control of fiancial problems, and early showed the initiative and
self-control which later made her so self-reliant and resourceful.
To sweetness of disposition, she added strength of mind and power
of instant decision. But over all the strength and firmness of her
soul she drew the veil of modest womanhood so closely that only
her very own realized how great was her gift, how supreme were
her powers.
Three of the Fielding family — Joseph, Mercy and Mary de-
cided to go out of the old home and try their fortunes in that new
and promising land of Upper Canada. Joseph and Mercy came
first, and settled in Toronto. No doubt their glowing accounts of
conditions in that growing city hastened Mary's coming to join
them in their quest for better possibilities and conditions than the
124 RELIEF SOCIETY MAGAZINE.
old country could afford to aspiring English youth. So Mary
came over in 1834. Here they formed the acquaintance of Pres-
ident John Taylor, who was from England. John Taylor was a
finely educated and eloquent Methodist reformer. On reaching
Toronto, he gathered around him a sturdy congregation of inde-
pendent religious worshipers.
When Parley P. Pratt visited Toronto, in 1837, with his Gospel
message, he found a company of intellectual and nobly molded
souls who were awaiting that very summons, even if they were
unconscious of the fact. There were President John Taylor and
his beautiful and highly educated wife, Leonora Cannon Taylor ;
Joseph, Mercy and Mary Fielding, and Joseph Home and his
sterling wife, Mary Isabella, who was also destined to become one
of the great mothers in modern Israel. These were all baptized.
Mercy and Mary accompanied their brother Joseph Fielding to
Kirtland in 1837, shortly after their baptism. We copy here a re-
markably clear and scholarly letter written by Mary to her sister
Mercy who was then in Canada. Mary was living in Kirtland,
and was not then married. Her clear-cut sentences reveal a log-
ical mind and an educated pen. The spirit of firm faith and un-
flinching testimony in this letter is an index to her whole character
and after life:
Kirtland, 1837.
Mrs. Mercy R. Thompson,
Care Wm. Latvcs, Chiirchville.
My Dear Sister: — I have this day received a very short note
from you, and am glad to learn by Brother Babbitt that you are
well and comfortably situated. He tells me he is expecting soon
to return to Canada, so that it is unnecessary for me to say much,
as he can inform you of the state of things here verbally better
than I can by writing, but still I can hardly refrain from sending
a few lines. I am now teaching school which I took for one
month, the time expires tomorrow when I expect again to be at
liberty, or without employment, but I feel my mind pretty much
at rest on that subject. I have called upon the Lord for direction
and trust he will open my way. I hope you will not fail to remem-
ber me at the Throne of Grace. I have no doubt but you have
many trials, but I am inclined to think you have not quite so much
to endure as I have. Be this as it may, the Lord knows what our
intentions are, and he will support us and give us grace and
strength for the day, if we continue to put out trust in him and
devote ourselves unreservedly to his service. I do thank my
heavenly Father for the comfort and peace of mind I now enjoy
in the midst of all the confusion and perplexity and raging of the
devil against the work of God in this place, for although there is a
great number of faithful, precious souls, yea, the salt of the earth.
MOTHERS IN ISRAEL. 125
yet it may be truly called a place where Satan has his seat ; he is
frequently stirring- up some of the people to strife and contention
and dissatisfaction with things they do not understand. I often
have, of late, been led to look back on the circumstance of Korah
and his company when they rose up against Moses and Aaron.
