Get to Know Joseph Smith Part 2: Questions for God
The life of a farmer is a difficult one. A family’s survival depends on a good harvest, and for Joseph Smith Sr., the harvest didn’t always come. After three consecutive years of disappointing crop failures while living in Norwich, Vermont, Joseph Sr. decided it was time to pick up his struggling roots and move. He chose Palmyra, New York, a distance of 250-300 miles away. To make matters even more challenging, they made the journey in the middle of winter.
Joseph Sr. traveled ahead while Lucy came later, bringing the kids. She enlisted a teamster by the name of Caleb Howard. Mr. Howard, described as “an unprincipled and unfeeling wretch,” proved to be yet another trial. He would at times force youth Joseph Smith to travel at times on foot, despite his lameness from leg surgery.
Lucy and her family endured Mr. Howard’s abuse of their goods, money, and person until one morning, as they prepared to continue their journey, Alvin reported to his mother, “Mr. Howard has thrown the goods out of the wagon, and is about starting off with the team.”
Lucy confronted Caleb Howard in a barroom, demanding an explanation for his actions. He told her that the money he had been paid was all gone and that he would no longer be taking them any farther.
Lucy records:
“I then turned to those present and said, ‘Gentlemen and ladies, please give your attention for a moment. Now, as sure as there is a God in heaven, that team, as well as the goods, belong to my husband, and this man intends to take them from me, or at least the team, leaving me with eight children, without the means of proceeding on my journey.’ Then turning to Mr. Howard, I said, ‘Sir, I now forbid you touching the team, or driving it one step further. you can go about your own business; I have nor use for you. I shall take charge of the team myself, and hereafter attend to my own affairs’ I accordingly did so, and proceeding on our journey, we in a short time arrived in Palmyra, with a small portion of our affects, and barely two cents in cash” (History of Joseph Smith by His Mother).
Palmyra, New York, and Religious Excitement
Palmyra still presented many challenges. The family united in their efforts to earn a living. Lucy used her talent for painting and started a business painting oil-cloth coverings for tables, stands, and other furniture. Joseph Sr. and the two eldest sons, Alvin and Hyrum, worked on building a log home and clearing land for planting crops. Alvin also went from house to house seeking work to help pay for the farm.
During this time, there was a surge of religious revivals. These revivals sometimes led to unity when a new convert joined the Christian faith, but more often they sparked contention, rivalry, and jealousy between the different sects. Fierce debates were common.
Joseph Smith’s family was caught up in the religious fervor. Joseph’s mother, along with his brothers Hyrum and Samuel and his sister Sophronia, became members of the Presbyterian church. Joseph Sr., however, remained unmoved. Meanwhile, young Joseph Jr. found himself drawn towards the Methodists.
Time For Joseph Smith Jr. to Make a Choice About Which Religion to Join
But which church should he join? Joseph reasoned that if God had a true church, it would not be divided into competing sects, each teaching different doctrines.
I think it’s important to include Joseph’s own words at this point. He writes:
“In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself, what is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads:
‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.’
“Never did any passage of Scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great forcer into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, know that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passage of Scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to the conclusion that I must remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to ‘ask of God’ concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture (History of the Church, 1:3-4. Also recorded in Joseph Smith- History 1.)
Joseph determined to ask God…
We’ll continue the story in the next installment of Get to Know Joseph Smith Part 3: Joseph Asks and God Answers
Image Credit: Smith family cabin -Dallas Golden, Joseph Smith reading – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
