, to my credit or shame, depending on the situation. And I’ve discovered that underneath these decisions, there are strong women with a lot to admire. While I would not have entered into the kinds of marriages they did, or put my family into the situations they did, these women acted in ways that they felt God wanted them to, and did so at great personal cost. I respect and honor their courage and faith, and have enjoyed seeing their humanity.2010-03-18T07:05:33.979-07:00
Juanita Brooks came into her role as a highly influential Utah historian gradually, starting out as an English instructor and dean of women at Dixie College, and then after leaving the college, taking on a diary collecting project for the WPA in the 1930s. She had a gift for locating pioneer diaries and proved highly competent at editing them, with her most prominent editing projects being the diaries of Hosea Stout and John D. Lee.My favorite quote from Brooks is a long one, and in large measure her father’s, but a good one:
One day Dad said to me, “My girl, if you follow this tendency to criticize, I’m afraid you will talk yourself out of the Church. I’d hate to see you do that. I’m a cowboy and I’ve learned that if I ride in the herd, I am lost. … One who rides counter to it is trampled and killed. One who only trails behind means little because he leaves all responsibility to others. It is the cowboy who rides the edge of the herd, who sings and calls and makes himself heard, who helps direct the course. So don’t lose yourself, and don’t ride away and desert the outfit. Ride the edge of the herd and be alert, and know your directions and call out loud and clear. Chances are you won’t make any difference, but on the other hand, you just might.”
Brooks embodied this in her scholarship. She chose to address an area of Mormon history that we’ve historically been touchy about: the mountain meadows massacre. She published a book on the topic, as well as a biography of John D. Lee. And she did pay a price for it, being blacklisted from LDS church publications and experiencing antagonism from some that she worshipped with and discouragement from some of the church hierarchy (despite coming to the conclusion that there was no evidence Young was involved in the attack). But she stayed in the church her whole life despite this.
I’m grateful for her courage. While I’m not advocating actively getting into territory beyond your capacity to come to terms with, I am extremely grateful that scholars like Brooks have provided me the opportunity to learn about the gray areas of our history from someone that doesn’t have an axe to grind with the church. I look at the openness we are experiencing in church history at this time - you can now walk into Deseret Book and purchase a book about the Mountain Meadows Massacre that the assistant church historian co-authored, for goodness sake - and know that it took women like her calling out loud and clear to get to where we are nowSources:
Bitton & Ursenbach. (1974). “Riding Herd: A Conversation with Juanita Brooks.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
Peterson, Levi. Utah History Encyclopedia: http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/b/BROOKS%2CJUANITA.html
Scanlon & Cosner (1996). American Women Historians, 1700s-1990s: a biographical dictionary.
2010-03-15T06:12:23.586-07:00
When she was six, Mary Johnson’s family left their native Denmark to join the saints in Utah. Things did not go for the family as planned. While at Mormon Grove, Kansas in 1855, Mary’s father and baby brother died, and because camp leaders knew her mother wouldn’t make it, Mary and her sister were sent to different families before the death so they would have people to care for them in the winter. At 7 years old, Mary was an orphan, separated from her siblings, in a country where she couldn’t speak the language, and being cared for by an elderly couple that considered her a burden.
Mary’s guardians joined the ill-fated Martin handcart company. She was small and had a difficult time keeping up, and her guardians were harsh with her when she fell behind. In Wyoming, her feet were frozen so badly that when they thawed out, they turned black. When the rescuers from Salt Lake arrived, she was placed in an ambulance wagon, where she appreciated the kindness she was shown, but it didn’t stop the flesh from falling off her feet. Both feet had dropped off by the time they reached Salt Lake, and she had to have her legs amputated to the knees. She was among the “hard to place with a guardian” cases that Brigham Young took in, and even after her siblings arrived and she joined them, Brigham took special cares for her, helping to pay the bills for a specially designed sewing machine that Mary could use her knees to tread.
It would be easy for Mary to be discouraged, but she was determined to claim the blessings that came from the sacrifices she made. She told her siblings, “I am sure that I shall have my feet and legs after the resurrection,” and learned to walk on her knees, having decided that artificial limbs were too uncomfortable. At age 19, she married Elijah Parsons in the endowment house. He was good hearted, even carrying her around on his back when they went on outings. Mary took her motherhood seriously, believing it to be her mission in life. She bore 7 children and taught them the gospel. Elijah struggled to find work, so Mary carded wool, spun yarn, and knitted stockings to help make ends meet. She was noted for her knowledge of the scriptures and the doctrines of the Gospel.
During her last decade, she suffered a variety of health conditions, including asthma, a tumor, and congestive heart failure. However, she was determined that her funeral expenses not burden her family, so she knit and sold stockings to pay for it. She died of pneumonia in 1910.
To me, Mary embodied optimism, hard work, and making the best of painful circumstances. She knew who she was, and she knew the blessings God had promised her, and she clung to those things when life became overwhelmingly difficult.
Sources:
Olsen, Andrew D. (2006). The Price We Paid: The Extraordinary Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers.
Sorensen, Bailey. Mary Johnson Parsons. http://www.sonsofutahpioneers.info/00essays%20file/mary%20johnson%20parson.pdf (Published by a descendent in the 4th grade. How awesome is that?)
