“I Was an Active Participant”: Emma Hale Smith and the Scriptures
Digital Only: Early Women of the Restoration
By Jennifer Reeder
Church History Department
Emma Hale Smith played an essential role in helping her husband bring forth the Book of Mormon and other scriptures.
Growing up along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, USA, young Emma Hale learned to navigate river waters and ride horses from her older brothers.1 Her mother, a Methodist, taught her from the Bible. According to family tradition, as a young girl Emma went to the nearby woods to pray out loud as she had been instructed in Sunday School. She called upon God to touch the heart of her father, who was not a believer. He happened to hear her words and experienced his own conversion.2
Emma’s childhood faith and religious education contributed to her partnership with her husband, Joseph Smith, in the Restoration and the translation of the Book of Mormon. She helped him retrieve and protect the plates, assisted in the transcription of translated scripture, and expounded scriptural teachings. Emma played a valuable role in the Restoration.
Emma met Joseph when he came to her town for work in The t
Emma Hale Smith
10 July –30 Apr. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland). Married first to Joseph Smith by Zechariah Tarble, 18 Jan. , at South Bainbridge (later Afton), Chenango Co., New York. Assisted Joseph Smith as scribe during translation of Book of Mormon at Harmony, , and joined him during completion of translation at Peter Whitmer Sr. farm, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York, summer Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Oliver Cowdery, 28 June , at Colesville, Broome Co., New York. Migrated from New York to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, Jan.–Feb. Lived at John Johnson home at Hiram, Portage Co., Ohio, – Edited A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints, published , at Kirtland. Stockholder in Kirtland Safety Society. Fled Ohio for Far West, Caldwell Co., Missouri, Jan.–Mar. Exiled from Missouri, Feb. ; located near Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois. Moved to Commerce (later Nauvoo), Hancock Co., Illinois, 10 May Appointed president of Female
Emma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith, Wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., and First President of the Relief Society
Emma Hale Smith was the wife of Joseph Smith Jr., the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Emma was born on 10 July , the seventh of nine children, and grew up in Harmony, Pennsylvania. She was well-educated and even had an extra year of school outside of the normal grammar school.
Emma met Joseph Smith for the first time in Joseph was smitten with her, which wasn’t surprising since she had grown up to be a tall, attractive woman with a dark complexion, brown eyes, and black hair. She possessed a singular regal beauty of form and of character. Joseph boarded with Emma’s family for two years and twice asked her father for permission to marry her, but was refused.
Finally on 18 January , Emma and Joseph were married without her father’s permission. After their marriage, the Hale family told them that they were always welcome in their home. On 15 June , Emma gave birth to their first child; unfortunately, the little boy only lived a few hours. Emma nearly died from complications, and Joseph spent two weeks by her side while she
Emma Hale Smith
Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith, played a prominent role in the restoration of the Church. Her mother-in-law, Lucy Mack Smith, praised Emma’s character: “I have never seen a woman in my life, who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which she has always done. She has been tossed upon the ocean of uncertainty; She has breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which have borne down almost any other woman.”1
Born on July 10, , in Willingsborough (later Harmony), Pennsylvania, Emma Hale was the seventh of nine children of Isaac and Elizabeth Lewis Hale. The wealthy family lived on a acre farm in the Susquehanna River Valley, where Isaac shipped meat and other merchandise downriver to Philadelphia and Baltimore.
As a child, Emma developed a deep sense of religious conviction and devotion to God. Methodism became popular in the Susquehanna region in the early s, and Emma began attending with her mother at the age of seven. A family tradition suggests that Isaac Hale overheard his young daughter Emma praying for him
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