This section is designed to evaluate what type of work and recreation the Smith family engaged in and what effect this had on family functioning. In addition, this section attempts to determine the work ethic within the family. Lastly, it will explore the balance between work and recreation the Smith family manifested.
Family Work in New England
Little is known about the type of joint work that the family engaged in prior to their move to Palmyra, New York, in 1816. It is known that Father Smith was involved in several entrepreneurial ventures, including opening a store in Randolph and investing in ginseng (see further discussion in chapter 5). Joseph Sr. was also a farmer during the summer months and taught school in the winter.1 From Lucy’s description, it appears that she was also involved in providing for the family. Mother Smith indicated that both she and her “companion were doing all that . . . [their] abilities would admit of for the future welfare and advantage of the family, and were greatly blessed in . . . [their] labors.”2 She saw her role as joint provider alongside her husband, which gives us our first glimpse of the familial attitude towards, and participation in, family work.
It was common in early-nineteenth-century families for both husband and wife to jointly participate in providing for the family needs. As a historian of the nineteenth century, [175] Mary Ryan has noted, “Indeed, men’s expectations, women’s behavior, and the whole supporting culture concurred in regarding the frontier wife as preeminently a worker in the home economy.”3 Lucy helped support the family, particularly when the family relocated to western New York.
When Joseph Sr. moved to western New York in 1816 to prepare a place for the family, Lucy remained behind in Vermont with the children. While there, Mother Smith was forced to pay several “unjust claims” from creditors who threatened legal action if she did not comply. She indicated that “by making considerable exertion, [she] raised the required sum, which was one hundred and fifty dollars, and liquidated the demand.” Furthermore, Lucy raised an additional sixty to eighty dollars for the journey to New York.4 How she raised the money so quickly is unknown, but it provides evidence of Lucy’s ability to contribute to the support of the family when necessary. It is quite possible that Lucy sold some of the household furnishings, which she later made great efforts to replace once the family was settled in Palmyra.
Family Work in Palmyra, New York
Although there are a few recorded instances of family work prior to their move to New York, the clearest picture of the Smiths’ work ethic emerged during the family’s stay there. By this time, the older children had matured to the point of being capable contributors, and surviving documents detail how the family provided for their necessities. Thus, during the Palmyra, New York, years (1816–1830), the level of the Smith family work ethic is most evident. [176]
Antagonists to the Church have tried to disparage the reputation of the Smiths’ work ethic by portraying them as lazy treasure seekers who spent the majority of their time digging for money. Some antagonists declared that “their great object appeared to be, to live without work.”5 In more recent years, researchers have refuted the claims of early anti-Mormons, and there has emerged solid evidence of the family’s industry.
When the family arrived in Palmyra, they were destitute of any financial means and had only a small portion of the home furnishings they had once possessed. Their dire circumstances became a challenge for the whole family. Lucy remembered that the entire family “all now sat down, and counselled together relative to the course which was best for us to adopt in our destitute circumstances, and we came to the conclusion to unite our strength in endeavoring to obtain a piece of land.”6
Father Smith was most concerned with being able to afford a piece of land while prices for goods and food remained high. The rest of the family responded to his concern by committing to do everything in their power to achieve their collective goal.7 Mother Smith proposed to contribute by “painting oil-cloth coverings for tables, stands, &c,” a skill which she had previously acquired, and the older sons were to hire out to work for neighbors from time to time.8 With this plan in place, the family moved ahead. They concluded that their combined efforts were the only way they could obtain the desired land. [177]
The plan proved successful. Lucy experienced much success in painting her oilcloth coverings. After setting up her business, she reported that she “did extremely well.” A resident in the area recounted Lucy’s activity: “Among the other methods which the Smith family employed . . . was that of manufacturing and selling oil cloths. This work was principally performed by Mrs. Smith. She wove the threads and painted the cloths herself, and when a sufficient stock was found to be on hand, it was her custom to start out herself and hawk her wares from door to door.”9 By this method of labor, Mother Smith “furnished all the provisions for the family, and, besides this, began to replenish . . . [the] household furniture” within “a very short time.”10
Father Smith, with his older sons, also contributed to the family’s support. Pomeroy Tucker, a resident of Palmyra who claimed to know the Smith family, remembered how they supported themselves during this time period:
At Palmyra, Mr. Smith, Sr., opened a “cake and beer shop,” as described by his signboard, doing business on a small scale, by the profits of which, added to the earnings of an occasional day’s work on hire by himself and his elder sons, for the village and farming people, he was understood to secure a scanty but honest living for himself and family. These hired days’ works were divided among [178] various common labor jobs that offered from time to time, such as gardening, harvesting, well-digging, etc.