2010-03-11T09:23:05.990-08:00
When Maria Linford and her husband John joined the Mormon church in 1842, they paid a heavy price for it. The best customers of John’s shoemaking company (including in relatives) in Graveley, Cambridgeshire, England, were so upset that they decided to “starve him to [give up Mormonism] by withholding our work.” His business suffered great losses, to the extent he could no longer afford to employ his workmen, but John and Maria stayed true to their beliefs, even contributing funds to the building of the Nauvoo Temple. Perpetual Emigration funds became available to them in 1856, and John, Maria, and three of her four sons (the fourth staying behind to serve a mission in the Cambridge Conference) made the arduous journey to join the saints, traveling by boat, ferry, train, and eventually joining the Willie handcart company.
The hunger, fatigue, and cold faced by the Willie handcart company are well known, and the Linfords experienced them. John had fallen ill in Florence, Nebraska, and had been so ill toward the later part of their journey that he was unable to walk, and his family pushed him in their handcart. At the rescue camp site of the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater, John died on October 21st and was buried in a mass grave. The relief wagons arrived from Salt Lake later that evening.
Maria’s economic struggles continued when they arrived in Zion impoverished on November 9, 1856. Maria’s employer did not allow her to even have her sons in the house to visit, let alone live there, and her three boys were split between the homes of two different relatives. Maria was very unhappy with this arrangement.
Out of necessity, on July 26, 1857 she became the second wife of Joseph Rich, 29 years her senior. She married him for time, while Joseph stood as a proxy for her sealing to John. Maria’s granddaughter Eliza M. Denio recounts that Maria worried about her marriage because she was afraid of what John thought about it. But one night Maria had a vision in which John appeared to her and told her understood her reasons for making her choice, and he was pleased with her, which gave her comfort. She was able to live with her sons, and Rich was very good to her boys. As he and his first wife, Elizabeth, aged and suffered deteriorating health, Maria cared for them.
Her husband was called to settle the Bear Lake Valley in 1864. The settlement struggled from crop failures, hunger, and cold, but Maria worked steadily during her time there, serving as ward and then stake relief society president, and being involved in the organization of the primary association. Even in the tough frontier conditions, her granddaughter recounts that Maria was “extremely dignified and lady-like, and very particular about her personal appearance.” She continued to work and serve until her death in October of 1885.
I admire Maria’s steadiness, and the strength it took her to do what was necessary. Her children recall that she did what had to be done “without a murmur.” She suffered for her faith, but she brought about much good.
Source:
Linford, Golden C. Linford Family Heritage: George Christian Linford 1877-1933, Alice May Peterson 1886-1971.
2010-03-08T07:24:02.396-08:00
13-year-old Mary Goble arrived in Salt Lake City with the Martin Handcart Company in poor circumstances. Her mother had died on the day they arrived, and her feet were frozen. Brigham Young wept as he saw her circumstances, and told the doctor to remove just her toes, rather than her feet, and he wouldn’t have to remove them any farther. The amputation occurred while her sisters dressed her mother for her grave.
Initially, the surgery was not successful. Seven months later, her feet were getting worse, and the doctor said he couldn’t help her unless he removed her feet. Mary told him of President Young’s promise, and the doctor replied, “All right, sit there and rot, and I will do nothing more until you come to your senses.”
One day as Mary was sitting and weeping in pain, a “little old woman” knocked on her door, stating that she had felt prompted to come to her. Mary told her old President Young’s promise, and this wonderful woman replied, “Yes, and with the help of the Lord we will save them yet.” She was not content to sit and wait for the miracle to arrive; she made a poultice for Mary’s feet, and came every day for three months to change them. Mary healed completely.
I love this “little old woman.” I love that she was in tune to the Lord’s promptings and acted on them. I love that she trusted in the Lord, but thoughtfully considered what her role could be in bringing His will to pass. And I love that she did not give up, working daily for three months to make sure the miracle came to pass.
Source:
Olsen, Andrew D. (2006). The Price We Paid: The Extraordinary Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers.
2010-03-04T14:40:48.814-08:00
I’d originally intended for these to be two separate posts, but so much of what I admire of Mary Ann Mellor and her daughter Louisa were too connected for me to split apart.
The Mellor family’s emigration to join the saints was difficult from the start. On the day their ship was set to depart from Liverpool, Mary Ann went into premature labor and gave birth to conjoined twins that died after a few hours. The doctors were unsure if Mary Ann would survive. But because this was the last ship available in the season, the future of perpetual emigration funding was tenuous, and the family had already sold their land in Leicester, Mary Ann told her family to board the boat without her. Her sixteen year old daughter, Louisa, and her two year old daughter chose to stay behind with her, and her husband took the other five children with him. Louisa did this knowing full well that she might be left alone with a two year old to care for in an unfamiliar city, possibly never seeing the rest of her family again, but she made the choice to help her mother in her time of need. By a twist of fate, Mary Ann's husband came back two days later for them, as the ship was anchored for a time in a nearby river after its departure. Against doctors’ wishes, they carried Mary Ann on a stretcher to the boat, and the whole family journeyed across the ocean together.
As part of the Martin handcart company, they faced many difficulties on the trail. Mary Ann had regained some of her strength, but was still weak enough she nearly gave up on many occasions. On one occasion, she did. She told her family she would go no further, kissed her children goodbye, and “sat down on a boulder and wept.” Again, Louisa chose to come to her mother’s aid. She told the family to go on without her, prayed that she and her mother would be able to catch up with the company without harm, and got off her knees and went to work. As she returned to her mother’s boulder, she found a pie in the road, which she gave to her mother to eat. They rested for a time, and then succeeded in rejoining the group. Louisa recounts that “many times after that, Mother felt like giving up and quitting, but then she would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her so many times, and offered a prayer of gratitude instead.”
