This contained 304 hymn texts. Saved to reddit here. The modest headstones the men could see as they traveled were made by stonemason J. W. Stewart, known for years as Coffin Man. But it was Oliver Harpers large, ornate headstone just to the south of the two simple ones that would have likely been the focus of any discussion the men had with its neatly chiseled inscription announcing Harper had been robbed and murdered the previous year on March 11, 1824. . Lyman H. Bagg, Marriages in West Springfield, Mass.The New England Historical and Genealogical Register,July 1881, 232. Hamilton divided her land into affordable lots and sold them to new settlers which increased the population of the valley. Upham,Life of Timothy Pickering, 117. . Connecticut investors promoted Wells land; and Connecticut settlers filled its mountain valleys. 56. the LDS Church History Department. could neither write nor dictate a coherent well-worded letter, during that early period.304 He may have dictated some of his letters to Stowell family members who wrote for him in hopes of improving his prospects with Emma. Other sources give November 20 as the birth date, Lorraine Cook White, ed.,The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records(Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2002), 23: 140; Grace E. Pember Wood,A History of the Town of Wells, Vermont from its Settlement with Family and Biographical Sketches and Incidents(N.p. On September 22, 1827, Joseph and Emma took a horse and carriage belonging to Joseph Knight, Sr., and went to a hill, now known as Hill Cumorah, where Joseph said he received a set of golden plates. David recalled that his father specifically settled in the Susquehanna Valley because of the hunting opportunities the area offered. See Bushman,The Refinement of America,especially xii. He may have also sailed ships himself. 1810s & 1820s Member of Methodist church at Harmony. 11. Franklin Bowditch Dexter, ed.,The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles(New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1901), 3:264, 266, 368, 488. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. . Isaac continued to be taxed on two homes from 1816 until 1819. They went as far as the rift or rapids, where they left their canoes, and walked past the rapids, then took passage in a large canoe around by my fathers. The newly married Joseph agreed with his father-in-law, Isaac Hale, that he would buy a small farm there where he "expected to work hard for a living, and was willing to do so." 1 He would need to work hard, since his parents' family had limited financial resources to draw from as Joseph was starting his own family. The courtship and marriage of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale 45. David rented the entire James Westfall property in 1825 and thus controlled the potential silver mine on the Westfall farm.258 The Westfall family continued to pay the tax for the James Westfall home indicating someone, likely the Widow Westfall, continued to live there. The headstone, made by Eclectic Man, included visual symbols from Harpers life.4, As the group rattled closer to Harmony Township, they traveled the last section of the turnpike in an experience described by a later newspaper reporter as like being rolled in a barrel. He insisted the turnpike could guarantee the traveler a shaking he will not forget in a month. But the reporter acknowledged, And what is the one thing that would atone for so many inconveniences? Rhoda was born the same year as Emma and the two were age mates who lived on neighboring farms and likely interacted together a great deal.253 Since Isaac expected his sons to provide a home for their new brides, it is likely David and Rhoda lived in the Hale log home. Blackman (History of Susquehanna County,88) believed John Hilborn did not arrive in the valley until 1791 to serve as an agent for Henry Drinker, who arrived shortly afterward. Some thought it might not have been buried on Block Island but on the nearby Thimble Islands just off the coast from Nathaniel Lewiss childhood home and a few hundred feet from the much smaller Lewis Island. Room in the Taylor (later Munson) Tavern (with original paneling) where Francis, Asbury likely slept. Both she and Joseph III traveled to a conference at Amboy, Illinois. 80. 6. . He began focusing on the Old Testament rather than the New for his teaching, and his parishioners accused him of preaching immoral doctrine along with claiming the doctrine of faith was not found in the Old Testament and that a conscience was not a natural faculty, but the result of education.171 Although Buck continued to serve until his death in 1814, the congregation struggled for the rest of his tenure.172, The Hale and Lewis families were apparently influenced along with others by the Buck difficulty, and withdrew from his congregationalthough it is not clear if it was the immoral doctrine, issues of faith, those of a conscience, or all of these that offended them. Hale traveled from Connecticut along the newly opened turnpike to southwestern New York until he arrived at Ouaquaga village or Old Oquago,which straddled the Susquehanna River four miles south of what would eventually become Colesville, New York.30 Major General John Sullivans soldiers had already burned Ouaquaga to the ground and massacred hundreds of Onondaga tribal