Mr. Smith’s shop merchandise, consisting of gingerbread, pies, boiled eggs, root-beer, and other like notions of traffic, soon became popular with the juvenile people of the town and country, commanding brisk sales, especially on Fourth of July anniversaries and on military training days, as these prevailed at that period. Peddling was done in the streets on those occasions by the facility of a rude handcart of the proprietor’s own construction.11
Others substantiate this account and remember Father Smith vending “gingerbread and buttermints.”12 Other family members were also involved in this business, and it is likely that the female portion of the household helped to produce items that were sold. Father Smith also utilized this venture to instruct his children in economics, as one villager indicated that Joseph Jr. received his “first lessons in commercial and monetary science” as he labored alongside his father in this endeavor.13
As evidence of the family’s success, the Smith’s acquired one hundred acres of land approximately two miles south of downtown Palmyra within two years of their arrival.14 William Smith recalled that their farm “had been articled for, to be paid in yearly installments of $100 each.”15 One expert on the Palmyra area estimated this was a significant amount of money to be paid on a yearly basis.16 Still, the family used their collective efforts to improve the farm and succeeded in making the one-hundred-dollar yearly payment until 1825.17
During their years on this farm, the Smith family engaged in many forms of work. Father Smith worked on and off as a cooper throughout his life. He learned the barrel-making trade [179] from his father, Asael, who had also worked as a cooper.18 Similarly, Joseph Sr. instructed his own sons in the trade, as both Hyrum and Joseph Jr. labored as coopers.19 Thus, three generations of Smiths worked at this profession. On the hundred-acre farm, the Smiths built a cooper’s shop, with “wood floor and loft.” Researcher Donald Enders has observed, “Coopering was an exacting trade, particularly if the barrel was designed to hold liquid. Dye tubs, barrels, and water and sap buckets were products of the Smiths’ cooper shop. They also repaired leaky barrels for neighbors at cidering time.”20
During their stay in Palmyra, the family’s work efforts mostly centered on the farm. Pomeroy Tucker described the Smith property at the time of their move in 1818 as “a nearly wild or unimproved piece of land, mostly covered with standing timber.”21 Experts on horticulture in the vicinity estimate that there were roughly one hundred trees per acre and that many of these trees were over one hundred feet in height and four to six feet in diameter.22 Lucy remembered that “something like thirty acres of land were got ready for cultivation the first year.”23 This meant that the family managed to clear approximately three thousand trees during their first year on the farm, which would have required an intensive amount of family labor. Richard Bushman notes that clearing thirty acres in one year was “a herculean achievement even with the aid of Alvin, Hyrum, and Joseph, Jr.”24 In addition to clearing land, the family also managed to [180] build a log house on the property.25 The log home was said to have “contained two rooms on the ground floor, with two divisions in the garret. Later an addition was put up that was made of slabs and used for a sleeping room.”26
As the farm prospered under the family’s combined efforts, the remaining amount of the one-hundred-dollar payment came due. Knowing that the farm required his father’s full attention, Alvin “proposed to his Father that he [Joseph Sr.] should take the buisness at home in his entire charge,” while he would go abroad to ensure that the remainder of the first payment was made. Furthermore, Alvin indicated that he would attempt to make enough money to meet the following year’s payment as well. How long Alvin was gone from home is unknown. However, he eventually returned with the necessary funds, “after much labor Suffering and fatigue” and by “persevering industry.”27 Alvin contributed substantially to the family’s survival during their early years in Palmyra and willingly sacrificed for the larger goal of obtaining the family farm.
Alvin often set the example for his younger siblings in work performance. He frequently provided motivation for his siblings by encouraging them to “not slacken [their] hands,” so as to ensure that they completed the day’s tasks. If siblings wanted time for recreational activities, Alvin instructed them to “go to bed [181] [early], and rise early in the morning, in order to finish our day’s work at an hour before sunset.” In this way, they would have their work completed and have time for more leisurely activities. Alvin also took charge of building the frame house on the family farm. The idea of finishing this house gave him much satisfaction, as he longed for the family to live more comfortably, particularly his parents.28 This was likely the reason that a neighbor observed that Alvin “was the stay of the family.”29 Even his siblings observed that their oldest brother “minded his father and mother in toiling all day.”30
The rest of the siblings were also active in the family work. The male portion of the household frequently hired out to neighbors to assist in supporting the family. Joseph Jr. worked for Martin Harris doing various odd jobs, including hoeing corn for fifty cents per day. Martin remembered that Joseph was “a good hand to work.”31 The younger Joseph occasionally found “an odd job to do about the store of Seymour Scovell,” a Palmyra merchant.32 Samuel also hired out on occasion and was remembered by neighbors as “a good, industrious boy.”33 In fact, most of the men in the Smith household, from Joseph Sr. to William, hired out to neighbors on occasion. Orlando Saunders claimed to know “all of the Smith family well.” He recalled, “They have all worked for me many a day; they were very good people; Young Joe (as we called him then), has worked for me, and he was a good worker; they all were.”34 Even some of the Smith neighbors who attacked their character conceded they were good workers. For example, Able Chase described the Smiths as “poorly educated ignorant and selfish—super sticious Shif[t]less [182] but do a good days work.”35 These accounts corroborate with William’s claim that “whenever the neighbors wanted a good day’s work they knew where they could get a good hand.”36 Even grandchildren corroborate these accounts of the family’s ability to work. Samuel’s daughter, Mary Bailey, remembered her father as “an industrious, hard-working man, who never shirked any task. While working on the farm, he worked every day and part of every moonlit night.”37
The types of work the Smith men performed included hoeing corn, digging and rocking wells, engaging in carpentry work, constructing stone walls and fireplaces, hauling stone, and digging for coal, salt, and silver. Donald Enders has identified over two dozen different kinds of work that the Smiths performed during this time period.38 In addition, recently discovered research reveals that male members of the family built fences, dressed meat, picked fruit, shoed horses, and frequently mowed and drew hay just in their first year on the hundred-acre farm.39 This work was in addition to the thirty acres the family had got ready for cultivation and reflects a vigorous work ethic.
