Item Detail
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Chipman, Martha Selindy Smith
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1836-1858
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MSS SC 3301
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Biographical Sketch
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Martha Selindy Smith Chipman was born on 9 August 1836 in Nashville, Tennessee to Warren A. Smith and Lydia Alexander Smith. She was the fourth oldest of 7 children born to them, the others being Mark, Eldredge, Abindadi, Melissa, Carson, and an unnamed baby boy.
She spent some time in Nauvoo where she and her family conversed with Joseph Smith, and they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When her family was driven from Nauvoo, her mother took ill and died. The family joined the majority of the saints in heading West, and they reached the Salt Lake valley in October of 1850.
On 1 January 1855 in American Fork, Utah, Martha married William Henry Chipman at the young age of 19. Together they had 2 children, Melissa, and Martha Ellen.
She was an excellent homemaker and was proficient in sewing, cooking, knitting.
She died on 31 October 1858 in American Fork, Utah, at the age of only 22. -
This is a 3-page photocopy of a typescript life sketch, entitled Biographical Sketch: Martha Selindy Smith Chipman; Pioneer of 1850. It is written by Myrle McGrew, Marthas granddaughter. The sketch covers Marthas parentage and childhood, as well as her familys exposure and conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after meeting the prophet Joseph Smith.
Unfortunately, Marthas mother passed away due to the hardships they faced as Latter-day Saints. Her older sister, Melissa, took over as mother of the family, doing her best to take care of the family in their mothers absence. Moving from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs, the family prepared to journey to Salt Lake City in 1850.
On arriving, they settled in the Cotton Wood area, and Martha eventually moved with her sister and brother-in-law, to American Fork. There, Martha met her own husband and had children. She was young when she married, at only 19, and she died young as well, at the age of 22, but in her short life, she proved to be a stalwart wife, member of the Church, and mother.