Item Detail
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Norman, Mary Smith
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1837-1916
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MSS SC 24
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Letter
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Mary Smith was born on March 27, 1837 in Mentor, Lake, Ohio to Samuel Harrison and Mary Bailey Smith. She married J.J. Norman, also of Ohio, in 1851. She died on October 14, 1916.
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This collection is a letter dated October 21, 1915 written by Mary Smith Norman in Idaho Falls, Idaho to her niece 'Susie' or Sue Smith Beatty. It is 11 pages handwritten on paper that is approximately four inches by seven inches. In it she tells of her parents. The first part is devoted to her father telling of incidents that illustrate his gentle nature and his love for his children, wife and family. She tells of his response to the murders of his brothers Joseph and Hyrum Smith. She says that he went by horseback, was prevented by a mob, but eventually was able to get through with the help of a very fast horse as men shot at him. He made it through only in time to see the dead bodies of his dear brothers. She indicates in the letter that she gave a lengthy account of this incident in a manuscript that her nephew J.B. Smith has. Of her mother she says that she was a woman with a lively turn of mind. She was a native of Boston, well-to-do, but left the prestige of her life to embrace the Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She died as a martyr to her faith when a mob took the bed that she was in with her three day old baby into the rain and sleet as they burned the house. Her family attempted to nurse her back to health, but 'when she bore another child her life paid the penalty.'
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