It was typical for the men in early-nineteenth-century families to be responsible for “plowing and planting the fields, cultivating and harvesting the field crops, and preparing the hay and grain for use as animal and human food.”40 Historical accounts indicate that Father Smith, along with his boys, carried out these tasks on the farm. Lucy described a typical fall day when Joseph Sr., Alvin, and Joseph [183] “were reaping together in the field.” She further stated, “All our sons were actively employed in assisting their Father to cut down the grain and stor[e] it away.”41
In addition to taking care of the fields, it was also common for men to take charge of “the construction and maintenance of the house, barn, and outbuildings.”42 Once again, the men in the Smith family carried out these traditionally male forms of labor. During their stay in Palmyra, the family constructed a log home, a frame house, a cooper’s shop, a barn, and several additional outbuildings.43 William recalled participating in the construction of “a good fence . . . besides building a good frame house, out-buildings, etc.”44 Since Father Smith, Hyrum, and Joseph all worked as coopers, it would make sense that they designed and participated in the construction of the cooper’s shop as well.
The men of the family also participated in sugarmaking. Enders indicated that “sugaring was another labor-intensive work. . . . Many people could make maple syrup, but it required considerable skill to make sugar and particularly good skill, dexterity, and commitment to make high quality sugar.”45 Neighbors remembered their efforts in the sugar production. Lorenzo Saunders recalled visiting the Smith farm when the family was in the midst of making sugar. He reported,
It was in the Spring I went there to eat sugar. Samuel Lawrence went with me; There was 4 or 5 men making sugar; Their camp was right on the farm; they made several thousands pounds of sugar; You see there was a bounty in the state of New York & [184] they was making a great deal of sugar & they had several boiling places & emploied some men. . . . This was in the time of making sugar along in march about the 10th or 15th, & they was in full blast & they used to invite us over to eat sugar. They made sugar every year.46
Saunders provided further insights into the Smiths’ productivity in sugarmaking. He recalled, “The Smiths were great sugar makers. . . . They made seven thousand lbs. one year and took the bounty in the County—of $50.00.”47 If this statement is true, it represents an incredible amount of work. Lucy indicated that the family typically made one thousand pounds per year.48 Producing a thousand pounds a year required considerable effort. The family’s success at sugar production supplemented the family income.
The women in the Smith household also contributed to both the upkeep of the home and the support of the family. It was typical for women of the time period to be “responsible for tending the vegetable garden, processing and preserving the year’s supply of vegetables and fruits, and preparing meals.” In addition, “women were responsible for cleaning the house, tending the fires, and sewing, laundering, and mending the family’s clothing and household textiles.”49 The Smith women engaged in many of these forms of work. Mother Smith’s contribution in painting and selling oilcloth coverings has previously been noted. Sophronia, although only twelve years old at the time, donated her precious earrings so the family would have enough means to subsist. Lucy also contributed to the support of the [185] family by selling “bits of cloth, clothing, &c” that she had very likely made with her own hands.50
However, the majority of the work contributions made by the Smith women were the day-to-day household tasks they performed. The traditionally female tasks of sewing and mending clothes were performed by Mother Smith and her daughters. During the height of the Kirtland Temple construction, Sophronia and Katharine formed weaving clubs, evidence of their sewing abilities. Katharine, twenty years old at the time, would have gained the necessary skills as a seamstress from her mother. Her skills included setting up looms, then spinning, knitting, and carding wool. The Smith daughters also produced and mended clothes for the male temple workers, something they had learned in their youth.51
Later, when the Smiths lived in Kirtland, their home became a center of missionary activity, as well as a stopping place for many new arrivals to the area. This activity put a heavy load on family members. Katharine reflected, “When we lived in Kirtland . . . my mother and myself spent our whole time in waiting upon the comers and goers in cooking and washing.” These [186] activities required an intensive amount of labor. Katharine indicated that both she and her mother felt like “our tired limbs were about to fail us.”52 The work ethic instilled in the daughters was evident to descendants. Katharine was said to have been able to perform the work of most men, including the daily feeding and milking of a cow, up into her late eighties.53
Mother Smith, with her daughters, also prepared the family’s meals. Lucy instructed her daughters in managing the fireplace and cooking, which in later years they were said to handle “with masterly skill.” Additionally, Mother Smith instructed her girls in baking bread and churning butter.54 It was Sophronia and Katharine’s task to gather fruit or berries in preparation for the evening meal. Visitors to the Smith household attested to the fine job that Lucy and her daughters performed in meal preparation. Stephen Harding, a well-to-do lawyer, unexpectedly visited the Smith home in Palmyra in the summer of 1829. He revealed what a typical evening at the Smith home was like:
[I] saw two stout, bare-footed girls, each with a tin bucket of red raspberries. Soon after, the old man [Joseph Sr.] announced that supper was ready. We went into the other part of the house, where supper was waiting, consisting of brown bread, milk, and abundance of fine raspberries. . . . There was no lack of these, and if any left the table without a really good supper, it was not the fault of the hostess. She, good soul—full sister to all her sex—began to make excuses, saying: “If I had only known what a nice visitor I was [187] goin’ to have, I would have put on the table flour bread, and not tyn’ Injun.” I remarked that it needed no excuses; that the supper was good enough for a king, and that the berries on the table were better than could be bought in any city in America.55
This incident reflected the way Lucy and her daughters performed some of their domestic tasks. Harding’s statement of “full sister to all her sex” also indicated that Lucy effectively enacted the traditional role of women that was commonplace for the day. Furthermore, the incident reflected Mother Smith’s guest manner and demonstrated her ability as an effective hostess. Other neighbors recalled Mother Smith’s domestic skills at making bread and being “a good cook” and “fair house keeper.”56 The Smith women’s domestic skills helped the household operate efficiently, while contributing to the subsistence of the family.
