Lucy Mack Smith - Martyrdom of Hyrum and Joseph

Martyrdom of Hyrum and Joseph

Ironically, it was Joseph Jr.'s experiments with expanded family models through plural marriage that sent rifts shivering through that foundation. Even as Lucy bravely held on to her vision of the family as instruments in the hands of God, her prophet and patriarch sons were killed on June 27, 1844 in Carthage, Illinois. When Lucy saw the bodies of her martyred sons, she cried "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family?" (chap. 54).

For Lucy as a republican mother, her family had been the instrument in the hands of God in restoring Jesus Christ's true gospel to the earth in the latter days. The Second Great Awakening had seen an emphasis on restoring the primitive church of Christ; and Lucy, it appears, truly thought that her family was performing that service. Republican motherhood had bestowed on women the responsibility of teaching Jesus' pure gospel to their children and of leading their husbands back to the fold. Lucy had been successful in meeting that challenge. Joseph Smith, Jr., had become the prophet and president of Christ's church and Hyrum had been the patriarch and associate president. Lucy's whole family, including her late husband as the first patriarch, had been faithful in sustaining the church through times of persecution and great hardship. They had also served as missionaries. Lucy herself had received revelations from the Lord and had played an important role in the entire process. Lucy recalls, "I was left desolate in my distress. I had reared six sons to manhood, and of them all, one only remained, and he too far distant to speak one consoling word to me in this trying hour" (chap. 54). William, the surviving son, was on a mission in New York.