�鶹��ý

Jenkins and I removed to Plymouth where he ran a blacksmith shop, and often received “coon” skins and maple sugar in exchange for work at the anvil.
—Katharine Smith Salisbury

KATHARINE'S BROTHER WILLIAM had left Missouri months earlier than most Saints, making little effort to assist his aged parents or sisters in their removal from the state. He had distanced himself from his faith and the Saints at that time, no doubt to protect himself and his family from the same legal difficulties his older brothers experienced. His erratic behavior was confusing to Katharine and the rest of the Smith family. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he was called to account for his behavior the following spring, eventually reconciling with the church and the other members of the Twelve. Nevertheless, for more than a year after relocating to Illinois, William’s focus was on improving his financial status more than attending to the needs of the Saints or fulfilling his calling. While other members of his quorum made great sacrifices to fulfill their appointed mission to England in the years 1839–41, William cited his family’s poverty as his reason for remaining at home. It was an excuse that didn’t sit well with his colleagues, and his decision no doubt impacted his reputation among the remainder of the Twelve.[1]

Plymouth, Illinois

By the time the Salisburys arrived in the state, William had already established himself at Plymouth, Illinois, located in the southeastern corner of Hancock County some thirty-five miles south of the Saints’ eventual settlement at Nauvoo. He was drawn to the community because of its potential for growth as a railroad line that was to traverse the state was planned to run through the center of town.[2] After engaging in some type of merchandising for five months, William purchased the largest building in the budding town from prominent business owner Sevier Tadlock, who had previously used the structure for the “triple purpose of dwelling, hotel, and store.”[3] As evidence of his business acumen, in just two years William owned the hotel outright and expanded his property holdings to include five more town lots, a stable, and ten acres just outside of town. Locals eventually dubbed William’s inn the “Mormon Hotel.”[4]

This structure was built on the site of William Smith’s “Mormon Hotel” in Plymouth, Illinois, 1869. An outbuilding, visible at the rear of the home, was likely part of William’s original hotel property. Photograph courtesy of Virginia Metzgar.

Other Latter-day Saint immigrants followed William’s lead. Local historian E. H. Young described the significant influx of Latter-day Saints to the area, estimating that half the town were members by the early 1840s.[5] The Salisburys were among those who were drawn to the area, no doubt at William’s encouragement, because Jenkins ostensibly shared William’s belief that it would be unwise for the Saints to gather en masse to a single location.[6] Though Jenkins was no longer an active participant in the church, he followed the greater Smith family in their migrations to Missouri and Illinois and maintained an amicable relationship with his in-laws, especially with William. He remained an interested observer of all that was transpiring with church developments in both Missouri and Illinois, albeit from a distance.

When the Salisburys first arrived in Plymouth in the fall of 1839, there were approximately fifteen families who had settled in the area, mostly hunters and trappers who lived in log cabins built along Crooked Creek and its tributaries. A post office was established two years earlier in 1837, and the only other business in town was Sevier Tadlock’s grocery store and inn.[7] Katharine recalled that “Jenkins . . . and I removed to Plymouth, on the opposite side of Hancock County from Nauvoo, where he ran a blacksmith shop, and often received ‘coon’ skins and maple sugar in exchange for work at the anvil.”[8] That probably meant that hard cash was difficult to come by in such a remote area, and residents used the barter system to meet their basic needs during those early years.

Economic Hardships

Several years of settlement had in fact done little to improve the family’s economic status, because eldest son Solomon remembered how meager their living circumstances were by the year 1842, when he was seven years old. He described how the family had little beyond corn bread and bacon to eat and was grateful for the generosity of a kind neighbor who provided buttermilk for their evening meals.[9] Another son was born October 25, 1841, and named for Katharine’s younger brother Don Carlos, who had passed away of pneumonia-like symptoms at Nauvoo a few months earlier, expanding the family to six during a time of limited resources.[10] Hunger and poverty were repeated themes in Solomon’s recollections of his childhood:

One night I went home with a boy and girl about my age. . . . After grating and sifting the meal [their mother] mixed it with lard and water, then, raking the coals out, placed the cake on the hearth and covered with ashes, after which they placed the coals back on the ashes. It was the next morning that the woman at this house was going through the same proceedings. We watched with hungry eyes. . . . For supper we had fruit, venison, buttermilk, and honey, and all the things that go with them. Since then I have eaten many wonderful dinners, but none of them do I remember like that one.[11]