The family’s labors on the Palmyra farm continued into the 1820s, as the family “continued felling timber and clearing land.”57 William said that the family eventually “cleared up sixty acres of it and got it under a good fence and cultivation.”58 Enders has summarized the Smiths’ productivity during their Palmyra years:
In 1820, when the Smiths purchased their hundred acres of heavily forested “undeveloped” land it was valued at $700. . . . The 1830 tax records assess its value at $1,300. The $600 increase represents considerable development by standards of that time. The Smiths’ 60 acres of cleared land, divided into [188] 30 to 35 acres of cultivated fields, 10 to 15 acres of meadow, an orchard of 200 apple trees, and the woodlot and fencing, represented about $250 to $275 of the $600 increase. The Smith barn, which historical sources suggest was of common design, would have been valued at $150 to $175; the cooper’s shop . . . at $50, animal enclosures at $25, and the “unfinished” but inhabited frame home at $75 to $125.59
The six-hundred-dollar increase in property value stands as a testament to the Smiths’ productivity and work ethic during this ten-year period.
Summary of Family Work
It is significant that this ten-year period of industry coincided with the Smith children’s formative years. All family members contributed to the support and maintenance of the family. Joseph Jr. indicated that because of the family’s “indigent circumstances,” they were all “obliged to labour hard for the support of a large Family[,] having nine children.” He further described that “it required the exertions of all that were able to render any assistance for the support of the Family.”60 William concurred with his brother’s statement, noting that because of the “want of money and the scarcity of provisions . . . [of] necessaty made an imperitive demand upon evrey energy, nerve or member of the family for boath economy and labour which deman[d] had to be met with the strictest kind of endustrey.”61 Thus, we can safely conclude that all of the Smith children, with the possible exception of Lucy (born in 1821), actively participated in improving upon, and paying for, the hundred- [189] acre farm. They were not only taught a strong work ethic, but were also called upon to utilize it.
Family Recreation
Recreation has been a part of Mormonism since its earliest days. This is due, in large part, to the attitude towards recreation that Joseph Jr. formulated in his youth. The Smiths were active in what might be termed recreational activities. However, recreation among early-nineteenth-century families was somewhat different from recreation of today. In the early 1800s, recreation could take the form of church attendance, family gatherings, work bees, involvement with community groups, visiting friends, going to town, or letter writing, as well as many other activities.62
The great physical strength that ran through the Smith line certainly influenced the family’s love for sport and competition. Members of the Smith family enjoyed testing their strength against others. One form this took was wrestling, which became a generational activity for the Smiths. Father Smith was active in wrestling throughout his life. It was said of him that “in his younger days he was famed as a wrestler, and, Jacob like, he never wrestled with but one man whom he could not throw.”63
He also engaged in wrestling with his children. On one occasion, a neighbor witnessed Father Smith wrestling with his son Joseph in a hay field. Said the neighbor, “Joe [Jr.] and his father wrestled, and Joe threw the old man down, and he cried.” When asked why Joseph Sr. was so distraught, the neighbor recounted that it was “because Joe [190] [Jr.] was the best man.”64 It could be that this was the first time Father Smith lost to a son, and it humbled the aging father. This account is revealing of both Father Smith’s relationship with his children and of the type of father-son recreation they participated in. Father Smith certainly engaged in wrestling with his other sons as well, and this very likely became a bonding activity for the men in the household. This account also indicates the competitive nature of the family members when it came to a show of strength.
Engaging in wrestling contests carried to succeeding generations as well. Joseph Jr. participated in numerous wrestling competitions as a means of recreation. In 1840 an incident took place with Howard Coray, a clerk for the Prophet, that is illustrative of Joseph’s playful, competitive spirit. Coray remembered,
The Prophet . . . put his arm over my shoulder . . . and remarked “brother Coray, I wish you was a little larger, I would like to have some fun with you.” I replied, perhaps you can as it is,—not realizing what I was saying. . . . As soon as I made this reply, He began to trip me; he took some kind of a lock on my right leg, from which I was unable to extricate it; and throwing me around, broke it some 3 inches above the ankle joint. He immediately carried me into the house . . . got some splinters and bandaged it. A number of times that day did he come in to see me, endeavoring to console me as much as possible.65 [191]
As he moved into his adult years, Joseph Jr. frequently looked for opportunities to engage in physical activities such as wrestling as a break from his sedentary lifestyle in administering Church affairs. It has been documented that he wrestled with friends, enemies, the “strongest” men in the areas in which he lived, and those who served with him in ecclesiastical positions. He also engaged in other physical competitions, including stick-pulling, the standing long jump, ball games, and woodchopping contests.66
Joseph Jr. manifested disdain for the strict piousness exhibited and taught in the leading Christian denominations of the day. He frequently challenged local ministers and new converts’ beliefs regarding the appropriate use of wholesome recreation.67 These attitudes were formulated in his youth. Joseph Sr. was counseled by his father to avoid the “outward formalities” common among New England churchmen of his day, including a “melancholy disposition.”68 This attitude was picked up by Joseph Sr. and passed along to his children.