Mary Ann, her husband, and her seven children all arrived safely in Utah. They were eventually called to settle Fayette (building the first brick home there), and in 1875, James was called to serve a mission to England. He returned in 1877, arriving on the doorstep with a woman named Mary (Polly) Knowles that he introduced to Mary Ann as a woman he’d brought back from England to be his plural wife. Stunned, Mary Ann stared at them for a few minutes, then showered them with a pan of fermenting milk and slammed the door. Eventually Mary Ann and Polly would have a cordial relationship. Louisa became the second wife of Edwin Clark, had nine children, and became active in temple work.
My attention was initially drawn to Louisa as I read this account. I love her bravery, devotion, and faith, choosing on two separate occasions to risk her life to support her mother. But I think Mary Ann is also worthy of praise. Despite discouragement and loss, she always made the choice to keep trying, and managed to maintain her spunk. I think their story is a beautiful account of the difference a brave teenager can make, and the power that comes through a strong mother/daughter bond.
Source:
Olsen, Andrew D. (2006). The Price We Paid: The Extraordinary Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Pioneers.
2010-03-01T16:33:46.211-08:00
For my in-laws, the phrase “we are strong women” was a kind of family motto. While it is true physically in some cases (my mother-in-law did do judo in college, after all), it refers to the decisions they make and the way they respond to challenges in life. They choose to look for the positive when the negative is closing in around them. They choose to love in situations where it hurts to do so, and to hope when the easier thing to do is give up. They work hard to achieve their potential and help those in their responsibility do the same.They are examples of one of the many kinds of strength I see in so many of the Mormon women I've met. I love the diversity of ways this strength manifests itself. I’m grateful for the countless examples of women who acted with purpose, despite the costs, when they knew who they were and the role God wanted them to fill.
Several of the women I’m featuring this month were a part of the Martin or Willie handcart companies. I did this because I’ve frequently heard quotes about the caliber of the saints that survived this trek, and I was curious about what their lives were like after they arrived. I picked out a few of the women that especially resonated with me.
This month is a little crazy, so I’m only anticipating two posts a week, but at least I’m going in with realistic expectations this time, right? While I’m not featuring as many women this go around as I’d like, I hope you enjoy learning about them all the same.
2009-09-10T13:16:07.065-07:00
So I’m still working on how to balance my time with this motherhood thing, but when the opportunity arises, I want to keep writing here. I recently finished Arrington’s Mothers of the Prophets, and have been impressed with the diversity of these women. One of my favorites was Louisa Bingham Lee.Louisa Bingham Lee was a hard-working Idaho woman. When she was eight, her mother became an invalid, and her father was frequently away for business, so managing the household became her responsibility. She’d rush home over recess to start cooking and check on her mother, and did housework over her lunch break. She did all her family’s sewing, even when her feet barely reached the pedals. In her adult life, she married Samuel Marion Lee, raised six children, served in a variety of church capacities, nursed and midwifed, and was a highly efficient housekeeper. When she died in 1959, she had (without telling her family) already paid for and arranged her funeral.
The thing that I admire most about Louisa is her ability to respond to spiritual promptings. Her response to these promptings either saved the lives or prevented serious injury of her children on many occasions, especially for the rather accident-prone Harold. There are countless examples of her efforts. When Harold spilled lye over his head, she immediately grabbed him, kicked open a jar of pickles, and poured the vinegar over his face to neutralize the lye. On another occasion, she followed a prompting to push Harold out a doorway just before lightning struck there. Another time, when Harold was a teenager, she felt prompted to send her husband out to look for Harold, and he found that Harold had been thrown from his horse into a freezing stream. And when 17-year-old Harold had a deadly case of pneumonia, she devotedly nursed him and prayed over him. After his recovery, she responded to praise for her efforts by stating, “Oh, but I didn’t save his life. The Lord did. He just expects us to do everything we can to help!” (I love her go-do-it attitude here).
Louisa certainly had her quirks. The one that cracks me up the most is that despite all her pragmatism and grit, Louisa wanted a girl so badly that she styled 4-year-old Harold’s hair into wavy black ringlets that reached below his shoulders. Harold was mocked so badly for by the neighborhood boys and his own father that he took matters into his own hands and started snipping them himself, forcing Louisa to give him a proper boy’s haircut (which she shed tears over). She also liked to dress her boys in suits with Lord Fauntleroy ruffles, much to their chagrin. But she was a woman of faith that actively served the Lord and her fellow man.
Sources:
Mothers of the Prophets, by Leonard Arrington, Susan Arrington Madsen, Emily Madsen Jones
Louisa Bingham Lee: Sacrifice and Spirit, by Jaynann Morgan Payne
2009-03-11T17:30:21.986-07:00
Stena was not an aggressive woman. She was a humble woman with many insecurities. Yet she was a highly accomplished woman who made valuable contributions to the church and her community.In 1922, Stena Scorup became the second female mayor in Utah. She accomplished this only two years after national suffrage had been granted (although Utah had given women the vote many years prior). Her calm manor caught people off guard – she said that at municipal conventions, people expected an aggressive woman and found, in her own words, “a homely, humble school teacher.” Stena was a good mayor. Under her leadership, Salina’s main street was surfaced, electric lights were installed on main roads, water conditions were improved, and she decreased the city’s debt. And she did it all while teaching a course in English at the high school and caring for an invalid brother.