It likely took a few years before Jenkins established his blacksmith shop in town, though he engaged in various jobs for neighbors laboring at his trade during those early years. He also appears to have been absent from the family for periods of time, evidence that he continued to struggle providing steady income for the family. When Joseph Smith and his entourage were returning from Springfield, Illinois, after being cleared from Missouri governor Thomas Reynolds’ attempt at extradition, the group stopped in Plymouth on their way to Nauvoo.[12] Joseph and his secretary Willard Richards took the opportunity to visit the Salisbury home on the evening of January 9, 1843. Richards recorded, “While there my heart was pained to witness a lovely wife & sister of Joseph, almost barefoot, & four lovely children entirely so—in the middle of winter.”[13] There was no mention made of Jenkins being present at home. His absence might explain the family’s destitute circumstance. If true, that meant that Katharine continued to deal with the stress of intermittently caring for her family on her own, only this time far removed from the support of her family at Nauvoo.

Katharine possibly assisted William at his hotel to earn extra income and helped care for William’s wife Caroline, whose chronic illness of dropsy (edema) would lead to her death a few years later in 1845.[14] She also attempted to sell clothing or rugs that she manufactured once the family could afford a loom, skills she had developed early in life.[15] Her efforts to supplement the family income would still have provided for only their most basic needs.

Willard Richards noted in his account of his and Joseph’s visit to the Salisbury home in January 1843 that it was the first time Joseph had been to their home in Plymouth. Joseph and Katharine took time to reminisce about their upbringing, including sharing several anecdotal stories about their admired elder brother Alvin, who had died twenty years earlier. After commenting on Alvin’s handsome appearance, Joseph recounted an incident of a fight between “2 Irish-men” and that when “one was about to gouge the others eyes, Alvin took him by his collar. & breeches & threw him over the ring which had been formed to witness the fight.”[16] Reminiscing about these childhood events served the dual purpose of mourning for their admired elder brother while also strengthening sibling bonds.

Fragments of letter from Joseph Smith to Jenkins Salisbury, ca. 1841–44. Courtesy of Greg T. Walker.

Probably due to his hectic schedule, Joseph was rarely in the area, but his presence in the community created quite a stir in the small town. Local history recorded Joseph’s occasional visits to the area, where he typically stayed at William’s “Mormon Hotel” and “sometimes manifested his love of worldly enjoyments by the spending of night participating in the sports of a merry dancing party.”[17] Katharine brought her family to the hotel on these occasions, where she also enjoyed an entertaining evening.

Due to the distance, Joseph also stayed in touch with the Salisburys through writing letters. On occasion he wrote specifically to Jenkins, expressing his friendship and undoubtedly encouraging him in reconciling his faith and fulfilling his family roles.[18] Katharine was among those neighbors in the Plymouth community who thronged the post office when the mail was delivered twice each week, and she especially treasured these letters that kept her connected to her family.[19]

Katharine longed for more connection with her relatives at Nauvoo, especially her mother and sisters, and would make the seventy-mile round trip as often as feasible. She was likely present during a time of celebration when her brother Joseph married their younger sister Lucy to Arthur Millikin on June 4, 1840, and at the funeral for her younger brother Don Carlos when he died in the summer of 1841.[20]

On other occasions she missed important family gatherings due to distance. When Joseph Sr.’s health began to decline in fall of 1840, he sensed his time was short and sent for all his children and their families to gather at his bedside. He immediately sent son-in-law Arthur Millikin for Katharine, but with the time it took to deliver the news and make the return trip she arrived too late. Not only did she miss seeing her father before he passed and receiving an in-person final blessing from him as other family members did, but she also missed the funeral the following day. Mother Lucy recorded that Jenkins was ill with “ague” when Katharine received news of her father’s declining health, which delayed her arrival until the following evening after the funeral. In her haste to arrive before his death, she speedily drove a wagon the thirty-five miles to Nauvoo with her husband sick on a makeshift bed in the back. Her mother recorded that Katharine remained at Nauvoo “for some length of time for we felt so desolate that we could not endure to be separated more than could possibly be avoided.”[21] A granddaughter recounted that each time Katharine had to leave Nauvoo and return home to Plymouth, she experienced a deep sense of loneliness.[22]

Other trips to Nauvoo were filled with positive memories for Katharine and her children, especially during the holidays. Solomon recalled that each year the family lived at Plymouth, his uncle Joseph “sent for mother and the children to spend the holidays at Nauvoo. And mother and the children crossed the prairie every year from 1839 to 1843 from Plymouth to Carthage thence to Nauvoo.”[23] Jenkins evidently did not join the family on these extended visits because he probably could not leave his blacksmithing trade for a prolonged period. Katharine similarly recalled these Christmas visits with fondness, describing how she and the children “often visited Nauvoo, where my brother, Joseph, entertained us royally and gave me silk dresses and other valuable presents.” She described her brother’s hospitality and kindness on such occasions and remembered how he and Emma always “kept [an] open house to friends and strangers alike.”[24] When Katharine and the children eventually left for home after these memorable visits, Joseph and Emma sent her “laden with food, money, and clothing.”[25] Katharine had not experienced that sort of care or prosperity since her marriage, and she and the children relished those experiences.

