Lucy Mack Smith's biography of Joseph Smith

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Criticism

• Did Brigham Young attempt to suppress and destroy all copies of Lucy Mack Smith's Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith because it contained information which would embarrass the Church?
• Critics claim that Brigham Young inserted the reference to Joseph Smith's First Vision into Lucy's book.

Response

Lavina Fielding Anderson:

The project, which began in the winter of 1844-45, ended almost exactly a year later with the creation of two finished manuscripts (in addition to the rough draft). One of the finished manuscripts stayed in Nauvoo with Lucy and eventually came into possession of Orson Pratt, an LDS apostle, who took it with him to England and published it in 1853. It generated considerable controversy; and Brigham Young, twelve years after the fact, ordered the Saints to deliver up their copies to be destroyed. A “corrected” edition was published, but not until 1901-03, first serially by the Improvement Era and then as a compilation. This project was authorized by Young’s third successor, Lorenzo Snow, and implemented by his fourth, who also happened to be Lucy’s grandson, Joseph F. Smith. Meanwhile, the second finished copy had gone to Utah where it now reposes in the Historian’s Office. ^[1]

Dan Vogel:

Once published, Smith's Biographical Sketches was suppressed by Brigham Young, who condemned it as inaccurate, ordered its destruction, and instructed church historians to begin working on a corrected version. Young's concern centered on Smith's favorable portrayal of her son William, whom Young disliked (see Bushman 1984, 194, n. 4; Shipps 1985, 91-107). Pratt issued a statement in 1855 claiming that he believed Lucy's manuscript 'was written under the inspection of the Prophet [Joseph Smith]; but from evidences since received, it is believed that the greater part of the manuscripts did not pass under his review, as there are items which are ascertained to be incorrect' (Deseret News 5 [21 March 1855]: 16) ^[2]

(from Ted) Brigham began to complain about its errors almost as soon as it was published, 1855 to be exact. He assigned George A. Smith and Elias Smith to begin working on corrections in 1856; Elias was still working on them in 1866. It was published by President Joseph F. Smith in 1902, based on the corrections by GAS and Elias Smith. I don't know what the changes were that were made. Nor do I know the relationship of the 1954 edition mentioned in the letter to the original or to the 1902 version (Preston Nibley edited a version; not sure if it is the one mentioned or not). Orson Pratt himself pointed out that he had erred in suggesting the manuscript had been completed prior to the death of Joseph Smith. I suspect Lucy's Book by Lavina Anderson might indicate what changes were made. Howard Searle also deals with it. So does Dan Vogel in one of the EMD volumes, in parallel columns.

(from Kevin Barney) The short answer is that Brigham's response was odd, both for being out of all proportion to the actual errors that existed and for coming principally more than a decade later. Lavina opines that his reaction had much more to do with the rift between Pratt and Young than with the book itself, which stirkes me as the most likely explanation.

Anderson notes that "the main differences between Lucy’s 1844-45 rough draft and Pratt’s 1853 publication are omissions and additions...About 10 percent of Lucy’s original material was omitted, much of it personal family references and Lucy’s original preface." ^[3] The revisions were apparently made to transform Lucy's history from a personal family history and center if more on Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Church. There were several main changes between Lucy's rough draft and the version published by Orson Pratt.

1. Lucy's preface, in which she introduces herself, was omitted.
2. The story of Lucy's father, Solomon Mack was omitted.
3. The story of Lucy's illness in 1802-1803 was revised.
4. Lucy’s reference to folk magic was omitted in Orson Pratt's version. Lucy originally stated "… Let not my reader suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a season that we stopt our labor and went <at> trying to win the faculty of Abrac drawing Magic circles or sooth saying to the neglect of all kinds of buisness."

Did Brigham Young insert the reference to Joseph's First Vision into Lucy's book?

The irony of this claim is that the usual critical argument is that Brigham never mentioned the First Vision...yet critics want to claim that he inserted this reference into Lucy's history? You can't have it both ways.

Joseph initially treated the First Vision as private experience with respect to his family. His only response to his mother at the time is recounted in his 1838 history:

When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, bmother inquired what the matter was. I replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.” (Joseph Smith-History 1:20)

Joseph's immediate family's first intimation of what was happening with Joseph was the first visit of Moroni.

The first vision account was in the 1853 publication by Orson Pratt. I believe that it was in the original manuscript version of 1845 that was not published; Pratt's version was based on a later version by Martha Coray.

Ifs Brigham Young had included it, it would have ruined the critics' argument that Brigham Young never mentioned the first vision. Brigham Young had nothing to do with the puboication of Lucy's book. Orson Pratt did. And Brigham didn't like it. Remember? we discussed this fact recently, based on some else's accusation.