Prior to becoming mayor, Stena was a well-loved teacher in Salina. She was passionate about education, and many students praised her ability to inspire them individually and convince them they were intelligent and capable. Stena’s love of education went beyond teaching. She was a lifelong learner in every sense of the word. She attended summer school and earned her B.S. from Utah State in 1928, and her masters from BYU four years later.
Stena had also served a mission to the northern U.S. when she was 29. She thrived in atmospheres many missionaries hate – street contacting and tracting. She had a talent for calming down hostile individuals and convincing them to hear what she had to say. When she returned from her mission, she stayed highly committed to the gospel for the rest of her life, serving in MIA presidencies, primary presidencies, and was a very popular Sunday School teacher.
I admire Stena’s ability to accomplish her goals while maintaining her sense of self. It would be easy to feel the need to be pushy or aggressive to accomplish what she did, but she just worked hard and honestly, and everything worked together for her good.
Source:
Sister Saints, by Vicky Burgess-Olson
2009-03-09T11:57:27.094-07:00
I’ve been on a quest to find the women that serve as the context for some of our famous stories in church history. The story I’ve been drawn to in recent weeks is the “majesty in chains” story. During their imprisonment in Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and other church leaders lay on the floor of their prison, being forced to listen to the boasts of their jailers about the theft, rape and murder they had committed against the Mormons. The men lay in silence for some time, and then Joseph could take no more. Joseph sharply chastened the guards in the name of God, and the guards, overcome by his power, begged his forgiveness.I realized as I reread the account that aside from that brief mention of sexual assault, I didn’t know anything about the women or the assaults. It is an area of church history I have never heard discussed outside of that brief mention. I knew I wouldn’t find the names of these women, and I imagine that based on the time period they lived in, they wouldn’t want their names to be known. But I also wanted to respect them enough to acknowledge the terrible price they paid for their faith and honor their memory. So I did a little digging to find the accounts others gave of their experiences, and found their rapes discussed in affidavits by Hyrum Smith and Parley Pratt. It is a little gruesome, so this might be the place to stop reading if this is a sensitive area for you.
Hyrum recounted that the mobs not only raped many Mormon women, but the nature of these rapes were downright barbaric. He told the story of one woman who was bound to a bench in a Mormon meetinghouse, gang raped by sixteen men, and was left bound and exposed. Hyrum ended this segment by noting that “the lady who was the subject of this brutality did not recover her health to be able to help herself for more than three months afterwards.”
In Parley’s affidavit, he stated that the jailers named “one or two” women that “twenty or thirty” men had raped, and he stated that “One of these females was a daughter of a respectable family with whom I have been long acquainted, and with whom I have since conversed and learned that it was truly the case.”
We tend to pay a lot of attention to those that are willing to die for what they believe in. And don’t get me wrong, it is a brave and honorable thing to do. But I think we often neglect those that survive, but live the rest of their life physically or emotionally scarred because of a sacrifice they made for their faith. It is an entirely different level of bravery to wake up every day, continue to pay the price, and still keep believing. I think about the young woman Hyrum discussed, and I admire the courage it takes for her to walk into a meetinghouse and sit on a pew. I think about the sister missionaries that were gang raped a few years back in South Africa, and I admire the bravery it takes for them to put their name tag back on and walk down the street. And I admire the courage it takes to give yourself enough time to heal before trying to do these things. I honor these women's example of daily faith under terrible circumstances.
Sources:
History of the Church, Volume 3, pages 422 & 428. Affidavits Of Hyrum Smith et al. On Affairs In Missouri, 1831-39; Officially Subscribed To Before The Municipal Court Of Nauvoo The First Day Of July, 1843.
2009-03-05T05:24:42.912-08:00
Throughout my life, I’ve been close to many part-member families, or families where the parents have varying degrees of church activity. While many of these amazing mothers are confident in their ability to raise their children in the gospel, I’ve known many others that are plagued with insecurities that their children are somehow at a disadvantage because of their marriage. It can be hard to find a model for what it means to be a successful mother in a part-member home, in large part because it will mean something different in every family. I’m always blown away by the way these women are able to receive revelation how to guide their family in ways that the Lord would have them go.Nellie Marie Rasmussen Hunter is one of these many mothers in part-member homes that I admire. Her husband did not join the church until her children were grown, but she raised her two children in the gospel, and one of them would grow to become the 14th president of the church: Howard W. Hunter.
Nellie did not grow up in a stable home environment. Her mother died in 1887 when she was two years old, and she spent her youth moving between the homes of six different families of relatives. When she was 21, she met Will Hunter and fell in love with him. He proposed, but she hesitated because he was not Mormon. She left for Colorado for a time to clear her head (where she received additional suitors and another proposal – so much for simplifying things), but when she returned to Mount Pleasant and met Will there, they boarded a train to Manti to register for a marriage license that same day, and were married that evening. Her aunts had quite the ordeal getting her wedding dress sewn in time.