Joseph Jr. frequently articulated his belief that there must be a balance between work and recreation. He used the metaphor of a bow hunter to teach the Saints this principle, counseling them that if the hunter “kept his bow strung up all the time . . . it would lose its elasticity” and thus be good for nothing. He then concluded, saying, “It was just so with his mind, he did not want it strung up all the time.”69 Joseph recognized the importance of taking time for more leisurely activities to [192] allow body and mind to recuperate. One early Latter-day Saint recalled that after “he had done a day’s work” the Prophet had the ability to dismiss “it from his mind. It was thus that the next day he was ready for other things.”70
Recreation played an important role in the Prophet’s family life as well. He was active in recreational activities with his children. He frequently romped and played with his children on the floor of their home.71 In addition, he enjoyed activities outside the home, such as “sliding on the ice” with his children.72 The friends of Joseph Jr.’s children recalled that when the Prophet “got tired of studying he would go and play with the children in their games about the house, to give himself exercise. Then he would go back to his studies as before.”73 The Prophet’s fondness of athletic games was picked up by his children, who engaged in activities “such as running, jumping, wrestling, throwing weights, or in other ways attesting strength and agility.” Like their father, Joseph III and Frederick especially loved wrestling.74
Joseph Jr. was not alone in this behavior of romping with his children for recreational purposes. A daughter of Samuel’s described a typical evening of fun with her father. Said she,
We [Samuel’s children] would make the circuit of the room in a wild chase to see which could clamber first to his [Samuel’s] knee and get the first kiss, often all on his knee at once, then clamber down again and renew the chase; then when my little brother Samuel who [193] was the youngest would become tired, we would have to give way to him, and my father would take him on his knee and sing him to sleep.75
In addition to wrestling, males in the Smith household enjoyed both hunting and shooting for sport. Once again, this was an activity passed down through the generations. Joseph Sr. went turkey hunting on occasion with the older men of the Mack family when he was courting Lucy Mack.76 During his stay in Palmyra, Father Smith continued to participate in turkey shoots. Lorenzo Saunders, a neighbor of the Smiths, remembered the competitive nature of Joseph Sr. He reported that in order to gain an advantage over the other hunters, Father Smith “pretend[ed] to enchant their guns so that they could not kill the Turky.” Saunders further described how Joseph Sr. would “blow in the gun and feel around the lock then tell them it was charmed and [thus] they could not kill the turky.”77
Children in the Smith family picked up on their father’s love of guns and hunted various animals. A peer of the younger children remembered hunting raccoons with William and Don Carlos.78 Joseph Jr. took his own children duck hunting while living in Nauvoo.79 Hyrum and Joseph also enjoyed shooting guns together. Wilford Woodruff described his first meeting of the Prophet in 1834 as “quite singular.” Woodruff said that Hyrum and Joseph were “shooting at a mark,” and that Joseph “had a pistol in his hand. Said he [Joseph] ‘Brother Woodruff, I’ve been out shooting at a mark. I wanted to see if I could hit anything.’ . . . He [Joseph] remarked . . . that this was the first hour he had spent in [194] recreation for a long time.” Joseph then proceeded to take Woodruff into his house and requested that he help him tan a wolfskin hide, which they proceeded to do.80
The Smith children’s use of weaponry didn’t always take the form of firearms when it came to hunting. On one occasion, when Samuel was clearing his farm, “he found a full-grown deer in the corral, that had by some chance wandered into the enclosure. He gave chase, and luckily it ran into a corner. He was an athlete, so he threw it, and killed it with his pocket-knife. And we had much-needed supply of meat for awhile.”81
The family’s love of guns and weaponry may have also been a multigenerational activity. Both grandfathers of the Smith children fought in the Revolutionary War, as did their great grandfather Samuel Smith. Their Grandfather Mack also fought in the French and Indian War.82 Joseph Jr. claimed that his father participated in one of the country’s early wars, but there is some questions as to whether it was the Revolutionary War that he recollected.83 The love of pageantry and military strategy was passed on to the Smith children. On one occasion, Joseph Jr. defended the gold plates by borrowing a military strategy that his Grandfather Mack had previously used (see chapter 4, subsection entitled “Retrieving and Protecting the Plates”). Later, the Prophet organized the Zion’s Camp expedition that marched to Missouri in an attempt to retain lands that had been taken from the Saints in Jackson County. Hyrum, Joseph, and William participated in the trek, with Joseph named “the commander-in- [195] chief of the armies of Israel.”84 During their journey, the camp participated in mock battles as a form of recreation. Edward Stevenson recalled that the troops were discouraged because of the cold weather, and so the “Prophet seeing our forlorn condition called on us to form into two parties in Battle array. Lyman Wight at the head of one line and he [Joseph] heading the other line[,] and have a sham battle [and] the weapons to be used were snowballs. And we set to with a will full of glee and fun.”85
This use of military action served a dual purpose for the Saints, as it created a sense of security to the frequently driven group and provided an escape from the usual drudgery of day-to-day living. It was during the Nauvoo years that military pageantry was at its height. Joseph led the Nauvoo Legion as “commander-in-chief,” as well as “lieutenant-general.”86 At the instigation of the Prophet, the legion frequently paraded in Nauvoo and participated in mock battles. The day of pageantry included a feast for the military leaders and their wives. Besides Joseph and Emma, and Hyrum and Mary, Don Carlos and Agnes were likely participants in both the feast and festivities. Don Carlos was one of two commissioned brigadier generals in the legion, and Hyrum was donned brevet major general. Samuel acted as guard in the militia, and William served as major and as an assistant chaplain.87 Thus all five brothers participated in the Nauvoo Legion. It attests to the family’s fondness for the ceremonies associated with the [196] military.
