Item Detail
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Smoot, Margaret Thompson McMeans
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1809-1884
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MSS 896
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Journal, autobiography, biography, letter, memoirs
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Margaret Thompson McMeans Smoot was born on April 16, 1809 to Anthony McMeans, a native of Scotland, and Esther Hunter in Chester County, South Carolina. On December 28, 1826, Margaret married Charles Adkinson (or Adkins) who died sometime before Margaret remarried in 1838. In 1834 Margaret joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee. In 1837 she migrated to Caldwell County, Missouri where she lived until she was expelled by mob violence and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois where she performed temple work for herself and the dead in the Nauvoo Temple. On November 11, 1838 Margaret married Abraham Owen Smoot, and during the years 1845 and 1846 her husband married multiple other women. In May of 1846, they moved to Council Bluffs, and in June of 1847, they started across the plains with about 1,000 other Saints, her husband being a captain of 100. On September 25, 1847, they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley where they lived until 1868 when they moved to Provo. Margaret bore no children to Abraham, but she had a son from her first marriage, William Cochrane Atkinson, who took upon himself the name of Smoot when adopted by his step-father. Margaret died in Provo on September 1, 1884.
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This collection includes the Abraham Owen Smoot journals, diaries, financial records, and correspondence dealing with business, personal, church, and Brigham Young Academy matters as well as the Margaret Smoot papers. Included is a holograph copy of Margaret's journal, which details her daily activities and interactions with family and friends from April 22, 1856 to May 1, 1861 and is difficult to read. Also included is an original autobiographical life sketch of Margaret Smoot that includes her testimony of Joseph Smith, the Priesthood, the Book of Mormon, revelation, celestial marriage, and Jesus Christ. Of particular interest is a typewritten copy of a special tribute to Margaret Smoot on her sixty-seventh birthday from her family and friends as well as a holograph memoir written by her grandson W. C. A. Smoot, Jr. in which he states, 'My grandmother [Margaret] is a Saint of the Most High God, has served him with an undivided heart, been a mother in Israel, and a benefactor to her household.' A very detailed biography of Margaret's life by Olive Smoot Bean is included in this collection, both as an original and a photocopy. Also included in this collection is a holograph copy of a letter to Margaret from her husband, Abraham Owen Smoot, dated February 16, 1874, which is difficult to read.
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