History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother — John Shaqi
History of the Prophet Joseph, by His MotherSmith, Lucy
History
History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother
Smith, Lucy
Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
My husband pursued him a while, but finding pursuit vain, returned home
much dispirited at the state of his affairs. He then went to work to
overhaul his accounts, in order to see how he stood with the world;
upon which he discovered that, in addition to the loss sustained by the
China adventure, he had lost about two thousand dollars in bad debts.
At the time he sent his venture to China he was owing eighteen hundred
dollars in the city of Boston, for store goods, and he expected to
discharge the debt at the return of the China expedition; but, having
invested almost all his means in ginseng, the loss which he suffered in
this article rendered it impossible for him to pay his debt with the
property which remained in his hands. The principal dependence left
him, in the shape of property, was the farm at Tunbridge, upon which
we were then living, having moved back to this place immediately after
his venture was sent to China. This farm, which was worth about fifteen
hundred dollars, my husband sold for eight hundred dollars, in order to
make a speedy payment on the Boston debt; and, as I had not used the
check of one thousand dollars, which my brother and Mr. Mudget gave me,
I added it to the eight hundred dollars obtained for the farm, and by
this means the whole debt was liquidated.
While we were living on the Tunbridge farm, my brother Jason made us a
visit. He brought with him a young man by the name of William Smith, a
friendless orphan, whom he had adopted as his own son, and, previous
to this time, had kept constantly with him; but he now thought best
to leave him with us, for the purpose of having him go to school. He
remained with us, however, only six months before my brother came again
and took him to New Brunswick, which they afterwards made their home,
and where my brother had gathered together some thirty families, on a
tract of land which he had purchased for the purpose of assisting poor
persons to the means of sustaining themselves. He planned their work
for them, and when they raised anything which they wished to sell, he
took it to market for them. Owning a schooner himself, he took their
produce to Liverpool, as it was then the best market.
When Jason set out on the above-mentioned visit to Tunbridge, he
purchased a quantity of goods, which he intended as presents for his
friends, especially his mother and sisters; but, on his way thither,
he found so many objects of charity, that he gave away not only the
goods, but most of his money. On one occasion, he saw a woman who had
just lost her husband, and who was very destitute; he gave her fifteen
dollars in money, and a full suit of clothes for herself and each of
her children, which were six in number.
This was the last interview I ever had with my brother Jason, but,
twenty years later, he wrote the following letter to my brother
Solomon, and that is about all the intelligence I have ever received
from him since I saw him:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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