Chapter 3

¹ Memoirs, p. 39; Tullidge, p. 751; "What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," pp.
342-343. The date of arrival at Fulton City is given in the Journal of Abby B.
Jenks Rice, as cited by Valeen Tippetts Avery, "Insanity and the Sweet Singer," p.
32.

Ironically, housekeeper Servilla Durfee secretly had been a plural wife of
Joseph Smith, Jr.; see Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History; The Life of
Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet, 2nd ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974),
pp. 302, 305, and 469. Another of those who stayed with Emma Smith that winter
was Lovina Walker, eldest daughter of Hyrum Smith and wife of Lorin Walker.
She later swore that her Aunt Emma "in Fulton City ... in the year 1846, . . . told
me that she, Emma Smith, was present and witnessed the marrying or sealing of
Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Maria Lawrence and Sarah Lawrence to her
husband, Joseph Smith, and that she gave her consent thereto." See The
Historical Record 7 (May 1887):223. Emma Smith's policy of denying that her
husband practiced plural marriage therefore must have begun sometime after her
return to Nauvoo, when living in an environment largely composed of Gentiles.

²0n the appeal of Strang's claims, see William D. Russell, "King James
Strang: Joseph Smith's Successor?," in The Restoration Movement: Essays in
Mormon History, ed. F. Mark McKiernan, Alma R. Blair, and Paul M. Edwards
(Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1979), pp. 231-256.

³Milo M. Quaife, The Kingdom of Saint James; A Narrative of the
Mormons (New Haven, Connecticuts; Yale University Pres London: Humphrey
Milford, Oxford University Press, 1930), p. 19.

⁴Additional studies of Strang include: Klaus Hansen, "The Making of King
Strang: A Re-examination," Michigan History 46 (September 1962):201-219, and
Lawrence Foster, "James J. Strang: The Prophet Who Failed," Church History 50
(June 1981): 182-192.

⁵Foster, "James J. Strang," p. 182.

⁶Quaife, The Kingdom of Saint James, p. 27.

⁷ James J. Strang to Emma Smith, February 22, 1846, Chicago Historical
Society (microfilm at LDS Archives).

⁸Quaife, The Kingdom of Saint James, pp. 22-25.

⁹See the broadside entitled, Minutes of a Conference Held by the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (N.p.:n.d.), published sometime after
William Smith's conference held in Cincinnati, January 6, 1846. This broadside
contains a portion of a letter from Lucy Mack Smith to William Smith, October
28, 1845, indicating that William already had prevailed upon his mother not to go
west and that she supported him in his schismatic activities.

¹⁰Concerning William's activities in Nauvoo, during March and April, see
Warsaw Signal, March I I, March 18, and April 8, 1846. See also William Smith to
James J. Strang, March 17, 1846, Yale University (typescript at University of
Utah). Something of the nature of William's efforts to secure an "inheritance" for
his mother and sisters, from the church, may be gathered from the broadside of
Almon W. Babbitt, entitled, To the Public (Nauvoo: n.p., 1846?).

¹¹Voree Herald, July 1846. Thomas Sharp, who looked favorably upon all
divisive movements within the Mormon camp, gleefully reprinted William's letter
in the Warsaw Signal, August 18, 1846. The endorsement of Strang by these
members of the Smith family also was carried on the back wrapper of T. Norton's
A True History of the Rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—Of
the Restoration of the Holy Priesthood. And of the Late Discovery of Ancient
American Records, Collected from the Most Authetic Sources Ever Published to
the World, Which Unfold the History of This Continent from the Earliest Ages
after the Flood, to the Beginning of the Fifth Century of the Christian Era. With
a Sketch of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. Also a Brief Outline of Their Persecution, and Martyrdom of Their
Prophet Joseph Smith and the Appointment of His Successor James J. Strang
(Geneva, New York: Gazette Print., n.d.).See Dale L. Morgan, "A Bibliography
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Strangite]," Western
Humanities Review 5 (Winter 1950):61.

¹²William Smith to James J. Strang, December 7, 1846, Yale University
(typescript at University of Utah).

