DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 81
Section 81 is given to a counselor to the Prophet as to how to fulfill his duties. One counselor did not do this, and so another was called. Frederick G. Williams, who was a scribe to the prophet already, replaced Jesse Gause and did not ask for a new revelation but simply crossed out the name and inserted his own in the record. He understood the revelation was for the calling and not for an individual.
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 82
Section 82 regards the United Firm. For details regarding the United Firm, please see Max H Parkin, "Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church's First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832-1834," BYU Studies, Vol. 46, no. 3.
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 83--CARE FOR THE WIDOWS AND CHILDREN
1 Verily, thus saith the Lord, in addition to the alaws of the church concerning women and children, those who belong to the church, who have blost their husbands or fathers:
2 aWomen have bclaim on their husbands for their maintenance, until their chusbands are taken; and if they are not found transgressors they shall have fellowship in the church.
3 And if they are not faithful they shall not have fellowship in the church; yet they may remain upon their inheritances according to the laws of the land.
4 All achildren have claim upon their bparents for their cmaintenance until they are of age.
5 And after that, they have aclaim upon the church, or in other words upon the Lord’s bstorehouse, if their parents have not wherewith to give them inheritances.
6 And the storehouse shall be kept by the consecrations of the church; and awidows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the bpoor. Amen.
This revelation was given in April 30, 1832. Little did the Prophet Joseph know that in 12 years his wife would be counted among the widows and his children among the fatherless. Who would take care of them? Spoiler alert: It wasn't the Church. (The Church, however, did take care of Lucy Mack Smith and financially assist Joseph's sisters for the rest of their lives. For details, click here.)
EMMA'S ESCAPE FROM NAUVOO
When Joseph Smith was killed in June of 1844, he left his wife Emma with four young children and a fifth on the way. The following year, mobs threatened the Saints with death if they did not leave Nauvoo and those who could did so in February of 1846 and throughout the spring. By summertime, only 150 members remained in Nauvoo, mostly the poor or widowed who did not have means to travel. Emma Smith and her family, including most of her in-laws, were in this group. They had no funds, and they had enormous debt. Which parts of the debt and which parts of the property belonged to Emma and which to the Church would not be resolved for over a decade. (See Church History Topics, "Emma Smith")
This is one of those unpleasant episodes in Church history wherein problems were extremely complicated, personalities were necessarily strong, emotions were exceptionally high, trust was unfortunately low, and no one had a template to tell them how to best proceed.
On September 10, 1846, an army of 1,000 local mobsters attacked Nauvoo to drive out the stragglers in what is now called The Battle of Nauvoo. Emma, with her children, ran to the river where "she prevailed upon a friendly riverboat captain to stop at the landing in Nauvoo where she and her family boarded the Toby, to go north to Fulton, Illinois, for refuge. They heard the first volley of shots as the Battle of Nauvoo began as they were leaving" (Gracia Jones, "In Memory of Major Lewis Crum Bidamon," JosephSmithJr.org, August 16, 2020). Bidamon joined the Saints in defending the city. For his bravery, he was afterwards known as "Major" Bidamon.
Newel K. Whitney, as presiding bishop of the Church, was organizing rescue parties from Winter Quarters to emigrate these indigent remainders two weeks before the battle occurred, but they had not yet reached the area. By the time they arrived, Emma Smith was already gone.
The following January, Bidamon wrote to Emma Smith asking if he could rent the Nauvoo House. She wrote back that it was already rented. Shortly afterward, Bidamon became aware that the renter was planning to move out and steal all of Smith's property, so he wrote her again with this information. She reportedly said, "I have no friend but God and nowhere to go but home." She gathered her children and meager belongings and hurried back to Nauvoo, catching the thief in the act and saving her home and furnishings. She reopened the hotel in the almost-deserted Nauvoo. Emma had always had a good head for business and she knew this would be a sure way to both shelter and support her family.