members and recently settled Tuscarora families before Hale arrived, leaving corn in the fields, apples in the orchards, and tools scattered about the ground. Although a large, level valley in the center of the township became Wells village, the Lewis family settled away from the village on inexpensive land on a rocky mountain top near the northeastern township line. [citation needed] As she had in Kirtland, Emma Smith lead "the work of boarding and clothing the men engaged in building [the Nauvoo temple]". Their marriage faced unusual challenges due to the hardships of founding and leading the Church. If correct, this places the Hale land payments at somewhere around $35.00 a year for a decade. About this same time, another local citizen, Nathaniel Wood, who lived a little north of the Lewis family, was excluded from the congregational church, apparently because he had gotten up a new system of religious doctrine.81 In the Wood families, and especially in Nathaniel Woods family, were some of the best minds the town ever had.82 And they put their thoughts toward theology. Harris informed me afterwards, that he followed Smith's directions, and could not find the Plates, and was still dissatisfied. 190. [18] She saw upholding morality as the primary purpose of the Relief Society. I have selected the standard spelling for use here, see Sarah M. Kimball, letter to Marinda Hyde, January 2, 1848, Marinda Hyde Papers 18381849, CHL; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, October 27, 1839, (rough book), CHL; and Oliver Cowdery, Diary and Nauvoo High Council Minutes (fair copy), 2728, CHL. Elizabeth laid her arms across her chest and passed quietly away with out stiring or makeing any motion whatever at two oclock in the morning on February 16, 1842. 29. 221. These were frame homes with the most expensive valued at $80. Isaac Hale, and perhaps his family, likely attended these meetings during the early settlement period. Part of this letter is written in Emma Smiths hand and part in Joseph Smiths hand. I was shown a box in which it is said they were contained, which had to all appearances, been used as a glass box of the common window glass. . The Onondaga and Oneida tribes had carried out extensive trade in beaver pelts for silver jewelry and other items from 17801821, and had become skilled silversmiths of their own work. As Tim courted Lurena, and they may have already announced their planned wedding, Isaac worked on the larger, elaborate Pickering mansion. Perhaps because their public discussions of religion differed from what was commonly accepted, their neighbors described them as religious agitators. 262. 302. The first sermons heard in Jackson [which was also part of Willingborough Township in the early settlement period] were those of Elder Nathaniel Lewis, a Methodist. They spend whole days in hunting & yet their houses are left in an unfinished state. When Pickering announced to his friends his plans to move in the neighborhood of the Isaac Hale family, his associates tried to dissuade him from settling along such a remote area of the Susquehanna. The Joseph/Jacob Smith land was apparently used for lumbering. Emma and Joseph III returned to Nauvoo after the conference and he led the church from there until moving to Plano, Illinois, in 1866. A Heart Full of Love and Faith: The Prophets Letters to His Family, in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2007), 23847. 4 Son of Reuben Hale and Diantha Ward. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. Blackman noted, William Smith arrived in the valley the same year as Isaac Hale and occupied the land east of him later purchased by the Westfall family.259 It is possible William Smith was already on the property when Isaac Hale arrived since Pennsylvania surveyed the Smith property early during the Pennamite Warson either July 2, 1784, with Jacob Smiths neighboring tract of land in number 236, or on April 4, 1785 with George Rupers land, part of which was later purchased by Isaac Hale.260 William Smith was sometimes known as Governor with his 364 acres.261 Jacob Smith was sometimes assessed a tax as Joseph Smith but it is not clear if that was his alternate name or the name of his son.This Joseph Smith was first assessed for 434 acres in 1823.262, The similarity in names between this Smith family and Isaacs later son-in-law Joseph Smith has caused some confusion over the years. Strale,United States Catholic Intelligencer,September 21, 1832, 415. Susquehanna County Deeds, History, 18381856, volume F-1 [1 May 18448 August 1844], History, circa June 1839circa Pickering,Chronological History of Plants,vii-xvi. Wilkinson,Annals of Binghamton, 10708. 276. Emma, who was more than ordinarily communicative, December 4, 1867; and Visited Mrs. Bidamon, relict of Joseph Smith the Martyr. B. Buck to Emily Blackman as cited in Blackman,History of Susquehanna County, 495. [c] In July 1830, Joseph received a revelation, now known as Doctrine and Covenants section 25, that highlighted Emma Smith as "an elect lady". Emma apparently had an education equal to the other prominent members of the community. Versaggi, personal communication to author, September 13, 2013; see also Gina Laczko,Irp;oquois Silverwork: from the collection of The Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation,(Hamilton, NY: Gallery Association of New York State), 1980, 24; Arthur Woodward, Indian Use of the Silver Gorget,Indian Notes3 (Fall 1926): 23249. Daniel Buck settled his young family in the middle of the Susquehanna Valley at Painted Rock, a site later known as Red Rock, because Native American inhabitants had used red paint to depict various figures, apparently turning the site into a ritual setting or sacred location.104 This was also the location of the Indian burying-ground in the area.105 The land at Painted Rock was not good farmland and before the railroad came through the area it consisted largely of a picturesque blend of massive freestanding rock formations and steep cliffs. Brother of Reuben Hale. Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 - April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the first wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church). . : Sharp D. Lewis, 1830), 173. None of the daughters named a child after their mother, although two of Emmas sisters, Elizabeth and Tryal, named a daughter Emma. It had one roughly eight feet square chamber on the main level attached to the kitchen and either two large upstairs sleeping chambers ten feet deep by thirteen feet wide or four small upstairs chambers less than ten feet deep by six feet wide. I have named one of the judges Scribe A (see Trial Notes Scribe A) as he recorded the following testimony, confirming the log home still stood in May 1824. Blackman,History of Susquehanna County,431. Charles Pickering became Americas leading polygenist, a scientist who believed that different races had been created separatelyeventually publishing his book Races of Man and Their Geographical Distribution.158. If Blackman was counting from the date she wrote her account in 1872 it would put Elizabeths conversion to 1822, probably too late since most of her family joined much earlier. See also, Francis Whiting Halsey,The Old New York Frontier(New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1901), 28. 109. David Hale expressed some uncertainty as to exactly when his father arrived in the Susquehanna Valley, dating the event to 1787 or thereabout.45 Buck and Hale were still up river at the Onondaga village in July of that year, but resources were quickly used up, leading them to follow the Warrior Path down river in the last months of that year or first months of the next.46 Hale wintered over in the valley, hunting to support himself and probably Daniel Bucks family. Isaac Hale hereby Covenants and agrees to sell and convey to the said Joseph Smith J un. His information on Emmas early conversion appears to be part of what he learned directly from her. Nathaniel and Esther Lewis became Wells Townships first converts to Methodism. I am grateful to Betty Smith, Director of the Susquehanna County Historical Society, for her generous help throughout this research; Jean Green, Head of Special Collections, at University Binghamton University Libraries and Nicolette Dobrowolski, Head of Public Services, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries, and numerous other staff members of their institutions for providing access to significant collections. Josiah Stowell may have paid the rent for the land listed in David Hales name. 145. MarkL. Staker, A Comfort unto My Servant, Joseph: Emma Hale Smith (18041879), in RichardE. TurleyJr. and BrittanyA. Chapman,eds., Women of Faith in the Latter Days, Volume One, 17751820 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), 345,349. Nathaniel Lewis enlisted in the Connecticut 2nd Regiment 9th Company, Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society,Rolls of Connecticut Men in the French and Indian War, 17551762, 34445; Jacquelyn L. Ricker, ed., and Alvan Talcott, comp.,Families of Guilford, Connecticut. Black and Black, Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, 6:3355; Susquehanna Co, PA, Wills and Administrations, 18121921, vol. He had been relaxing in his home when he was called upon to walk to the neighboring Treadwell home to interview a neighbor. The pinkish purple blossoms of Jo Pye weed along the road had long since faded, and now the bright yellows of the towering chestnuts in the river floodplain, the muted browns of the oaks leaning over the road, the brilliant reds of the maples in groves on the higher, south-facing mountain slopes, and the deep greens of the six hundred year old hemlocks on the north facing mountainsides all began to rise and fall in a pattern familiar to Vermont emigrants. Alva was to give each of the other sons $25.00, and the daughters, including Emma, would receive what would be proper. Isaac also requested that he be buried on his own land back of the garden near the line betwixt me and Joseph McKune, Jr.289 Isaac was always a man of solitude, and so it was perhaps natural that he chose not to be crowded in the cemetery a few hundred feet away with all of the other graves, but the spot he selected was right next to the home where his son-in-law Joseph Smith had livedalmost as if he were still protecting his family from that place. While there was not a single Elect Lady among the Methodists who could prophesy and reveal the will of God, many of the women among the Shouting Methodists found themselves in the woods seeking inspiration as they reminded the young they should be retiring to the grove for a solitary walk, or private devotion.185 They saw themselves as saints in the tradition