When the legion paraded, it was a festive occasion for all of the Saints. Many of the officers’ families remembered the ceremonies. John, Hyrum’s oldest son, remembered “how Hyrum and Joseph had often ridden together on parade in full uniform at the head of the Nauvoo Legion, and how his Uncle Joseph rode old Joe Duncan, a chestnut sorrel pacing horse and Aunt Emma rode old Charley, a jet black trotting horse.”88
Katharine also remembered watching the legion during their galas and stated that “Joseph was commissioned lieutenant-general. My brother, Don C. Smith, was also a high officer in the Legion, and looked very handsome in his blue uniform. It was inspiring to see the Legion in parade with my brothers and the other officers on their charges in command, accompanied by ladies in silks and satins, also mounted.”89
Others remembered Joseph and Don Carlos’s participation with the legion and their resplendence when outfitted in their military attire. Emma recalled that Don Carlos “was the handsomest man she ever saw—That when in uniform and on horse back that he was magnificent.”90 Joseph’s presence was also commanding when in uniform. He was described as wearing a “blue coat, gold-colored epaulets, high black boots, and a sweeping hat topped with ostrich feathers.” In addition, “he carried an [197] impressive sword.”91 Released from the usual stress that he labored under, the Prophet remarked that his “soul was never better satisfied than on this occasion.”92 The Smith family’s love of military pageantry was something that they enjoyed throughout their lives, and it became a form of recreation to all those involved.
Another form of social recreation was the family’s involvement in Freemasonry. Hyrum had joined with this organization in Palmyra by 1827 or 1828.93 This fraternity likely provided Hyrum with social connections during early adulthood. However, it wasn’t until the family migrated to Illinois that the rest of the brothers joined the Masonic society. Joseph Jr. became a Master Mason on March 16, 1842.94 Hyrum reportedly had “received the first three degrees of masonry in Ontario County, New York,” and served as “Worshipful Master” in Nauvoo. Less than a month after Joseph obtained the degree of Master Mason, both Samuel and William were “duly raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason.”95
Masonry had its forms of festivities and pageantry. Those involved frequently paraded in processionals through the city in their robes. As was the case with the Nauvoo Legion, these parades were a form of recreation for the entire Nauvoo community. One onlooker recounted her experience of attending one such parade. Said she,
I went to the temple, where the solemn services were held, and there we waited for nearly two hours before the procession with a fine band of music made its appearance. First were the invited [198] guests, most of whom were “female women folks,” wives and sisters of the Masons, then the Masons in full regalia. . . . Then followed the inauguration ceremony . . . a hymn was sung . . . and . . . here the Masons parted right and left forming two long rows, and the ladies marched between. . . . All went off in fine style, as the Mormons say, and . . . the feast was sumptuous,—a whole hog barbecued in a trench.96
Rituals associated with Masonry also provided a nice diversion for the Saints. On another day of ceremony, Joseph Jr. recalled that
the corner stone for a Masonic Temple was laid by the Worshipful Master, Hyrum Smith. Two masonic hymns were sung, after which they proceeded to the Grove near the Temple, where an oration was delivered by Brother John Taylor. From thence they proceeded to Mr. Warner’s, where about two hundred sat down to an excellent dinner. The company broke up early in the afternoon, highly delighted with the day’s proceedings.97
It is important to note that the Smith sisters and the wives of Smith brothers were likely involved with the festivities of the Nauvoo Legion and, more particularly, with the Freemasons. Although these two organizations were exclusively male, when it came to the pageantry and processionals, the women also participated. [199]
Women during this time period enjoyed their own forms of recreational activities. Referring specifically to the Nauvoo period, George Givens notes, “Even when leisure was available for the sisters in Nauvoo, their priorities did not include many sports or games. The sisters did include in their list of recreational activities more organized events, such as parties, balls, and picnics. There were ‘pie-suppers’ and church celebrations, quilting parties and husking bees to attend.”98
We know the Smith sisters participated in weaving clubs in Kirtland, which provided a form of social recreation.99 It is very likely that they participated in the quilting parties held in Nauvoo as well. Both men and women were involved in such parties. The women quilted in one room, with eight to ten sisters surrounding a large quilting frame, while the men conversed in another. This took place for approximately three hours, until a quilt was finished. This was followed by a marvelous feast, which both sexes participated in. After dinner, there was singing, dancing, and games.100
Similarly, Mother Smith enjoyed getting together with the women in the neighborhood to socialize. Although we don’t know how frequently she engaged in these activities, Lucy appears to have enjoyed the socialization. While in Palmyra, she described one such occasion where
a friend of mine having invited several of her associates to take tea with her one afternoon sent an urgent request for me [200] also to call on her with the rest[.] the lady’s invited were some wealthy merchants wives and the minister’s lady[.] we spent time quite pleasantly[,] each seeming to enjoy those reciprocal feelings which renders the society of our friends delightful to us—when tea was served up we were passing some good natu-red remarks upon each other.101
This neighborhood socializing provided a much-needed break for the women of the time period. They also had time to catch up on the neighborhood news and express their values to one another.