MAJOR LEWIS BIDAMON'S CARE FOR THE SMITH FAMILY
Emma Smith was only 39 years old when she became a widow. She was a beautiful and refined woman who had two suitors after she returned to Nauvoo. Bidamon was the one she chose to marry. The wedding curiously took place on Joseph's birthday, December 23, 1847. Perhaps she wanted a happy memory on that day to replace her deep sorrow. Perhaps it was just the most convenient day for all. Perhaps birthdays were not a big deal in that time. She seldom shared her inner thoughts with others or wrote them down, so we cannot know.
Emma's great-great-granddaughter, Gracia Jones, writes about the legal difficulties facing a single mother in 19th Century America: "Emma’s marriage displeased many of the Saints, particularly the men who had been placed as agents over the Church business in Nauvoo. But, to some extent, her marriage alleviated some of the pressures. One of the interesting aspects of the law at that time was that a widow had to petition the court for guardianship of her children. She not only had to pay for the privilege, she had to account to the court yearly on what she spent to support a minor child." [Is this crazy or what? Women had so few legal rights.] "If a woman remarried, her children became wards of the step-father. With this marriage to Joseph’s widow, Lewis did not gain anything financially, but took upon himself the responsibility of being a father to her children, a role he seems never to have resented nor shirked. They shouldered the burden of debt, court litigation, even the forced sale of the property, more than once. During one of these troubled times, Lewis’ brother Christian Bidamon stepped forward to purchase the property and Emma was enabled to buy it back from him. Visitors to Nauvoo today owe thanks to Major Lewis C. Bidamon for helping Emma preserve the Smith homes, which so many enjoy visiting...
Shortly after the marriage, Bidamon set out to provide for his new family. He and his brother followed the prospectors to California to sell them goods, in an unsuccessful attempt to earn enough to pay off Joseph Smith's debts. During the year they were apart, Lewis and Emma wrote to each other.
Emma: "My dear Lewis, I have scarcely enjoyed any good thing since you left home, in consequence of the terrifying apprehension that you might be suffering for the most common comforts of life...Some think that I might be content, but I am not, neither can I be until you are within my grasp."
Lewis: "I do not like California. It affords no charms for me and especially in the absence of her and only her that can make me happy." (Joni Wilson, "Emma's Enduring Compassion," Nauvoo Journal, May 2013, 72).
PRESERVATION OF MANUSCRIPT
Years later, when Bidamon was building an addition onto the Mansion House, he uncovered the cornerstone in which the original manuscript for The Book of Mormon had been hidden by Joseph Smith. It was damaged by moisture and time, but what was still readable he divided among the various sects of Mormonism. It had no value to him, but he knew it had great value to believers. He gave a portion to Apostle Franklin D. Richards and it stayed in the Richards family until it was donated to the Church in 1946. It is now on display at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City as well as online at JosephSmithPapers.org (Jones).
BIDAMON AS A FATHER
Although polar-opposite reports were written about the character and aspect of Major Bidamon, depending on the bias of the one doing the reporting, evidence is strong that he was a good man and a good stepfather to Emma's children. He was loved and honored by Emma's boys, who worked by his side in his shop and in the field and whose education he fostered. He had two teenaged daughters from a previous marriage whom Emma and her children welcomed into their home and life. They maintained a loving relationship throughout their lives. Joseph III wrote, "Our stepfather is as good as a stepfather can be. He loves us all as well as he does his own children" (Wilson, 73).
Perhaps no report is as telling, however, as the kindness Lewis Bidamon extended to his wife's first husband's mother, Lucy. Three years into their marriage, Emma brought Lucy into the Mansion House to care for her. She had been previously living with her daughter Lucy and her husband, but they moved east and Emma agreed to take over. She and Emma had a close relationship and great admiration for each other. Emma and Lewis cared for Lucy for the last four years of her life (Wilson, 74).
