The competing congregations produced tension. The Hales were among a small number of prominent families in the valley who established a standard of ethical behavior for the community. . During the short time of his employ, Joseph and other workers boarded at the homestead of Isaac and Elizabeth Hale of Harmony. Frisbie,History of Middletown,58. See Dubois and Pike,Centennial of Susquehanna County, 72. Winter approached, and one long-time resident, fifty-five-year-oldJosiah Stowell had a wagon full of men from the vicinity of Palmyra, New York, he was bringing to work in Harmony Township before they could no longer dig the frozen ground. But Lucy, who was not there at the time, may have misunderstood Josephs recounting the events, since Isaac Hale suggested that it was Afterthese occurrences, [when the treasure diggers abandoned the project and left, that] young Smith made several visits at my house to court his daughter. Anne SMITH daughter of Thomas Smith died 11 February 1880 aged 33 years 140b. . 276. He was taxed that year as a single man, while he courted thirteen-year-old Mary (Polly) McKune who lived next door.250 In preparation for marriage, Jesse began building his own house on the southeastern edge of his fathers farm between his parents home and that of the McKunes (on what became the Joseph and Emma Smith property). Stewart because of similarities in their work. . 297. Versaggi, personal communication to author, September 13, 2013. 190. He recalled, the corn was good, but late, and the frost killed it. Vogel, Joseph Lewis Rejoinder, 11 June 1879,Early Mormon Documents,4:311. Smith, by the aid of his magic stone, ascertained that many years before a band of robbers had buried a box of treasure in certain flat lands on the deacons farm. Joe Smiths Youthful Days. 1, p. 212, microfilm 1,287,076, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. I learned from her many facts relative to her husband, Joseph, August 1, 1875. Emma first met Joseph Smith Jr. in 1825, while he boarded with her family. He married Elizabeth Lewis. Many had already left for education, or to follow spouses who preferred to live elsewhere. 278. Larison,Sylvia Dubois, 57. : Harvard University Press, 1986), 168, 173, 22932. Over the years, many RLDS Church historians have continued to state that the practice had originated with Brigham Young.[28]. The slave Sylvia Dubois, who worked in the tavern at the other end of the Susquehanna Valley in what became Great Bend Township, often served great numbers of hunters and drovers who came to the tavern from 18031806. But although the term summer kitchen is anachronistic in this context, it is so widely known and helps to describe the purpose of the work kitchens that Ive retained it here to refer to the extra kitchen that was part of the Hale home. But in her sons eyes she managed to die a good Christian death as was expected at the time. In their biography Mormon Enigma, Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery report that Emma witnessed several marriages of Joseph Smith to plural wives. Most of Isaacs sons were boatmen on the river during their younger days, and these men typically traveled in groups of three to six through the German settlements of southern Pennsylvania.123, While the valley soon produced carpenters, weavers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen, Isaac Hale spent the majority of his time pursuing the other major profession available to the settlershunting and fishing. Paragraphs are shortened for easier reading. The valley was essentially a hunting preserve, but there was a small settlement on the east end near where three apple trees stood that formed the rallying point and headquarters of all the Indians in the neighborhood. : Warren F. Draper, 1883), 63, 344; F.A. Isaac A. Chapman,A Sketch of the History of Wyoming(Wilkesbarre, Penn. Photograph by Mark L. Staker. He did not have time to put his boots on before leaving his home. Photograph by Mark L. Staker, Onondaga pottery, found on Hale Farm, Collection of the LDS Church History. When a mine was accidentally discovered in 1985 in the same hills where Stiles thought it was located, theNew York Timesdescribed it as one of the richest concentrations of gold in North America.60 What was thought to be idle gossip gathered by Stiles apparently was based on accurate information corrupted in the retelling. He was hunting deer and when near this place saw a young Panther about half grown standing on a fallen tree. As Alva Hale sat on a jury September 3, 1827, just a few weeks before he rode to New York to pick up his sister Emma and her new husband and bring them back to the valley, the court described him as among the good and lawful men sworn to render a verdict.307 The citizens of Harmony Township frequently elected Alva constable, and he often traded the position with Joseph McKune or John Comfort. 