BYU Studies Quarterly BYU Studies Quarterly

Volume 21 Issue 3 Article 13

7-1-1981

Emma: The Dramatic Biography of Emma Smith Keith and Ann Keith and Ann

Terry Terry

Donald Q. Cannon

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq

Part of the Mormon Studies Commons, and the Religious Education Commons

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Cannon, Donald Q. (1981) "Emma: The Dramatic Biography of Emma Smith Keith and Ann Terry," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 21 : Iss. 3 , Article 13. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol21/iss3/13

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu.

TERRY KEITH and ANN emma the dramatic biography ofemma smith santa barbara calif butterfly publishing 1979160160ppappp 7957.95795

reviewed by donald Q cannon professor of church history and doctrine brighamyoung university

emma smith wife of the prophet joseph has long attracted theinterest of latter day saints for more than a century after the deathofjosephofjoseph smith mormonscormons looked upon emma with disfavor thenin recent years her reputation has been restored indeed severalLDS authors have suggested that emma deserves our sympathy andunderstanding foremost among those who have administeredhistorical artificial respiration to her character is erwin wirkus in hisbook judge me dear reader orem utah randall publishers1978 wirkus pleads with his readers to understand emma to realize

381

1

Cannon: <em>Emma: The Dramatic Biography of Emma Smith</em> Keith and Ann

Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1981

how truly difficult her life was and to forgive her for her short-comings that this favorable view of emma has gained widespreadacceptance is attested to by the approval of this point of view bychurch correlation evidence of that sanction is the lesson on emmasmith and section twentyfivetwenty five of the doctrine and covenants in thegospel doctrine sunday school manual for 1978 79

because emma has come full circle from disfavor to favor itwould seem that the time is right for a balanced view even for adefinitive biography of the real emma smith but alas emma bykeith and ann terry is not that book the authors of emma candid-ly confess that this book is not and does not pretend to be adefinitive biography of emma smith p xx it is neither definitivenor historically accurate biography as claimed on the dust jacketindeed what research was invested in this work is totally inadequateA careful reading of emma reveals the authors failure to use the bestand most authoritative sources faulty organization poor writingstyle exaggerations and confusion of places events and people

to become aware of some of the problems inherent in thisbiography consider the following in many instances the authors failto make use of the best source material on emma smith in par-ticularti and church history in general while discussing theemma brigham controversy and major lewis C bidamon emmassecond husband they fail to incorporate or even call attention tothe insightful and precise work done by linda king newell andvaleen tippetts avery this team ofofldsoflasLDS authors has been workingfor several years preparing a major biography of emma smith whichis to be published by a national publisher during 1982 along theway these two fine scholars have given numerous lectures and havepublished several articles which should be included in any biographyof emma 1 in their discussion of the kirtland safety society theauthors fail to mention or use the study by marvin C hill C keithrooker and larry T wimmer the kirtland economy revisited Amarket critique of sectarian economics which appeared in BYUstudies 17 summer 1977 391 475 and as a separate publicationthat fuller study rejects the notion that the bank failed because ofgeneral economic conditions and joseph smiths ineptness in finan-cial matters arguing that the society failed because it was unable

examples of their work include lewis C bidamon stepchild of mormondom BYU studies 19spring 1979 375 88 sweet counsel and seas of tribulation the religious life of the women inkirtland BYU studies 20 winter 1980 151 62 the lion and the lady brigham young and emmasmith utah historical quarterly 48 winter 1980 81 97 new light on the sun emma smith and thenew york sun letter journal ofmormonof mormon history 6 1979 23 3355

382582

2

BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 21, Iss. 3 [1981], Art. 13

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol21/iss3/13

to get a corporate charter from the state of ohio likewise theterrys discussion of the new translation makes no mention of thepioneering work of robertjrobert J matthews who has written several finearticles and an excellent book on that subject for exampleemma s critical role in preserving the manuscripts prior to theirpublication in 1867 is ignored in the terrys work richard L ander-son has spoken widely on the joseph emma letters the subject of aforthcoming book unfortunately the terrys do not include in theirstudy his insights regarding emma these omissions are major over-sights which constitute serious errors

emma also contains many other historical inaccuracies thenumber of casualties at hauns millwasmillwaymill was seventeen not forty p 39the letter which joseph wrote to emma while in liberty jail is not atchicago but at yale p 48 dimick huntington was not demickp 98 three of the four articles credited to james L kimball jrwere in fact written by stanley B kimball who is not even listedp 158

concerning the matter of faulty organization the most obviousproblem is the lack of chapter titles and the exclusion of a table ofcontents without these guides the reader is left to wander aimlesslythrough the book not knowing for certain what is next A relatedproblem is footnotingfootnoting the notes are listed at the back of the bookbut they refer not to specific quotations but are simply listed page bypage consequently the reader is never sure what specific sourcerelates to what specific quotation or passage in the text also thebook reads more like an outline than a full story it is filled with onesentence paragraphs and often the subject changes so abruptly thatone can hardly catch ones breath while reading in a word the storyis not complete

in addition the writers employ careless exaggerations andoverstatements while this practice seems common in popular mor-mon writing it distorts the truth and is inappropriate in historicalwork for example when the authors compare governor boggs withhitler the statements attract attention and reinforce currentmormonattitudes but they considerably overstate the matter

in their handling of some topics keith and ann terry tend toconfuse people places and events the role of emma smith vis a visthe role ofW W phelps in the creation of the first church hymnbook is unclear the masonic hall on main street and the masoniclodge room in the red brick store on water street in nauvoo areoften referred to as if they were the same place porter rockwellsrockwelllRockwellsconversations withjosephwith joseph smith 111IIIlii are misplaced in point of time

383

3

Cannon: <em>Emma: The Dramatic Biography of Emma Smith</em> Keith and Ann

Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1981

other examples could be cited but those mentioned should suf-fice to demonstrate that emma has serious deficiencies the book ishowever not without redeeming value for example the authorsoften present controversial material without being defensive orapologetic in discussing joseph smiths use of a peepstoneepstonepe and histreasure hunting activities they forthrightly present the truth theirmaterial on plural marriage chaps 12 and 13 is relatively up to dateand honestly presented in some cases they do tell us something verymeaningful about emma her relationsrelationshiphp with joseph the family slack of roots and a home of their own and her life with her secondhusband are effectively and sympathetically presented

but these strengths are outweighed by the major flaws whatconcerns the serious student of mormon history is that the emmasmith portrayed in this work is not the real emma smith emma wasnot the romanticizedromanticizes dramatized figure presented in the pages ofthis biography to understand the real emma or to find the truthabout emma much more is required in short we need a definitiveaccurate honest biography of joseph smiths wife

384

4

BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 21, Iss. 3 [1981], Art. 13

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol21/iss3/13