¹³Ibid. Cf. the recollections of Solomon J. Salisbury, "Reminiscences of an
Octogenarian," Journal of History 15 (January 1922):20-22. Salisbury places their
location at Alexandria, Missouri, and states that the family was forced to leave
Nauvoo in March, 1846, because of their refusal to accept Brigham Young's
leadership. He makes no mention of his father's support for William Smith. His
mother, in her old age, denied that she had ever signed the endorsement of Strang.
See "Testimony of Katharine Salisbury," SH 46 (April 26, 1899):261; Katharine
Salisbury to George Lambert, February 10, 1899, RLDS Archives; and Josephine
Salisbury to "Bro. George" (Lambert?), n.d., P21, f92, RLDS Archives.

¹⁴Letters of William Smith to James J. Strang, December 2, 7, and 19,
1846, Yale University (typescripts at University of Utah).

¹⁵William Smith to James J. Strang, December 25, 1846, Yale University
(typescript at University of Utah).

On November 6, 1846, Strang had a revelation stating that Joseph Smith III
had been consecrated to God in infancy and that he should be ordained by Strang
one of the first presidency. It also stated that William Marks should act as
coadjutor to Young Joseph during his minority, and that Emma Smith should be a
counselor to her son also. See Warren Post, "Chronicles of Voree," Ms f 350, LDS
Archives.

The Strangite paper, Zion's Reveille, December 1846, carried the following
under the heading, "The First Presidency:"
"YOUNG JOSEPH SMITH (eldest son of the martyred prophet), has been
appointed one of the first presidents of the church, by revelation, in the place of
his uncle Hyrum, and WILLIAM MARKS has been appointed his coadjutor, in like
manner. The FIRST PRESIDENCY now consists of JAMES J. STRANG (in place of
Joseph Smith, martyred), GEORGE J. ADAMS, (in place of Sidney Rigdon,
apostatized), and JOSEPH SMITH, (in place of Hyrum Smith, martyred); WILLIAM
SMITH,(the only surviving brother of Joseph and Hyrum), is the CHIEF
PATRIARCH, and as the Patriarch of the whole church has always held a seat in
the councils of the first presidency, as coadjutor, that high prerogative will be
freely accorded to him, by virtue of his patriarchate."

These overtures to Young Joseph bear all the earmarks of George J.
Adams' influence, and formed the basis for Strang's mission to Fulton City.

¹⁶"What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," p. 343; Tullidge, p. 754.

The account in Roger D. Launius, "And There Came Prophets in the Land
Again: The Life of Joseph Smith III, 1832-1914, Mormon Reformer," Ph.D.
dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1982, pp. 103-104, which suggests that
Young Joseph's illness was contrived, in order to avoid conversing with Strang, is
speculative at best. However, Young Joseph did take an instinctive disliking to
Strang. See Joseph Smith III to Wingfield Watson, March 28, 1881, LB #3, p. 343.

For a typical denial that Strang ordained him, see Joseph Smith III to
Wingfield Watson, February 21, 1881, LB #3, pp. 301-302. In this letter, the date
of Strang's visit is placed in December 1846 or January 1847, probably the latter
month.

¹⁷Furthermore, Van Tuyl, perhaps looking to his own self-interest, had
publicly sided with the Anti-Mormons. The Nauvoo New Citizen of December 12,
1846 contained "An Address to the Public," reprinted from the rabidly anti-
Mormon Warsaw Signal, containing an incredible tissue of lies to justify the
conduct of the "regulators" against Nauvoo. Abram Van Tuyl was one of the
signatories.

A letter from M. R. Owen to Mason Brayman, October 14, 1846, Bancroft
Library, indicates that the so-called "neutral" party among the New Citizens were
"the most officious persons in the county and have perhaps done as much towards
keeping up excitement, and carrying on the disturbance as any set of men in the
Country . . . ." Some of the neutral party were actually fifth-columnists, he
related, who promised to join the Anti-Mormons as soon as they marched into the
city. Their aim was to secure their own right to remain unmolested in the city.
To accomplish this end they were willing to act as spies for the Anti-Mormons.
Van Tuyl was evidently of this party.

¹⁸Accounts of this episode are found in Tullidge, pp. 751-752, Memoirs, p.
39; and Smith, "What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," pp. 343-344.

¹⁹Tullidge, p. 752.

²⁰See Thomas L. Kane's justly famous description of Nauvoo after the
exodus, in The Mormons. A Discourse Delivered before the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania; March 26. 1850 (Philadelphia: King & Baird, Printers, 1850), pp. 3-
20, and The Private Papers and Diary of Thomas Leiper Kane: A Friend of the
Mormons, ed. Oscar Osburn Winther (San Francisco: Gelber-Lilienthal, Inc.,
1937), pp. 6-8.