Another form of relaxation was “riding out” in a carriage or wagon, or a sleigh in the wintertime.102 It is very probable that Joseph Sr. and Lucy engaged in sleigh riding during their courtship, as Father Smith enjoyed this activity with other members of the Mack family.103 The children also enjoyed this form of leisure during their adult years. Joseph Jr. frequently rode out with family members. His journal entry for April 24, 1843, is typical. Said he, “In the morning I took my children [for] a pleasure ride in the carriage.”104 In addition, he frequently rode out with Emma to talk and enjoy nature.105
In Nauvoo, going for rides included trips down the Mississippi River on the steamboat Maid of Iowa with family and friends. Joseph Jr. recalled one such occasion:
In company with my wife, mother, and my adult family . . . [201] went aboard the Maid of Iowa, started at ten minutes before eight a.m. from the Nauvoo dock, under a salute of cannon, having on board a fine band of music.
We had an excellent address from our esteemed friend, Parley P. Pratt. The band performed its part well. Much good humor and hilarity prevailed. The captain and officers on board did all they could to make us comfortable, we had a very agreeable and pleasant trip.106
It appears the entire Smith family jointly enjoyed these excursions. Family members engaged in similar forms of relaxation throughout their lives. Katharine enjoyed going for carriage rides in her later years, visiting family members who were scattered throughout Hancock County, Illinois.107 Mother Smith found comfort in this activity throughout her life. On at least one occasion, Joseph Jr. took his mother for a ride in their carriage to try and improve her health. After the martyrdom of Hyrum and Joseph, Lucy requested that some of the leading Brethren, including members of the Twelve, take her for carriage rides around the Nauvoo vicinity. She enjoyed going for these rides so much that she eventually solicited the brethren to deed her the very carriage in which they rode, “a horse and a double carriage harness,” a request fulfilled by Brigham Young.108
However, the most consistent and well-documented form of recreation that the Smith family engaged in centered around religion. Their religious involvement provided [202] a rest from the typical routine of hard labor, as well as much-needed social interaction. Indeed, as historian Whitney Cross has noted, “The church at a central trail or road crossing was the focus for neighborhood sociability throughout much of the nineteenth century.”109 One of the motivating factors in Lucy’s constant quest to unite herself with a church was, at least in part, a desire for social interaction. Nancy Osterud indicated that “religious institutions, like central places, fostered the development of social relationships. . . . The churches brought people from different neighborhoods together along denominational lines for religious services. . . . Interdenominational cooperation was also common. Some large camp meetings, cosponsered by all the evangelical churches, featured visiting preachers and drew people from throughout the valley.”110
The Smith family frequently participated in religious social gatherings. As has been noted, Mother Smith, along with Hyrum, Sophronia, and Samuel, joined the Western Presbyterian Church of Palmyra.111 William recalls that Katharine joined this church along with the others.112 Father Smith also went with the family to church meetings [203] on occasion.113 Certain members of the family sometimes attended Methodist meetings, as well as the camp meetings that were commonplace in the Palmyra vicinity during this time period. Orasmus Turner remembered that Joseph Jr. caught “a spark of Methodism in the camp meeting, away down in the woods, on the Vienna road, he was a very passable exhorter in evening meetings.”114
The future prophet, perhaps with some of his siblings, also participated in a local debating club. Here young Joseph was described as somewhat talented in helping resolve “some portentous questions of moral or political ethics.”115 The Smith family participated in formal Church attendance, camp meetings, Freemasonry, and debating clubs—all of which were religious in nature while at the same time providing much-needed socialization.
Religious socialization was not limited to formal organized meetings. During the years from 1816 to 1830, much of the family’s informal socialization inside and outside the home centered on religious themes. Even prior to Joseph Jr.’s emergence as a prophet, this was a family characteristic.116 During their stay in New York, the family’s friendships frequently were solidified as a result of religious dialogues. Friendships with Martin Harris, the Rockwells, and Oliver Cowdery are examples of relationships that [204] were strengthened through social discussions on religion.117 In the late 1820s, after the younger Joseph’s visions became known throughout the region, much of their social interaction included exchanges about religion.
Another closely related form of recreation was family devotionals. This activity was a consistent part of everyday life for the family. It became a family ritual that was part of not only Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith’s family, but of their children’s families as well. Early on, these devotionals were limited to the immediate family; however, as time passed the family broadened their circle to include friends and neighbors. These then took the form of social devotionals. William recalled that these evening devotionals included both prayers and hymn singing. He further recounted,
We always had family prayer since I can remember. I well remember father used to carry his spectacles in his vest pocke[t], (Feeling in his lower right hand pocket to show us how and where) And when us boys saw him feel for his specks, we knew that was A signal to get ready for prayer, and if we did not notice it mother would say, “William,” or whoever was the negligent one, “get ready for prayer.” After prayer we had a song we would sing.118
Lucy also used this time to teach her children to read from the family Bible.119 There were also discussions concerning the events of the day or [205] happenings in the lives of individual family members, as was the case when Joseph Jr. related details of his visits with Moroni in 1823 and when the family was driven from Missouri in 1839.120 Of this latter episode, Lucy recalled that the family “spent the evening relating our adventures in escaping from the hands of our enemies.”121 At times, the family would hold their evening devotional meeting outside, very likely in the same grove of trees where Joseph had his First Vision.122 In the home, the family often gathered after the evening meal. Here they would read from the Bible or Book of Mormon and discuss related issues.123 When the family moved to Waterloo, New York, in 1830, they continued their tradition of engaging in evening devotionals. Only by this time, they had opened their doors to neighbors who wished to participate. Lucy described her house as “a place of evening resort, for some dozen or twenty persons.” Even children in the area desired to participate in these devotionals. Lucy recounted one such evening:
Soon after we commenced singing, a couple of little boys came in, and one of the them, stepping softly up to Samuel, whispered, “Mr. Smith, won’t you pray pretty soon? Our mother said, we must be home by eight o’clock, and we would like to hear you pray before we go.”