Nellie made conscious efforts to raise her children in the gospel. She arranged for the branch president to give Howard a name and a blessing when he was five months old. She persuaded Will to come to sacrament meeting with her on occasions. She served faithfully in a variety of demanding callings. She compromised when needed – her husband didn’t want the children to be baptized at age 8, wanting them to wait until they were old enough to decide for themselves, and she agreed (Howard convinced his father to let him be baptized when he was twelve). But most importantly, she taught her children the power of prayer, and how to form a personal relationship with God.
I’m grateful for the example of women like Nellie, and the many women I have known that have worked so tirelessly to teach their children the gospel.
Source:
Mothers of the Prophets, Leonard Arrington, Susan Arrington Madsen, Emily Madsen Jones
2009-03-04T12:54:24.163-08:00
I’ve been thinking a lot about the many ways that faith influences romance and marriage, particularly back during the polygamy days, so you will probably see that theme popping up from time to time in my next few posts. Mormon women have dealt with these complexities in a variety of ways, and I’ve been impressed with women that have prayerfully made a variety of choices. :) So in other words, if you see me praising a woman who took one stance, don’t worry – just wait a few days, and I’ll be praising a woman who did something completely different. I admire all of these women’s ability to make hard choices about such an emotionally charged and completely life-altering area of their lives.
When Lorenzo Snow and other missionaries came on a mission to Italy in 1850, interestingly enough, their only converts were members of a group called the Vaudois. The Vaudois were an isolated group living in the Alpines that claimed an unbroken succession of pastors back to the original Apostles of Christ, and were therefore hated and persecuted by the Catholic Church and associated monarchs. Susanna Goudin and her immediate family were among the converts. Her family became disillusioned and lost their faith, but Susanna stayed faithful and made the decision to immigrate to Utah without them, making the difficult journey with a relative in 1854.
During her stay in Florence, Nebraska, where she stayed while her handcart company was organized, Susanna met and fell deeply in love with a non-Mormon that lived in the area. Susanna had to make the agonizing choice of staying with the man she loved or travelling to Utah with the saints. She decided to follow her faith, but she mourned her loss for a long time. In fact, she “wept bitterly” when she went to the Endowment House a year later to marry Paul Cardon, another Vaudois convert that had made the journey (and, incidentally, her first cousin). Brigham Young reassured her that she had made the right decision, and Susanna trusted his council. She married Paul, and her family remembers their relationship as being full of love, devotion, respect and harmony, even when he took a second wife in 1870.
Susanna was a woman that used her talents to better the condition of those around her. One of the most prominent ways that she did this was her involvement with the Deseret Silk Association. During her youth in Italy, funds were tight due to her father’s early death, so she supported herself through reeling silk. Susanna was quite gifted in the silk arts, so when Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow, as part of the church’s push towards economic self-reliance, set up silk-raising projects in all of the roughly 150 local Relief Societies in Utah, Susanna became a prominent teacher in this movement. She was so talented that Brigham Young called her on a three month “silk mission” to Salt Lake City, where she trained women from across the territory, who in turn would return their Relief Societies and teach other women. When her mission ended, she continued to teach the sisters of the Logan Relief Society. When I look at Susanna’s life, I am impressed with the way she followed God’s plan for her, often at great personal cost. She had many struggles in her life, but through her faith, the Lord protected her and put her in positions to make valuable contributions.
Sources: Sister Saints, Vicky Burgess-Olson, 1978.
2009-03-03T17:40:56.702-08:00
Joan Atkinson was ironing, watching a soap opera, and smoking a cigarette when she heard a knock at the door. When she opened it, there were two men in white shirts and ties, and one of them introduced himself as her bishop. He said that as he was praying, he had felt inspired to ask her to teach Young Women. She told him that she had been baptized at age 10 but had never been active. He seemed undeterred as he showed her the manual and explained where they met on Wednesday night. Then she emphatically said, “I can't teach 16-year-olds; I'm inactive, and besides I smoke.” Then he said, “You won't be inactive anymore, and you have until Wednesday to quit smoking.” Then he left.Joan was angry – but she was curious and decided to read the lesson. She read the entire manual and memorized every word of the lesson. She didn’t plan to go, but Wednesday night rolled around, and Joan found herself driving to the church, utterly terrified. She gave the lesson to the two laurels word-for-word (including the parts that said “now ask them”), left immediately, and cried all the way home.
When there was a knock at her door a few days later, Joan was positive the bishop had come to retrieve his manual. But it was the two laurels, armed with flowers and cookies. They had a good conversation about the class and the ward, and they invited Joan to come to church with them on Sunday, which she did. She learned the class had 16 members, but only those two girls attended regularly.
Joan took to her calling with energy and innovation. Her quote on this process is priceless:
“With their help, I started teaching the other girls. If the girls wouldn’t come to church, we went wherever they were. We had lessons in bowling alleys, cars, and bedrooms, and on porches. I was determined that if I needed to go to class, those girls did too. One day we were giving the lesson to a girl who was hiding in a closet, and she came out and asked, “What about my free agency?” I told her I had never heard of that lesson and that she could come and teach us the next Wednesday.”
Joan’s efforts paid off. Within a year, all 16 girls on the roll were attending Young Women. Joan said, “Together we learned to pray, to study the gospel, and to help others. We made many visits to the children’s hospital. We laughed together and cried together in a bond of love.”
