Can Somebody Help Me Understand President Smith's Third Plural Wife?

[Uncle Dale]

...or, perhaps she was the second... Compton seems unsure

and I suppose he is pretty much the expert on such matters.

Lucinda Pendleton Harris Modesitt? Smith...

Did she really pass away in the home of her daughter Margaret

in Memphis, in 1856? Or was it at the Leath orphanage in 1859?

Is she considered to be a celestial partner of Smith's? That is,

was she ever officially sealed to him for eternity?

Was she also once the plural wife of James W. Modesitt of

Clay Co., Indiana -- a very rich doctor visited by Heber Kimball

near Terre Haute in 1839, and later a purported member of

the Duncanites, an apostate latter day group in southern Indiana?

Was Lucinda a lifelong friend of President Smith's other second

(or third?) plural wife? Was her first husband really a follower

of Smith's before the Book of Mormon was translated?

Questions... questions...questions

Forgive me for starting another obscure historical thread, but I

truly do not know where to go to get reliable answers.

UD

Edited December 19, 2014 by Uncle Dale

[JLHPROF]

Forgive me for starting another obscure historical thread, but I

truly do not know where to go to get reliable answers.

UD

 

Probably because there aren't any reliable answers - just like with Fanny Alger.

We do know she was married to the famous mason named Morgan, and if you google her you get LOTS of data.

Reliability is the province of historians...

[strappinglad]

Forgive me, but this OP sounds a bit like a plot for " As the World Turns " .

[Uncle Dale]

Forgive me, but this OP sounds a bit like a plot for " As the World Turns " .

 

 

Like so many other of my interests, this particular episode can be traced

back to my late mother's hobby of tracing the Broadhurst family geneology.

 

In researching our Broadhurst relatives in Caldwell County, Missouri, in the

1830s, we discovered that they "fought Apostle White at the battle of Gallatin."

This was later refined to mean that the Gallatin Broadhursts had a run-in with

Lyman Wight's militia near Adam-ondi-amen, in 1838 -- and that one of Wight's

officers was, purportedly, a certain "George Washington Harris" of Far West.

 

By sheer coincidence, at practically the same time, we found that our old

Broadhurst relatives in Vigo Co., Indiana lived next door to a fellow also

named "George Washington Harris." All this was simply filed away in my

memory and not pursued any further until several years later.

 

In 1978 or '79 I was searching some historical information for inclusion in

the upcoming "Atlas of Utah," and came upon some materials collected by

the historian Mervin Hogan. He noted that a certain John R. Crandall had

visited the Mormon, George W. Harris, near Terre Haute in 1835 -- I think

it was in April -- and that George and his wife Lucinda moved shortly

thereafter to Caldwell Co., Missouri.

 

So, I went back into our old family files, to look at the Harris neighbors of

the Broadhursts near Terre Haute. As it turned out, that particular "George"

was a nephew (or second cousin) of the more famous George, who had

once lived a few miles away, in Terre Haute proper, operating a silversmith

business there. -- So... one of those Georges, who lived near the Indiana

Broadhursts, really was the same George W. Harris, who reportedly took

part in the 1838 sacking and burning of Gallatin, north of Far West.

 

All of which led me to a brief mention, in some c. 1926 "Deseret News"

clipping, stating that the wife of Mr. Harris had been sealed to Joseph

Smith, as a plural wife. That was before I ever noticed Fawn Brodie's

similar statement, in her infamous book.

 

Nobody I've ever spoken with could help me sort out this family history

mystery. I became especially interested in the subject when I discovered

that my Winegar ancestors were members of the same Caldwell or Daviess

County militia as Lyman Wight and George W. Harris (or, as my grandpa

used to say -- "them durned Danites")...

 

Does all genealogical research into Far West and Nauvoo times end up being

so convoluted and mysterious?

 

UD

[strappinglad]

I wish you success in your quest UD . If they only knew then what we would have questions about now, I'm sure they would have been better record keepers.

[Uncle Dale]

I wish you success in your quest UD . If they only knew then what we would have questions about now, I'm sure they would have been better record keepers.

 

 

Well... thanks to whomever it was who sent me the e-mail.

 

Evidently I was mistaken in charging James W. Modesitt with

polygamy. The "friend" of Lucinda Harris-Smith seems to have

been that guy's cousin, the "other" Dr. Modesitt who lived in

the Terre Haute area at the time.

 

That would have been Dr. Charles Byrns Modesitt (1784-1848).

Perhaps somebody who has ready access to Susan E. Black's

list of the earliest LDS members can let us know his baptism date.

 

To make matters even more complicated, it was the first Dr. Modesitt

that I'd been mentioning, who was a close associate of the "Prophet"

who founded the Duncanite apostate group, and not Charles Byrns.

 

Whether or not this second Dr. Modesitt left Brigham Young's

church, to join Duncan's sect, I know not. He died in 1848,

while Lucinda was (perhaps) still living with her estranged

husband (George Washington Harris) at Kanesville. While

George was on his mission Lucinda purportedly went to

stay with Dr. Modesitt, and when George returned to Nauvoo,

Lucinda returned also.

 

George charged Lucinda with desertion, and not adultery,

so they were divorced on those grounds, with no mention

of the Terre Haute doctor.

 

As a side-note, it was Dr. Charles B. Modesitt who reportedly

attempted to poison Heber C. Kimball at Terre Haute in 1839,

and not his cousin, Dr. James W. Modesitt. As Brigham Young

later said, he thought Heber was going to die then and there.

That Dr. Modesitt was the very rich fellow, who would not give

a cent to his brethren, the poor LDS of southern Indiana. Had

he been more charitable, the Doctor might have eased the

relocation of thousands of Saints from Far West to Illinois.

But, by the time Nauvoo was beginning to grow, he evidently

had left the Church.

 

Confusing enough for everybody?

 

UD

[strappinglad]

Here is a visual of your story.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=nest+of+snakes&rlz=1T4ACGW_en___CA437&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=aFKWVJzjHs6ayAS82YKgAw&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1244&bih=553#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ekI_4z_XOcRCsM%253A%3BDd47hg6dBq4_aM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F1.bp.blogspot.com%252F_LXxSHtFuqSo%252FTE86VYT6g_I%252FAAAAAAAAALY%252F3FyHsoxY3GU%252Fs1600%252Fsnakes.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffulanofiles.blogspot.com%252F2010%252F07%252Fcancun-nest-of-snakes.html%3B1588%3B1047

[Uncle Dale]

Here is a visual of your story.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=nest+of+snakes&rlz=1T4ACGW_en___CA437&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=aFKWVJzjHs6ayAS82YKgAw&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1244&bih=553#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=ekI_4z_XOcRCsM%253A%3BDd47hg6dBq4_aM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F1.bp.blogspot.com%252F_LXxSHtFuqSo%252FTE86VYT6g_I%252FAAAAAAAAALY%252F3FyHsoxY3GU%252Fs1600%252Fsnakes.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffulanofiles.blogspot.com%252F2010%252F07%252Fcancun-nest-of-snakes.html%3B1588%3B1047

 

Now, just put Harrison Ford into one of those pictures, complete

with his slouch digger's hat, and you'll have me down pat.

 

When I grow up, I want to be an historian...

...but I'll settle for archaeologist -- in Ireland

(where serpents are few and ruined castles are many)

 

UD