Samuel told them that prayer should be attended to [206] immediately. Accordingly, when we had finished the hymn, which we were then singing, we closed the evening services with prayer, in order that the little boys might be gratified. After this, they were never absent during our evening devotions, while we remained in the neighborhood.124
The Smiths continued their evening meetings, which included the usual hymn singing and prayers, when the family moved to Kirtland, Ohio. It was here that “prayer meetings” were frequently held in the barn of Joseph Sr.125 Father Smith frequently “encouraged gospel conversation and inquiry among those that came to his home.”126 As was customary, the doors of the home were open to outsiders who wished to participate in evening family worship services.127
These devotional meetings were passed along to the succeeding generation as well. Joseph Jr.’s daily routine included prayers three times a day. Eliza R. Snow remembered that “three times a day he had family worship; and these precious seasons of sacred household service truly seemed a foretaste of celestial happiness.” Like his family of origin, Joseph Jr. also included singing in his family devotionals. One neighbor in Nauvoo recalled visiting the Mansion House and hearing Joseph and Emma’s family singing during one such devotional. The neighbor reported, “I had never heard such sweet, heavenly music, and I was [207] equally impressed with the prayer offered by the Prophet.”128
Other Smith siblings also continued these traditions. Samuel felt very strongly about family prayer and chided those who did not exercise this pattern in their homes.129 Katharine fondly recalled this family ritual, where they would join together at prayer meetings with “some of our neighbors.” Katharine continued to conduct devotionals in her home up into her final years. A descendant of Katharine recalled that she held these “cottage meetings” at her home and that Katharine’s sister Lucy frequently attended with her family.130 When she was visited by missionaries or other leaders, Katharine continued the tradition by frequently discussing religious topics and petitioning her guests to pray.131
Balance between Family Work and Recreation
Work came first in the Smith family, as was common for the day. Lucy poignantly defended the family’s work ethic and priorities in her narrative, interjecting at one point, “Let not my reader suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a season that we stopt our labor and went tryin to win the faculty of Abrac drawing Magic circles or sooth saying to the neglect of all kinds of busness we never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation but whilst we worked with our hands.”132 [208] Work was typically forced to the forefront for nineteenth-century families, especially the Smiths, who struggled to make ends meet most of their lives. Yet even with their low socioeconomic status, the family still managed to relax by engaging in recreation.
During the difficult years of financial struggle in Palmyra, the family still found ways to harmonize work with relaxation. One example of how the family struck a balance between the two came when Joseph had his visitations from the Angel Moroni. Lucy recalled, “We will have a fine long evening, and we will all sit down for the purpose of listening to you while you tell us the great things which God has revealed to you.”133 The family was motivated to get their work done in a timely manner so as to enjoy the leisurely activity of listening to young Joseph recite his experiences with the angel.
The children were imbued with this balance as they moved into adulthood, most evidenced in the life of Joseph Jr. In teaching many early converts of the Church, he alluded to the need for balance, a trait he had learned in his own family. To Robert Thompson he counseled, “Robert, you have been so faithful and relentless in this work, you need to relax.” When Thompson indicated that he couldn’t, Joseph said, “You must do it, if you don’t do it, you will die.”134 Joseph Jr. also followed his own counsel. During one particularly taxing time he “tarried at home with [his] family . . . to refresh [him]self after . . . many late fatigues and arduous duties which [he] had been called upon to perform.”135 In later life, Katharine also continued to keep up a heavy workload. However, every so [209] often Katharine turned her workload over to her grandchildren and took several weeks off from her rigorous routine to visit her children’s families.136 However, besides Joseph Jr., it is difficult to ascertain if the rest of the family achieved a “healthy” balance between work and recreation. Due to the fact that the family frequently engaged in recreational activities, it is assumed that there was at least some balance between the two variables.
Summary
Among most nineteenth-century families, recreation remained secondary to the ever important task of work. In fact, in the minds of most New Englanders, too much play was considered a sin. The order of the day indicated that “recreation is vice—all those who administer to the amusements of others are corrupt and profligate.”137 Forms of recreation we might consider normal, such as dancing or listening to music, were considered evil by many societies of the day. Many early converts to Mormonism were imbued with this early New England mind set. Brigham Young reflected this attitude in his own upbringing:
When I was young, I was kept within very strict bounds, and was not allowed to walk more than half-an-hour on Sunday for exercise. The proper and necessary gambols of youth [were] denied me. . . . I had not a chance to dance when I was young, and never heard the enchanting tones of the violin, until I was eleven years of age; and then I thought I was on the high way to hell, if I suffered myself to linger and listen to it. . . . The Christian [210] world of my youth considered it very wicked to listen to music and dance.138
When the Smith family is examined in context—a religious family with New England heritage—they are, in a sense, unique. Although the recreational activities they engaged in were common for their time, not all families engaged in such activities. Further, the fact that the family engaged in many forms of recreation while maintaining their professed strict moral character was unfamiliar to most New Englanders. This may have been why some of their Palmyra neighbors remembered the family as immoral and wondered “how they got their living.”139 Certainly the family’s love of recreation left more pious individuals wondering how to reconcile the two extremes. Although work remained the foremost priority, the family found time for recreational activities that helped renew their strength and assist their bodies in coping with the unending rigors of frontier life. [211]
