Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Lee C. LaFayette's Recollection of Joseph Smith as a Dutiful Husband to Emma



Although Joseph was a man of his times, he nevertheless could be found at home doing things that surprised other men—no doubt Emma appreciated these efforts, especially in light of the number of visitors who came to the home for dinner or overnight accommodations, sometimes lasting days and weeks.

One annoyed man reported that Joseph built kitchen fires, carried out ashes from the fireplace, carried in wood and water for home use, and assisted in taking care of the children—duties often relegated to women. “Some of the home habits of the Prophet . . . were not in accord with my idea of a great man’s self-respect,” Jesse W. Crosby noted.

Finally, Crosby, full of self-assurance, confronted Joseph, hoping to give him some advice on how to manage his home. “Brother Joseph, my wife does much more hard work than does your wife.” The Prophet mildly reproved him by saying that a man who did not love and cherish his wife “and do his duty by her, in properly taking care of her,” in this life would not be with her in the next. Thereafter, Crosby noted, “I tried to do better by the good wife I had and tried to lighten her labors” (See Lee C. LaFayette, “Recollections of Joseph Smith,” LDS Church Archives; a published version is Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, comps., They Knew the Prophet [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974], 145) (Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Jeni Broberg Holzapfel, Women of Nauvoo [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992], 28)