Howard Searle's dissertation says that the first vision was included in the original manuscript, copied directly from Joseph's own account. But it was not present in the version Orson had, and he included it anyway, because he knew it belonged there. [Note: Vogel, I. 288 note: this is not in the original manuscript; added by Orson Pratt when published;

but see Searle, 371f., 391: “A comparison of the 1853 edition and the Church’s copy of the revised manuscript shows that the publication is quite a faithful rendering of the content of that document”;

Orson Pratt picked up a copy of Lucy's manuscript on his way to England. He published it there in 1853, with the first vision account in it (maybe added by Partt, but not by Brigham). In 1855, Brigham Young began objecting to some of the material in the book. In 1865 he officially censored it. He then appointed George A. Smith, and Elias Smith, to go through the book, making corrections and revisions. This is the work that was published in 1904 by Joseph F. Smith. I don't think Brigham Young had anything at all to do with the inclusion (or otherwise) of the first vision account.

I suspect your friend is trying to tell you that Lucy did not include the first vision, thereby proving that she did not know about it. I think this question is related to the earlier one he asked you, about none of Joseph's brothers or sisters mentioning the first vision (other than William Smith, late).

He is trying to prove that the silence of his mother and siblings prove that it did not take place, and is a later fabrication by Joseph, and not well known to the early members of the church. The wikipedia article on the first vision, as of a month or so back, stated that almost none of the first generation of members knew of it or spoke of it, and only in the second generation did it become well known. That's absurd.

We know that Lucy was working on her manuscript in 1844-5 period. Here are a couple references to her, and another one from the diary of Wandell Mace.

1845LucyMack Smith, to William Smith, January 23, 1845: “People are often enquiring of me the particulars of Joseph’s getting the plates, seeing the angels at first and many other things which Joseph never wrote or published. I have told over many things pertaining to these matters to different persons to gratify their curiosity indeed have almost destroyed my lungs giving these recitals to those who felt anxious to hear them. I have now concluded to write down every particular as far as possible and if those who wish to read them will help me a little they can have it all in one piece to read at their leisure”, in Lucy’s Book. A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir. Edited by Lavina Fielding Anderson (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books 2001): 88. [NOTE: see below, November “Extract from letters”, Jemima Hough]

1845Extractsfrom Letters, Millennial Star 6. 10 (November 1, 1845): 153. Sister Jemima Hough, June 5, 1845, says… “Mother Smith spends much of her time in relating to visitors an account of the rise and progress of the church, which is highly interesting.”

1845 General Conference, October 8, 1845,Times and Seasons 6. 16 (November 1, 1845): 1013-4. [also in DHC 7. 470-72; Searle, 378] “Mother Lucy Smith, the aged and honored parent of Joseph Smith, having expressed a wish to say a few words to the congregation, she was invited upon the stand. She spoke at considerable length and in an audible manner, so as to be heard by a large portion of the vast assembly…. She gave notice that she had written her history, and wished it printed before we leave this place….”

1845 Wandle Mace Autobiography, typescript, BYU Special Collections, 45-6 [File Diary Wandle Mace] [dictated to his wife, ends with departure from Nauvoo, 1846] [Born Feb. 19, 1809] Almost as soon as the father [Joseph Smith, Sr.] and mother [Lucy Smith] of the Prophet Joseph Smith set their feet upon the hospitable shore of Illinois, I became acquainted with them. I frequently visited them and listened with intense interest as they related the history of the rise of the Church in every detail. With tears they could not withhold, they narrated the story of the persecution of their boy, Joseph, which commenced when he was about fourteen years old, or from the time the angel first visited him. Not only was the boy, Joseph, persecuted but the aged father was harassed and imprisoned on false charges until finally driven from Missouri in the depth of winter he contracted disease from exposure, from which he never recovered. In these conversations, mother [Lucy] Smith, as she was familiarly called, related much of their family history. She told how their family would all be seated around the room whilethey all listened to Joseph with the greatest interestas he taught them the pure principles of the gospel as revealed to him by the angels, and of his glorious vision of the Father and the Son, when the father said to him as he pointed to his companion, "This is my beloved Son, hear Him."

Then there are the critics who claim that Brigham said that only an angel appeared during the First Vision, which also contradicts the account given in Lucy's book. Note that the same critics also claim that Brigham Young taught only that an angel came: a strange claim to make while insisting that Brigham never spoke of the First Vision at all.

Endnotes

1. [note] Lavina Fielding Anderson (ed.), Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir on Signature Books website.
2. [note] Dan Vogel, "Lucy Smith history, 1845," (editorial note), Early Mormon Documents 1:227.

Further reading

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide:

Printed material

• Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984)
• Jan Shipps, "Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985)