Wednesday, June 19, 2013

“We Sent a Passel of Squaws”



Brigham Young

I’ve mentioned from time to time Brigham Young’s straightforwardness. I imagine there are some that appreciate to know where they stand at all times and so value an individual’s honesty in their assessment of us. Others, I’m sure, could do with a little less honesty. In this case, I’m sure the people involved would have done with a little less candor.

 What was Brigham Young referring to when he stated he “sent a passel of squaws.”


a.      The first failed Arizona mission of 1872

b.      The eventual failure of San Bernardino, California

c.       The failure of the men at stopping Johnson’s army from entering the valley

d.      The failure of the White Mountain Expedition

  

Yesterday’s answer:


(C)   That she would be given the gift of healing


“Thou shalt lay thy hands on them and they shall recover.” Joseph Smith Sr., Patriarchal Blessing to Eda Rogers, 1837, transcript on website, http://timeforitnow.knotsindeed.com/genealogy/NoahRogersEdaHollister.htmal

 Additional interesting information:

 Mary Isabella Horne wrote about her daughter’s healing: “[she] was taken very ill, and her life despaired of, in fact it seemed impossible for her to get better. The mother of the Prophet, Mrs. Lucy Smith, came and blessed the child, and said she should live. This was something new in that age, for a woman to administer to the sick.”

Anonymous, “A Representative Woman: Mary Isabella Horne,” Woman’s Exponent 11 (June 15, 1882), 9.

 After settling in Illinois, Mormon women formed the Nauvoo Female Relief Society in March 17, 1842, as an organization to help the needy and strengthen each other. Women sometimes administered to the sick in formal settings as a part of their regular Relief Society meetings. This practice apparently caused some controversy; however, Joseph rebuked the detractors on April 28, 1842, “according to revelation,” which he newly preached that day. He stated that it was proper for women to administer to the sick by the laying on of hands and that “healing the sick . . . should follow all that believe, whether male or female.”

Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism, Jonathan A . Stapley and Kristine Wright, Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 37, No. 1, Winter 2011, 7.

 Brigham Young stated the following at a Nauvoo General Conference in 1844: I want a Wife that can take care of my chi[ldre]n when I am away—who can pray—lay on hands anoint with oil and baffle the enemy.”

Thomas Bullock account of Brigham Young sermon, Special Elders Meeting, April 9, 1844, in Church Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 1839-1877, Selected Collections, 1:18.

Willard Richards called and set apart women “to act as midwives and also administering to the sick and afflicted and set them apart for this very office and calling, and blest them with power to officiate in that capacity as handmaids of the Lord.”

Anonymous, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball, Continued,” Woman’s Exponent 12 (October 15, 1883), 75.

Brigham Young asked in 1869: “Why do you not live so as to rebuke disease? It is your privilege to do so without sending for the Elders. . . . It is the privilege of a mother to have faith and to administer to her child; this she can do herself, as well as sending for the Elders to have the benefit of their faith.”

Brigham Young, Sermon, November 14, 1869, Journal of Discourses, 13:155.

John Taylor taught in the fall of 1880: “It is the privilege of all faithful women and lay members of the Church, who believe in Christ, to administer to all the sick or afflicted in their respective families, either by the laying on of hands, or by the anointing with oil in the name of the Lord: but they should administer in these sacred ordinances, not by virtue and authority of the priesthood, but by virtue of their faith in Christ, and the promises made to believers: and thus they should do in all their ministrations.”

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Circular Letter, October 6, 1880, microfilm of holograph, CR 2 30.

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