A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the MormonsWilliams, Elizabeth Whitney
History
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons
Williams, Elizabeth Whitney
Beaver Island (Mich.); Latter Day Saints -- Michigan; Strang, James Jesse, 1813-1856
It so happened the home we went to live in the people kept a boarding
house and I soon found to my horror the man had four wives, had had six
but two were dead. We soon found them a peculiar people with great
faith in Strang and of his building up of Zion calling themselves Latter
Day Saints, or Mormons. We had not known or heard of this but had been
led to think we could worship as we liked. We soon found it was best not
to exchange much thought with our neighbors on the subject and we were
so scattered about we seldom met only at meetings. There was being a
temple built to worship in and my husband being a carpenter he was most
of his time working on it. We soon learned every tenth of our income
belonged to the King and many extras to help the expenses. It took quite
a large sum to build this temple. They had a small saw mill and there
the lumber was cut. Everybody was busy. We were ruled by a man who had
no pity for any one. That winter was too terrible to remember. We were
all glad to have the King come back in the springtime. He brought more
people who seemed to have more means, for those who had, had to share
with those who had little. My husband and his two brothers were made
apostles soon after Strang came. I saw very little of my husband after
he was made an apostle. There was always something to be talked over and
explained, so the King had to have most of their time.
Our funds were getting low and I felt very low spirited, but my husband
told me he thought that everything would be satisfactory in time. I
longed to be free. I wanted to feel I could talk to my husband for it
soon dawned upon me we must not discuss the subject of the doctrine
only with a true belief in all of Strang's revelations. The most of the
people were gay. The winter time was their time for gaiety. The
following spring after we came, when my husband was made an apostle,
there was a great feast and we were all baptized in the waters of Little
Font Lake. The King was dressed in a robe of white and purple. He gave a
short brilliant discourse. To most of them the ceremony was impressive.
His wife, Mrs Strang, did not attend as she was not a believer in the
doctrine. To me it all seemed a sham. Just before my husband was made an
apostle I asked Strang about polygamy and why some had more than one
wife. He answered that they had practiced it to some extent in Joseph
Smith's time but he would have no such practice but had allowed those
who had several to keep them. On the next Sabbath he preached a powerful
sermon against polygamy. I felt more secure because I hoped he would
keep his word. Very soon after this it came like a thunderbolt to us.
The king had a revelation. He must take more wives, and very soon took
some more.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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