Can you imagine what she went through? Starting out defending the nutty things her husband was spouting. Being chased out of one place after another. The chastisement with so called scripture that old Joe made up to keep her in line with his multiple wives crap (D&C132). No wonder she left the main body of the church church when Brigham was going to take everyone west.

I don't. She was in on the scam, and liked the social prestige and money JS brought in more than leaving him and telling the truth.

Carmela knew Tony was a mob boss, knew he was screwing around on her, knew where the money and guns were hidden, etc. But she got to live well and be the alpha female of her little social circle. From time to time she would convince herself that everything was totally respectable, or at least that SHE was.

Emma was an exceptionally compassionate person. She spent much of her later life caring for terminally ill people in her own home. Most of these people had no family and nowhere else to go; and Emma took care of them herself until they died. That's just the kind of person she was.

"Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith” by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery is an excellent source for learning more about Emma Smith.

She lied to her children about their father's proclivity to shag everything that wore a skirt.

Now I don't. As noted above, she knew it was a scam and that her husband was banging anything he could but she went with it as long as she felt she was getting something out of it.

That she lied to her own children about about their father's rather well documented polygamous activities sums her up pretty well.

Agreed. I feel about as sorry for her as for a drug addict. She got herself into her mess and didn't have the courage to leave.

But, wasn't this also a time when women didn't have many rights? What would she have gotten if she divorced except a load of debt from Joe? By the time JS was heavily into other skirts, weren't her parents already dead? (Although, she probably could have gone to her siblings...) I think she was too proud to leave, actually, she liked the power, money and prestige, probably.

But on the other hand, how many of us were that discerning at age 21? Hormones and romance plus puritan 1800's sexual repression played a part in her choice of husband. She was conned at the beginning, the same as all of us were.

And then, think of all the emotional abuse she must have suffered through Joseph - condemning her, telling her she would be destroyed if she didn't toe the line. If we think we are emotionally abused by TSCC, just think what her abuse must have been like at the hands of Joseph, the originator of TSCC.

Not an easy life, but she chose her own drug...

as a woman, Emma would have lost everything if she had tried to formally divorce Joseph. As a female, she would have had no legal standing to any money or property he had, and that would include anything she brought into the marriage. She also would quite likely have lost custody of her children.

Desertion was far more common than divorce, but even so, a run away wife could be picked up and returned to her husband.

elee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> as a woman, Emma would have lost everything if she
> had tried to formally divorce Joseph. As a
> female, she would have had no legal standing to
> any money or property he had, and that would
> include anything she brought into the marriage.

I'm not sure that this was true back then but it could be. Divorce is breaking a legal contract and that's never advantageous from a financial point of view.

On the other hand, when Joe became the Ward of the two ...-sisters (forgot their names, you can look it up, he married them too, surprise, surprise) to get his hands on their inheritance, Emma wasn't too shabby arrange the transfer of that inheritance to her own name so that when Joe died, the sisters were left with nothing.

I can feel sympathy for Emma's predicament but it was a fix she got herself into and actively participated in.

Which is why, largely after 1850, most of the states began passing marriage reform laws. Specifically to protect the property rights of women.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awlaw3/property_law.html

"Sec. 1. The real and personal property of any female who may hereafter marry, and which she shall own at the time of marriage, and the rents issues and profits thereof shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband, nor be liable for his debts, and shall continue her sole and separate property, as if she were a single female."

"Sec. 2 The real and personal property, and the rents issues and profits thereof of any female now married shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband; but shall be her sole and separate property as if she were a single female except so far as the same may be liable for the debts of her husband heretofore contracted."

"Sec. 3. It shall be lawful for any married female to receive, by gift, grant devise or bequest, from any person other than her husband and hold to her sole and separate use, as if she were a single female, real and personal property, and the rents, issues and profits thereof, and the same shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband, nor be liable for his debts."

"Sec. 4. All contracts made between persons in contemplation of marriage shall remain in full force after such marriage takes place.30"

Prior to the passage of such bills, American (via English) law reflected "coverture". I.e., upon marriage, a woman surrendered all property and any future profits from said property to her husband.