27. The tree that marked the spot had been cut down when he shared his story with Catlin and the old man could not tell him where it was buried. He recorded the purchase agreement with Isaac Hale in the county deed book on January 2, 1810, without noting when the payment or payments for the property fell due, or if Hale would pay the debt as a single lump sum or in regular installments over an extended period.236The latter option was more likely since the Hale family only paid one dollar down and built a new, large frame home at about the same time. 128. Although Emily Blackman dates construction of the first Pickering home to 1800 (Blackman,History of Susquehanna County,95), Timothy Pickering noted in a letter to one of his sons that it was built in 1801. 7. Thou shalt ever remember the great condescension of thy God in permitting thee to accompany my son [Joseph] when the angel delivered the record of the Nephites to his care. British law encouraged prospectors to look anywhere for ore they chose as long as it did not disrupt Houses, Orchards, Gardens, and Enclosures of Sugarworks. The only other requirement of the law was that the finder pay a tax of one-sixth of any ore discovered.61 A loophole allowed for the tax-free discovery of buried coins, watches, jewelry, bars of metal, or other items not considered ore. The science of geology was not well developed at the time, and a folk treasure hunting tradition was imported from Europe and refined over more than two centuries that relied on supernatural means to find buried minerals and valuables.62 Prayer was also frequently used then as it is today in the search for lost things. 76. [11] It was titled A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints[13] and contained 90 hymn texts but no music. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Sawmills quickly developed all along the river and the remaining waterway was filled with large arks and rafts taking lumber down the Susquehanna to Lancaster County where it was unloaded and carried in wagons 100 miles overland to Philadelphia. Emma Hale Smith greeted her parents and family again in December 1827. Joseph Smith Jr., who was a passive employee of Stowell, said, I was put to board with a Mr. Isaac Hale, of that place,JSP, H1:236. John Comfort, letter to Silas Comfort, Harmony, September 25, 1847. I have selected the standard spelling for use here, see Sarah M. Kimball, letter to Marinda Hyde, January 2, 1848, Marinda Hyde Papers 18381849, CHL; Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, October 27, 1839, (rough book), CHL; and Oliver Cowdery, Diary and Nauvoo High Council Minutes (fair copy), 2728, CHL. 289. Elizabeth Hale connected herself to the Methodists early and may have been the one Hiel Lewis had heard about, confusing the details, but Isaac remained distant.190, Frederic Stier and Timothy Lee first arrived in the Susquehanna Valley in 1805 and found most of their success there in 1806.191 When Stier and Lee brought Methodism it resulted in a general revival of religion which swept along that portion of the Susquehanna Valley as the popular movement replaced Bucks Congregationalism.192 Lee did not list any Hales among his converts, but missing names in the records was not unusual as most individuals caught up in local revivals were not numbered among the short list of convertsparticularly if they were already baptized.193. settled opposite what was called Pleasant Island, on the north side of the river, a little above the painted rocks. . I inquired of Joseph Smith Jr., who was to be the first who would be allowed to see the Book of Plates? If she attended a Girls school, the only one in her vicinity was the Female Seminary that operated a few miles west of her parents home in Great Bend Township. A photograph of the map is in the authors possession. Tavern owners needed a license from the county to operate their business. The modest headstones the men could see as they traveled were made by stonemason J. W. Stewart, known for years as Coffin Man. But it was Oliver Harpers large, ornate headstone just to the south of the two simple ones that would have likely been the focus of any discussion the men had with its neatly chiseled inscription announcing Harper had been robbed and murdered the previous year on March 11, 1824. [21] She also traveled with a committee to Quincy, Illinois, to present Illinois governor Thomas Carlin "a memorial in behalf of her people" after the Latter Day Saints had experienced persecution in the state.