Emma (Hale) Bidamon (1804 - 1879)

Born 10 Jul 1804 in Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Joseph Smith Jr. — married 18 Jan 1827 (to 27 Jun 1844) in South Bainbridge (Afton), Chenango County, New York, United States

Wife of Lewis Crum Bidamon — married 23 Dec 1847 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, United States

Descendants

Died 30 Apr 1879 at age 74 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, United States

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Emma (Hale) Bidamon was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Biography

Emma Hale, the youngest daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis, was born July 10th, 1804 in Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.^[1][2][3]

While boarding at the Hale house in Harmony, Pennsylvania, Joseph Smith met Emma and began courting her. When Smith asked for Emma's hand, her father, Isaac, objected because Smith was "a stranger" and had no means of supporting his daughter other than money digging. On January 18, 1827, Smith and Emma "eloped to marry" across the state line in Afton (South Bainbridge), New York and the couple began boarding with Smith's parents in Manchester.^[4][3]

Emma was with Smith throughout most of the time he spent translating the Book of Mormon. She was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on June 29th, 1830 at Colesville, Broome, New York by Oliver Cowdery. In a revelation by Smith in 1830, she was declared an "elect lady" and assumed the mission to expound scripture and collect hymns to use in church services. She reportedly witnessed many of Joseph Smith's plural marriages but she denied the fact that he was ever involved in plural marriage. When the first Female Relief Society was organized in Nauvoo in 1842, Emma was elected the first president, and remained in the role for as long as the society was in Nauvoo.^[5][6][3]

After the death of her husband, Joseph, in 1844, Emma chose to remain in Nauvoo rather than continue west with the Young party. She was married to Major Lewis C. Bidamon on December 23rd, 1847 by Methodist minister Reverend William Henry (Haney by some accounts). They had no children She later became a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Nauvoo.^{[7][8][9][3][10][11]}

Emma died April 30th, 1879 at Nauvoo, Illinois and was buried at Smith Family Cemetery, Nauvoo. ^{[12][13][14][3][15]}

Sources

1. ↑ Emma Smith on Wikipedia
2. ↑ The Pearl of Great Price on LDS.org
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} Ancestry.com. Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Ancestry Record 5144 #9420
4. ↑ Mormon Enigma, Emma Hale Smith via Google Books
5. ↑ "Last Testimony of Sister Emma" in History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 8 vols. Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1951, 3:356.
6. ↑ Emma Smith on History.LDS.org
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXH9-96Q : 13 December 2017), Emma Bidamon in entry for L C Bidamon, 1860.
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M643-Y1J : 8 June 2019), Emma Bidamon in entry for Lewis C Bidamon, 1870.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M85T-4MX : 12 April 2016), Emma Bideman in household of Lewis S Bideman, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States; citing family 1821, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
10. ↑ Ancestry.com. Illinois, Marriage Index, 1860-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Ancestry Record 60984 #1910284
11. ↑ Ancestry.com. Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Ancestry Record 61370 #900533813
12. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #6272751 has a biography, photos and links to many family members.
13. ↑ Family Search family tree
14. ↑ Church History Joseph and Emma Smithon JosephSmith.net
15. ↑ Ancestry.com. Inscriptions Found on Tombstones and Monuments in Early Latter-day Saint Burial Grounds [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Ancestry Record 5289 #3

See also:

• "Utah, Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WGN9-4CW2 : 30 September 2019), Emma Smith, 1879.
• Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (New York: Doubleday, 1984). ISBN 0-385-17166-8. 2nd edition. rev., Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
• Michael Hicks, Mormonism and Music: A History, (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989; [Paperback Ed., 2003]).
• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, Vol. 4, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002).
• Roger D. Launius, Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988).
• Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, (New York: Knopf, 2005)