Joseph obviously took a special interest in looking out for Katharine and her family because poverty had plagued them from their earliest years of marriage in Kirtland. In the summer of 1842, Katharine and the children stayed for an extended period at Nauvoo, perhaps for the entire summer. Joseph provided her with employment as she worked in his Red Brick Store, where she recorded purchases and transactions that summer.[26] Joseph continued to monitor the Salisburys’ well-being while at Plymouth. When Joseph had visited at their home in January 1843 and when Willard Richards noted their poor living conditions, Joseph gave her all the cash and coins he had in his pocket to assist in meeting her immediate needs. Joseph inadvertently gave her his lucky penny, which was stamped 1830—the year the church was established.[27] It became a treasured family heirloom, along with a quilt Emma had made and gifted to the family, presumably during the early 1840s.[28] Katharine admired Emma, and the two would remain close friends for the remainder of their lives.

The Salisburys’ visits to Nauvoo included major church or community events. Katharine recounted that anytime there were noteworthy gatherings in the city, such as general conference or July Fourth celebrations, her brothers would send for her.[29] She was present at a major gathering of the Saints and other local dignitaries on April 6, 1841, where somewhere between seven and ten thousand people were present. A procession of the Nauvoo Legion began marching early in the morning in sixteen companies and carried a “beautiful silk national flag.” The day included trumpeters heralding the ceremonies, a full brass band on the temple grounds, the ceremonial laying of three cornerstones for the Nauvoo Temple, as well as speeches by several church leaders.[30] Of all the festivities that day, the splendor of the Nauvoo Legion is what stood out most to attendees.[31] Katharine’s personal recollections of that memorable occasion included a depiction of her younger brother Don Carlos just before his death, who served as brigadier general in the military unit. Only Joseph Smith and John C. Bennett held superior offices to Don Carlos.[32] Katharine recounted that when Don Carlos was outfitted in his blue uniform, “as an officer of the Nauvoo Legion and riding his charger on parade,” he was the most striking man she ever saw.[33] Emma Hale Smith, who was part of the procession that day, concurred with Katharine’s assessment. She recalled that her six-foot-four-inch, two-hundred-pound brother-in-law “was the handsomest man she ever saw—That when in uniform and on horse back . . . he was magnificent.”[34] “It was inspiring to see the Legion in parade,” Katharine further described of these occasions, “with my brothers and the other officers on their charges in command, accompanied by ladies in silks and satins, also mounted.”[35]

The Salisburys were also present the following October for the church’s general conference. Katharine recalled the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Nauvoo House, then under construction, and remembered her brother Joseph including the original Book of Mormon manuscript inside the cornerstone, along with other notable items related to the church’s brief history.[36]

These extended stays in Nauvoo tempered her feelings of isolation and loneliness, but it continued to be difficult for Katharine to live so far removed from family. It helped having William and Caroline Smith in town during those early years in Plymouth, and Katharine’s brothers Samuel and Don Carlos also bought property in the area and assisted in managing the hotel for brief periods of time.[37] However, the Salisburys’ decision to live far from Nauvoo and Jenkins’s decision to remain outside the faith meant the family missed out on many of the key theological developments transpiring at Nauvoo. There is no evidence that Katharine understood or participated in vicarious work for the dead or in the endowment or understood the concept of eternal sealings. While her sister-in-law Emma, her mother, and her sister Lucy were actively involved in the Nauvoo’s Female Relief Society, Katharine’s name is absent from those records.[38] She also had no knowledge of plural marriage, something her brother Joseph only shared with his most trusted followers. Katharine would later state that the first time she heard of plural marriage being practiced at Nauvoo was more than a year after Joseph’s death, further evidence of how little she understood about doctrinal developments occurring at Nauvoo.[39] Katharine not only missed her family during these years, she missed out on actively participating in the church.