[21]. She later married Major Lewis C. Bidamon in 1847. . Such were the circumstances on the farm during the early settlement period as well. Isaac was born on March 21st, 1763 in New Haven, New Haven, Conn.Isaac's father is Reuben HALE and his mother was Diantha WARD.His paternal grandfather was Samuel HEALD and his paternal grandmother is Judith HODGE; his maternal grandparents were Arah WARD and Phebe TOWNER.He had two brothers and two sisters, named Reuben, Boy, Antha and Naomi.He was the second oldest of the five children. When a visiting minister came to the Susquehanna Valley to observe Bucks congregations in December of 1797, he noted local excitement over religion had increased significantly in the previous few years and wrote in his journal, it looks like the beginning of an awakening.167, Jonathan Edwards encouragement to have boys like Buck brought up speaking local Native American languages was an outgrowth of the First Great Awakening that spread across the nation more than fifty years earlier as religious excitement sparked in congregations of religiously involved citizens, but then slowly cooled. These reports are on file in the Historic Sites Division. 85. 235. Staker and Jensen, David Hales Store Ledger: New Details about Joseph and Emma Smith, the Hale Family, and the Book of Mormon, and W. Curtis Monts, Water Transportation on the Susquehanna,Wyoming Historical and Geological Society23 (1970): 2139. Pickering grew up in and returned to die in the 1651 Pickering house in Salem, Massachusetts, which remained the oldest home in the United States continuously occupied by one family until the end of the 20th century. . Hartgen, Report, Historic Sites, Church Historians Office, 2005; Hartgen, Archeological Field Investigations and Addenda 1 and 2; Kirk and McQuinn, personal communication to author. David followed on March 6, 1794. Before James Westfall purchased the large William Smith tract, it served as alocal landmark with its three ancient apple trees near what were believed to be traces of an Indian village.264 After Westfall purchased the property from Smith, it did not have the apple trees; but, according to Blackman, he still found on it the poles of the wigwams and several pits containing charred corn and an immense quantity of clippings, showing that arrow-heads were manufactured here on a large scale.265 George Catlin interviewed a Native American man while producing his famous paintings, and the man told Catlin his family had to leave the region when he was a young man and they could not take everything with them. Joseph identified the man as the angel Moroni. his Heirs Executors Administrators or assigns by a good and sufficient Deed containing a General Warranty all that certain piece or parcel of land with its appurtenances situate lying and being in the Township of Harmony 279. 146. 1 Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844), was a treasure seeker. Since Elizabeth died in 1842, Blackmans date would put her initial conversion at 1792 when William Colbert took Methodism to upper Pennsylvania but not the Susquehanna Valley. 119. Robert H. Rose to Isaac Hale, Deeds, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 11:444. He was the only young man in the valley Emmas age that was not a stranger and yet also met all the education and business expectations of Isaac Hale. The first Latter-day Saint hymnbook was printed in Kirtland in 1835 under Emma Smiths name. While helping Josiah Stowell look for the rumored Spanish silver, Joseph Smith Jr. took lodging on the rocky farmstead of the Hale familyan unproductive lot running from the riverbank north to Oquago Road above the floodplain. 43. 1833, Letter to David Hale, 1219February 1841, Travel Account and Questions, November 1837. 315. They both came to different conclusions than have later Latter-day Saint writers. 80. On May 27, 1823, James Westfall died.257 Although after his death James was initially still assessed a tax for his 394 acres, which his sons Levi and Daniel Westfall paid on December 17, 1824, he was removed from the tax lists and David Hale was taxed for his 394 acres. They returned to Pennsylvania in December 1827 to live near her family and work on the translation of the Book of Mormon. Only six families in the valley had frame homes while less than half of the barns and other outbuildings in 1798 were specifically identified as log structures, suggesting the earliest sawn lumber went to outbuildings.142, When John Comforts sawmill began operation at the bend of the river, it was clearly the largest in the region and made lumber readily available in the area. Alongside W. W. Phelps, Emma Smith compiled a Latter Day Saint hymnal, published in 1835. Trial Notes Scribe A.. Despite Isaacs deathbed charge to his family, after his death a rift between him and his daughter Emma and her husband seemed to no longer matter to his immediate family. 