If you read 15th chapter of Numbers you will there find the
feeling's and conduct of many of the poeple, and even the elders
of Israel in these days, exactly described ; whether the Lord will
come out today in a similar way or not, I cannot tell. I some-
times think it may be so. but I pray God to have mercy upon us
all and preserve us from the power of the great enemy, who
knows he has but a short time to work in. We have had a terrible
stir with Wm. Parrish the particulars of which I cannot here give
vou at length. We are not yet able to tell where it will end. I
have been made to tremble and quake before the Lord and to call
upon him with all my heart almost day and night, as many others
have done of late. I believe the voice of prayer has sounded in
the House of the Lord some days, from morning till night, and
it has been by these means that we have hitherto prevailed, and
it is by this means only that I for one expect to prevail. I feel
more and more convinced that it is through suffering that we
are to be made perfect, and I have already found it to have the
effect of driving me nearer to the Lord and so sufifering has be-
come a great blessing to me. I have sometimes of late been so
filled with the love of God, and felt such essence of his favor as has
made me rejoice abundantly indeed. My heavenly Father has
been very gracious unto me, both temporally and spiritually. Since
I commenced this letter, a kind sister has proposed my going to
stay for a while with her to take charge of two or three children
who have been in my school ; they purpose giving something be-
sides my board, and I think this will suit me better than a public
school, if it is but little. I expect to go there in a day or two,
and hope to be quite comfortable as I know the family to be on
the Lord's side. The mother is a cousin of Brother Joseph's, and
took care of him when a child. Their name is Dort. I felt much
pleased to see Sisters Walton and Snider who arrived here on Sat-
urday about noon, having left Brothers Joseph Smith and Brigham
about twenty miles from Fairport to evade the mobbers. They
were to come home in Dr. Avard's carriage, and expected to ar-
rive about 10 o'clock at night, but .to their great disappointment
they were prevented in a most grievous manner. They had got
within four miles of home, after a very fatigueing journey, much
pleased with their visit to Canada and greatly anticipating the
pleasure of seeing their homes and families, when they were sur-
rounded with a mob and taken back to Painsville and secured,
as was supposed, in a tavern where they intended to hold a mock
trial, but to the disappointment of the wretches, the housekeeper
126 RELIEF SOCIETY MAGAZINE.
was a member of the Church, who assisted our beloved brethren
in making their escape ; but, as "Brother Joseph" says, not by a
basket let down through the window, but by the kitchen door.
No doubt the hand of the Lord was in it, or it could not have
been effected. The day had been extremely wet and the night was
unusually dark and you may try if you can to conceive what the
situation was. They hardly knew which way to start as it had by
that time got to be about ten o'clock. The first step they took
was to find the woods as quickly as possible where they thought
they should be safe, but in order to reach there, they had to lie
down in a swamp by an old log, just where they happened to
be. So determinedly were they pursued by their mad enemies in
every direction, and sometimes so closely, that "Brother Joseph"
was obliged to entreat "Brother Brigham" to breathe more softly
if he meant to escape. When they zvould run or zvalk they took
each other by the hand and covenanted to live and die together.
Owing to the darkness of the night, their pursuers had to carry
lighted torches, which was one means of the escape of our beloved
sufferers, as they could see them in every direction while they were
climbing over fences or traveling through bush or cane fields, un-
til about 12 o'clock. After traveling, as they suppose, in this man-
ner five or six miles, they found the road which led homeward and
saw no more of their pursuers. After traveling on foot along
muddy, slippery roads until near three in the morning, they ar-
rived safely at home about fainting with fatigue. He, "Brother
Joseph," told us that he knew in his heart when first taken that
he would see home before sunrise, and thank God it was so.
Notwithstanding all he had to endure, he appeared in the House
of the Lord throughout the Sabbath, in excellent spirits, spoke in
a very powerful manner, and blessed the congregation in the name
of the Lord ; and I do assure you the Saints felt the blessing, and
left the House rejoicing abundantly, returning their blessing upon
him. Brother Rigdon, through his great weariness, and a small
hurt, received from a fall, did not attend the House, but is now
well. I suppose all these things will only add another gem to their
crown. I did not think of taking up so much roo min relating
these circumstances, but I have been as brief as possible.
T must now give you an account of a very affecting event
which took place in Kirtland Sunday before last. You will, of
course, remember a Wm. Clark, a miller who had been a great
opposer of our Church, as he and his wife with some of their chil-
dren and other friends were returning from the Presbyterian-
Methodist House, in a very nice carriage. About one minute after
they passed the House of the Lord, their horses took fright and
started off the side of the hill, and hurt Mrs. C. so seriously as
to prove fatal. She was buried on the Wednesday following.
She has left six weeping children and a mourning husband. In-
MOTHERS IN ISRAEL. â– 127
deed, on the day preceding the accident she was heard to speak
very unfavorably of our Church, but is now gone to prove whether
it is the Church of Christ or not. I greatly desire that this visi-
tation may be sanctified to the family.