Children were considered property and also remained, for the most part, with the father. In 1817 [?], there was a landmark case which did eventually change custody law, but it took a long time. Basically, the husband joined the Shakers, took the 3 kids and deserted the wife. Took her 3 years go get both a divorce and custody of her children.

http://chicagofamilylawyersblog.com/2010/08/the-19th-century-case-that-formed-basis-of-custody-law.html

These issues were fundamentally important to the subsequent formation of the Suffrage Movement. It's a fascinating period.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2012 07:22PM by elee.

Actually, the Brighamites were a MINORITY of the Nauvoo-era Mormons. Most Mormons stayed behind instead of following BY west. But the stay-behinds broke up into several smaller groups.

Stray Mutt I think you got it exactly right. She married a con-artist and got more than she bargained for but instead of leaving to stay with family and keep her children safe (not divorcing, given laws at the time) she stayed and is now revered as the Mormon Virgin Mary. I call her that because I can't count the number of RS and YW meetings praising her as a goddess of the saints, without her love and mercy JS would never have been able to restore the truth..blah..blah.. When things were good and church business was booming Emma Smith was the first lady. With that kind of power she wasn't leaving anytime soon.

I think it was during the GBH administration that the church realized they had to stop demonizing or ignoring Emma and remake that apostate witch into the model of perfect LDS Womanhood®. After all, JS needed a Perfect Mormon Wife® in order to have a Forever Family®.

Emma married a alcoholic non-practicing Methodist the second time around. I think it says much for her overall view of being the wife of the prophet... enough of that noise!

Early on, long before there was an officially organized Mormon Church, Emma hooked up with a con man named Joe. She was well aware of where Joe got his money. Later when she had the benefit of houses and real estate and tithing revenue and the prestige that came with it all, she wasn't about to give it up. I don't feel sorry for her at all.

I personally think she was drawn in by his swengali ways (don't know how to spell that), anyway, once the scam was obvious, she hooked in. I say that because of a guy I know (I've told this story before) whose wife did not leave him after he had affairs, took him back after he moved in with another woman and had a baby, took him back and had another baby with him after an affair with a teenager, took him back after he made moves on of his own daughters, took him back after he had another baby with a 16 year-old. And the guy was not that attractive, but very talented and engaging; I worked with him and got along OK with him--he just had that "whatever-it-is".

I believe Joe Smith and Emma were similar.

Now that you all have me interested in reading Mormon Enigma, I'd say that Thread Killer is pretty close to the mark, based on what I know w/o having read the definitive biography. I think Emma was charmed into marrying Joseph and didn't believe the rumors about him. When she started to uncover what he really was, she decided to see her marriage through. That "you made your bed, now you have to lie in it" attitude. Maybe she really loved him and kept making excuses for him. Do we have any examples of her specifically trying to scam anyone? Or did she just support her husband even when he didn't deserve it? Maybe she was just trying to make the best of a bad situation and trying to hang on to her kids.

And yeah, she may have lied to her kids about Joseph's polygamy but she may have thought she was protecting her children, keeping the worst of their dad's behavior from them. At any rate, I know what I'm reading tonight - the Mormon Enigma that's been gathering dust on my bookshelf because I just have too many things to read.

But she and Joseph were so in love. If you need proof just look at this picture of them. Scroll to the middle. Her head is on his chest .. He just adored his Emma.
http://emmahalesmith.org/history/emma-hale-smith?start=5

you are talking like she's alive.

she's dead. for more than a 100 years.


it also sucked ass to be galileo being persecuted by the catholics but hey, plenty of scientists right now are being ridiculed for their ideas in whatever (ETs, parallel worlds, etc)


my heart goes to the millions of live women currently being oppressed by the cult. it was lame for emma, she was brainwashed and manipulated like once you were but she's resting in peace now.





mormon women!! rise!! be happy!!

you are brilliant, an awesome human being NOT a slave of a system who doesn't give a damn about you.