I love Joan’s example of church service. I absolutely love watching new converts take on their church responsibilities because they come at them without any of the preconceived ideas of how a calling should be performed or what is expected, and completely open themselves to the spirit. Joan inherently knew what mattered most in her calling – loving the girls, and searching for the lost sheep. I’ve known some pretty motivated young women’s leaders, but giving a lesson to a girl hiding in a closet is something I hadn’t come across before. Joan inspires me because of her ability to magnify her calling and her ability to love those she served.
Sources:
"Not me - I smoke and drink" by Joan Atkinson
2009-03-02T09:05:23.777-08:00
One of the figures I have been most excited to learn about this year is Vilate Kimball. The only story I had ever heard about her had been in relation to her husband – the oft-cited story of Joseph Smith telling Heber C. Kimball that the Lord had commanded him to surrender his wife to him. The account I’m familiar with discusses Heber’s three days of agony before he finally decides to bring her to Joseph, and his relief when Joseph tells him it had only been a test, and he would not be required to do so. I’ve always felt Vilate was strangely absent from this account, and wondered what those three days were like for her. How much did Heber tell her, and when? How did she respond to the demands? What kind of woman was she, and what did the future hold for her? I did a little digging, and never did find her description of the incident, but I did find stories about a woman of constant service and giving.Vilate was constantly willing to put others’ needs before her own. The first additional citation I found of Vilate was that several months after Heber, Phineas Young & Brigham Young had encountered the missionaries, they longed to be with the other saints, and the group decided to take a 125 mile winter sleigh ride to visit the Columbia, Pennsylvania branch. Vilate did not go – she stayed home and watched all of the families’ children so that Miriam & Clarissa Young could make the trip. This willingness to care for others’ children continued - after Miriam died in 1832, Vilate would care for Brigham’s daughters while he served a series of missions.She was also constantly willing to put the needs of the church before her own. When her husband was about to depart on his second mission to England, she not only had several sick kids to care for on her own, including a 4 week old, but she was so sick with the ague she was confined to her bed shortly after his departure. He was gone for two years. J And to think that I fell to pieces when my husband had to clock substantial overtime when our baby was 4 weeks old - I’m no Vilate, apparently.In Winter Quarters, there are accounts of Vilate spending so much time bringing food to others and caring for the sick that she rarely took time to eat and take care of herself.Although she was not given to Joseph, polygamy did impact Vilate. Heber was commanded to take plural wives, and also commanded by Joseph initially not to tell Vilate about the doctrine “for fear she would not receive the principle.” Heber obeyed, but it was hard on him, and Vilate prayed to know what was causing his anxiety. The plan of celestial marriage was made known to her “in a vision,” and Vilate told Heber he should obey. Later, Joseph would propose marriage to Vilate’s 14 year old daughter, Helen. Vilate complied, but was not enthusiastic (when Joseph asked her permission, her reply was “If Helen is willing I have nothing more to say”).Stories about self-sacrificing women have become so common in the angel-mother dialog of women’s roles that I originally hesitated to include another account of a self-sacrificing woman. But as I thought about why I was having this reaction, I realized that although I may resent the fact that women are often expected to sacrifice in ways men are not (but often do because they are cool like that), it doesn’t diminish the value of the sacrifices that are made. I’m grateful for women like Vilate that are able to serve constantly, and see the needs of others and fill them. I have been blessed countless times by their sacrifices, and hope to be able to serve others in the same way.Sour[...]2009-03-01T09:04:53.535-08:00
My life has changed dramatically since last women’s history month. My husband and I finished our graduate degrees, moved to a new city, started working in jobs that are actually in our professions, and I gave birth to our first child last month. I’ve been trying on different roles as a woman, and going through a seemingly constant sense of reevaluation of who I am as a daughter of God and where my worth comes from.
As I look at my daughter, I think a lot about the woman she is. It humbles me to think that behind the uncoordinated movements and the seemingly constant vomit there is a fully developed spirit there, learning about her body and gaining experiences she came here to have. I am amazed by her strength. She is a very gentle creature by nature, but she is no wimp. She just picks her battles, and when she picks them, watch out. I think she will be well served by this – able to roll with the punches, but willing to fight for what matters to her.
I recently had a conversation with a close friend of mine about how limited we as a people can be when we think of the roles of women in the church, and I’ve been thinking about it constantly since then. We define our success as a woman by the roles we pick for ourselves. And then life happens. You picture yourself being a stay at home mom, and then your husband loses his job and you are back in the work force. You picture yourself married, and it doesn’t work out for you. You define yourself as the unstoppable working mom/Relief Society President/PTA president that does it all, then have a child with special needs that requires your constant attention, and you have to cut back. Or you get exactly what you thought you wanted, and it doesn’t turn out to be what you expected it to be. It can be overwhelming to feel like you’ve lost that sense of yourself, and disorienting to find where your worth comes from. But I’m learning that the roles God needs us to fill are much more diverse than we imagine for ourselves and they allow us to discover talents and strengths we didn’t know we have. It enables us to give service we didn’t know we had in ourselves to give.
So I guess my introductory post branches out from my norm. Instead of discussing a woman of the past, I have been considering the women of the future. As I’ve been studying the women I’m featuring this month, I’ve been struck by how expectations for women change over time and cultures, but at its core, it is about being who the Lord needs you to be in the circumstances He puts you in. I think about the world my daughter will be facing, and I hope she will be able to hold on to what matters most to her, but not limit herself in determining where her worth comes from, or what she is capable of becoming when she opens herself to what God has in store for her.