I believe it is not quite a year since "Brother Joseph" told
Wm. Clark that the curse of God would be upon him for his con-
duct towards him and the Church. You may remember that our
people wished to purchase his place, but he would not sell it on
any reasonable terms and therefore kept it, and has been a trouble
in the place, but has prospered in business so much as to say he
never prospered better, and told a person some time ago that he
was ready for another of Joseph Smith's curses. I feel inclined
to think he will never be heard to utter such words again . May
the Lord forgive and save Mr. Clark, and all others who raise
their hand against the Lord's anointed, for I see more clearly
than ever that this is no trifling sin in the sight of God. No ; it
is as great as it was in any age of the world. I sincerely wish that
all the preachers of the Church had a proper sense of their duty
and privilege in this respect. I expect to hear from you soon and
also from England. I hope I shall not be disappointed. Tell me
if you and Brother Thomas have any idea of coming to Kirtland
this fall. If the field of labor remains open there and unless a
change should take place in the state of affairs here for the better,
I should not advise it, however much I might desire to see you
here. Scores of men are out of employ here even in the summer
and how it will be in the winter I cannot tell. But I fear for
Kirtland. Oh, that we as a people may be faithful, for this is
our only hope, and all we have to depend upon. Give my kind
love to Brother Thompson and all other friends, particularly
Brother and Sister Laws. I thank them for their kindness to you.
I thank Brother Thompson for his last kind letter. I should be
pleased with another. I remain.
Your very affectionate sister,
Mary Fielding.
In November, 1837, Mary was married to the Patriarch Hy-
rum Smith, his first wife, Jerusha Borden, having died previously.
Mary found herself the mother of five step-children, and
never did a girl assume motherhood better prepared for such
heavy initial responsibilities than Mary Fielding Smith. All
her qualities of resourcefulness and courage were to be tested to
the uttermost. And it may be truly said that no trial, not even
the supreme one of final integrity to the Truth, ever found her
lacking courage and the power of right' decision. She did not
live in borrowed light. She held supremely the light within her
own soul.
Just before her marriage, she was vitally interested in that
128 RELIEF SOCIETY MAGAZINE.
first mission that was taken by Heber C. Kimball to open the Euro-
pean country for the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Her
brother Joseph was the companion of Brother Kimball, who
planned to visit their brother, Rev. James Fielding, in Preston,
where the English mission was opened. Mary and her sister Mercy
who had married the Prophet's friend and one-time secretary,
Robert B. Thompson, accompanied the party to Fairport. We
are told that Brigham Young, Levi Richards, with Brother Kim-
ball's wife, Vilate, and Brother Greene's wife, Rhoda (who was
the sister of Brigham Young), with Mary Fielding and Mercy
Thompson, all accompanied Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde
down the river to Fairport. As Brother Kimiball was about to
separate from this company, without a dollar in his pocket, and
sick, yet not discouraged, Mary Fielding, with her characteristic
modesty and the quiet generosity which was so much a part of her
nature, stepped up to him and put five dollars in his hand. It was
a God-send, and paid his and Brother Hyde's passage to Buffalo.
From this time, Mary's history is merged in that of her
greater husband, Hyrum Smith. She shared his trials, she sweet-
ened his daily life with her wifely ministrations, and above all she
relieved him of every anxiety connected with the care and rearing
of his five motherless children. For the heart of her husband
could safely trust in her.
On the first day of November, 1838, while she was in a deli-
cate condition of health, indeed, thirteen days before her oldest
child, Joseph Fielding, was born, she was informed that her hus-
band had been betrayed by Col. George M. Hinkle into the hands
of the mob at Far West, and on the day following they told her
that she "had seen her husband for the last time."
Her son Joseph Fielding Smith, our present President of the
Church, was born to his tortured mother while under this black
cloud of oppression. She lingered on that bed of affliction for
four 'months, unable to rally from the blow which had been dealt
her life-forces. Three months after, she was taken in a wagon
on her sick bed to see her husband, then confined with the Prophet
Joseph Smith as a prisoner in Liberty jail. Clay County, Mo.