60. Four of Isaacs children were named after his Ward relatives, an additional three were named after Elizabeths Lewis family, and the youngest child, their son Reuben, was more likely named after Elizabeths brother Reuben Lewis than Isaacs brother Reuben Hale. Photographs of these headstones are in the authors collection. Joseph and Isaac Hale, Emma's father, had a tumultuous relationship due to Emma and Joseph eloping, Joseph's treasure digging, and Isaac's frustration with Joseph constantly borrowing. [4] They sometimes buried brass kettles and other valuable metal not for later use in cooking but to protect their treasure from theft until it could be dug up and cut into decorative pieces for adornment.102 But there is no evidence they made any of their silver jewelry from locally mined ore. Willingborough Township, Direct Tax Lists 1798, 3. Joseph Lewis recalled his childhood home where he lived with his father, Nathaniel Lewis, as our home and residence,Joseph and Hiel Lewis, Mormon History. As a native of Cape Cod and a South Sea man, born to Mary and Gershom Lewis in Gilford, Connecticut, Nathaniel Lewis grew up in shipping and worked for a time as a sailor.63 He also lived on the Connecticut coast within view of Gardiners Island where Captain William Kidd purportedly buried stolen silver before moving to Block Island to negotiate his surrender for piracy. Isaac Hale remembered of Joseph, his appearance at this time, was that of a careless young mannot very well educated, and very saucy and insolent to his father.302. Blackman,History of Susquehanna County, 578. 40. Jesse reduced the value of Isaac Hales land on appeal by $150.00. He was talented, laborious, and had much to do with the planting of Methodism in these parts. Chaffee,History of the Wyoming Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church,48, who wrote after Nathaniel Lewiss death, still referred to him as a local deacon.. 299. Jacobs name continued in the tax lists through 1837 when the format of the tax assessments changed. Upon Joseph's death, Emma was left a pregnant widow. 282. The 1798 tax records list a couple of sawmills in Willingborough Township and indicates the valley had a few frame homes. It was said, that Harris wrote down one hundred and sixteen pages, and lost them. Paul,History of Wells,81. He then went out of the house pretty soon about the middle of the day., Joshua McKunethink the first time I saw Treadwell after he returned from down the river was on Thursday early in the day after he had been talking at Mr. Hales around the log houseI had seen Treadwell before but had no particular conversationafter he went from Hales house I went in company with him I entered into conversation with him respecting the murder of Oliver Harper.. Isaac Hale Birth: 21 March 1763 Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut Death: 11 January 1839 Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Father: Reuben Hale (1736-1788) Mother: Diantha Ward (1741-1771) Spouse / partner: Elizabeth Lewis (1767-1842) Wedding: 20 September 1790 Wells, Rutland County, Vermont Sex: Edit Facts I am grateful to Betty Smith, Director of the Susquehanna County Historical Society, for her generous help throughout this research; Jean Green, Head of Special Collections, at University Binghamton University Libraries and Nicolette Dobrowolski, Head of Public Services, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries, and numerous other staff members of their institutions for providing access to significant collections. When Pickering announced to his friends his plans to move in the neighborhood of the Isaac Hale family, his associates tried to dissuade him from settling along such a remote area of the Susquehanna. Wells Town Clerk, Land Records, F:9. King, A Comparative Midden Analysis of a Household and Inn in St Marys City, Maryland,Historical Archaeology22, no. Boarding was used to refer to meals in the local newspaper. Isaac Hale is a Guitarist, zodiac sign: Cancer. Florence Hartley,The Ladies Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness(Boston: G. W. Cottrell, Publisher, 1860), 124. The best circumstantial argument for the Hale family using their log home briefly as rental property comes immediately after the 1825 tax assessment when Isaac Hale no longer pays taxes for the log home but Jeriah Mumford & Co. comes into the valley and rents four homes. Grant held his meetings in both the Comfort home on the east end of the township in the village of Lanesville (John Comfort joined the Methodists in 1809) and the Hale home on the west end of Harmony Township near the hamlet of Taylortown.206Grant likely preached at the Comfort home in the morning hours and the Hale home in the afternoon hours to keep up his long list of scheduled preaching locations downriver. Nathaniel Jr.s brother John Lewis also met and married a relative of Sarah Cole in Middletown, Rhoda Hall. Hales brief tour of duty ended eight days after his enlistment when the younger soldiers returned home without seeing action and the seventeen-year-old private was released from service.23. 