²¹ Memoirs, p. 39.

²²cf. Memoirs, p. 34. In 1843, Emma went to St. Louis to make purchases
for the Nauvoo Mansion. On her return she found Joseph Smith had installed Orrin
Porter Rockwell as a barkeeper in the hotel. She coolly delivered an ultimatum to
her husband: either the bar must be removed or she and the children would move
out.

²³Memoirs, p. 40.

²⁴Ibid.,pp.40-41.

²⁵Major Bidamon served as a courier between the governor and the city,
running the gauntlet of the hostile mob. See L. C. Bidamon to "Dear Brother,"
September 2, 1846, Wilford C. Wood Collection (microfilm at LDS Archives, Ms f
413, Reel 25). Cf. John M. Ferris to Hiram G. Ferris, September 3, 1846,
Bancroft Library (photograph of original in private possession). Earlier, he was
prominent among those New Citizens who held meetings, signed petitions, and
passed resolutions calling for law and order, and rejecting the mob's demands that
the New Citizens drive out the Mormons; Hancock Eagle, June 26 and August 14,
1846. His brother J. C. Bidamon played a similar role, Hancock Eagle, Extra,
August 20, 1846. For this they earned the enmity of Thomas Sharp, who later
conducted a campaign to impugn the character of the brothers Bidamon; Warsaw
Signal, March 6, March 20, March 27, and April 3, 1847.

²⁶Sarah M. Kimball to Nancy Marinda Hyde, January 2, 1848, LDS
Archives.

²⁷This name is consistently misspelled in Joseph Smith Ill's Memoirs.
"Honey" is the correct spelling. Letter of the Rev. J. Ronald Bogarth (Conference
Historian, Central Illinois Conference, United Methodist Church) to the author,
May 6, 1983.

²⁸Valeen Tippetts Avery and Linda King Newell, "Lewis C. Bidamon:
Stepchild of Mormondom," Brigham Young University Studies 19 (Spring 1979):375.

²⁹Later RLDS accounts list the date as December 27th, but this is
inaccurate. The marriage certificate gives the date as December 23rd. See
Avery and Newell, "Lewis C. Bidamon," p. 375, n. 3; also see J. Ronald Bogarth to
the author, May 6, 1983.

³⁰Memoirs, pp. 41-42; Avery and Newell, "Lewis C. Bidamon," pp. 375-380.
In 1869 a visitor asked Emma why she married a man outside the church. She
replied, "I had my own reasons for so doing to protect my children," and added
that she had been warned that there would be an attempt to kidnap Young Joseph.
See "Reminiscences of Sister N. J. Tharpe," Journal of History II (January
1918):120.

³¹ Memoirs, p. 42.

³²Ibid., p. 305.

³³In a sketch of his mother's life, Joseph Smith III once wrote that her
second husband's habit of drinking to excess sometimes rendered their life
unpleasant, and that "it is to the credit of Mrs. Bidamon's stability and excellent
qualities of government and parental control, that she managed to keep her boys
from contracting the same evil habit." See Joseph Smith III, untitled Biographical
Sketch of Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, PI 3, f2302, RLDS Archives, p. 22.
However, she did not succeed in keeping her oldest son from emulating his step-
father's use of tobacco. In later years he wrote Thomas Jacobs, "I send by this
mail a small box containing a pipe and a bit of good tobacco for you. I once loved
a pipe, and know what a solace to worry it sometimes is to sit down and enjoy a
good pipe . . . ." See Joseph Smith III to "Friend Jacobs," June 9, 1881, LB #1A, p.
224.

³⁴See Memoirs, pp. 42, 304-306, 345.

³⁵Journal History, January 26, 1848.

³⁶0aks and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process," p. 776.

³⁷Ibid.

³⁸Journal History, January 31, 1848.
³⁹0aks and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process," p. 767. Coolidge
may have absconded with some of the estate's assets; Ibid., p. 768.

⁴⁰Ibid., p. 768. In his Memoirs, p. 39, Joseph Smith III incorrectly
remembered the administrator's name as "John G. Ferris."