Still confined to her bed, she was driven in her wagon from Far
West out of the state of Missouri, together with the rest of the
"Mormon" refugees. After untold sorrows and pains, trials and
afflictions, she, together with the little family which she held
together with Spartan fortitude, reached Quincey, 111., where she
was at last joined by her loving husband on April 22, 1839. What
a picture of persecution and human suffering is confined in that
six months of separation. You who go quietly in and out of beau-
tiful and safe homes, can you realize what this frail and loving
mother in Israel endured during that soul-racking period? Oh,
daughters of Zion, stop and reflect upon the foundation stones
MOTHERS IN ISRAEL. 129
laid for us by those heroic mothers who planted their feet with
the blood of sacrifice and builded their walls in their own bones
and bodies. What scenes float before the vision as these incidents
unroll before our eyes. No wonder the Prophet asked to have the
vision blotted out from his eyes.
In May, 1839, the Patriarch moved his family to Nauvoo,
where Mary thereafter resided till the expulsion from Nauvoo.
Some time after arriving in Nauvoo, Mary gave birth to her sec-
ond and last child, Martha Ann, who is still living in Provo, and
who is later spoken of in this sketch.
In 1841, Mary set in motion the organization of a simple and
modest fund which was called "The Sisters' Penny Subscription"
for the purpose of buying nails and glass for the Nauvoo Temple.
So quietly did this plan operate that only the briefest mention is
made of it in the periodicals of the day ; but it worked something
of a financial miracle, for hundreds of dollars were thus collected.
Who may say that this initiative on the part of Mary Fielding
Smith was not productive of much of the later organized effort
put forth by the women of the Church ? The Relief Society was
not then in operation ; this fund was specifically directed for Tem-
ple purposes, and it accomplished its end. We who fancy that
today sees the full flower of the powers and genius of woman for
organized effort, would do well to study the annals of the earlier
heroines of the Church who laid their foundation stones so deep
and broad that it is given to us simply to build upon them as best
we may. Think of this burdened woman, the mother of two
children, the step-mother of four more, and the caretaker
of all the poor unfortunates whom her tender-hearted hus-
band brought constantly into her welcoming home — think of
this delicately reared lady, herself frail but like sprung steel in
composition, think of her — ye daughters of Zion, going about to
gather in pennies from the women of Nauvoo to buy the glass and
nails for that wondrous Temple in Nauvoo. Our teachers
of today who go out from time to time ministering and teaching
under the most comfortable modern conditions, can scarcely re-
alize the struggles made in those early days by these heroic moth-
ers in Israel.
When the scenes and sufferings incident to the martyrdom
fell upon the families of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his devoted
brother Hyrum, who may tell the agony of suspense, the torture
of fear which shook the breasts of the women who waited in vain
for that release from prison, which had been miraculously given
so often before. Few thought that the arrest would terminate
fatally, for the Prophet had been so imprisoned and haled into
courts over forty times by his enemies. Yet this time, the Prince
and powers of the air held sway and the blood of the martyrs
cried from the ground of Illinois.
130 RELIEF SOCIETY MAGAZINE.
Who can guess the gloom and misery which filled the home
of Mary Fielding Smith, when her husband was brought cold in
death to receive the last rites from his friends. But here and now
was the supreme test of that majestic spirit of the martyred Patri-
arch's wife, Mary. Was she a true convert to the gospel as
preached by Christ, and afterwards revealed again to the earth
through the Prophet Joseph Smith ? Had she the courage of her
conversion? Would she now falter and turn aside in this awful
crisis?
We do not know just what followed the martyrdom in the
homes of the wives of those great heroes, but this we do know —
that when the Twelve, led by Brigham Young, decided to come
out to the West, the widow of the Prophet Joseph, Emma Hale
Smith, refused to accompany them on this journey. She was
approached by the messenger of President Brigham Young three
times, for Bishop Whitney often told the story in the presence of
our honored president of the Relief Society, Emmeline B. Wells,
of how President Brigham Young sent him (Bishop Whitney) to
offer every help and assistance to Sister Emma Smith to convey
her and her household with the body of the Church to their first
stopping place — Winter Quarters. President George A. Smith
related many times, in the presence of his nephew, Joseph F.
