Item Detail
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Smith, Bathsheba Wilson Bigler
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1822-1910
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MSS 920
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Autobiography
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Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith was born on May 3, 1822, to Mark and Susannah (Ogden) Bigler in Shinnston, Harrison, West Virginia. When she was about fifteen years old, LDS missionaries visited the area where she lived. She believed what they preached about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the validity of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith's calling as a prophet to be true. She and her mother were baptized on August 21, 1837; her father, three sisters, her brother, and her uncle Jacob Bigler and his family were baptized about the same time. Later that year Bathsheba and her family moved to Missouri to join the Saints. In February of 1838 they moved to Illinois and settled in Nauvoo in 1840. On July 25, 1841, Bathsheba married George A. Smith, one of the Twelve Apostles at that time. In 1846 the Smith family left Nauvoo permanently and moved to Missouri, living in Winter Quarters for a few years In 1849 Bathsheba and her family started the trek west and permanently settled in Utah. While living in Utah she experienced grasshopper plagues (1855) and the threat of President Buchanan's army (1857) attacking the Mormons. As Bathsheba traveled with her husband around Utah, she was able to meet other Saints and aid her husband in his work. She held many positions in Church leadership. Bathsheba belonged to the first Relief Society organized in Nauvoo and was present at its organization. She was the secretary of the 17th Ward Relief Society in Salt Lake City and served as 1st counselor to President Rachel Grant in the 13th Ward Relief Society in Salt Lake City. She also worked as a counselor with Sister M.I. Horn in the Senior Retrenchment Association. Bathsheba served for seventeen years in the Endowment House, at one time working with Eliza R. Snow. She officiated at the opening of the Nauvoo, Logan, and Salt Lake Temples and presided over the women's department of the Salt Lake Temple. George A. Smith served as first counselor to President Brigham Young from 1868 to 1875. Bathsheba served as the General Relief Society President for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning November 1, 1901, until her death on September 20, 1910.
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This collection primarily consists of an autobiography written by Bathsheba Smith covering the years 1844-1906. She describes her conversion to the Church and subsequent moves to Missouri, Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, and finally Utah. She expresses her love and appreciation for her husband's other wives and her grief over the loss of her husband at his death. Included in the autobiography is a short outline of the life of her husband, George A. Smith. Other items include a prophecy written by her son George Albert Smith (not the LDS prophet) in 1856, and various letters, one concerning genealogy, and several that comforted her at her husband's death. She included a newspaper clipping describing a celebration of her 75th birthday in 1897. A document written by Bathsheba's niece Juliana C. Smith (daughter of Bathsheba's sister, Melissa Jane Bigler Lambson) and a copy of Sketch of the Life of B.W. Smith, compiled and written by her granddaughter Alice Smith Horne on June 26, 1895, are also found in this collection.