One of the neat things about these
journals is that it’s, it’s one of the few places where
Joseph’s wife, Emma, emerges from
the background, and you see her
involvement with Joseph Smith’s life and you also hear her voice.
We have several letters from Emma
that are recorded in this journal,
and she really emerges in a time of crisis that is talked
about in these journals a lot.
The former Missouri Gov. Lilburn
W. Boggs, he’s shot.
And everybody tries to figure out
who would have done this. And a whole bunch of people
say it was Joseph Smith.
And so, Emma, she also writes
a couple of letters to
the governor of Illinois
and explains to him why this whole
accusation against Joseph is just absolutely ridiculous
and should be dropped.
She even gets gets into
constitutional law a little bit
and says in order to extradite
somebody to a state,
they have to have committed
a crime in that state.
And Joseph Smith was
not in Missouri.
This finally does go to court, but it's interesting to note that
when the decision is rendered, he is set free for the very
reasons that Emma pointed out.
And you come away thinking, aha,
here’s why Joseph Smith married Emma Hale.
She was a very
capable, talented,
very bright lady.