When Mary Sophia Reed made the Salt Lake Valley her new home
with her mother and siblings, the quantity of food was a constant worry. Due to
the lack of food at the table, what did Mary do to stretch out the time it took
her to eat?
a.
Read the Book of Mormon as she ate
b.
Ate using a pin
c.
Engaged in lively gospel discussions as she ate
d.
Ate using baby utensils
Yesterday’s answer:
C. Recorded more of the
Prophet’s sermons than any other woman.
From the life of Martha Jane Knowlton
Coray: At the age of twelve, Martha applied for admission by
baptism into the Campbellite Church.
The Knowlton family was living in Hancock County, Illinois, in
1838 when the Mormons were driven out of Missouri. Martha’s father, Sidney
Algernon Knowlton, being a kind and hospitable man, gave employment to quite a
number of Saints. He also provided housing for several families.
She began to attend church with the Mormons whom they were
helping. After hearing a particularly moving sermon by George A. Smith, she
asked to become a member.
In January, 1840, in a hole cut in the ice, she was baptized as a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after her
baptism, she met Joseph Smith. She was so impressed by this man of God, that
she wrote in “Common Hand” every discourse that she heard him preach and
carefully preserved them. Brother Smith said that she had taken more pains to
preserve the sayings of the great Prophet, and accomplished more in that
direction than any other woman in the Church.
Joseph Smith acted as a match-maker, and suggested that Martha
should consider his young scribe, Howard Coray, for a companion. After a brief
courtship and the exchange of a few letters, they were married on February 6,
1841, at her father’s house in Bear Creek, Hancock, Illinois. They were sealed
in the Nauvoo Temple, January 21, 1846.
Upon their marriage, Martha became a teacher at the school her
husband had established in a rented building in Nauvoo. By 1844, they had 150
students.
During this time, Lucy Mack Smith, asked Martha to write the
history of her son, Joseph, from dictation. This she did, and after a while,
Howard assisted. By the end of 1845, the work was completed. Martha kept the
original manuscript until she gave it to Brigham Young in 1851, in Salt Lake
City, now with the Church Historian.
In May, 1846, the Coray’s left Nauvoo with the main body of
Saints. They went near the Missouri river, spent until 1847 raising stock and
food.
In 1848, they moved to the Nishanabotany River, Mississippi. They
bought a wagon and moved to Kanesville in 1849 to grow corn. In August, they
sold out to Orson Hyde, moved to the Platte river at Fort Kearny, Nebraska and
left in 1850 for Salt Lake City.
They moved to Provo, established school and taught for many years.
Martha’s enthusiasm for serious education was widely acknowledged; she
influenced the Prophet Brigham Young to initiate medical and midwifery training
for Utah women.
Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, Daughters of Utah Pioneers: (International Society Daughters of
Utah Pioneers: 1998), 1: 674.
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