⁴¹ Oaks and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process," pp. 768-769;
Memoirs, pp. 38-39. Joseph Smith III adopted his mother's view of the later
claims: "Later still two large claims, one of which I have reason to believe, was
fraudulent; both of which I believer were paid previous to his death; (but as the
B'ites had kept his papers we could not tell); were revived in chancery . . . ;"
Joseph Smith III to John H. Hansen, May 19, 1875, RLDS Archives. Cf. Tullidge,
p. 770, where Phineas Kimball is named as the purportedly dishonest creditor.

⁴²Joseph Smith III presents hopelessly confused chronological data
concerning this interview (or interviews). In his Memoirs, p. 38, he states that
Babbitt was coming from Utah to Washington, which would make the date 1849, or
later. In his autobiography, in Tullidge, p. 752, he places the interview in 1846 or
1847, thinking the latter date more likely. To add further complications, in "What
Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," p. 339, he states that more than one such visit
occurred. (Part of the confusion may stem from conflation of details from more
than one visit.)

Babbitt left Nauvoo and met with Brigham Young and the Twelve at Winter
Quarters, October 6, 1846. From there he went to the eastern states, to try to
sell church property. He probably passed through Nauvoo on his way eastward,
but Emma Smith was then in Fulton City. On March 20, 1847, he returned to
Nauvoo from the east. An interview at this time fits the time-frame given in
"What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?" However, Babbitt was not coming from Utah,
and not even from the west.

On January 31, 1848, Babbitt returned to Nauvoo from another meeting
with the General Authorities in Winter Quarters. This date is a bit later than
Joseph Ill's recollection, but the discrepancy is only a month. It seems more likely
than March 20, 1847, since Babbitt was returning from personal contact with
Brigham Young and the Twelve, and could be delivering a message from them to
Emma. The problem with this date is that Babbitt was not coming from Utah.
Also, the description of his team prancing through the streets seems unlikely in
January.

The date which best seems to fit the evidence is late 1849. Babbitt first
emigrated to Utah in that year and was elected Deseret's delegate to Congress,
July 5, 1849. He reached Washington late in the year. In a letter, Emma Smith
Bidamon to Lewis Crum Bidamon, January 7, 1850, RLDS Archives, there is
mention of an interview with Babbitt in which he told her that she had no right to
marry Major Bidamon. The letter also mentions the great difficulties she was
encountering in her attempt to hold her property, which fits very well Joseph Ill's
account of the interview. This date is two years later than that given in "What Do
I Remember of Nauvoo?," but since Joseph Ill's statements concerning the date of
the interview are chronologically irreconcilable, that is not an overwhelming
objection.

Babbitt probably passed through Nauvoo, on later trips to and from
Washington, D. C., until his last such trip in 1856. However, these occasions do
not seem more likely than 1849, particularly after most of the estate was sold in
1851.

For information on Babbitt, see Jay Donald Ridd, "Almon Whiting Babbitt:
Mormon Emissary," M.S. thesis, University of Utah, 1953.

⁴³Memoirs, p. 38.