Finances appear to have improved for the family by the latter part of 1843, perhaps due to Jenkins establishing his blacksmith shop more permanently in town. Besides William Smith’s “Mormon Hotel,” the only other Mormon business of note in the town’s history was Jenkins’s blacksmith shop. Local historian E. H. Young added that Jenkins’s business was “short-lived,” further evidence that his actual shop was not completed until the year 1843.[40] His business probably also benefited from the town’s increasing population. On September 15, 1843, the Salisburys purchased multiple lots just a few blocks away from the town square and within a short walking distance from the “Mormon Hotel.” Their property, approximately seven acres in total, butted up against the proposed railroad line that was to run through the town and stood adjacent to several lots that William Smith owned. Revealingly, all lots were purchased in Katharine’s name only, with no mention of Jenkins.[41] The same had been true of their Kirtland property.[42] Perhaps she was protecting herself and the children from the financial instability of her husband because he would have been unable to sell the property without her consent. It is also possible that they were protecting their property from any creditors that Jenkins owed. Once again, the Salisburys were finally in a financial position to purchase property and contemplated building a more permanent home in Plymouth.

Notes

[1] William Smith to D[on] C[arlos] Smith, December 1, 1840, in “Communications,” Times and Seasons 2 (December 15, 1840): 252–53; Kyle R. Walker, William B. Smith: In the Shadow of a Prophet (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015), 140–45.

[2] The railroad was not completed until the mid-1850s. E. H. Young, A History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 1831–1875 (Chicago: Geo. J. Titus, Book and Job Printer, 1876), 105–6.

[3] Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 41–42.

[4] William Smith to Brother [Edmund L. Kelley], ca. 1893, Suplaiment [sic], Miscellaneous Letters, P19, folder 49, Community of Christ Library-Archives; Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 64–65. For more information on William’s activities in Plymouth, see Walker, William B. Smith, 144–47.

[5] Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 64–65.

[6] Walker, William B. Smith, 144.

[7] Solomon J. Salisbury, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian (self-pub., ca. 1926), 3; Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 41–42.

[8] Herbert S. Salisbury, “Reminiscences of Joseph Smith, as Told by His Sister, Catherine Smith–Salisbury, to Her Grandson, Herbert S. Salisbury,” Saints’ Herald 60, no. 41 (October 8, 1913): 984.

[9] Salisbury, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 3.

[10] George A. Smith (Salt Lake City) to Cousin Catherine [Salisbury], August 17, 1865, Historian’s Office letterpress copybooks, 1854–79, vol. 2, 1859–69, CHL; John Smith Papers, 1833–54, journal, 1846 February–1854 May, CHL; Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1853), 43; Dorothy D. Dean, handwritten family group sheet, copy of original in author’s possession. For Don Carlos Smith’s death date and cause of death, see “Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons 2, no. 20 (August 16, 1841): 503; Roy B. Huff and Kyle R. Walker, “Don Carlos Smith,” in United by Faith: The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family, ed. Kyle R. Walker (American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications and BYU Studies, 2006), 384.

[11] Salisbury, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 3–4.

[12] For more information on Missouri’s attempt to extradite Joseph Smith over the attempted shooting of Lilburn W. Boggs, see Spencer W. McBridee et al., eds., Documents, Volume 11: September 1842–February 1843, vol. 11 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Matthew C. Godfrey et al. (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2020), xix–xxiv.

[13] Andrew H. Hedges, Alex D. Smith, and Richard Lloyd Anderson, eds., Journals, Volume 2: December 1841–April 1843, vol. 2 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011), 242–43.

[14] Mary Salisbury Hancock, “The Three Sisters of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Part III,” Saints’ Herald 101, no. 4 (January 25, 1954): 82.

[15] Katharine manufactured rugs and carpets that she sold later in life to earn extra income. Autobiography of Mary Salisbury Hancock, 1963, 2, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

[16] Among other things, Joseph also commented on Alvin’s handsome appearance and superior strength during his visit with Katharine, declaring that his attractiveness was surpassed by none but “Adam & Seth.” JSP, J2:242–43.

[17] Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 65.

[18] Joseph Smith (n.p.) to Jenkins Salisbury, ca. 1841–44, letter cut and most content removed, original in possession of Gregory T. Walker, Mesquite, NV.

[19] Salisbury, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 3.

[20] “H�⳾��Ծ�����,” Times and Seasons 1, no. 8 (June 1840): 127; Hancock, “Three Sisters, Part III,” 82; “Death of General Don Carlos Smith,” Times and Seasons 2, no. 20 (August 16, 1841): 503–4; Dean L. Jarman and Kyle R. Walker, “Don Carlos Smith,” in Walker, United by Faith, 384.

