Description

Mormonism begins with Lucy Mack, mother of the prophet Joseph Smith. In her dictated memoir, readers detect the same seeds of religious fervor and frontier idiom that characterized her son's writings and sermons. Although much of her original voice was lost through editing in the more formal, first published edition of her memoir-14 percent of the overall content having been discarded-Lucy's original manuscript survives and is presented here for the first time in its entirety. For comparison's sake, it is arranged in parallel columns with the first (1853) edition. Significant variants from later printings are indicated in the editor's footnotes, with prefatory chapters that provide historical background and textual genealogy.

Lucy's story is gripping and occasionally heart-breaking. As Irene Bates notes in the foreword, the memoir is given "to a new generation of [Lucy's] spiritual grandchildren" as both history and as inspiration. By restoring passages that relate Mother Smith's own, personal understanding of important events, her reactions to them, and her portrayal of Mormon women as competent and strong (a theme that was removed from later editions), editor Lavina Fielding Anderson has allowed Lucy to say what she originally intended. (From back cover.)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword: Lucy Mack Smith-First Mormon Mother by Irene M. Bates
Editor's Introduction: The Domestic Spirituality of Lucy Mack Smith
The Textual History of Lucy's Book
Chronology

THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH BY LUCY MACK SMITH

[Editor's note: Because the 1853 edition of Biographical Sketches follows the 1845 fair copy in its chapter breaks, I assume that the following chapter titles, from the 1853 edition, represent more or less what Lucy Smith intended. Following Chapter 54 and the appendix are miscellaneous papers which were not included in the published book. Substantive differences between the manuscript and chapter divisions are identified in footnotes in the text.]

PART 1. THE MACK FAMILY

1. Solomon Mack, the Father of Lucy Mack-Extract from His Narrative
2. History of Jason Mack
3. Lovisa and Lovina Mack
4. Life of Stephen Mack
5. Lydia Mack, Third Daughter of Solomon Mack
6. Daniel Mack—He Rescues Three Men from a Watery Grave
7. Solomon Mack
8. Early Life of Lucy Mack—Her Marriage with Joseph Smith
9. Seven Generations of the Smith Family—Four Generations of the Mack Family

PART 2. THE PRE-MORMON YEARS

10. A Present of One Thousand Dollars, from John Mudget and Stephen Mack, to the Author
11. Sickness in Randolph
12. Joseph Smith, Senior, Loses His Property and Becomes Poor—Receives a Visit from Jason Mack—The History of the Latter Concluded
13. The Author's Dream
14. First Vision of Joseph Smith, Senior,—The Box-Second Vision—The Tree and the Spacious Building
15. Sickness at Lebanon—Sophronia's Miraculous Recovery
16. The Sufferings of Joseph Smith, Junior, with a Fever Sore Extraction of Large Fragments of Bone from One of His Legs
17. Joseph Smith, Senior, Removes to Norwich, Thence to Palmyra—His Dream of the Images—of the judgment

PART 3. THE NEW YORK YEARS

18. History of Joseph the Prophet Commences—Seventh Vision of Joseph Smith, Senior
19. The Angel Visits Joseph Again—Joseph Tells his Father What He Has Seen and Heard—He Is Permitted to Behold the Plates Receives Further Instructions—Communicates the Same to the Family—Takes the Plates into his Hands—They Are Taken from Him, and He Is Reproved—His Disappointment
20. Alvin's Sickness and Death
21. Religious Excitement—Joseph's Prophecy-He Works for Mr. Stoal—Becomes Acquainted with Emma Hale
22. Joseph Smith, Sen., Loses His Farm—Joseph, Jun., Is Married—Has Another Interview with the Angel, by Whom He Is Chastised—Receives Further Instructions
23. Joseph Obtains the Plates
24. Joseph Brings Home the Breast-Plate—Martin Harris and His Wife Introduced—The Translation Commences—Mrs. Harris Begins to Oppose the Work
25. Martin Harris Is Permitted to Take the Manuscript Home with Him—He Loses It—The Season of Mourning Which Ensued
26. Martin Harris's Perfidy
27. The Urim and Thummim Are Taken from Joseph—He Receives Them Again
28. Oliver Cowdery Commences Writing for Joseph—They Attend to the Ordinance of Baptism
29. Mrs. Harris Prosecutes Joseph
30. Joseph and Oliver Remove to Waterloo—They Finish the Translation
31. The Plates Are Shown to Twelve Witnesses—Joseph Makes Arrangements for Printing the Book of Mormon
32. The Printing Is Begun—A Meeting of the Citizens Held in Reference to the Book
33. Esquire Cole's Dogberry Paper—Second Meeting of the Citizens
34. The Church Organized
35. Joseph Smith, Senior, and Don Carlos, Visit Stockholm
36. Joseph Smith, Senior, Imprisoned—An Attempt to Take Hyrum
37. The Family of Joseph Smith, Senior, Remove to Waterloo
38. The First Western Mission Joseph Smith, Junior, Moves to Kirtland

PART 4. THE KIRTLAND YEARS

39. The Different Branches of the Church Remove to Kirtland—Miracle at Buffalo
40. Samuel Smith's First Mission to Missouri
41. Lucy Smith Visits Detroit
42. An Extract from the History of Joseph the Prophet—Sidney Rigdon's Transgression—Trouble in Jackson County
43. Lucy Smith Builds a School-house—Joseph and Hyrum Return from Missouri—They Rehearse the History of Their Trouble
44. The Lord's House at Kirtland Commenced—A Letter from the Prophet to His Uncle Silas
45. The House of the Lord Completed—A Division in the Church
46. Joseph Smith, Senior, and His Brother John, Go on a Mission to the East—The Death of Jerusha Smith
47. The Persecution Revives—Don Carlos and His Father Fly from Their Enemies—Joseph Moves to Missouri

PART 5. THE MISSOURI EXPERIENCE

48. Joseph Smith, Senior, Moves with His Family to Missouri—Commencement of the Persecution in Caldwell
49. Testimony of Hyrum Smith
50. Removal of the Smith Family to Illinois

PART 6. THE NAUVOO YEARS

51. Joseph and Hyrum Escape from Their Persecutors, and Return to Their Families
52. A Purchase Made in the Town of Commerce—Joseph the Prophet Goes to Washington—The Death of Joseph Smith, Senior
53. Joseph Arrested at Quincy—Discharged at Monmouth—Joseph Charged with an Attempt to Assassinate ex-Governor Boggs
54. Joseph and Hyrum Assassinated

APPENDIX

• A Journal Kept by Don C. Smith while on a Mission with George A. Smith, His Cousin
• Letters of Don C. Smith to His Wife, Agnes
• Elegy on the Death of Joseph Smith, Senior, the Patriarch by Eliza R. Snow
• Lines on the Death of Don Carlos Smith by Eliza R. Snow
• Lines Written on the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith by Eliza R. Snow
• Miscellaneous Papers

Epilogue: Lucy's Last Years
Biographical Summaries of Named Individuals
Bibliography
Index

CHART

• Relationship of Lucy Mack Smith Documents

MAPS

1. Mack and Smith Family Sites
2. The Smith Family in New York
3. The Smith Family in Ohio
4. The Smith Family in Missouri
5. The Smith Family in Nauvoo