⁴⁴Smith, "What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," p. 340; Memoirs, p. 38;
Tullidge, p. 753.
⁴⁵Tullidge, pp. 753-754.
⁴⁶Flanders, Nauvoo; Kingdom on the Mississippi, pp. I 15-143, has shown
that Nauvoo's prosperity had been based largely upon land sales and building to
accomodate the constant influx of new Mormon immigrants. Tippetts and Newell,
"The Lion and the Lady," p. 96, rightly conclude that much of the widow Smith's
apparent wealth was illusory. With a declining population, the value of property
declined as well. However, the conclusion of Tippetts and Newell that "the only
explanation" that Emma "could find for the situation was that somehow Brigham
Young must have swindled her out of what should rightfully have been hers,"
seems an attempt to put the best possible face upon their bitter controversy. The
dispute was more than the result of a misconception. The adversaries really
attempted to damage one another.
⁴⁷Oaks and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process," pp. 771ff.
⁴⁸Ibid., pp. 773-775.
⁴⁹Ibid., pp. 775-778.
⁵⁰Ridd, "Almon W. Babbitt," p. 29.
⁵¹ Memoirs, pp. 39, 62, 277.
⁵²Oaks and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process," p. 775.
⁵³Ibid., p. 777.
⁵⁴Ibid., pp. 778-781.
⁵⁵"There were two later episodes concerning the estate. First, one of the
creditors, Phineas Kimball, obtained a state-court judgment against the estate in
March 1852 for about $5,000. To satisfy the debt, several properties held by
Joseph Smith, Jr. in a personal capacity were ordered sold. L. C. and Emma
Smith Bidamon were able to retain the Mansion House, the Nauvoo House, and
other properties only by bidding for them at the auction, June 5, 1852. See Oaks
and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process," pp. 779-780, n. 188. Cf. Tullidge,
p. 770. In a letter to his son, Israel A. Smith, March 28, 1910, RLDS Archives,
Joseph Smith III recalled George Edmunds' role in rescuing the family: "I have the
sincerest regard and respect for Judge Edmunds, for it was through his unflinching
regard for the right, and a sincere respect for mother and her family, that we
saved anything of much value out of father's estate, as a combination of which
one Phineas Kimball was the center would have robbed us, if Judge Edmunds had
not stood in the way."
Second, in 1856, twelve years after her husband's murder, Emma was able
to secure part of the dower money which the federal government erroneously had
neglected to pay her. This was accomplished by a special act of Congress,
providing for payment of $197.35. See Secretary of the Treasury James Guthrie
to Rep. William A. Richardson, January 30, 1854, Wilford C. Wood Collection
(microfilm at LDS Archives, Ms f 413, Reel 25); U.S., Congress, House, Emma
Smith Bidamon, H.R. Rept. 66 to Accompany H.R. 290, 34th Cong., 1st sess.,
1856; U.S. Congress, House, A Bill for the Relief of Emma Bidamon, H.R. 290,
34th Cong., 1st sess., 1856; Oaks and Bentley, "Joseph Smith and Legal Process,"
p. 779, n. 186.

⁵⁶Memoirs, p. 43; Tullidge, p. 755.

⁵⁷Memoirs, p. 43.

⁵⁸Ibid., pp. 43-44.

⁵⁹See "Account of L. C. and J. C. Bidamon's Outfit for California," ca.
Spring 1849, Huntington Library. This minutely itemized list of supplies, some of
which came from the remaining stock in the Red Brick Store, totalled $403.93 in
cost. The account indicates that the Major's brother was his partner, but Joseph
Smith III, Memoirs, p. 45, named his partner as Nathan King. Major Bidamon's
bout of "gold fever" was anything but unique. On April 14, 1849, the Warsaw
Signal reported that approximately twenty California-bound wagons and teams
had crossed the flooded Mississippi in one day the previous week. On June 9,
1849, the same paper reported that an eastbound traveler had met 1,125 wagons
bound for the west.

⁶⁰Memoirs, p. 60.

⁶¹ Ibid.

⁶²Emma Smith Bidamon to Lewis C. Bidamon, January 7, 1850, RLDS
Archives. The "ingratitude" spoken of concerns Bidamon's activities in defense of
Nauvoo.

⁶³The date of L. C. Bidamon's return to Nauvoo is uncertain, but it seems
that he had not returned at the time a former resident of Nauvoo wrote to Emma
requesting that she look after his city taxes on a lot in Nauvoo. He says that
from the lack of replies to his letter to Major Bidamon, he infers that the Major
may be absent from the city. See A. Pelton to Emma Smith Bidamon, August 7,
1851, Huntington Library.

⁶⁴Memoirs, p. 45.

⁶⁵George A. Smith to Joseph Smith III, March 13, 1849, RLDS Archives.

⁶⁶Almon W. Babbitt wrote to Brigham Young that Emma had joined the
Methodist Church on trial, Journal History, January 31, 1848. But John M.
Bernhisel later wrote Brigham Young that she had not joined the Methodist
Church, Journal History, September 10, 1849. Possibly she had been taken into a
class on trial but never took the next step of formally uniting with the church, or
perhaps Babbitt had mistaken her attendance at services for a more formal
commitment.

It would not have been unusual for Emma to have been attending Methodist
services, prayer meetings, or class meetings. She had been raised in a Methodist
family. At this time, the Methodist Episcopal Church was the only religious
organization actively at work in Nauvoo. Missionary G. G. Worthington had
organized two classes of about fifty members during 1846. See his report,
"History of Nauvoo Mission, 1846," Minutes of the Central Illinois Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church Held at Moline, Illinois, Sept. 16 to Sept. 21,
1925, ed. by George Davies (Galesburg, Illinois: Wagoner Printing Co., 1925), pp.
286-289, reprinted from the Western Christian Advocate, January 29, 1847.

