Emma Hale Smith married Joseph Smith Jr. when she was youthful and excited about life. Emma had grown up very differently than Joseph, with an emphasis on eduction, in a well to do home. Joseph's family was poor, and did not have the same opportunities as Emma, when it came to education and schooling. Emma's life with Joseph was very different from the life she had known before her marriage, but Emma was also called of God to do a great work, and she met those challenges with great strength and class. Neither Joseph nor Emma could foresee the struggles the young couple would be asked to endure. One of these very difficult times was when the young couple lived Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph and Emma had to rely on the assistance of others for housing. Joseph, was very busy with his Church obligations, and this left Emma in the house of strangers, alone to manage, and at one point Emma was turned away from from a home and did not know where to do all while Joseph was gone on Church errands.
In Doctrine and Covenants the Lord called Emma Smith an “Elect Lady”, The Lord knew the the strength and fortitude of which Emmas was capable. It seems as though, Emma was the perfect balance for the young Prophet Joseph Smith he knowledge and abilities helped Joseph in his calling and set a high bar for women of the Church. Marrying the first prophet of the Restoration came with many benefits, being an eye witness to miracles and revelations would have been extraordinary. In contrast, the struggles Joseph and Emma were required to face were more than most could bare. There was a great weight on the shoulders of the young prophet, and Emma was next to Joseph in every instance, and often times his struggles became her struggles.
Every step of Joseph and Emma’s journey had extreme hardships and many hardships happened in Kirtland, Ohio. Emma was twenty-six years old when the Lord commanded the Saints to gather in Kirtland, and the young couple lived in Kirtland for seven years. For over half their time in Kirtland, Joseph and Emma did not have a home of their own. They had to rely on the hospitality of others for their basic needs. They shared quarters as guests of new members. Joseph was often gone dealing with Church situations and this left Emma at the homes of others, alone.
One, very difficult instance, was when Joseph Smith had Church business in Missouri and left Emma in Hiram, Ohio. On the way out of town Joseph heard that the persecution of the Church were escalating and it was unsafe to leave Emma in Kirtland. Joseph was traveling with Newel K. Whitney who insisted Joseph have Emma stay at him house in Kirtland. Joseph requested that Emma leave and stay at the Whitneys in Kirtland. Joseph was leaving only three days after the death of their newly adopted baby little Joseph(read more here). Emma was in mourning and very sick, as she was also pregnant. Emma was in a very vulnerable state and was trying to manage it all with her husband gone.
Under Joseph's instruction Emma left Hiram to made it to Kirtland to the home of the Whitneys. The Whitney family had a aunt staying with them that did not want Emma to stay at their house while she was there, and turned Emma away.
Here is the account from Joseph:
“She went to Kirtland, to Brother Whitney’s and Sister Whitney’s an aunt of the Whitney's Sarah Smith, inquired of her niece(Sister Whitney) if my wife was going to stay there; and, and on being answered in the affirmative, said she should go away, for there was not room enough for the both of them; accordingly sister Whitney invited my wife to leave, which she did immediately; having enjoyed about two hours visit. She then went to Brother Reynolds’s Cahoon’s, and father Smith’s and Doctor Williams, where I found her very disconsolate on my return.”
Emma went from house to house while Joseph was gone, for about two and a half months. Emma was left in Kirtland without a place of her own, and a new little baby, and pregnant with her third pregnancy. It must have been a very low point in her life and these extremely hard experiences changed Emma. Emma learned how show compassion to the vulnerable, to the sick, to the weary, to the homeless because she was all of those things during this point in her life. Emma know how to comfort the weary and suffering because she had been weary and alone. Emma was made strong through these incredibly hard times in her life.
Other Blog Posts:
Saints to gather in Kirtland, Ohio
Places to Visit:
Sacred Grove
Hill Cumorah
Emma’s Home, Harmony Pennsylvania
Historic Kirtland
Newel K. Whitney Store
Isaac Morley Farm
References:
”Joseph Smith’s Kirtland, eyewitness accounts” by Karl Ricks Anderson (p. 35-36)