2008-12-07T11:49:25.653-08:00
:) I assume people stopped coming here for new content months ago, but I figured it would be polite to officially state that this blog will go back to being a "women's history month" blog, rather than a year-round project. Life just got a little too crazy to give this the attention it deserves. But I've already started putting some posts together for March, so I'll see you all again then!2008-08-20T17:44:31.603-07:00
So life got hectic, and I've been slacking. But to atone, I bring you a fabulous guest post from the fabulous Amanda, whose ward was lucky enough to have her give a talk on LDS women and how they find joy in their lives. Thank you, Amanda, and I hope we get to hear more from you in the future!Dear LDS women fans, I spoke in church a couple weeks ago on how LDS women have found joy and faith in their lives. I was asked specifically to recount experiences from actual women. Erin was kind enough to let me contribute a little to this blog (Thank you Erin!). This is an adaptation of that talk. The best way to introduce Mormon women might just have been given by the 19th century book entitled Mormon Women (a link is provided by Erin on this site)."An epic of a woman! Not in all the ages has there been one like unto it. Fuller of romance than works of fiction are the lives of the Mormon women. So strange and thrilling is their story-so rare in its elements of experience-that neither history nor fable affords a perfect example; yet it is a reality of our own times. Women with new types of character, antique rather than modern; themes ancient, but transposed to our latter-day experience. -Women with their eyes open and the prophecy of their work and mission in their own utterances, who have dared to enter upon the path of religious empire-founding with as much divine enthusiasm as had the apostles who founded Christendom. Such are the Mormon women-religious empire founders in faith and fact."The language might be a little overstated, however, I could not have introduced the lives of LDS women any better. As LDS women our lives are truly different than the average woman. We are aware of our eternal character and our eternal identity as a woman. This gives us the faith to accomplish any good task that we set our hearts upon and the perspective to stick through it. And these are two women who I believe exemplify those traits. The first woman to introduce to you is Julia Mavimbela. She is a member from South Africa who joined the church in 1981. The trials and tragedies that have been a part of her life are more than most of our families will see in generations. However, her faith and joy in the gospel are undeniable. I quote- "I give thanks to God that He has made me a woman. I give thanks to my creator that He has made me black; that he has fashioned me as I am, with hands, heart, head to serve my people. It can, it should be a glorious thing to be a woman. It is important for women to stand together and rise together to meet our common enemies-illiteracy, poverty, crime, disease, and stupid unjust laws that have made women feel so helpless as to be hopeless."I would summarize the story of Sister Mavimbela but I would much recount in own words her life and service as an LDS woman. "That is how I joined the church. I feel that I became involved with the Church by being involved with the people.My country is a county of many problems, some known to you. There have been quite a few unpleasant times-1976 for example, which found Soweto [her hometown] most unhappy as a result of riots against changes in the educational system. That was one of the most challenging times of my life-to see what we called schools going up in flames, what we called libraries being battered down, and worse still the waste of all that young talent when the education programs ceased. All of what I would call our treasure was being destroyed. Later, strikes saw parents out of work, which mad[...]2008-06-30T14:34:12.381-07:00
It took our mail a few weeks to catch up to us, so I just got our June Ensign on Saturday, but I just wanted to point out that they did a great feature on past general Young Women's Presidents. It was fun seeing how the program changed over the years, and to read these wonderful women's testimonies. They aren't terribly detailed, but still worth reading!2008-06-13T12:38:31.775-07:00
I apologize for neglecting this blog - in the past few weeks, I moved cross country, started a new job and an intense course load, and had some technical difficulties, but I'm back.What first caught my attention about Hannah Tapfield King was her ability to bear testimony. Her account of her life in Representative Women of Deseret hadn't jumped out and grabbed me, but then towards the end of her words, she stated:...surely my few words wiil be a testimony that I rejoice I am a Latter-Day Saint. I have passed through many reverses and tribulations but in my darkest hours the Gospel has been a light upon my path and a lamp for my feet and I realize day by day the smile and approbation of God upon me.I can't explain why, but for some reason as I read these words, I felt very strongly God's love for his daughters - his smile upon us, if you will. I decided to do a little more research into Hannah's life, and I'm glad I did, because this was a woman that understood God's love for his daughters.Hannah was introduced to the church by her dress-maker in 1849, and she believed easily and whole-heartedly. Fifteen months would pass until she met another member, but when she finally attended a sermon by an American elder, she was baptized in the River Camm that same day. Like many converts, she faced disapproval in her community, and she and her immediate family headed to Utah in 1853, where Hannah made her mark.Hannah was a dedicated and prolific writer. She wrote poetry, essays, biographies, and contributed regularly to the Woman's Exponent. My favorite work of hers that I stumbled across was entitled "Women of the Scriptures." She highlights the virtues of many Old Testament women, including Sarah, Hagar, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, and Esther. She reserves the highest praise for Eve. She writes[Eve] stands in close proximity to God the Father, for she is the life giving spirit of the innumerable hosts that have figured upon this earth. The one grand, stupendous act of her life is all that is told of her in the Bible, and it is enough.I had always wished we had heard more about Eve after the garden, but I love that Hannah emphasizes that future silences don't detract from the importance of the choices she made and the life she lived.Hannah had a firm belief in the eternal value of women. :) In one of her many somewhat spirited comments, she wrote, discussing Adam and Eve,I would observe here in the penalties they afterwards incurred their punishments were entirely distinct; labor was laid upon the man, on the woman a far severer trial - "In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee!" showing plainly that this was not the original position in either case.I love both her spunk and her faith in women's equal importance in the sight of God in the eternities.Hannah was missed by many of her contemporaries after her death. There are several occurances in the Woman's Exponents of articles written and meetings held in her remembrance. She was an intelligent and motivated woman who encouraged women to live up to the potential that God wanted them to achieve.Sources:Representative Women of Deseret, Augusta Joyce CrocheronHannah T. King, “Women of the Scriptures,” republished in Woman’s Exponent 32, no. 6 (Nov. 1903): 41.Hannah T. King, "Woman," Woman's Exponent 7, no. 9 (Oct. 1878).