[21] Lavina Fielding Anderson, ed., Lucy’s Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001), 723–24. Joseph Sr. blessed Katharine absentia, recounting her many sorrows and troubles and commending her for her enduring patience. He promised her, as he had in her patriarchal blessing pronounced in 1834, that she would eventually be prospered with “horses and land, and things round her to make her heart glad.” Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 269.

[22] Hancock, “Three Sisters, Part III,” 82.

[23] Salisbury, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 15.

[24] Salisbury, “Reminiscences of Joseph Smith,” 984.

[25] Herbert S. Salisbury, “Things the Prophet’s Sister Told Me,” 4, unpublished typescript, San Rafael, CA, June 30, 1945, CHL.

[26] Joseph Smith’s Store Daybook B, Entry for Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, 18 July 1842—A, 34[b], note, www.josephsmithpapers.org.

[27] Salisbury, “Things the Prophet’s Sister Told Me,” 5.

[28] “Jubilee Notes,” Deseret Evening News 30, no. 117 (April 10, 1897): 1.

[29] “Anniversary of Carthage,” Salt Lake Tribune 44, no. 57 (June 24, 1894): 16.

[30] Brent M. Rogers et al., eds., Documents, Volume 8: February–November 1841, vol. 8 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin et al. (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2019), 98–99; Richard E. Bennett, Susan Easton Black, and Donald Q. Cannon, The Nauvoo Legion in Illinois: A History of the Mormon Militia, 1841–1846 (Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2010), 170–71.

[31] Robert B. Thompson, “Laying the Cornerstone of the Temple,” Times and Seasons 2, no. 12 (April 15, 1841): 380–82; “The Mormons,” Warsaw Signal 2, no. 2 (May 19, 1841): 2.

[32] Bennett et al., Nauvoo Legion in Illinois, 112–22.

[33] Salisbury, “Things the Prophet’s Sister Told Me,” 1; Salisbury, “Reminiscences of Joseph Smith,” 984.

[34] Emma’s statement is recorded by her niece, Mary Bailey Smith Norman, who added, “and Aunt Emma was not given to undue laudations.” Mary Bailey Smith Norman to Ina Coolbrith, Community of Christ Library-Archives, Independence, MO.

[35] Salisbury, “Reminiscences of Joseph Smith,” 984.

[36] Salisbury, “Things the Prophet’s Sister Told Me,” 7. It was thought that sealing and encasing the Book of Mormon manuscript in the cornerstone would protect it for “ages.” However, “the building was so close to the east bank of the Mississippi River . . . that the box in the cornerstone experienced flooding at high-water times, significantly damaging the paper items deposited therein.” JSP, D8:295–97.

[37] Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 64, 87. Young recounts how Samuel lived “on a farm in the extreme north part of the prairie, near Crooked Creek. He bore the reputation of being a good, respectable citizen.” Don Carlos Smith bought property in Plymouth in December 1840, but due to his responsibilities of publishing the Times and Seasons newspaper at Nauvoo, he rarely, if ever, lived at Plymouth. Bonds & Mortgages, Book 1, p. 102, Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL. Kyle R. Walker, “‘As Fire Shut Up in My Bones’: Ebenezer Robinson, Don Carlos Smith, and the 1840 Edition of the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 1 (Winter 2010): 1–12.

[38] Emma Hale Smith was appointed the first president, and both Lucy Mack Smith and her daughter Lucy Millikin were actively involved in Nauvoo’s Female Relief Society. Like Katharine, her sister Sophronia lived outside Nauvoo, and thus her name does not appear in the minutes of the Relief Society. Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Mathew J. Grow, eds., The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-Day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016), 37–38, 44–45, 49–50, 52.

[39] “Aunt Katharine Salisbury’s Testimony,” Saints’ Herald 40, no. 18 (May 6, 1893): 275.

[40] Young, History of Round Prairie and Plymouth, 90.

[41] This land was purchased for two hundred dollars on September 15, 1843. It appears that the Salisburys rented the log home and land that they lived on before that time. Deed Book L, 457–58, Land and Records Office, Hancock County Courthouse, Carthage, IL.

[42] The Salisburys had purchased their Kirtland land from Sophia Stevens (the wife of Uzziel Stevens) and registered it in Katharine’s name. She acquired a city lot on block 112 sub lots 19 & 20 that was 30/160 of an acre (four rods west of lot no. 10 on block 112 formerly owned by Hyrum Smith) and worth three hundred dollars. Witnessed Sybil Beall and W. D. Beall, JP October 15, 1839. Land transactions of Saints, Kirtland, Ohio, 1830s & 1840s, August 5, 1893, CHL. Thanks to Mark L. Staker for sharing information on the Salisbury property.