Smith, now president of the Church, the story of how he (Brother
George A. Smith) went to his Aunt Emma, seeking to reconcile
her to President Brigham Young, offering every help and induce-
ment to come to Nauvoo with the Twelve and the body of the
Church. But she was obdurate, and continued her refusal. No
doubt, she felt she had ample justification, but whatever her mo-
tive, she failed in this supreme test. But the wife of the Patri-
arch did not fail — she triumphed gloriously. The Church offered
every inducement to the Prophet's widow to come West but
"Widow" Smith, the widow of the Patriarch, was left alone to
make her plans and to devise her own schemes. This test was
the cap-sheaf of all her other trials and tests. But she rose su-
premely to the occasion, for her whole life of self-sacrifice, toil,
fortitude, faith and integrity had prepared her for this hour. If
she had failed, her beloved son would not now be the President of
this Church. She did not, she could not fail — for she had the
divine light of testimony in her own soul.
Mary Fielding Smith was not only subjected to the bitter
trials of her violent widowhood and left with the care of her own
two little children, and the care and charge of her step-children
whom she guarded and loved as her own, she was also left
alone .as it were to fight her life-battles. The position of the
Church itself was no doubt sufficient excuse for her forgotten
condition, for all were poor, all were weighed down with sorrow
and affliction. Yet in the midst of these most trying circum-
MOTHERS IN ISRAEL. 131
stances, the faith and courage of this woman of God shone out
like a star of hope and a bow of radiant promise. Yet she was
beset by foes without and fears within.
One day her Httle son Joseph sat in the upper chamber of her
Nauvoo home into which chamber ran the pipe of the sitting-room
stove below, thus making it possible to hear distinctly the voices
of those below in the sitting room. The boy knew that his
brother John had left secretly, or at least quietly, in the company
of Brother Heber C. Kimball, with the first company of refugees
from Nauvoo who crossed the ice to begin their journey for the
unknown West. He knew also that his mother would follow with
her little family sooner or later. But he was startled to hear the
voice of his uncle William Smith below one day, lifted in angry ex-
postulation with his loved mother for permitting her son John to
be "spirited away." The boy heard his uncle demand the return of
the Patriarch's son, and as the mother quietly and firmly refused
to accede to the angry man's insensate demand, he became so vio-
lent and abusive in his language that the boy upstairs longed for
age and maturity in order that he might defend his helpless mother
from such unwarranted and bitter assaults. And still Mary Field-
ing Smith remained firm and unshaken in her allegiance to the
gospel, and she accepted without question the succession of the
Twelve to the leadership of the Church. Neither the cajolery nor
the threats of William Smith could move her from her testimony
or her determination. This invincible faith and determination, if
nothing else were at hand, would convince a candid mind that she
was one of the world's greatest souls.
It would be unjust at this time not to mention the loving min-
istrations and support of her sister, Mercy Fielding Thompson,
who had been a widow for some time. Mercy and Mary were
often called the Mary and Martha of the modern dispensation.
Yet both were spiritual, both were temporal. And both were
beautiful in spirit and in body. Mercy lived with her sister at this
time, and their brother Joseph, although he had two wives and a
large family of his own to look after, never failed these young
widows.
Another tragic circumstance which occurred at this time
serves to illustrate the unflinching fortitude of this great woman.
One day the Prophet's wife Fmma sent word to Mary that she
was going to disinter the bodies of the martyrs, and place them in
a hidden spot, as they feared removal by others. Then, late in the
afternoon word came to A^ary that the plan was postponed. So
she went quietly to bed with her children. About midnight, she was
suddenly impressed that there was something wrong. She got up,
dressed, threw a shawl over her head and ran down to the burial
spot, where her husband lay. She caught the conspirators in the
act of removal. .\nd she refused to move or be put ofif. She
132 RELIEF SOCIETY MAGAZINE.
remained until she saw the removal of the bodies, and knew ex-
actly where they were placed in their new burial. Her small son
Joseph himself visited the sacred yet now desecrated spot the
next morning, saw the open grave, and noted that his uncle Don
Carlos' coffin had been broken off at one end in their haste of the
night before, exposing the earth worms in their ravages of what
was once a loved human form. What scenes of woe and horror
has this widow and her little son not witnessed ? And still she
remained firm in her allegiance to the gospel.