of early Christianity, and their hymns encouraged them to pray, asking to see the power of God manifested.186 To reinforce this effort, they sang Ye saints, who love the Lords dear name, Who love to worship at his feet . Credit: Kenneth Mays The rebuilt home of Isaac and Elizabeth Hale, the parents of Emma Hale Smith, at the Priesthood Restoration Site, in Oakland Township (previously Harmony), Pennsylvania. Blackman,History of Susquehanna County,102. Isaac Hale (1763-1839) | Familypedia | Fandom All of Isaac and Elizabeth Hales sons, except Reuben, had a daughter named either Elizabeth or Betsey. . I don't know how nine children fit in that little house. Not everyone in the Hale family participated in the search for silver, however, as Isaacs brother-in-law Nathaniel Lewis seems to have separated his family from these efforts. Their correspondence reveals not only their difficult circumstances but their commitment to each other. Jacobs name continued in the tax lists through 1837 when the format of the tax assessments changed. Stewart because of similarities in their work. 249. Several decades later, in 1825 Isaacs sons Jesse and Ward bought the Traves sawmill, and the illiterate John and Mercy Travis both signing their X for the transaction.143 Some of the millers, sawyers and workmen of these mills were among the earliest converts to Mormonism.144. Chaffee,History of the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church,36. The Lord will have respect to thy cries, and by his judgments he will cause some of them to see their folly and repent of their sins; but it will be by affliction that they will be saved. Elizabeth Hale connected herself to the Methodists early and may have been the one Hiel Lewis had heard about, confusing the details, but Isaac remained distant.190, Frederic Stier and Timothy Lee first arrived in the Susquehanna Valley in 1805 and found most of their success there in 1806.191 When Stier and Lee brought Methodism it resulted in a general revival of religion which swept along that portion of the Susquehanna Valley as the popular movement replaced Bucks Congregationalism.192 Lee did not list any Hales among his converts, but missing names in the records was not unusual as most individuals caught up in local revivals were not numbered among the short list of convertsparticularly if they were already baptized.193. Local historians explored their history, their minister wrote about them in his autobiography, and during the late nineteenth century the steamboat Erminie took tourists downriver to see their property and hear about Joseph Smith.315 Although Isaac Hale may have wished a life of distinguished solitude, he was thrust onto the public arena against his will. See Jirah Mumford & Co., in the Harmony Township Tax Assessment records from 18261831. When the saints were expelled from Illinois in 1846, Emma Smith chose to remain in Nauvoo, encouraging her son Joseph Smith III that he was to be the successor to his father's position as President of the Church. "[11] She served as president of the Relief Society until 1844. 280. Both options had their advantages but the Delaware was so popular for residents of the Susquehanna Valley that the village of Deposit eventually grew up nearby, and Hale Eddy, a spot on the river just below Deposit, became a staging area to prepare lumber for spring shipments. 136. George Ruper owned their land only briefly after he acquired it from Pennsylvania. See relevant entries throughout Staker and Jensen, David Hales Store Ledger: New Details about Joseph and Emma Smith, the Hale Family, and the Book of Mormon., 132. His mother recalled after Joseph first met Emma, he immediately commenced paying his addresses. Anderson,Lucys Book,361. Joseph had come southwest from New York seeking employment in the Susquehanna Valley. ; Smith and his father boarded with Isaac Hale in 1825 while working on Josiah Stowell's mining project. These men assessed real property in Harmony Township as directed in Section Eight of the General Assembly Act of April 11, 1799, implementing the tax laws that remained in place for many years (with some small revisions made in 1834 and 1844). They have, however, long since been defaced, so as now to be invisible. The artifact scatter suggests a door in the log home faced east toward the work yard and toward a rock-lined well that still exists near the seasonal brook. Soon after this, I was informed they had brought a wonderful book of Plates down with them. 76. . Isaac Hale Died: 11 Jan 1839 BillionGraves Record After living out their days, Isaac and Elizabeth passed away and were buried in the little cemetery adjacent to the Smith Harmony home. Privacy Policy. . This was considered one of the miracles the couple experienced together. It was while here that Joseph Smith began translating the Book of Mormon from the gold plates. 200. Wendy Schnur, Collections Access and Research, Mystic Seaport, The Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, Connecticut, Personal communication to author, February 7, 2008. Wilford C. Wood later purchased a portion of this property and suggested it was the site where the Melchizedek Priesthood had been restored, presumably influenced by the 1874 atlas, see Historic Site Files, CHL. [20], On November 6, 1832, Emma gave birth to Joseph Smith III in the upper room of Whitney's store in Kirtland.