25 His new role suggests how much he had become a Ward rather than a Hale in both outlook and position. In contrast, the older Hale sons were raised in the valley before it had schools or educational opportunities. He was likely a local Freemason. These men assessed real property in Harmony Township as directed in Section Eight of the General Assembly Act of April 11, 1799, implementing the tax laws that remained in place for many years (with some small revisions made in 1834 and 1844). . ; The Isaac Hale Beach Park on the island of Hawaii was named for a descendant who lived in the . Rhoda was born the same year as Emma and the two were age mates who lived on neighboring farms and likely interacted together a great deal.253 Since Isaac expected his sons to provide a home for their new brides, it is likely David and Rhoda lived in the Hale log home. Nahum 1:7, Romans 10:1, Luke 11:1, [and] John 21:15. Sermons preached in Sela Paynes home a little over a mile east of the Hales were based on the texts Sam. King notes, drawing on her own work and that of other archaeologist, that while rural taverns show more evidence of food preparation in the archaeological record than do urban taverns, there is still an abundance of ceramic fragments for drinking paraphernalia along with those for other socializing activities, such as group smoking, at both types of taverns (18). Vogel, Josiah Stowell, Jr., to John S. Fullmer, 17 February 1843,Early Mormon Documents,4:78, 80; Vogel, Lyman Stowell Reminiscence, 1901,Early Mormon Documents,4:86. As the turnpike squeezed between the mountains, the rough road slumped into the Susquehanna Valley descending toward the river bend with its consistent early morning fog and faint smell of wet earth. 70. Letter For My Wife Rebuttal, Part 6: The Early Church - The Translation [B]Two topics that are often misunderstood in Latter-day Saint circles are those of folklore and what is sometimes termed "folk magic." When we hear those words, as a people we tend to think of something negative or spiritually dangerous. The Hale family had three boys ranging in ages from five down to one when British traveler Isaac Weld came down the river with some friends in November 1796. Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Monument Site Improvements: Hale Precontact Site and McKune Barn Site, Rensselaer, New York: Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc, May 2012. isaac hale father of emma smith isaac hale father of emma smith. In a short time they returned, bringing with them a Peter Ingersol, and subsequently came to the conclusion that they would move out, and reside upon a place near my residence. Let come what will, youve got to bear ittaint no use to flinch. isaac hale father of emma smithmiss kitty black ink crew net worth isaac hale father of emma smith. 96. . The farm continued north of the road through a section of swampy ground known in local dialect as a swaily, and onto the mountainside with a large stand of ancient hardwood forest thinning at the top to provide a good view of the surrounding area at a spot known in local dialect as a keek from the Scottish for a peep or quick look.7. 25. They also dressed, grained, and tanned deer hides for their neighbors. Black and Black, Annotated Record of Baptisms for the Dead, 6:3355; Susquehanna Co, PA, Wills and Administrations, 18121921, vol. After they had arrived at Palmyra N.Y., Emma wrote to me enquiring whether she could take her property, consisting of clothing, furniture, cows, &c. I replied that her property was safe, and at her disposal. Joseph and Emma in a home nearby while he translated most of the Book of Mormon with Oliver Cowdery serving as scribe. Early settlers referred to the place where the river entered Pennsylvania as the east bend and where it returned into New York as the west bend, while the entire river as it passed through the valley was the great bend.41 Although the valley remains officially unnamed, early residents along this great bend called it the Susquehanna Valley.42 During the twentieth century that name has generally come to refer to a much larger region that includes the entire river drainage system through upper Pennsylvania. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had recently coined the phrase, cleanliness is next to Godliness, and his thinking clearly influenced Colbert who frequently used the word filthy in his journal to describe the cabins he saw, the people he met, and the meager food they shared. This conclusion is supported by a shift in the tax record on December 31, 1823, when David was taxed for one house and his fathers assessment dropped from two houses to one.254 Davids financial ledger from the period also indicates his store was on or near his fathers property by 1824, and the log home is the only candidate for both a residence and store.255, George Peck wrote notes on each sermon he delivered at Isaac Hales, he recalled he preached at . Unlike other members of the Smith family who had at times favored the claims of James J. Strang or William Smith, Emma and her children continued to live in Nauvoo as unaffiliated Latter Day Saints. 52. Dubois and Pike,Centennial of Susquehanna County,73. When the Hale family built their new home, they slid the log home to a spot nearby (most likely the yard to the east of their home where outside work was typically done), where they lived until the new home was finished.