BIDAMON AS A CITIZEN
Major Bidamon was what we might call a "character," attracting attention through his fun-loving attitude and his love of conversation. He served as a justice of the peace and an assistant constable.
"In his later years, Major Bidamon became a favorite with reporters passing through Nauvoo. He was always good natured, cordial, full of jokes and entertaining stories. He never allowed anyone in his hearing to get away with disparaging words about the Prophet Joseph Smith. Though he was not religious and sometimes rather roughly irreligious, he defended the Mormon’s right to believe what they chose and did all he could to defend Nauvoo" (Jones). He knew that his wife believed Joseph Smith and he respected that. He was beloved by his children, and he adored his grandchildren as well as Emma's and Nancy's, who trailed after him as he worked about the place, and to whom he never spoke a harsh word.
At his death, Bidamon's obituary stated, "Deceased was probably best known in the city, he became widely known to the general public, as the husband of Joseph Smith’s widow and the visits of all noted people, newspaper corrospondence, authors, etc., was never complete without paying a visit to the Major and the old mansion house; and all writer’s account of Nauvoo invariably gave an elaborate write up of him. He was good natured, humorous and a jocular character and he scarely let a visitor go without first telling him of his “red hat” and “dark closet” jokes – Jokes that have become famous" (JosephSmithJr.org). (Makes you want to know those jokes, doesn't it?)
Bidamon was buried by Emma, Joseph, and Hyrum Smith, but sadly his grave was never marked until 2016.
EMMA'S CARE FOR WIDOWS AND CHILDREN
Emma Smith Bidamon was widely known for her kindness in taking care of outcasts and orphans. Sometime I'd like to compose a list of them; there are so many. She did not descriminate by race, either, taking the entire family of Jane Manning James into her home while Joseph was still alive, and keeping Jane on after all the others found new situations. But of all the acts of compassion which Emma performed in her life, the most stunning involved Nancy Abercrombie.
Lewis Bidamon had an extra-marital affair with Nancy which resulted in the birth of a son, Charles Edward, in 1864. (One source says he was called "Charlie," another "Eddie." I'm going with Eddie.) Eddie's mother had lived a challenging life. Apprenticed as a seamstress away from her own family at the tender age of 7, she had been married at 17 to a man who died or disappeared after the birth of her first child, married to a second man who died after the birth of her second child, and was living with a family near Nauvoo years later when she gave birth to a third child whose father was not revealed. Her fourth child was Eddie. When Eddie was 4 years old, Nancy was unable to care for him any longer and appealed to Emma. Without rancor, 64-year-old Emma accepted him into her own home. He called her Grandmother.
Four years later, in an almost unbelievable act of charity, Emma hired Nancy as a housekeeper to allow her to live with her now 8-year-old son. (Two of Nancy's children were by this time adults, and it is not known where the third lived.) Emma was 68, Lewis was 66, Nancy was 39. As Emma neared the end of her life, she asked Lewis to promise to marry Nancy and legitimize Eddie's family relationship, which he did one year after she died.
Still image of Eddie and Emma from the wonderful feature film, "Emma Smith: My Story,"
JosephSmithJr.org
After her death, Eddie recalled Emma as "a person of even temper. I never heard her say an unkind word, or raise her voice in anger or contention...a noble woman, living and showing charity for all, loving and beloved" (Wilson, 75-76).
TRUE RELIGION
As was taught by the brother of the Lord,
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27).
Note that care for the fatherless and widows is mentioned first, and keeping oneself holy is mentioned second. We cannot be truly unspotted from the world without living in that messy and muddy world and reaching out to those to whom it has dealt harsh blows. Lewis and Emma Bidamon did so, even though life had also dealt hard blows to them. Major Bidamon defended women and children in battle and took on a young family of six plus mother-in-law, including all their debts, legal battles, and negative press. He defended Joseph Smith's name, though he had never met the man. As for Emma, she had experienced a life of trauma and loss, but still she kept the commandment to love whomever was placed in her path.
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