(image) [...]2008-05-20T23:00:01.922-07:00
In 1831, the Rollins family moved to Jackson County, Missouri. For a time, things were going well for the saints there, but soon persecution arose. She witnessed tar and featherings, and her own home was damaged by the mobs. But Mary stayed true to her faith (even, in an interesting twist of fate, turning down an offer from Lilburn Boggs to come and stay with his family and receive a good education in exchange for giving up Mormonism).In July of 1833, a mob set on William Phelps' print shop, where the Book of Commandments were being prepared for binding. 15-year-old Mary and her 13-year-old sister Caroline were hiding nearby and watched as the Phelps were driven out of their home, their possessions ransacked, and the printing press shoved out a window and onto the street. Then, someone said "so much for the Mormon commandments," and dumped the manuscripts into a trash pile in the street. Mary, having had her own confirmation of the truth of these commandments, was determined to do her part to save them. Knowing full well what the mobs could and had already done to those that angered them, Mary and Caroline ran into the street, grabbed as many pages of the manuscript as they could hold, and took off running. The mob spotted them, and two men came running after the girls. Mary and Caroline climbed through a fence and hid in a thick cornfield. They laid the sheets on the ground and covered them with their own bodies. Mary states that although the men came close, they never did locate the girls and eventually gave up the hunt. The girls gave the manuscripts to Sister Phelps, and Mary eventually received a bound copy, which she "prized highly."
The portion that Mary and Caroline preserved cover (more or less) the beginning of our current Doctrine and Covenants to partway through chapter 64. They were "eagerly" quoted by missionaries, and were cited by church officials.
I'm grateful for Mary and Caroline's incredible courage and faithfulness. At age 15, Mary had received confirmation that the Book of Commandments was a sacred document, and put her life on the line to preserve what she could. She had a remarkable influence for good. On a personal level, I'm grateful that largely through her actions, I have access to these revelations. So many revelations that have strengthened my faith and given me encouragement are found in these chapters: guidance for receiving personal revelation; Emma being called to expound scriptures; confirmation of the Lord's love of the individual and the worth of souls; additional understanding about the atonement; the list goes on and on. While I know that no principle essential to our salvation would have been lost, I am grateful that Mary and Caroline risked so much so that we could have these words, and I cherish them all the more because I know their story.
Sources:
Autobiography of Mary E. Lightner, Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, UG&HM 17 (1926).
Saving the Book of Commandments, Gospel Art Kit.
The Story of the Doctrine and Covenants, Robert Woodford
2008-05-12T14:58:16.646-07:00
I work with the young women in my ward, so I'm especially drawn to accounts of brave, spiritual, and intelligent teenagers girls that have a profound influence for good.A few weeks back, I had a discussion with my husband about influential Mormons, and he brought up Mary Rollins and her sister, Caroline (isn't he great?). Mary was one of those women that I learned a little about in primary and promptly forgot about, so it was good to be reacquainted with her, and learn more about the rest of her story. I could probably spend a month on Mary, but I'm just going to focus on the teenage Mary in these two posts.
When Mary was ten, she moved to Kirtland, Ohio with her widowed mother and two siblings. After living there for two years, they heard Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and Ziba Peterson teach about the restoration, and twelve-year-old Mary and her mother were baptized in 1830. A little later, John Whitmer brought a copy of the Book of Mormon to Kirtland. Mary found out that Brother Morley had it, and sought him out. She managed to talk him into giving her the book for the night, even though he hadn't yet opened it himself.
When she took it home, she was chastised by her family for her precociousness, but everyone took turns reading it. Mary loved it. When she returned the copy to Brother Morley the next morning, he commented that she couldn't have read or remembered much of it; she responded by repeating a verse she had memorized and outlined the history of Nephi. She states that he was shocked, and told her "child, take this book home and finish it, I can wait." Around the time she finished the book, Joseph Smith arrived in Kirtland. Joseph visited Mary's home, and when he found out that Mary was the reason the copy of the Book of Mormon on their bookshelf, he immediately gave her a blessing, as well as giving her Brother Morley's copy permanently.
Mary heard Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and Thomas Marsh speaking in tongues at Sunday meetings, and "made it a subject of prayer" to understand tongues. One day when the three men came to her family's home with unfolded sheets from the Book of Commandments, they began speaking in tongues and called on Mary to interpret it, and she did. She states that as she did so, she felt the spirit of the revelations "in a moment." Her testimony of the value of these revelations was very powerful, and she would take great risks in the future to preserve them.
Sources:
Autobiography of Mary E. Lightner, Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, UG&HM 17 (1926).
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