⁶⁷E. C. Briggs, "A Visit to Nauvoo in 1856," Journal of History 9 (October
1916):453. The three youngest children remained unbaptized, and one, Frederick,
died without having been baptized in 1862.

⁶⁸Jonathan C. Wright to Brigham Young, February II, 1848, Journal
History.

⁶⁹John M. Bernhisel to Brigham Young, September 10, 1849, Journal
History.

⁷⁰Hannah Tapfield King, Journal, May 20, 1853, LDS Archives.

⁷¹ "Sermon by Pres. Joseph Smith, of Lamoni, Iowa, at the Saints' Chapel,
Lamoni, December 17th, 1882," SH 30 (February 10, 1883):88-95.

⁷²R. Laurence Moore, In Search of White Crows; Spiritualism,
Parapsychology, and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press,
1977), pp. 3-19; quotation from p. 4.

⁷³Slater Brown, The Heyday of Spiritualism (New York: Hawthorn Books
Inc. Publishers, 1970), p. 151.

⁷⁴This and the following two paragraphs based on Memoirs, p. 14; and
Joseph Smith III to James T. Cobb, August 21, 1879, LB #2, p. 323.

⁷⁵0n Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910), see Robert W. Delp, "Andrew
Jackson Davis: Prophet of American Spiritualism," Journal of American History
54 (June 1967):43-56.

⁷⁶Moore, In Search of White Crows, pp. 17, 27-28.

⁷⁷Memoirs, pp. 14, 63-64, and 163; Tullidge, pp. 761-762. The date of this
incident is not given in Joseph Smith Ill's Memoirs but can be established from
data given there, p. 14. Here Joseph says that he wrote to Oliver B. Huntington
at Watertown, New York, but that Oliver had left some months earlier for Utah.
Eventually Joseph's letter caught up with Oliver on the way to Utah, and Oliver
sent a reply from Fort Laramie, Wyoming, stating that he was alive and well. The
Deseret News of September 5, 1852 lists O. B. Huntington and his family as
reaching Utah that summer with the 20th Company of emigrants. A similar entry
is found in Journal History, Supp. 1852, p. 128. This would place Joseph Smith Ill's
final disillusionment with Spiritualism during the summer of 1852. It should be
noted that Roger Launius, "Joseph Smith's Encounter with Spiritualism,"
Restoration Trail Forum 9 (November 1983):3, 8, cannot be relied upon concerning
this and several other points of historical detail.

⁷⁸ Joseph Smith III to Emma Knight, December 4, 1855, RLDS Archives
(photocopy of original).

In Journal History, entry for November 25, 1855, there is an account of
LDS Elder Enoch B. Tripp's visit to Nauvoo, while returning from a mission. Tripp
recorded that he found Emma very bitter against Brigham Young and that her
children had partaken the same spirit. "Joseph, her oldest son, is a very strong
spiritual medium and claims that he through writing (by placing his hands with a
pencil on paper) can converse with his father. I informed him that God, angels
and the servants of God never have, and never will, converse with the children of
men in that way, but that that was the way the powers from beneath
communicated with men." Tripp reportedly told Joseph Smith III to turn from
such satanic deceit and to walk in the path laid out by his father.

For Tripp's account to be credible, one must ignore the fact that Joseph
Smith III was in Canton at the time of the purported interview, ignore his anti-
Spiritualistic advice to Emma Knight, and discount his disillusionment with
Spiritualism after corresponding with Oliver B. Huntington in 1852. These three
anachronistic features of Tripp's composition seem to mark it as a retrospective
account of a later decade after Brigham Young denounced Joseph Smith III as a
Spiritualist.

⁷⁹Tullidge, p. 755; Memoirs, pp. 47-50.

⁸⁰Memoirs, p. 50.

⁸¹Th. Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an Outline
History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman &
Co., 1880), pp. 982-985; Charles J. Scofield, ed., History of Hancock County
(Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company Publishers,1921), p. 865; Robert M.
Cochran, et al., eds., History of Hancock County, Illinois, Illinois Sesquicentennial
ed. (Carthage, Illinois: Board of Supervisors of Hancock County, 1968), p. 101.

⁸²Tullidge, p. 755. Cf. Memoirs, p. 302.