FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Question: Did Joseph and others with him remove their garments in order to avoid being identified as polygamists?"
(→Was the wearing of garments connected with the practice of polygamy?: mod) |
(→What were the reasons for removing their garments?: expand) |
||
| Line 29: | Line 29: | ||
Elder Kimball...[s]poke of Elder Richards being protected at Carthage Jail--having on the robe, while Joseph & Hyrum were shot to pieces... | Elder Kimball...[s]poke of Elder Richards being protected at Carthage Jail--having on the robe, while Joseph & Hyrum were shot to pieces... | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <!-- | ||
| + | |||
| + | Here is Oliver Huntington entry for 22 April 1897: http://www.lauricellas.com/clint/obhuntnt2.htm | ||
| + | |||
| + | Thursday, April 22, 1897: My niece Zina Card and sister Lucy B. Young came on their return from Goshen and the other settlements in this county south of here and stayed all night with us. | ||
| + | |||
| + | They were out by appointment from the Presidency of the Church in the interests of the young womans Journal. | ||
| + | |||
| + | We had an excellent time while they were here talking over old times, the sayings of Joseph and Hyrum of Brigham and others. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Among other things both new and old was repeated the fact that the Prophet Joseph pulled off his garments just before starting to Carthage to be slain and he advised Hyrum and John Taylor to do the same, which they did; and Brother Taylor told Brother Willard Richards what they had done and advised him to take off his also, but Brother Richards said that he would not take his off, and did not; and he was not harmed. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Joseph said before taking his garments off, that he was going to be killed. . . "was going as a lamb to the slaughter" and he did not want his garments to be exposed to the sneers and jeers of his enemies. | ||
| + | |||
| + | These facts all came from President John Taylor's lips after he was President of the Church. Elder John Morgan had told them to me as stated to him by Brother Taylor. Sister Lucy B. Young said that Brother John Taylor told her in answer to direct questions, the same all except with regard to Willard Richards. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ---- | ||
| + | |||
| + | Heber C. Kimball's diary for 21 Dec. 1845 kept by William Clayton as cited in The Nauvoo Endowment Companies p. 117 | ||
| + | |||
| + | [Elder Kimball] Spoke of Elder Richards being protected at Carthage Jail -- having on the robe, while Joseph & Hyrum, and Elder Taylor were shot to pieces | ||
| + | |||
| + | .... | ||
| + | |||
| + | Elder John Taylor confirmed the saying that Joseph and Hyrum & himself were without their robes in the jail at Carthage. While Doct Richards had his on, but corrected the idea that some had, that they had taken | ||
| + | them off through fear. W. W. Phelps said Joseph told him one day about that time, that he had laid aside his garment on account of the hot weather | ||
| + | --> | ||
===Was the wearing of garments connected with the practice of polygamy?=== | ===Was the wearing of garments connected with the practice of polygamy?=== | ||
Revision as of 14:10, 28 October 2009
| Answers portal |
| Joseph Smith, Jr. |
|
 RESOURCES
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
 PERSPECTIVES
|
 MEDIA
|
| OTHER PORTALS
|
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
Contents
Did Joseph and others with him remove their garments in order to avoid being identified as polygamists?
Criticism
- Critics claim that prior to leaving for Carthage, that Joseph Smith removed his garments, and advised others to remove theirs, in order to avoid identification as polygamists.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]
Response
Did Joseph and others remove their temple garments prior to leaving for Carthage?
Of the four men who were in Carthage Jail at the time that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed, three of them had removed their garments. Only Willard Richards was wearing his garments at the time of the martyrdom.
What were the reasons for removing their garments?
The commonly believed reason for the removal of the garments was to keep them from falling into the hands of their enemies. Heber C. Kimball reported in his journal that Joseph instructed those of the Quorum who were going to accompany him to Carthage to remove their temple garments prior to leaving. [1] Sarah G. Richards noted the following in a letter to Zina Huntington,
"[T]he order came that in every habitation where any of the endowment clothes were found, [it] would [mean] death to the inmates -- Olive Frost...came to tear to pieces the garments &c of...Doctor Levi....Miss [Rhoda] Richards separated the parts and placed them among the articles of linen." [2]
Later, however, John Taylor responded to this by declaring that garments were sometimes removed because of the hot weather.
Elder John Taylor confirmed the saying that Joseph and Hyrum and himiself were without their robes in the jail at Carthage, while Doctor Richards had his on, but corrected the idea that some had, that they had taken them off through fear. W. W. Phelps said Joseph told him one day about that time, that he had laid aside his garment on account of the hot weather. [3]
The fact that Willard Richards was the only one who escaped the martyrdom unscathed led to the belief that he had been protected because he was the only one of the four wearing his garments at the time.
Elder Kimball...[s]poke of Elder Richards being protected at Carthage Jail--having on the robe, while Joseph & Hyrum were shot to pieces...
Was the wearing of garments connected with the practice of polygamy?
Did Joseph and the others remove their sacred garments in order to avoid being identified as polygamists? There is no documentation that ties the wearing of garments to the practice of polygamy. It was not required that one practice polygamy in order to receive the endowment. In the case of Joseph Smith, he was easily identifiable whether or not he was wearing his garments. Removal of his garments would certainly have made no difference in his being identified and taken to Carthage.
Were garments used as a means to identify people as "Mormons?"
In the autobiography of B.H. Roberts, he relates the story of how "Elder Robinson" removed his garments while in hostile territory in order to avoid being identified as a Mormon. [needs work]
Conclusion
Endnotes
- [note] Heber C. Kimball, Journal, 21 December 1845, and Oliver B. Huntington, Journal, 22 April 1897.
- [note] Sarah G. Richards to Zina Huntington, 20 September 1890, Church Archives.
- [note] George D. Smith (ed), An Intimate Chronicle The Journals of William Clayton, 222-24.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
- FairMormon Topical Guide: Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith FairMormon link
- Lance Starr, "Was Joseph Smith a Martyr or a Murderer?," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, May 2003) PDF link
External links
- Joseph I. Bentley, "Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 2:860–862. FAIR link
- Reed Blake, "Martyrdom at Carthage," Ensign (June 1994): 30.off-site
- Stephen R. Gibson, "Was Joseph Smith Really a Martyr?," in One-Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Questions (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 2005) ISBN 0882907840. off-site
- W. John Walsh, "Was Joseph Smith a Martyr?" off-site
Printed material
- Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill, Carthage Conspiracy, the Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1979), 1. ISBN 025200762X. (Key source)