Statement, Memoranda, Etc. of Lucy (Walker) Smith - Kimball, 1826-1910. With a Photograph
- Ephemera
Ephemera. Oval photograph [3 1/2" x 5"] on a tan mount [7 3/4" x 6"]. Odell Photo Studio (Logan, Utah). With light tide marks and abrasions to the extremities of the mount.
Together with the statement of Mrs. L. W. Kimball (final 5 lines detached, but present). A lengthy typewritten document consisting of 14 pages which reproduces the statement of Lucy (Walker) Smith - Kimball. Transcriber not known.
The statement opens thus,
"Lucy Walker Kimball was born April 30th, 1826, town of Peacham, Caledonia Co., Vermont. Was the daughter of John Walker and Lydia Holmes... Father was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ in 1832; mother, two years later. They left Vermont in 1834 for the west. Found a small branch of the Church in Ogdensburg, New York; some of Brother Kimball's first converts, preparing to go west also. My father was induced to remain with this branch until 1837. During the year 1835 the children who were eight years and upwards were baptized by Elder Abraham Palmer. They were full of faith, having been taught to pray by their parents, and received the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and the signs followed them. Some spake in tongues, others prophecied [sic]; again others had the gift of faith to heal the sick, etc. One of this little band prophesied that before we reached our destination we would be surrounded by armed mobs with blackened faces, and would need much faith in God to endure the many persecutions and trials before us, and that some of our number would lay down their lives; others see their brethren shot down before their very eyes. This was verified at the wholesale slaughter at Haun's Mill."
Lucy was baptized in 1835. In 1838, she survived the attack at Haun's Mill, which resulted in 30 Mormon casualties. After her mother's death and her father's calling to go away on a mission, she and some of her siblings moved into the prophet Joseph Smith's house and were raised and treated like adopted children. In May 1843 Lucy became one of Joseph's plural wives. In Lucy's affidavit which can be viewed digitally in the Church History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she states, "I was a plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was married for time and eternity in Nauvoo, State of Illinois, on the first day of May 1843, by Elder William Clayton. The Prophet was then living with his first wife, Emma Smith, and I know that she gave her consent to the marriage of at least four women to her husband as plural wives, and that she was well aware that he associated and cohabitated with them as wives. The names of those women are Eliza and Emily Partridge, and Maria and Sarah Lawrence, all of whom knew that I too was his wife." After Joseph's death, Lucy became one of the plural wives of Heber C. Kimball, and bore him nine children. She came to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848.
An intimate portrait of faith and belief which captures the life of Lucy (Walker) Smith - Kimball in its entirety, including the description of her mother's death, the Prophet Joseph Smith's offer to come to the family's rescue, her subsequent marriage to Heber C. Kimball, and her feelings towards polygamous families, as expressed in her own words which state, "Every mother has her own mode of government and as children grow in years it is more pleasant to have them under the immediate dictation of their own mother. I can truthfully state, however, that there is less room for jealousy where wives live under the same roof. They became interested in each other's welfare; they love the other's children; besides, in my experience I find the children themselves love each other as dearly as the children of one mother.
Together with the statement of Mrs. L. W. Kimball (final 5 lines detached, but present). A lengthy typewritten document consisting of 14 pages which reproduces the statement of Lucy (Walker) Smith - Kimball. Transcriber not known.
The statement opens thus,
"Lucy Walker Kimball was born April 30th, 1826, town of Peacham, Caledonia Co., Vermont. Was the daughter of John Walker and Lydia Holmes... Father was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ in 1832; mother, two years later. They left Vermont in 1834 for the west. Found a small branch of the Church in Ogdensburg, New York; some of Brother Kimball's first converts, preparing to go west also. My father was induced to remain with this branch until 1837. During the year 1835 the children who were eight years and upwards were baptized by Elder Abraham Palmer. They were full of faith, having been taught to pray by their parents, and received the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and the signs followed them. Some spake in tongues, others prophecied [sic]; again others had the gift of faith to heal the sick, etc. One of this little band prophesied that before we reached our destination we would be surrounded by armed mobs with blackened faces, and would need much faith in God to endure the many persecutions and trials before us, and that some of our number would lay down their lives; others see their brethren shot down before their very eyes. This was verified at the wholesale slaughter at Haun's Mill."
Lucy was baptized in 1835. In 1838, she survived the attack at Haun's Mill, which resulted in 30 Mormon casualties. After her mother's death and her father's calling to go away on a mission, she and some of her siblings moved into the prophet Joseph Smith's house and were raised and treated like adopted children. In May 1843 Lucy became one of Joseph's plural wives. In Lucy's affidavit which can be viewed digitally in the Church History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she states, "I was a plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was married for time and eternity in Nauvoo, State of Illinois, on the first day of May 1843, by Elder William Clayton. The Prophet was then living with his first wife, Emma Smith, and I know that she gave her consent to the marriage of at least four women to her husband as plural wives, and that she was well aware that he associated and cohabitated with them as wives. The names of those women are Eliza and Emily Partridge, and Maria and Sarah Lawrence, all of whom knew that I too was his wife." After Joseph's death, Lucy became one of the plural wives of Heber C. Kimball, and bore him nine children. She came to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848.
An intimate portrait of faith and belief which captures the life of Lucy (Walker) Smith - Kimball in its entirety, including the description of her mother's death, the Prophet Joseph Smith's offer to come to the family's rescue, her subsequent marriage to Heber C. Kimball, and her feelings towards polygamous families, as expressed in her own words which state, "Every mother has her own mode of government and as children grow in years it is more pleasant to have them under the immediate dictation of their own mother. I can truthfully state, however, that there is less room for jealousy where wives live under the same roof. They became interested in each other's welfare; they love the other's children; besides, in my experience I find the children themselves love each other as dearly as the children of one mother.